Introducing the “Spotlight” series
Spotlight is a new series we’re doing that consists of an interview or an article and an accompanying mix. We have more on the way! Welcome to the first entry.
Interview with Nevis Taiga of Shiftwreck Records
First of all! Please briefly introduce yourself.
NT: Hello! my name is Nevis Taiga, I’m an anarchist and I love punkish noisy breaks and forming underground local scenes, I’m a teenager from shitaly that loves to trash the world and shit on ignorant people.
Breakcore is a terrible term. It means nothing and everything, and Shiftwreck represents a specific kind of breakcore thats a bit less popular nowadays, so I’d like to ask; to you, what makes something breakcore? What is the criteria?
NT: I agree, breakcore is a terrible and awfully subjective term, for me, there are many definitions of breakcore, I subdivide them in RM Breakcore (Radical Meaning Breakcore) and everything that isn’t RM Breakcore, RM Breakcore is that kind of breakcore that embraces the first ever definition of the genre, this includes almost all punk breakcore and a lot of harsh breakcore, the original definition for me is “digital hardcore with a wide usage of intense breakbeats” (also, back in the day digital hardcore as a genre was a lot more broad, basically, any non-commercial, political, rioutous electronic was considered DHC, and still think it should be like that, since it comes from the same scene, it doesn’t need guitars.. or vocals..). The definition of breakcore that doesn’t fall into the RM section is just what most real breakcore listeners know it as, a mixture of hardcore, jungle, idm, and all that, I think it’s really nice but it lost the most meaningful part (politics and lo-fI feelings…) I feel like RM Breakcore is more “true breakcore” than non-rm breakcore, it kinda feels like metal and nu metal all over again…
Who are your biggest influences as an artist & label?
NT: Mostly Digital Hardcore Recordings, sound-wise and I could say I also love the early graphics, I also really enjoy the sounds from D-Trash Records and kool.POP records, i’d say my main inspirations are Shizuo, The Bureau de Change and Fidel Villeneuve.
What are your plans for Shiftwreck in the next couple of years?
NT: I wish it could be a recognized label in the breakcore scene, I’ve been trying to make breakcore political again for a couple years so far, so I wish for it to be a part of breakcore history.
Any releases you have coming up you want to shout about?
NT: Well yeah, kinda, though none of these are actual finished projects but more like ideas, I really want to make an album similar to Bureau de Change’s “The Future of Boy Bands”, since I’m practicing with my vocals, a bit more social-oriented and auto-ironic compared to most digital hardcore, I really like that vibe because it shows true underground independency.
Tell us a bit about your mix; talk us through some of the tracks, artists, and tell us what they mean to you?
NT: Well, it starts with another fellow true punk breakcore rebooter of this time (a.k.a Midori), the mix also has a lot of my inspirations for me as an artist and as a label, of course it has the god of punk breakcore, the original SHIZU-MAN!, I think he was also mentally enlightened compared to average people, just look at his interview where he talks about Shizuo Consciousness… I also mixed some underground breakcore projects/bands in there, like No Brigade, Shiftplus, Julie D
What made you decide to start a label?
NT: I really liked the idea of forming some sort of scene/crew in the genre, a dying genre, and I’m trying to heal it, I started the label because I noticed people were really engaged in my words when I spoke about punk breakcore on the media, so I decided to heal the genre with the music itself while being united as artists.
You’ve released a shit tonne of music this October alone! Do you plan to keep this frequency up?
NT: Well, I’ll probably slow down the pace a bit over time, since now it’s the early stage of the label where everybody wants to release stuff on, also I think I’ll have to slow down or else the release will lose their artistic value in a certain way, and I still have to set up some things.
Any shoutouts or final thoughts you want to share with Bugletown?
NT: I HATE PEOPLE WHO ROMANTICISE DEATH - THIS IS NOT WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT! AT THE END OF ALL THIS WE ALL GONNA DIE AND THAT’S IT! NOT MORE AND NOT LESS! FUCK THE FASCISTS, THE COMMERCIALS, THE ICE, THE BIGOTS AND THE IGNORANT!
Nevis Taiga’s Mix!
As will always be the case, we asked Nevis Taiga to do a mix that represents the vision and inspirations of Shiftwreck Records - listen on SoundCloud below - one of the rawest, in your face mixes you’ll hear for quite some time - for anyone missing that DHR spirit, here it is, for you, re-incarnated.
Here’s the SoundCloud link if you’d rather listen directly on that platform.