ABOUT HARDFLOOR

The first two singles, Let da Bass go and Drug Overlord, were released in 1991 on the record label Eye Q Records. The significantly harder sound of Hardfloor compared to other Eye Q releases was later cited by Sven Väth as one of the reasons that led to the founding of the sublabel Harthouse.

In 1992, Acperience was released on Harthouse and became one of the techno club hits of the early 1990s. The distinctive use of the TB 303 became Hardfloor’s trademark. After the album TB Resuscitation and the singles Trancescript (1993) and Into the Nature (1994), the duo produced the anniversary edition Harthouse 50 entitled Fish & Chips in 1994. The same year, the album Respect followed with the single Mahogany Roots, for whose artwork the artist George Dare was hired.

In 1995, Hardfloor made a style break with the album Da damn Phreak Noize Phunk?. The music was now based on big beat and funk instead of the regular techno rhythms that had been used up to that point, but did not forego the Hardfloor-typical use of the Roland TB 303. The album title also became the name of a new project by Zenker and Bondzio, with which they released a big beat album on the Stud!o K7 label in 1999.

In 1997, a Best of Hardfloor was released with the duo’s most successful productions and remixes. This included the Hardfloor remix of It’s no good (Depeche Mode), Blue Monday (New Order) and Our Darkness (Anne Clark). The most famous, however, was the remix of Yeke Yeke (Mory Kanté), which was also included here and was used in a shorter edited version in the Danny Boyle film The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio.

The two “Rheinländer” have a fan base in particular in Japan, the home country of TB 303. They have been giving guest performances there every year since 1994. Other international gigs have taken place at festivals such as the Tribal Gathering and the Universe in Great Britain, the Arvika Festival in Sweden, the Quart Festival in Norway, as well as the Mayday, the Time Warp and the Nature One in Germany.