Photo by Giovanni Napoli
Haunter Records is a Milan-based record label and squat promoter consisting of Francesco and Daniele, who DJ under Red Army Fracture and Dan Haunter aliases respectively. The label is known in underground circles for its rough and unsettling noise records and weird experiments with harsher forms of dance music. Their signature sound bursts with fierce physicality, anxious atmospherics, unexpected twists and perverse grooves. It resembles an unpleasant trip across the uncanny valley, where strange hauntings appear in the shape of sharp and raw sonic structures. Haunter Records have already released some excellent releases including Somec’s psychedelic excursions, Honzo’s neurotic noise, and the Eastern explorations of Petit Singe. Haunter stands on the precipice between gritty eccentricity, deconstructed dance music tropes and haunted eclecticism. The label also explores various sensitive social and psychological issues such as digital information privacy, distorted body image, surveillance, and the anxieties of modern society.
Secret Thirteen Mix 158 is a diverse and challenging selection, which summarizes the duo’s aesthetic perceptions and includes material from greatly varying artists as well as tracks from Haunter Records’ forthcoming releases. No wonder it starts with a piece by Howard Shore taken from the original soundtrack of David Cronenberg’s movie “Videodrome” which has that body and surveillance horror feel, similar to moods in some of the Haunter Records production. The selection then proceeds with several new Haunter label tracks, which serve as a short introduction and set the tone for the remaining selection. We are lead across grim and dark urban soundscapes using intense compositions from such artists as young grime prodigy SD Laika, dark jungle/bass explorers Killing Sound, and the rough garage sounds of Mumdance & Logos or the uncontrolled chiptune/breakbeat insanity of Patric Catani. The dynamics and intensity are also maintained here by high-voltage techno/industrial flashes from Drøp, Perc or Honzo, while the synthesized post punk of Big Black adds some lo-fi touches. Francesco and Daniele end the selection quite abruptly with the sheer intensity of digital noise from Cage Suburbia. The selection is quite a heavy listen, but the duo manages to maintain the balance between sonic tension and distorted grooves. The mix somehow resembles Enrico Prampolini’s abstract art painting „Il mercante di cuori, bozzetto di scena“, expressing the extreme latitudes of the introspective world.
01. Howard Shore - Welcome to Videodrome - Varèse Sarabande - 1982
02. SOMEC - MD Discount - forthcoming on Haunter
03. Weightausend - Green Death - forthcoming on Haunter
04. Noumeno - Untitled - forthcoming on Haunter
05. SD Laika - I Don’t - Tri Angle - 2014
06. Heith - Directions For Falling - Haunter - 2014
07. Drøp - Epileptic Heritage - Arboretum - 2014
08. Killing Sound - $ixxx Harmonie$ Version - Blackest Ever Black - 2014
09. Mumdance & Logos - Chaos Engine - TecTonic - 2015
10. Alessandro Cortini - Voltaggio Solitario - Hospital - 2014
11. Honzo - Estraneo E Familiare - Haunter - 2015
12. Perc - Take Your Body Off (Tessela Remix) - Perc Trax - 2014
13. Haf Haf - Notch - Gang Of Ducks - 2014
14. Haus Arafna - Satanas And Friends - Galakthorrö - 2003
15. Patric Catani - Wreckstep - Spite - 1997
16. The Curse Of The Golden Vampire - Low Tech Predator - Digital Hardcore - 1998
17. Big Black - Dead Billy - Ruthless - 1982
18. Klaus Maeck / Genesis P-Orridge - Excerpt From “Decoder” - 1984
19. Cage Suburbia - Drive The Cops - Haunter - 2014
