Carl Crack (born Karl Böhm; 5 May 1971 – 6 September 2001) was a Swazi-born German techno artist best known for his membership in the

digital hardcore Digital hardcore is a fusion genre that combines hardcore punk with electronic dance music genres such as breakbeat, techno, and drum and bass while also drawing on heavy metal, industrial and noise music. It typically features fast tempos a ...

band

Atari Teenage Riot Atari Teenage Riot (ATR) is a German band formed in Berlin in 1992. Highly political, they fuse anarchist and anti-fascist views with punk vocals and a techno sound called digital hardcore, which is a term band member Alec Empire used as the na ...

from 1992 to 2000.

Biography

Around 1992, Crack displayed little interest in the music scene as it was at the time. He felt that

The Beatnigs The Beatnigs were a San Francisco-based band active between 1986 and 1990, influenced by industrial music, hip hop and hardcore punk. Biography Michael Franti and Rono Tse met each other clubbing in San Francisco. In 1986, Franti and Tse for ...

(the original vehicle for social and political critic

Michael Franti Michael Franti (born April 21, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, poet, activist, documentarian, and rapper. Known for his participation in many musical projects, most with a political and social emphasis, including the Beatnig ...

, later of

the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy were an American hip-hop musical ensemble, active during the early 1990s. The band was formed in 1990 by Michael Franti (vocals, production, misc. instruments) and Rono Tse (drums, percussion, programming), wh ...

and Spearhead) were one of the few significant bands around. Along with the other members of Atari Teenage Riot he was looking for a new direction. Crack initially had a significant influence on ATR's style, particularly on the first two albums where he developed an MC style which owed less to the U.S. than his own imagination. He also had his own musical ideas that could not be expressed within the confines of a group, leading to his only solo release, ''Black Ark'', in 1998. It is, as the name suggests, heavily influenced by dub and in particular Lee Perry. After heavy touring to promote ATR's third album, '' 60 Second Wipe Out'', the members of the group commenced work on follow ups to their various solo projects. Crack appeared on

Cobra Killer The Cobra Killer duo of Gina V. D'Orio and Annika Trost began as part of Alec Empire's Digital hardcore movement. Both were part of other bands signed to Empire's Digital Hardcore Recordings label—D'Orio was in EC8OR, and Trost was in Shizuo ...

's 2002 album, '' The Third Armpit''. He also was part of Firewire and Whatever, both with Din-St. On 6 September 2001, Crack, who had long struggled with psychiatric issues, died at the age of 30 from an overdose of unspecified pills.Corey Moss
Atari Teenage Riot Cofounder Dead At 30

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, 24 September 2001, retrieved 13 March 2007. The media hype surrounding Crack's death is disputed by ATR. According to a friend, a few weeks before his death he had spoken about a doctor's report which said his psychosis attacks would worsen with age. According to that friend, Crack said he would rather kill himself than become a "zombie" and not be in control of his life. Witnesses have said Crack tried to reach out to his friends because he felt the psychosis starting again. When his body was found by police with large quantities of medication in his stomach, this suggested suicide. It is still unclear if this happened while he was in a state of psychosis or not (while in a psychotic state, it could be interpreted as an accident rather than suicide).

Discography

Album

* ''Black Ark'' ( DHR Limited 1998)

DJ Mix

* ''Lion MC/Dance the Monkey'' (Midiwar 1995)

References

External links

Biography
at

Digital Hardcore Recordings Digital Hardcore Recordings (DHR) is a record label set up in 1994 by Alec Empire, Joel Amaretto and Pete Lawton. Most of the music is recorded in Berlin, though the label is based in London where the records are mastered and manufactured. The ...

Carl Crack
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crack, Carl 1971 births 2001 deaths Drug-related deaths in Germany 20th-century German musicians 20th-century German male musicians Atari Teenage Riot members German people of Swazi descent Digital hardcore musicians