Hardkiss is the group moniker of
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
electronic music pioneers Scott (who died on March 25, 2013
), Gavin, and Robbie Hardkiss. The trio formed a record label called Hardkiss Music in San Francisco in 1991. Initially promoting underground raves and dance parties where they would DJ, with Hardkiss Music they began to produce and release a catalog of vinyl records which stirred international recognition and launched DJ and production careers. Scott Hardkiss (real name Scott Friedel) worked under the pseudonym ''God Within.'' Gavin Hardkiss works under the pseudonym ''Hawke.'' Robbie Hardkiss has worked under the pseudonym ''Little Wing.'' They also released music by a myriad of other artists including
Rabbit in the Moon
Rabbit in the Moon is an American electronic music group that formed in 1991. Their style draws from psychedelic trance, house music and breakbeat, along with other diverse influences.
History
Formed in 1992 in Tampa, Florida, the group consi ...
, Symbiosis and TTauri. Their music started as a mixture of
acid house music
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesiz ...
,
trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes.
Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minute ( ...
, and
breakbeat techno
Breakbeat hardcore (also referred to as hardcore rave or oldskool hardcore) is a music genre of the very early 1990s that spawned from the UK rave scene. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats usually sampled from hip hop. In ad ...
.
Hardkiss Music became a blueprint for DJ owned boutique record labels.
In 1995 Hardkiss released a compilation called ''Delusions of Grandeur'' featuring the best selections of the early vinyl releases. ''Delusions of Grandeur'' was distributed through Caroline in the USA and was signed to L'Attitude on Parlophone in the UK. The album was a benchmark in the development of US electronic dance music.
Hardkiss Music stopped releasing music in 1997 in order to sign a recording deal with
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
(
Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...
).
The label re-launched in 2014 to release a new Hardkiss album titled ''1991''.
References
*http://www.magneticmag.com/2014/04/the-hardkiss-brothers-revolution-of-the-sun/
*http://www.5chicago.com/features/hardkiss-the-story-so-far/
*http://dancemusic.about.com/od/remixersproducers/a/GavinHardkissIn.htm
External links
Hardkiss Music website*
Gavin Hardkiss website
Musicians from California
{{US-electronic-band-stub