Global Dance Update: The Poing Special

Mixmag | 1992


Happening city of the moment is Rotterdam currently picking up the baton and leading the field in harder and faster hardcore. ‘Poing’ by Rotterdam Termination Source marks only the tip of a little iceberg of releases on Rotterdam Records. The label - a subsidiary of Midtown - has been taken to heart in Germany where Rhyme Syndicate’s ‘Stomach Basher’ and a host of other releases have become anthems. ‘Poing’ meanwhile has sold over 100,000 copies in Holland whilst charting all over Europe.

In England the track is simultaneously receiving Radio 1 airplay while being spun in the underground raves and clubs. Rotterdam is hardcore city, and ‘Poing’ is influenced by most local clubbers’ style of dancing. “Well they all jump up and down a lot,” explains Rotterdam Termination Sources’ Maurice, “so when I found that ‘Poing’ noise it seemed just right because it expresses the way everybody moves.” The distinctive ‘Poing’ noise is from a jews Harp, an instrument popular with cowboys and found by Maurice on a sampler CD for amateur movie editors. Pre-‘Poing’ Maurice boasts of a spell playing guitar for a heavy metal band. “Well Rotterdam hardcore is very much like heavy metal. I didn’t have any trouble getting into house music, you know, if you’re there and it’s going on all night, you just party and then you think about making music for other people to dance and party to.”



The Rotterdam scene is hardcore, gabberhouse as they say, and the music has to be hard, fast and wild. Leading hardcore clubs are Parkzicht open trough to 8am on Fridays and Saturday nights and Demi-sec. The leading DJs are Rob, Paul Elstak, Gijs and Ab who is either as in Paul’s case work in record companies (he’s Rotterdam Records label head) or in record shops. There’s a good classic disco night at Demi-sec on Fridays but most people tend to hit Demi-sec on Saturdays, and stay till 3am before finishing the night at Parkzicht. “Everyone was saying that house music would get mellow and that hardware was dead in Holland,” says Rotterdam Records’ Paul Elstak., “but that was mainly Amsterdam DJs. Rotterdam has always been hardcore and we set up a hardcore label. So for we’ve picked up licensing deals for over half our releases and sold over 100,000 records.