Hardfloor Added by kwab, 30 July 2005

Hardfloor is the project of Oliver Bondzio and Ramon Zenker from Duesseldorf, Germany. Forming in 1991 as the German acid and techno scenes were just beginning to solidify around artists such as Sven Vath, Oliver Lieb, Pete Namlook and DJ Criss, Bondzio and Zenker came together at the behest of a mutual friend.

The former already an established DJ and the latter a successful studio producer, Hardfloor released the 11-minute "Acperience" single (Harthouse008) soon after deciding to inject a bit of bombast into the German scene. This ground-breaking single made their name instantly recognisable to European clubbers. Utilizing since-standard compositional tools like long, melody-driven buildups and elaborate percussion breaks, the track became an instant dancefloor anthem and made Hardfloor a sought-after name for remix and production work.

Although the pair recorded briefly for the Eye Q label ("Let da Bass go ", "Drugoverlord"), most of the group's work has come out through Sven Vath's influential Harthouse imprint, including a number of full-length releases and a consistent schedule of 12-inches and EPs.

They have since evolved from the more simplistic floor-movers of their earlier work, incorporating elements of hip-hop, electro, breakbeat techno, and post-acid house styles like trip-hop and intelligent dance. Each new album release -to date "Respect", "Home Run" and "All Targets Down"- has seen a slights change in their musical style but the group remains committed to the smoldering edge of acid, with 909 and 303 sounds comprising the lion's share of their recognizable sound.

"Hardfloor, normally it's not only 303's, " tells Oliver, "but a lot of the people like it, so with Hardfloor we go this way. Why should we change our sound when the 303 is so successful? Some people say the new album [All targets down] is not really new, but we did it this way because the people want the 303. That's it."

Hardfloor remix credits include Mike Oldfield, the Shamen, and Mory Kante, and both Bondzio and Zenker also release their own and others' material through their respective Jakpot, Serial Killers Haircut and No Respect labels.

In April 2000, they've released their newest Album "So What?!", in every way a product of the Hardfloor heritage and places most of its emphasis on club-friendly groovy techno Tracks.

In August 2000 Ramon Zenker and Oliver Bondzio (aka Hardfloor) visited the Roland Factory in Hamamatsu, Japan.

While there, they met with the inventor behind the infamous TB303, Tadeo Kikumoto. In the following photos we see Mr. Kikumoto signing and blessing Hardfloor's 303.

As Ramon Zenker and Oliver Bondzio (aka Hardfloor) visited the Roland Factory, they had the idea to re-release their debut-longplay from 1993. "TB Resuscitation" is Harthouse's most wanted album and is considered to be the foundation for the TB-303 generated acid-sound.

Almoust eight years later Ramon Zenker remastered this masterpiece, which will be available again on CD and double-vinyl in February 2001., Real-Audio " TB Resuscitation": (http://harthouse.com/hftb.htm) —