Bong-Ra
Encyclopedia
Bong-Ra is the performing name of Dutch
breakcore
musician Jason Kohnen from Utrecht
. Formed in 1996, initially producing and DJing jungle
music. Previous to Bong-Ra Jason Kohnen performed as bassist and drummer for stoner/doom metal band Celestial Season
amongst others.
Kohnen's style contains a variety of crossovers and fusions of different genres, including metal
, gabba, jazz
, rave
, and jungle
, becoming one of the front runners of the breakcore
genre, sometimes credited as "yardcore" or "raggacore", blending reggae
and ragga
with breakcore
.
In 2001, Kohnen set up the Clash Records label
releasing a mix of hardcore, ragga, and jungle on 7" vinyl, releasing artists like Parasite, FFF, Soundmurderer, I:gor and Murderbot. In 2004, the sublabel Kriss Records was set up, oriented more towards metal/breakcore, releasing material from Jahba, Drumcorps, DJ Scotch Egg, and Snares Man.
The "Breakcore a Go-Go!" breakcore/jungle parties in Utrecht
and Rotterdam
, together with FFF, where the first recurring breakcore parties in Holland, running from 2003 to 2005.
On 21 February 2002, a Peel session
by Bong-Ra was aired on BBC Radio 1
, which was later released on vinyl. John Peel regularly played Bong-Ra tracks after he had been sent a 4-track demo in 2000. Kohnen also got to meet John Peel in person and he considers the Peel session as one of the highlights of his career.
His second full length album Bikini Bandits, Kill! Kill! Kill!, released on Supertracks Records in 2003, saw a cooperation with US Gyromart, creators of the Bikini Bandits. The videoclip to the track "666 MPH" aired on nightly rotation on Dutch MTV, and the album became part of a multimedia exhibition in the Museum of Modern Arts in Arnhem.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
breakcore
Breakcore
Breakcore is a style of electronic music largely influenced by hardcore techno, drum and bass and Intelligent dance music. Its sound is largely characterized by a high-tempo, well-timed mingling of distorted kick drums , break beats arranged from samples of the Amen break, and audio samples from a...
musician Jason Kohnen from Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
. Formed in 1996, initially producing and DJing jungle
Jungle
A Jungle is an area of land in the tropics overgrown with dense vegetation.The word jungle originates from the Sanskrit word jangala which referred to uncultivated land. Although the Sanskrit word refers to "dry land", it has been suggested that an Anglo-Indian interpretation led to its...
music. Previous to Bong-Ra Jason Kohnen performed as bassist and drummer for stoner/doom metal band Celestial Season
Celestial Season
Celestial Season is a Dutch heavy metal band. They were formed in 1991 as a doom/death metal band along the lines of My Dying Bride. They have been described as doom metal, death/doom, stoner rock/metal and goth. Celestial Season disbanded in 2002....
amongst others.
Kohnen's style contains a variety of crossovers and fusions of different genres, including metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, gabba, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, rave
Rave music
Rave music may either refer the late 1980s genre or any genre of electronic dance music that may be played at an electronic dance party such as a rave. Very rarely, the term is used to refer to less electronic related genres glam, powerpop, psychedelic rock and dub music parties...
, and jungle
Oldschool jungle
Jungle is a genre of electronic music that incorporates influences from genres including breakbeat hardcore, and reggae/dub/dancehall. There is debate as to whether jungle is a separate genre from drum and bass as many use the terms interchangeably...
, becoming one of the front runners of the breakcore
Breakcore
Breakcore is a style of electronic music largely influenced by hardcore techno, drum and bass and Intelligent dance music. Its sound is largely characterized by a high-tempo, well-timed mingling of distorted kick drums , break beats arranged from samples of the Amen break, and audio samples from a...
genre, sometimes credited as "yardcore" or "raggacore", blending reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
and ragga
Ragga
-Origins:Ragga originated in Jamaica during the 1980s, at the same time that electronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditional musical...
with breakcore
Breakcore
Breakcore is a style of electronic music largely influenced by hardcore techno, drum and bass and Intelligent dance music. Its sound is largely characterized by a high-tempo, well-timed mingling of distorted kick drums , break beats arranged from samples of the Amen break, and audio samples from a...
.
Biography
Bong-Ra's 1998 debut album New Millennium Dreadz was released on Djax Records; it was the first Dutch full length drum and bass album ever released.In 2001, Kohnen set up the Clash Records label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
releasing a mix of hardcore, ragga, and jungle on 7" vinyl, releasing artists like Parasite, FFF, Soundmurderer, I:gor and Murderbot. In 2004, the sublabel Kriss Records was set up, oriented more towards metal/breakcore, releasing material from Jahba, Drumcorps, DJ Scotch Egg, and Snares Man.
The "Breakcore a Go-Go!" breakcore/jungle parties in Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
and Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, together with FFF, where the first recurring breakcore parties in Holland, running from 2003 to 2005.
On 21 February 2002, a Peel session
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
by Bong-Ra was aired on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
, which was later released on vinyl. John Peel regularly played Bong-Ra tracks after he had been sent a 4-track demo in 2000. Kohnen also got to meet John Peel in person and he considers the Peel session as one of the highlights of his career.
His second full length album Bikini Bandits, Kill! Kill! Kill!, released on Supertracks Records in 2003, saw a cooperation with US Gyromart, creators of the Bikini Bandits. The videoclip to the track "666 MPH" aired on nightly rotation on Dutch MTV, and the album became part of a multimedia exhibition in the Museum of Modern Arts in Arnhem.
Discography
- New Millennium Dreadz (1998, Djax Records)
- Darkbreaks Volume 1 (1998, Djax Records)
- Darkbreaks Volume 2 (1998, Djax Records)
- Riddim Wars (2001, Death$ucker Records)
- Peel Session (2002, Death$ucker Records)
- Darkbreaks EP (2002, Russian Roulette Recordings)
- Clash001: Jungle Talk / Killah One (2002, Clash RecordsClash RecordsClash Records is a Dutch independent record label established in 2001 by electronic music artist Bong-Ra. Clash releases on 7-inch vinyl format only, paying homage to the DIY reggae 7-inch releases which were so popular in Jamaica during the 1960s and 1970s...
) - Breakcore a Go-Go! (2003, Supertracks)
- Bikini Bandits, Kill! Kill! Kill!Bikini Bandits, Kill! Kill! Kill!Bikini Bandits, Kill! Kill! Kill! is an album by Bong-Ra, featureing Mike Redman, The Dirty Dred, and Lolita Storm, released in 2003.- Track listing :# 666 MPH# Blood & Fire# Can You Dig It?# Catholic High School Girls In Trouble# Booty Grind...
(2003, Supertracks Records) - Clash002: as Killahman Machine (2003, Clash Records)
- Old-Skool Armageddon (2004, Death$ucker Records)
- Renegade Bubblin (2004, Supertracks Records)
- Praying Mantis E.P. (2004, Russian Roulette Recordings)
- Conquering Lion (2004, Hydrophonic Records)
- Blood & Fire (2004, Soothsayer Recordings)
- Clash006: Soundwave / Warhead (2004, Clash RecordsClash RecordsClash Records is a Dutch independent record label established in 2001 by electronic music artist Bong-Ra. Clash releases on 7-inch vinyl format only, paying homage to the DIY reggae 7-inch releases which were so popular in Jamaica during the 1960s and 1970s...
) - Warrior Sound (2005, Supertracks Records)
- Grindkrusher (2005, Ad NoiseamAd NoiseamAd Noiseam is an electronic music independent record label that has recently published mostly dubstep. based in Berlin, Germany. Ad Noiseam was founded in April of 2001 by Nicolas Chevreux, who also has done some of the design work for the label's releases....
) - Monsters of Mashup (w/ Enduser & ShitmatShitmatShitmat is the performing name of Henry Collins, aka Henry Collinz, a breakcore artist from Brighton, England.-Biography:His music, sometimes referred to as "Mashcore", is known for the humorous use of samples atypical of "serious" electronic artists and deliberate use of clichés...
) (2005, Ad NoiseamAd NoiseamAd Noiseam is an electronic music independent record label that has recently published mostly dubstep. based in Berlin, Germany. Ad Noiseam was founded in April of 2001 by Nicolas Chevreux, who also has done some of the design work for the label's releases....
) - Colony of Electric Machines (2005, Vynalogica)
- I Am the God of Hellfire!I Am the God of Hellfire!See Fire for the 1968 song opening with the same phrase----I Am the God of Hellfire! is an album by Bong-Ra, released in 2005.-Track listing:...
(2005, Ad Noiseam, Very Friendly / Supertracks Records) - Servants of the Apocalyptic Goat Rave (w/ SickboySickboy MilkplusSickboy Milkplus is the stage name of Jurgen Desmet, a Belgian electronic music producer of Breakcore Gives Me Wood and "servants of the apocalyptic goat rave" with music releases on Tigerbeat6, Peace Off, Mirex and Wood.- Discography :* Ganja Bullet / Worst Trade Central * Swingin' in the Rain EP...
) (2005, Suburban Trash) - 4 Adaptations of Rossz Csillag Alatt SzületettRossz csillag alatt született-2×12″ release:-Further Reading:*Britton, Eliott. “.” eContact! 12.4 — Perspectives on the Electroacoustic Work / Perspectives sur l’œuvre électroacoustique . Montréal: CEC....
(w/ Venetian SnaresVenetian SnaresVenetian Snares is the main performing alias of Canadian electronic musician Aaron Funk .From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Funk is known for making electronic music often in odd numbered time signatures...
) (2006, Planet MuPlanet MuPlanet Mu is an electronic music record label run by Mike Paradinas . It was based in Worcester until March 2007, then moved to London and has recently relocated to Broadstairs, Kent...
) - Soldaat van Oranje (2006, Sublight RecordsSublight RecordsSublight Records was a Canadian record label started in 2004 by Aaron Rintoul and ran until June 2007. Based out of Winnipeg, Canada. It was named among the top 25 indie record labels of 2006 by XLR8R magazine - "Sublight has gone from spewing out splattered beats fresh from bedrooms where the sun...
) - Stereohype Heroin Hooker (2006, Ad Noiseam)
- The Kill (w/ Enduser) (2006, Ad Noiseam)
- Sick Sick Sick (2007, Ad Noiseam)
- Full Metal Racket (2007, Ad Noiseam)
- Panther Fight (2008, MashitMashitThe Mashit record label was founded in 2003 to "fill a need for speed-ragga, dub-core, and genre-blends".Mashit grew out of Boston's Toneburst event production collective, founded by DJ C, DJ /rupture, and others in 1996...
) - Vitus Blister EP (2008, Zhark)
- Megasaurus / Gargantuan (2010, RUFF Records)
- Monster EP (2010, Ad Noiseam)
External links
- Official website
- Peel Sessions: Bong Ra – info on Bong-Ra’s Peel Session