Atari Teenage Riot (DE)

It’s hard to imagine a better soundtrack to the digital revolution than the extreme sounds generated by Atari Teenage Riot. Digital hardcore, techno punk, whatever you want to call it — suffice it to say that the artists behind Delete Yourself! (1995) were years ahead of their time, and were greeted by both enthusiastic reviews (less common) and the ire of musical and political conservatives (much more common). Today ATR’s radical message and equally extreme form seem completely appropriate, as proved on their latest album Is This Hyperreal?, released in 2010 after a 12-year hiatus, and by the fact that the track “Black Flags” was snatched up by Anonymous and used in countless independently-created videos, becoming the de facto Occupy Wall Street anthem.

The band recently entered a phase dubbed “ATR 3.0” by frontman Alec Empire, thanks the addition of a new British vocalist, Rowdy Superstar. Check out their show at the OFF Festival to find out what that means in practice.