Ruffneck Records

Profile:

Founded by DJ Ruffneck) as a home for his own unique sound, which would later come to be known as 'artcore'. The intent was to bring breakbeat hardcore to the Netherlands, but not everyone fully understood this. Breakbeats have always played a very important part in all releases on the label and combined with tearing Juno synths and heavily distorted kick drums it has left its permanent impression on the entire hardcore scene. This genre was usually labeled as "bouncy techno" or "happy hardcore" by some people tho. XSV were the financial backers, but in reality all A&R, and other duties, were handled by Patrick van Kerckhoven.

At the end of 1997 van Kerckhoven sued XSV Music to claim the rights of Ruffneck. The court decided the music belonged to van Kerckhoven but the licensing of the logo was in the hands, and stayed in the hands of XSV Music. Without the music XSV had a worthless logo and decided to put it on sale. ID&T hesitated and eventually George Ruseler, from Rige Entertainment, bought the logo and exploited it for commercial reasons; merchandising for t-shirts, slipmats and so on.
Van Kerckhoven, frustrated as he was, continued releasing his music on a new label he called "Patrick Moerland.

In 2000 Ruffneck changed names to Ruff-Teck. Releases RUFF000 to RUFF051 can be found here on Ruffneck, whilst RUFF052 onwards can be found on Ruff-Teck

In 2018 Ruffneck revived this label with new releases in the old Ruffneck style. It has no connection with XSV anymore and is (self)managed under the umbrella of Tower Music.

Serie:
Special Series covering the Ruffneck records 12".

Publishing company:
The Tower (2)

Parent Label:

Tm Tower Music

Sublabels:

Special Series

Info:

TM Tower Music
Brinckhorstlaan 4135
2516 BA The Hague
The Netherlands

Links:

djruffneck.com , Bandcamp

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647 copies

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Reviews

  • Endonyx.One.Audio's avatar
    One of the truely seminal and most important labels in hardcore music. Ruffneck records brought originality, creativity, power, quality and also community to the hardcore scene and it helped build the scene into the worldwide phenomena it has been for over 30 years.
    Patrick van Kerkhoven (and all the bad ass artists he has brought forth) is the MAN!
    • ian_s's avatar
      ian_s
      The label was named as a tribute to the UK producer Acen. Patrick's favourite track was 'The Life And Crimes Of A Ruffneck', so he took the "Ruffneck" part and named his label and his DJ pseudonym accordingly.
      • rayraydj82's avatar
        rayraydj82
        im a dj of gabba and i love the ruffneck label aswel i toally love there records best in the gabber scene i think i have loads of ruffneck records and ill always will keep them because im a true gabba/hardcore lover.
        • Bar-E's avatar
          Bar-E
          Edited 14 years ago
          Aaah, Ruffneck records, noticed that there was no comment nor review posted at all. Ruffneck records and it's side labels Ruffex and Ruff Intelligenze, are my personal all-time favorite labels. Most of these releases are (co-) produced by Mr. DJ Ruffneck, Patrick van Kerckhoven, himself and I always loved his style right from the first release as Undercover Anarchist. He is the true inventor of Art-core and one of the producers in the scene who's out there purely for the love of music! Ruffneck records released a lot of classics such as Kingdom, World of the LSD , I'm the Fuck you man, Jieeeehhaaaa, etc. etc. This is LEGEND!!