"Bomb20 is a lad from Berlin who, at the age of 17, had the balls to contact Atari Teenage Riot, stating that ATR had sold out and was old and boring, and that he could show them "how to do it right." Mind you, this was in 1996, before most of the world had even heard of ATR. After hearing his demo, they signed him to DHR's new Less Than 20 imprint and released the debut EP, The Choice of the Righteous. That was followed this year by the full-length album, Field Manual, from which the track "You Killed Me First" was taken."

-Voltage Magazine

This dude is quite fucked up. He is probably the most artsy-fartsy of the hardcore electronic artists out there. He definitely has a style, which is chaotic, dark, screechy, and hard as fuck.

(Later) I added a Field Manual discography.

According to legend, in 1996 17 year old David Skiba wrote an abbrasive letter to Atari Teenage Riot frontman Alec Empire accusing him of being washed up and over the hill, of selling out and making himself irrelevant. Empire was about 24 at the time, but perhaps past retirement age (according to Skiba) for the genre he'd helped launch, Digital Hardcore. For some perspective, at this time Atari Teenage Riot (ATR) had neither released their second LP (of three they would eventually end with), nor had North American audiences been exposed to Digital Hardcore at all.

Skiba performed as the DJ Bomb20, and by most accounts out-Rioted ATR. With his letter, he craftilly included a demo tape, and was quickly offered a contract with Digital Hardcore Recordings, Empire's label.

In September of the same year, his single Pigtronics was released on short lived DHR sublabel Riot Beats. An EP came out in 1998: Flip Burgers or Die which was put out on another sublabel, Less than 20, one inspired by Bomb20 himself and focused on, yes, artists less than 20 years old.

Finally, his LP was released, Field Manual. It was an impressive showing, and remains a staple of Digital Hardcore music. The 'vocals' are comprised entirely of (presumeably) unlicensed samples from movies, television and who knows what else. The music is, if anything, harsher than Atari Teenage Riot, but still good, and worth hearing, for those who can take it. The stance can be noted by the history of Bomb20 as an artist, and by knowledge that the title, Field Manual is not facetious: the liner notes contain a seven page manifesto detailing the evils of capitalist society, authority, conformity, institutionalism, et al. The treatise is broken into three main sections, opened with a preface: I. Disinformation & Manipulation; II. Strategy; III. The Mission.

To date, Field Manual has yet to be followed up, and Skiba's position with DHR is unclear. It is unlikely another label exists that would sign him.


Sources
http://www.digitalhardcore.com/
http://www.allmusic.com/
Field Manual DHR 015

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