To me, Harktek is up-tempo squat music with a strong industrial feel and a mix of techno/break percussion, over a mis-mash of influences from Reggae to Acid to Gabba.

Real free party music - none of this chin stroking that Hard Techno suffers from, imo.

Mainly associated with the French labels (so kinda helps if you speak French, but not essential) but also massive all over central europe. I'm personally a bit of a fan of Italian stuff such as Mechanic Willow and Sinthe Labo on Idroscalo Dischi.

Check out lots of samples on Expressillion.com = also with releases from Le Passe-Muraille and Perce-oreille


Peace