This Is Hardcore is a label sampler for the God Made Me Hardcore label out of the UK, one of the new labels which has sprouted up in recent years as a direct result of the electro explosion. GMMH was started by veterans of the music scene Richard Norris (Psychic TV/The Grid) and Andy Chatterley (also Psychic TV, as well as Yum Yum and Sperm Records) in a hope to capture this electro moment in all of its glory and features bands/singers like The Droyds, Siobhan Fahey, Riviera, Mugatu, Moon Unit, Sensyon, Ivana F., Bunnymad 69 and Sleaze (with Anna Mercedes). Like most label samplers, This Is Hardcore has its up and downs, but there are some worthy up moments on this disc which make it worth checking out. Luckily, the up moments tend to also be the most fun moments, in songs which seem like they were recorded in an afternoon quickie session.

The Droyds (which is Richard Norris' own band) takes an electro romp through various covers. Squeeze's Take Me I'm Yours, The Ramones' Beat on the Brat, Girls On Pills (a change-up of Duran Duran's Girls On Film), and The Charlatans UK's North Country Boy all get the The Droyds electropop treatment. They also have a song called Vampire ("I'm a Vampire for your love") which I guess is a play on the T. Rex song Jeepster, but here it's got the Warm Leatherette beat. None of these songs will win awards; all of them sound like they were recorded in a few hours of fun - and they are all worth checking out.

Siobhan Fahey (formerly of Shakespeare's Sister and Bananarama) give two gothica styled performances here, Bitter Pill and Hot Room. I found myself drawn to the more mysterious Gary Numan'esque Hot Room.

Other covers which are interesting include Mugatu's Assault On The West End Girls, which combines the theme song from John Carpenter's mid-70s film Assault On Precinct 13 with the Pet Shop Boys' West End Girls. Moon Unit do covers of Devo's Whip It and Trouble Funk's Drop the Bomb which don't work quite as well, adding little to the original versions. Riviera offer up one of my favorite cuts on this collection with International Lover. There's a playfulness to the electronics in International Lover which belies the more sophisticated international flair of the song. Of course, there is only one song collected here by Riviera, which is a shame, because his other songs are quite good as well.

Bunnymad 69 try their hand at the raunchy Peaches brand of electro with the collection ending Chase The Pussy, which does have an addicting groove and moan to it.