Celebrating 10 years of activity (2009-2019), Network 24 is the infamous Evansville, Indiana collective/label/party crew responsible for the southern Indiana hardcore phenomenon known as SHITBASS.

The Great Shitbass Race of 2019 pays tribute not only to the 10 year anniversary of shitbass itself, but also to the Great Music Race of 2006: a contest between three friends (two of whom would go on to become Volun Woostion and Mr. Inedible) to produce as much bad music as possible in the span of a few hours. A loosely defined genre known locally as "Bogus Breaks" coalesced from the results of that contest. Bogus Breaks was always more of an attitude than a genre. Bad taste and a recognizable but indescribable sense of humor defined it, and three years later, when paired with gabber drums and influence from the west coast "speedbass" collective (mostly a fawning adoration of the song "Biotron Tanaka" by Bathyst, thanks Ishkur), the genre of shitbass was born and Network 24 emerged to shepherd its arrival in the Evansville underground. 10 years, three shitfests, and countless nights in Boonville ("fifteen cans of stella" - that sort of night) later, we're still kicking. The genre has died and been revived twice. Formerly local producers now live all over the United States, and a second wave of producers - some local, some from other states and countries - have joined in the sound. (We're looking forward to featuring these artists in 2020!) Truth be told, it's been a wild ride. The odor of what was once a concentrated and potent local scene centered around some of the worst music imaginable has spread further than we ever wanted it to. Have fun cleaning up /that/ mess.

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This year's race was played out in a 4 hour format with mandatory 15 minute breaks each hour. We used a judge system this time. Three devoted shitbass fans, all old heads from the scene, were presented with all of the tracks in an unlabled and anonymous format. Each judge graded the tracks on three criteria: shittyness, bassiness, and lulz; all three factors were further defined and spelled out in great detail. Total scores determined the winner.

Mr. Inedible's "International Ugra-Tara Possum Cult" took first place, with judges commenting on how it managed to maintain songwriting coherence and catchiness so well despite being completely out of time with itself.

Second place went to FibbleDabble's "Listening", an exemplary specimen of the noisier "tough shit" sound that has emerged since 2014. Judges found Listening's de-evolution into complete rhythmic cacophony to be quaintly adorable.

ikageso came in third place with "San Francisco Has a Fire and a Flame Problem and Only the Birds Know", an absolute banger if there ever was one. Judges praised its songwriting and sense of humor but also criticized it for being legitimately well produced music. It was ikageso's first track for Network 24, and to quote him -- "I think I misunderstood the assignment." Despite the song being polished and well written, a shitbassy sense of humor shines through brightly, and we're excited about ikageso's future as a shitbass artist.
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That's all for now! Be on the lookout in 2020 for both new releases and re-uploads of our back catalogue, starting from the very beginning.