tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156700042024-03-05T09:20:34.532+00:00I.C.R.N. - Industrialised Culture Research Network"Only by discovering metal machine music can you appreciate that not only is the world not flat but it is also a machine, a machine for producing the dreams and nightmares we call reality. With this knowledge, you can exceed the timid nature of flat-world ordinariness." Paul Morley.a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-46669742051524084942014-10-26T16:23:00.001+00:002014-10-26T16:23:44.777+00:00<br />
<iframe frameborder="no" height="350" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/171987240&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
Sz. Berlin's Nationalhymne 2009 from the DDR60 compilation<br />
<br />
DDR60 spans a stylistic range from industrial to martial to EBM, power electronics and more. 11 artists explore the legacy and history of the DDR, introducing a radical new thematic and set of imagery to these scenes.<br />
<br />
For full details of the compilation, limited to 100 copies only, see the <a href="http://veb89.org/2014/10/07/ddr60/" target="_blank">label website</a>.a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-81625982647853497862014-08-31T12:19:00.001+01:002014-08-31T12:27:32.277+01:00Review: Cadlag Live Tape<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">By now, noise is a resource that has been massively depleted, strip-mined and re-processed by both corporate and underground forces, both leaving increasingly vast acculumations of toxic sludge in their wake. The cassette culture re-birth of the last few years has intensified the over-(re)production and dilution of noise as a technique. It's increasingly hard to innovate and to introduce any freshness into noise, and very few even try to do so, with many preferring to (continue to) churn out conformist hipster/improv noise mannerisms and 20th-generation mike feedback squalls in the hope of acquiring cult status or transient critical respectability. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So it's refreshing to deal with a release which doesn't just manage to avoid almost all of these pitfalls, but instead simply treats them as if they didn't exist. Cadlag is a Slovene collective featuring members of PureH, Dodecahedragraph, TGWFYTD, Extreme Smoke 57 and the transparently-named Earslaughter. They cite sources from grindcore to industrial to live electronic experimentalism blended to produce “drone oriented grid-landscapes and cacophonic palletes of industrial sonorousness, overall fuelled with spasmodic eruptions and convolutions of noise-paroxysma-mathema-machinations.” Another key distinguishing feature is the use of TV noise and VHS signals as part of their soundscapes. Appropriately, the release is available on<b> <a href="http://music.pharmafabrik.com/album/cadlag-live-tape" target="_blank"><i>cassette, VHS and 5-inch reel tape</i></a></b>. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The two 2013 performances documented here took place at Ljubljana's Noise festival 2013 and the Speculum Artium Trbovlje New Media Festival. In recent years, Trbovlje (birthplace of Laibach) has hosted an increasingly active experimental media and sound scene and this release is a signal of the intensity of some of the actions taking place there. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<iframe seamless="" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2162824150/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://music.pharmafabrik.com/album/cadlag-live-tape">Cadlag Live Tape by Cadlag</a></iframe>
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The Ljubljana recording, Infundibulum instantly distinguishes itself from run-of-the-mill noise by manifesting a soundfield of very rich shimmering waves. The first 7 minutes manage to be both
cavernous and serene. This is followed by a longer noise section which is mostly kept fairly tightly focussed (especially considering this was a live performance). For a while guitars emerge and it flirts dangerously with rockist cliché, but this drops away and is smoothly absorbed back into the wider noise field of rumbles and drones. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Speculum is (even) more immense and cavernous and it functions perfectly as a live recording in that it very swiftly makes you feel that it must have been incredible to be physically present experiencing this onslaught. To use the old TG slogan, this must have been “Nothing Short of a Total War” that would have put many industrial and Power Electronics groups to shame. There are explosions, laser zaps and even what sounds like a stuka sample. You can sense (or at least imagine) the rippling, traumatised air and the straining sound system. In the final crescendo colossal but also poetic drones emerge before a dead stop and stunned/tentative applause. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> http://music.pharmafabrik.com/album/cadlag-live-tape</span>a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-66251663439198306302014-02-06T11:53:00.000+00:002014-02-06T11:53:17.231+00:00Alexei Monroe interviews Uwe Schmidt on the re-release of Matter by Lassigue Bendthaus<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="et-dropcap" style="color: red; font-size: large;">This article first appeared in<a href="http://www.trebuchet-magazine.com/" target="_blank"> Trebuchet magazine</a></span></span></h2>
<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="et-dropcap">L</span>ast autumn saw the re-release of <em>Matter</em> by <strong>Lassigue Bendthaus</strong>, a strikingly innovative album that was the first release by Uwe Schmidt a.k.a. Atom™ and a thousand other aliases.</span></h2>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Alexei Monroe spoke to Schmidt about the album, its sources and its relation to the development of electronic music….</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GQXT5_yb1Jw?list=PLx2CxseMTic9ttH3thVVyjcKrx8-HipHS" width="100%"></iframe></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>Alexei Monroe</strong>: You’ve said that Lassigue Bendthaus was already anticipating acid and techno, and this is certainly clear with hindsight and it soon became clear for listeners who followed you from LB into your techno/acid/ambient productions.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What was the reaction to the “newness” of the sound back then? Although there were similarities with <strong>Front Line Assembly</strong> and other contemporary industrial groups, there was already much that was audibly new and different, not least in the futuristic sheen of the sounds….</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>Uwe Schmidt:</strong> Back then, to me, I have to admit, I didn’t perceive said difference really, but I was pretty convinced that <em>Matter</em> was a kind of classic “EBM” production. In other words, those differences were invisible to me by the time. Also, when i started writing the songs for <em>Matter</em>, “techno” (or whatever you want to call it) hadn’t arrived on the event horizon just yet.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I wrote the first tracks around 1987, and worked on the album all the way up until 1989, then recorded and mixed it in 1990. In the course of that process, “techno” appeared and so it only had a minor impact on that particular record, while on the other hand it had a big enough impact on me to make me stray away from “industrial” and “EBM” altogether, once <em>Matter</em> was completed.</span><br />
<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Sequences and tight percussive programming</span></h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What I expressed on <em>Matter</em> therefore, I think, had more to do with what I liked most about electronic music, which are sequences and tight percussive programming, something that became more popular via “techno” later on. So, in way, looking back at it, I coincided with the flow of things, rather than I consciously took part in it. From a distance, certain features of my early work stand out clearer today than they did at the time.
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>AM:</strong> Were you already aware of/involved in dance music as you were recording this album?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>US:</strong> When I got into that type of music, and even more so, began to make music myself, there wasn’t really any dance music scene to start with that I would have found inspiring. “Techno”, “acid” and all that didn’t yet exist, on one hand, while on the other hand, I was way too absorbed in making music myself to bother with “social” activities.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Like I said, half way through the production of <em>Matter</em>, “acid”/”house” appeared and defined what we know as “dance music” today. Back then I was a lot into post-modern philosophy though, which was kind of more futuristic than the 80s were. Finally, when “techno” arrived, it was the perfect soundtrack to the futuristc philosophy I was into. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Everything then started to resonate – music, philosophy/sociology, etc. and “EBM” or “industrial” turned into an 1980s sensation, while “acid”/”techno” reflected the future.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>AM:</strong> As an EBM/industrial listener, I slowly began to switch over to techno from late 1991 and within a couple of years those styles seemed very old-fashioned compared to the newly emerging sounds. Did you slowly switch away from industrial/EBM elements because you felt there were greater creative possibilities in the new forms of electronic music?
</span><br />
<div class="et_quote">
<div class="et_right_quote">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"the ultimate sci-fi </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">attitude of a society </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">that was heading into the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">postmodern apocalypse"</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>US:</strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> I felt that “techno” was simply much more resonant with the 1990s and my vision of things. “Techno”, in fact, was a revelation when I first heard it or experienced it around 1990. So, my moving away from industrial/EBM actually happened pretty quickly. However, there were productions of mine which fell into the moment of transition, and hence reflect both sides of the spectrum I was interested in back then.</span></div>
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Much more than “possibilities”, to me “techno” simply was a cultural revolution in the sense that it had a totally different attitude and feeling to it, compared to everything that happened in the 1980s. It was apolitical, for example, while on an emotional level it was “colder”, less passionate than the 1980s ever were, without being “grim” or negative. To me, that was the ultimate sci-fi attitude of a society that was heading into the postmodern apocalypse.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jBcxQfdVSXU" width="100%"></iframe></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>AM:</strong> What were your primary influences at the time you recorded <em>Matter</em>? At times there seems to be a trace of <strong>Cabaret Voltaire</strong>‘s more electro tracks….</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>US:</strong> Yes, there was a lot of Cabaret Voltaire on it, most certainly. Still, I think that <em>Matter</em>, as much as any other production of mine digested all sort of things, not only music. My contact with so-called “industrial” and “EBM” was rather brief, since, due to my age, I discovered it relatively late. Basically “industrial” as such had ceased to exist and transformed into “EBM” some time during the mid 1980s. Therefore it seemed almost like “history” to me.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Perhaps “EBM” can be seen as the transformative link that brought “industrial” to “techno”… however that analysis may be concluded, my contact with both genres was short, yet intense.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>AM:</strong> The production was very advanced for its time – what were you doing that was different? Can you tell us more about how you produced the album?</span><br />
<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Technique and technology</span></h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>US:</strong> I think the difference was that I had no idea whatsoever how to “do things”… that is, mainly out of a lack of interest or possibilities, paired with ignorance, I was on my own when it came to the technique and technology I was able to use to concretize my ideas. There wasn’t really a blueprint to electronic music production, you see… there weren’t online blogs or manuals.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One received very little to no information at all about how other musicians would do things, technologically or artistically. In a way that was very liberating, because I had to come up with methods. My economic means were very limited, since I basically had no income and worked out of my bedroom, where I had accumulated a handful of very basic machines.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Fortunately right around that time “analogue” gear had gotten really out of fashion (1985 onwards), since sampling and “fm synthesis” (Yamaha DX-7) were the hottest thing. Many, many musicians sold their analogue gear cheaply and so I could buy synths for a bargain price.</span><br />
<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Layering sequences</span></h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Still, I only had a cheap digital drum machine and one synth (Moog Prodigy) and a four track cassette tape recorder to compose and outline <em>Matter</em>. Later for the production I managed to get a friend’s sampler too, but basically that was it! With such a small amount of technology, and almost no compositonal experience, I could only compose music by layering sequences on top of each other, without being able to really structure the tracks. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I built each song by tape </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">splicing hundreds of individually </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">mixed segments into one final </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">composition, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I had to structure the songs in my head, planning to do the final arrangement and structure in the professional recording studio in which the album then was recorded. The Moog sequences were conceived on and played by the drum machine, and were then recorded onto 16 track 1/2 inch tape, together with all the other elements, such as vocals, sampled drums, and so on.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Basically, the sound of <em>Matter</em> is the sound of the Moog Prodigy, since it was the main synth used for the production. Once all the material was recorded, I decided that the method of arranging the songs had to be done by building (mixing) all the different sections of a song, one by one, (basically muting/unmuting elements) and then splicing them together on 1/4 in tape (studer).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In the course of the production I not only had to deal with and learn the basics of analogue recording and mixing, but I also learned the technique of tape splicing in order to be able to build the structure of a song myself, instead of depending on a studio engineer. So, instead of programming each section of a song, record it and mix it like that, I built each song by tape splicing hundreds of individually mixed segments into one final composition, which up until that point had only existed in my head.
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Back then I had already been very interested in and fascinated by sequencing, hence it became my main focus on that album. I hadn’t been interested at all in keyboard playing for example, but rather enjoyed the use of abstract “input interfaces” such as the Yamaha drum machine, on which is programmed everything. In other words, I did not input the sequences or melodies using a normal keyboard, but used the 2x12x3 “pad” matrix of the drum machine instead.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It was a very abstract way to compose music, since I never touched the topic of “harmonies” or “musical notes”… everything was just “rhythmical sound”, that either “worked” or “did not work”. It was that very same idea which then fascinated me so much, the moment “techno” or “acid” came along: it just worked with sequences and rhythm, and in a very linear manner.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The whole idea of “tracks” hadn’t been put in words at that time, nor had it been conceptualized really (with a few exceptions) and “layering tracks” instead of “composing songs” was the ultimate thing to me. Looking back at it, even though I was not conscious about it at all at the time, <em>Matter</em> had much more in common with “techno” than I had thought.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/TkQm0YRnzoA" width="100%"></iframe></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>AM:</strong> Was there a specific ‘philosophy’ behind Lassigue Bendthaus? There’s an interesting split between the more recognisably ‘industrial’ tracks and the ethereal, ambient textures (for instance on the first part of ‘Transitory’ or ‘Laternslide’) that would find their way into later LB releases and Atom Heart works.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>US:</strong> I guess there must have been some sort of grid behind “Lassigue Bendthaus”, yet I feel unable to piece everything back together from today’s perspective. Back then I had been studying physics, philosophy and sociology, yet was very into art as well. I think it was a blend of all that, plus the music I listened to, that I brewed into my first musical idea.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I was very young, and absorbed and digested everything eagerly with a certain blend of impatience, ignorance and euphoria. I was interested in post modern philosophy/sociology on one hand (such as the writings of <strong>Jean</strong> <strong>Baudrillard</strong>) to a very big extent, while I was into physics as well.
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The cherry on the cake may have been the fact that I had played drums, before I got hooked on drum machines, so the entire rhythmical approach to music and the new technology that enabled incredible possibilities, kind of interlocked with the abstract ideas behind it. I wouldn’t necessarily use the word “philosophy” though, to describe the grid in which I was operating back then.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Like I said before, everything I did was very intuitive and on a practical level, very often not reflected at all. Almost more important than any philosopher’s theory was, for example, the impact a “linn drum” had on me when I first heard it on the radio. The fact that one could program rhythms, instead of playing them, basically got me hooked on electronic music. These obsessions drove me much more than any theory ever did.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Naturally, the musical style in which said obsession surfaced may just be seen as a minor detail in the overall picture, and hence later releases show similar, if not identical themes and mutations thereof. For somebody thinking in genres and styles, that may seems strange, yet for a human being trapped within himself, it is the most normal thing.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>AM:</strong> There is a vague air of techno-pantheism sometimes, was this obvious to you?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>US:</strong> Not at all!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>AM:</strong> Given that industrial is now seen as aesthetically and sometimes also politically compromised or tainted, it’s interesting to see you place such emphasis on <em>Matter</em> as the first release in the Atom™ series. Could you comment on the influence of industrial in your later works and on how you view industrial now? Is it something you’ve left behind or do you still find value in it? Do you think some who discovered you later are going to be surprised by your industrial past?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>US:</strong> Those are a couple of questions in one. I will try to separate them. As for my being influenced by industrial in the early days, let’s say that I got in touch with it relatively late in its development, when the pure industrial had already transformed in something else (EBM). I would say that I wasn’t that much influenced by industrial as such, but rather by an atmosphere, which is partly shared… the atmosphere of the late 1980s.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When “techno”/”acid” appeared – that breaking away from the 1980s was a much bigger influence on me, than the 1980s, “EBM” or “industrial” ever were. What I really thought should have been left aside, was exactly that political/social attitude industrial had. The 1990s, in my opinion, where unpolitical in the traditional sense, yet, by that absence of political attitude, highly political in its core.</span><br />
<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Postmodern philosophy</span></h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This you may understand a bit better when understanding postmodern philosophy, which defined the absence of political interest as the ultimate political act. In all that, “acid” and “techno” reflected that new era of hyper-politics. The dancefloor, the lack of lyrics, the reduction of everything to an individual (not “social”) event, it all made much more sense to me than the old, 1980s attitude of “social criticism” through lyrics and words.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now, talking about today, I think the 1990s and early 2000s are long gone, and I have a strong feeling that what the world needs today is in fact a re-definition of that edginess that industrial provided. What I think is lacking today are truly radical artists, in the sense of people who are not sucked up by the environment they are perceived in.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I miss art that does not care about the market, the media, the critics, the value, and so on, but truly just cares about itself. “Industrial” in that sense was radical, because it was willing to create something outside any known market… which was its ultimate power and achievement.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In that sense, I would like to bring uncorrupted art back into today’s world and “industrial” is an inspiration for that. You may see such development as a movement of “thesis, antithesis, synthesis”: it was necessary to push away from industrial, go through its anti-pole, and now , on the next level, create the synthesis of the first two steps.
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I think “techno” and “industrial” can learn a lot from each other, always given that both are not seen as “styles” but as methods.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">To the last part of your questions, well, given the fact that my overall catalogue/archive contains a huge variety of musical styles, I think that “surprise” is a continuous experience when exploring it.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>AM:</strong> What are the next releases in the series? Have you selected based on what you see as your most important works or also based on listeners’ opinions?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><strong>US:</strong> There are two releases in the pipeline right now. The 1992 release <em>I-repetitive digital noise,</em> probably the first “techno” work of mine, and the 1994 <em>Orange (Monochrome Stills)</em>, an ambient album which sort of announced my releases on Rather Interesting : the label I founded shortly after. I still don’t know which releases will then be next in the sequence, yet would like to re-release an album or two around February 2014.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-37487280195955595562014-02-06T11:23:00.002+00:002014-02-06T11:24:28.402+00:00Re-post: Keef Baker and commenters on contemporary industrial<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Keef Baker offers a feline <a href="http://www.keefbaker.co.uk/?p=201#comment-97" target="_blank">Metaphor for the decline of industrial music</a>. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"The majority of industrial these days is basically pop music for people who want to dress a bit weird. And you know what? If it was called “electrogoth” I’d have no problem with that. But it isn’t, it shares a name with something which to me was the polar opposite of that and there are people still pushing forward but they tend to get lost in the sea of mediocrity."</span>a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-47026768063056188002013-11-17T13:03:00.000+00:002013-11-17T13:09:00.044+00:00Archive interview: Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire<h3>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e06666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">
An interview conducted by Andy Black Forest in 2010, thanks for the permission to reprint.</span></h3>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e06666;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Stephen
Mallinder Interview 2010</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>You
(Cabaret Voltaire) are often cited as pioneers of
electronica/industrial, how do you feel about being referenced as
such a major influence on modern electronic music?..</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It’s
very flattering and good to know that what we created had impact and
longevity. I think you have to put it into the context of the time
and the place as well and acknowledge how a lot of things were coming
together at the time - in the mid to late 1970s and beyond into the
1980s. This was the last time that we could really identify the
scenes and cultures that were emerging, the volume of music created
now and the way it is heard work against the way we evolved –
basically it was easier to see and hear us.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Although
CV's influence is acknowleged, do you ever feel that theres a whole
period thats been overlooked? <i>Nag nag nag</i> seems to be the
'trendy' Cabs song people reference, but theres so many good tracks
on say, <i>Covenant </i>and <i>Microphonies</i>, aside from the
singles.. You had a really unique sound and take on the
electro/pop/industrial crossover.Do you think sometimes there's too
much focus on the obvious singles? ....</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I think
it's inevitable that certain tracks and periods are picked up on ...
In large part due to the media. Current media has reduced a very rich
and complex period of music to a series of ‘must have’ tracks and
iconic acts. Much as I love New Order, and similar bands, the way its
is portrayed in the media is that was all there was. That same
reduction goes on with bands like us where only one or two tracks
ever get mentioned. But that’s the way it is always is ... A lot of
history gets squeezed out.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Whats
your personal favourite Cabs record and why?</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Oh
blimey, that’s a tough one. We seemed to cover so many phases of
music so I’d have to give a few: From the very early period <i>Sunday
Night in Biot</i>; from the independent days<i> This Is Entertainment
</i>and <i>Sluggin Fer Jesus</i>; I liked Crackdown and Digital Rasta
from the Some Bizarre period and then later clubby stuff Easy Life
and from our own Plastex period the Colours EP.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Reason?
Oh, I think all of them seem to distill the ideas and the vibe of the
periods in which we made them more than other tracks. Having said
that I loved the mashup of us with Public Enemy and Air which came
out recently called ‘Sensorair’. That’s a good representation
of where things are at like it or not – we live in a creative
interactive culture, it’s other people’s jobs to recontextualise
the music. </span><b> </b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>The
audio visual element in the evolution of cabaret voltaire was a key
and unique element … you helped pioneer the industrial aesthetic
and 'look' … What was a big influence on you musicially or
filmwise? … Obviously you started making music in a very political
time ...</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Film
was always important, we always considered ourselves visual, as in
the music had that cinematic quality – textures, moods, ambience
etc. We were always a mirror reflecting back what was happening and
visually the political images were thrown back in a new setting with
sound as the manipulative force ... I’m just about to do a talk on
some of this and I singled out the Coppola film </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
Conversation</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">.
Obviously it was the name of our last real album but also it
encapsulated the idea of ‘sound’ as an almost forensic
application – sound as alchemy - I love the idea of how sound
worked in this context. But there was much more as well with film –
loved things like Popol Vuh soundtracks for Werner Herzog, Henry
Mancini’s music for </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Touch
of Evil</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">
and the way Bernard Herman soundtrack worked with </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Taxi
Driver</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">
... Having said that I loved the music in </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">American
Graffiti</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">
and in </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Vanishing
Point</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">. </span><b> </b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>When
and how did you meet Genesis P Orridge and become involved with
industrial records?</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Kinda
goes back to the answer in the first question - There weren’t that
many people making this sort of music and these statements back then
so we all found each other like heat-seeking missiles. We wanted to
do something with Gen and TG for Industrial and the early attic tapes
seemed the most likely thing as it was at a slight tangent to the
Rough Trade/Factory releases and seemed to fit with the label’s
vibe.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Are
you still in touch with Chris Watson?</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Sadly
no and our paths seem to just miss – at talks or festivals, but
very pleased to see the work he’s done and proud of the work we did
early on.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>The
house music explosion that happened in the late 1980s was embraced by
yourselves and psychic tv..Tell us about your projects post Cabaret
Voltaire - .Sassi and loco etc … </b>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> <span style="font-weight: normal;">I
wanted to run the label – Off World Sounds – and my albums were
part of that. I have always had a very cooperative approach to music
and wanted to give other people an avenue to release music and do
gigs .. I hated the idea of it just being about me. Doing the label
and the promotions side (Off World Productions) was the best way for
me to achieve this. I was doing lots of other things – a producer
of a number of radio programmes, writing for magazines, Djing. Doing
the label with Pete Carroll let me diversify. Mind you, we never made
any money.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Any
particular stories you wish to share, amusing or otherwise from this
period?</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Probably
lots but I’d be here all day ... And that would just be talking
about the Shaun Ryder album.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Any
future plans post this release to release anything under the Cabaret
Voltaire monicker?</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I think
the worst thing that could happen would be to tarnish, or devalue,
the name by using it as a brand. Everything has a time and a place we
should respect that. BUT you never say never.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Any
projects you are currently involved in you want to tell readers
about?</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I did
some stuff with Billie Ray Martin out of Berlin and I’m in the
studio finishing off the Light Programme release which is myself and
Steve Cobby – from Solid Doctor and Fila Brazillia – sounding
really good. And the other project I’m currently doing is Wrangler
– with Benje and Phil from Tunng – very electronic and much fun
to do. I’m always open to stuff and when I get chance I collaborate
– I’m sorting out doing some tracks with Celebratory Murder Party
next.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Are
you active politically in any sense ?</b></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I’m
in favour of direct action so give me a cricket bat and access to
Rupert Murdoch, David Cameron and ... Is Margaret Thatcher dead yet?</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Lastly,what
are your views on the current electronic music scene? Any artists
you'd like to mention or recommend?</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Its
all there in the present and completely subjective so I don’t think
its possible to see things as new, just new to me. Yeah love a lot of
the West Coast electronic stuff – Vibesquad – and Autechre still.
But it's so vast and so available its hard to navigate. As David Toop
said ‘an ocean of sound’ or perhaps sadly as Eno said ‘there’s
so so much of it and it all sounds so familiar’. Still never be
disheartened 'cos there’s so much more to hear and do. </span><b> </b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>c. ANDY
BLACK FOREST for Black Forest, 2010</b></span></div>
a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-43015572178429887752013-06-21T09:34:00.000+01:002013-06-21T09:50:01.739+01:00Interview with Ken Holewczynski of Epoch and Carbon 12 Records<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Epoch is an American martial-industrial project which defies many of the expectations that label might produce. It's work is thoughtful and politically relevant and doesn't present illusions of a return to a glorious past in that way that much music in this style does. Epoch recently released the album <i>Purity and Revolution</i>, which bears traces of SPK, Front Line Assembly and other important artists, but updates the old styles to make them relevant to the current crisis. It uses historical samples to draw parallels between the previous Great Depression and the current day, illustrating the tragic potentials of the present and near future.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0yBNZ-CvrY8" width="560"></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We spoke to Ken Holewczynski to get a better picture of Epoch's agenda and his thoughts on the continuing controversies surrounding the industrial scene.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>Do you see Epoch as continuing the
tradition of socially critical North American industrial associated
with Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy, Die Warzau and others?</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Very much so. One of the initial
reasons I was drawn to industrial music and culture was the fact that
many of the early the artists involved were writing lyrics and music
that were geared towards critical thinkers. They didn't write
traditional music with traditional pop sentiments. I came across FLA
around the time <i>Corroded Disorder</i> came out at the original Wax
Trax! Records store in Chicago. I live close enough to Chicago and I
made plenty of pilgrimages to the store to get my industrial music
fix. They played videos that were on the cusp of the MTV era, except
they played good ones. Front 242, FLA and other European artists were
featured, as they did most of the importing of industrial music into
the US. I think the one video that really struck me on one visit was
FLA's <i>Digital Tension Dementia</i> – the visuals were so
striking.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This is also how I came across Laibach
as I saw the video for <i>Life is Life</i> at Wax Trax! and
immediately began to research and follow the band and more so, NSK .
I'd say idealistically, Laibach had more influence on what I am doing
content-wise, but musically I draw from all of my influences from
EBM, experimental and 90's industrial.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I saw in Laibach a sense of showing a
system for what it is, with their process of over-identification.
However, I don't think that method would necessarily work in the US.
Many Americans are already over-patriotized (is that even a thing?)
and wouldn't recognize the sarcasm or irony of that method.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>The album has a sense of epic
tragedy that's reminiscent of early Front Line Assembly – was their
work of this period an influence?</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I have always been drawn to music that
tends to have some sort of “melancholy” overtones, whether it's
lyrical or musical. Prior to diving into the industrial scene, I
followed bands like Ultravox and additionally, John Foxx with his
solo material and everything they did had this grand sound that was
both tragic and beautiful. Ultravox's early work had a sense of
longing for a time lost, while Foxx sang both of great personal and
cultural dystopias.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Luckily as the entire short-lived “New
Romantic” period in music ended, I came across industrial to move
on to.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
FLA definitely was an early industrial
influence. The dark sounds, deep vocals and open sonic spaces
continued that epic electronic sound that I still try to project. I
know that style of industrial music is still reflected in my
compositions as Epoch and music I wrote back in the 90's was probably
more directly influenced. I hadn't composed in a very long time and I
think the distance now has allowed a development of a more personal
style, but you can still hear that early sound in my work.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj13Ye_Hn-j7snrY-tvHseTiqkppQT6MBR5JdD-J68Ykfx8iqW4WI4zttlwt6PXPpR392JVG3-dOGVAirXHhKVklJllFlsKDz7uxHR0Om1uTSVTpiDdCRmuNcZLZaOu3hdhwocpPg/s1600/Capitalism+Postcard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj13Ye_Hn-j7snrY-tvHseTiqkppQT6MBR5JdD-J68Ykfx8iqW4WI4zttlwt6PXPpR392JVG3-dOGVAirXHhKVklJllFlsKDz7uxHR0Om1uTSVTpiDdCRmuNcZLZaOu3hdhwocpPg/s320/Capitalism+Postcard.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Epoch - Capitalism, from the Purity and Revolution artwork.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>The“narrative”of the tracks is
constructed from the samples, many of which seem to be from the era
of The Great Depression. What is your approach to sampling?</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At this point I feel it's so obvious
that media, world leaders, politicians, what have you, primarily
mislead and redirect everyone. Not that everyone lies (how can you
really tell?), but even though we live in an age of disinformation,
if you actually hear and understand what has been said and planned
since the dawn of the media, you will see a linear path towards
control of central banking, consolidation of commerce and finances,
the destruction of the middle class – not to mention the
indifference to the poor and the advancement of the extreme
viewpoints that I believe are in direct contrast to most people I
know, who tend to be moderates, whether they are conservative or
liberal. Of course there have been periods where the lives of the
average person are improved through legislation and the political
process, but we're at a point where globalization of commerce and
finance are pushing back hard and seemingly waging economic war on
the common man.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So in sampling source material, I look
for sound bites that show, in their own words, the way this has been
shaped. Roosevelt, Bush, Truman and even Oswald Mosley among others
are intertwined to illustrate that there isn't much difference
between the political “isms” of our time. The samples are
interpretive and used to accent, confuse, warn or inform. Using
historical samples reinforce the fact that we should have all seen
the current socio-economic crisis coming.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>How does your audience perceive you
politically?</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So far I haven't been perceived of
leaning one way or another politically. Since re-entering the
industrial scene and specifically the sub-genre of martial
industrial, I've actually been corresponding with other bands and
individuals with varying viewpoints, so I assume that for now, people
find me open-minded to alternative cultures and philosophies.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>How do you respond to the inevitable
accusations that Epoch is advocating a right-wing agenda? (if you
have actually received these)</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
While I haven't been accused of being
right –wing or left -wing, I suppose you're correct in that given
the chosen aesthetic for Epoch, and the fact that I am working within
circles that have some bands with ring-wing agendas, that this
association may be made.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Groucho Marx said, “Politics is the
art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it
incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
While not entirely apropos, Marx's
quote might apply here in trying to associate me with one view or
another.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Perhaps my own agenda with Epoch is a
bit ambiguous and people will read into what they want. I have a
viewpoint that focuses on global situations and corporate fascism
that may be based on my American experience, but translates globally.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Getting back to Laibach and
over-identification and my chosen graphic representation of Epoch, I
didn't feel “going over the top” in an American sort of way was
going to accurately convey the music. If I did, the cover art may
look like a typical country music album. However, I think the chosen
style is accurate. I doubt most people realize that for longest time,
the US dime had the Italian fasces on the back, a symbol used by the
Fascist party, and that the symbol is still in several government
buildings in Washington DC. I find things like this both entertaining
and disturbing.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>What are the differences you see
between American and European audiences for this style of music?</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=15670004" name="_GoBack"></a>I honestly am not
sure how much of an American audience there is for this, although
again, Laibach has its fans here but there aren't other US martial or
neo-folk bands here that I am aware of. The “mainstream” American
industrial scene, and I get the impression the same holds true for
Europe, has been homogenized quite a bit and I wasn't even looking at
the American scene when I started composing as Epoch. Present-day
American folk is simply a regurgitation of hippie culture presented
for the masses and I think I'm treading in a completely different
underground arena here. It would be good to get more exposure in the
US and I have had some of the poster art I submitted to, and was
selected for, the <i>First NSK Citizens' Congress</i> appear in a few area
galleries. This may be an avenue I explore further in both art and
music to reach a larger US audience.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz6Q0xdk1-K4wCoheufTTwTKGx0a8nO0vNT8_HvAJD-pZDW70EbxHI-Z4jzYPU4bbLaZN-0SRSrv_rcsszoImL0hiyMF9ssr1soU_8WGq6dsE_ierZNNBDCeW8nT9lFl4swDJiPQ/s1600/just_say_nein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz6Q0xdk1-K4wCoheufTTwTKGx0a8nO0vNT8_HvAJD-pZDW70EbxHI-Z4jzYPU4bbLaZN-0SRSrv_rcsszoImL0hiyMF9ssr1soU_8WGq6dsE_ierZNNBDCeW8nT9lFl4swDJiPQ/s400/just_say_nein.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Ken Holewczynski - Just Say Nein, from the NSK Folk Art selection presented at the First NSK Citizens' Congress, Berlin, 2010.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
However, in Europe, I have been lucky
enough to gain the support of Casus Belli Musica in Russia, VUZ
Records in Duisburg (an old friend from when I ran my previous label,
Arts Industria in the 1990s) and Castellum Stoufenburc, also in
Germany. They are distributing the CD and through networking I am
finding my audience there.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I have always felt that the more
interesting music was coming from Europe and I even made it a point
to go beyond the obvious British/American music connection to seek
out music from other parts of Europe. I have always been especially
interested in finding artists from Eastern Europe – I suppose it’s
some sort of vague connection to my Polish heritage.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So I guess the underground has
maintained its interest to me. You get a more individual voice from
those scenes and for good or bad, at least it's preferable over pop
music.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So to your previous point, I think
Europe may be a better audience for me, but I may end up being
categorized within the martial scene. I just find there is an
audience there for the type of music I want to pursue and a market
that already exists for it. We will see.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i>Can you tell us more about the
Carbon12 label, its other artists, influences and agenda? </i>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Carbon 12 was basically set up as a
collaborative type label. As I said earlier, I had created the label
Arts Industria in the 1990s and gained a small amount of notoriety
releasing international compilations though the mail and through
newsgroups like rec.music.industrial. AI was created to initially
release my own music but I created many contacts in those days and
all told about a dozen or so comps were distributed.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
With C12, I was approached by long-time
friend, Paul Seegers who plays live keyboards for Assemblage 23 about
starting something similar since he had music he was wanting to put
out and I was wanting to get back into it myself.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As the music scene is even more
difficult to market to now, C12 functions as a marketing co-op more
than a label. The releases we've done so far are financed by the
artists and we simply assist each other with cross-promotion.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The core of this new beginning was Paul
with his project “Thy Fearful Symmetry,” and Laird Sheldahl –
previously in the band Thine Eyes and later on ML and myself. Laird
is another friend from the Arts Industria days. Analog Angel from
Glasgow were a connection made though Seegers and Assemblage 23 and
we'll see what else may pop up as far as the label is concerned.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As we all have vastly different styles
of music, Paul and I discussed the label not having a specific agenda
– it just wouldn't work they way Arts Industria was an “industrial”
label. All the bands associated with C12 are electronic in a fashion,
but that's the only common thread. This may in itself prove to be
limiting for projects like Epoch, but I haven't hit that wall yet.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Perhaps the label in some way, exposes
me as a musical socialist, if the label has any agenda at all.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Lv7C-9ba55g" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
For more information check the <a href="http://www.epochofficial.com/" target="_blank">Epoch website</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</div>
a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-52516311000487987402013-04-20T00:21:00.002+01:002014-08-31T12:25:01.899+01:00Alexander Nym participates in Leipzig Neofolk discussionGrauzonen. Darkwave und Neofolk zwischen Landserromantik und Geschichtsverklärung
<br />
<br />
Montag, 13 May 2013, 7pm, Werk 2
Kochstraße 132, 04277 Leipzig
<br />
<br />
Panel:
Miro Jennerjahn (Landtagsabgeordneter BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN)
<br />
Robert Dobschütz, Leipziger Internetzeitung, früher zuständig für Pressearbeit beim WGT (1999-2000)
Frank Schubert, Forum kritische Rechtsextremismusforschung
<br />
WGT representative, tbc
<br />
Alexander Nym (Publizist und Autor, Kulturwissenschaftler)
<br />
<br />
Musik kann jungen Menschen den Einstieg in menschenfeindliche Gedankenwelten erleichtern und dazu beitragen, menschenfeindliches Gedankengut und Ideologien der Ungleichwertigkeit zu verbreiten. Dabei geht es längst nicht mehr nur um eindeutig identifizierbaren Rechtsrock und Vertreter wie „Die Lunikoff Verschwörung“. Wie zuletzt die Diskussion rund um den Dokumentarfilm „Blut muss fließen“ deutlich gemacht hat, sind menschenfeindliche Thesen und Motive längst auch abseits offensichtlich neonazistischer Musik im Musikbereich präsent.
<br />
<br />
Deutlich wird dies etwa am Beispiel der Südtiroler Band „Frei.Wild“, die sich dem Vorwurf gefallen lassen muss, völkischen Nationalismus in ihren Liedern zu verbreiten. Der angekündigte Auftritt der Band beim nordsächsischen „With Full Force Open Air“, der inzwischen aufgrund von Protesten wieder abgesagt wurde, hat ebenso wie die Echo-Nominierung der Band für Diskussionen gesorgt.<br />
<br />
Abseits der großen medialen Aufmerksamkeit stehen einige Veranstaltungen des „Wave Gothic Treffens“ in Leipzig. Auch hier traten in den letzten Jahren immer wieder Bands oder Gruppen auf, denen eine geistige Nähe zu Ideologien der Ungleichwertigkeit nachgesagt wird. Dieses Jahr soll unter anderem die Neofolk Band „Darkwood“ aus Leipzig auftreten, die in ihren Texten und Ästhetik einen starken Bezug zum Militarismus und der Verklärung deutscher Geschichte aufweist.
<br />
<br />
Oftmals werden solche Bands schnell verurteilt und ebenso schnell entschieden im Namen der Kunstfreiheit verteidigt. Daher stellt sich die Frage, was Musik darf und welche Gefahr von sogenannter Grauzonenmusik ausgeht. Im Rahmen einer Veranstaltung im Vorfeld des „Wave Gothic Treffens“ soll mit Experten und GRÜNEN-Politikern sowie interessierten Gästen diskutiert werden, ob die Vorwürfe gerechtfertigt sind und wie ein angemessener Umgang mit Grauzonenmusik aussehen kann.
<br />
<br />
Das Augenmerk der Veranstaltung liegt dabei auf antimodern-faschistischer Ästhetik und Geschichtsrevisionismus in den Genres Darkwave und Neofolk. Damit richtet sie sich gleichermaßen an Kritiker sogenannter Grauzonenmusik wie an Besucher des Festivals, die sich mit den rechten Tendenzen in ihrer Szene auseinandersetzen wollen.
<br />
<br />
BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN, Werk 2 and L-IZ (Leipziger Internetzeitung).a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-37999852112126690872013-03-04T16:07:00.003+00:002013-03-04T16:16:59.024+00:00SARDH - "Pop Music for Klingons"?<div lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;">We
present a text by Alexander Nym discussing the new album by Sardh –
have they managed to extract new life from well-worn post-industrial
templates?</span><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghb2Me2y-Wm7rB30UIKcfC-Q18E68RYwrgVgZS3HG7hzELMBPDf_WdNJj-s25yjP6U9iuS4PKb4G2hM1NF3M2cvV8qfax08uAko9a7b5EtCh56VXANMizSU5EtYGAbtOJ-Jl23Eg/s1600/bruth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghb2Me2y-Wm7rB30UIKcfC-Q18E68RYwrgVgZS3HG7hzELMBPDf_WdNJj-s25yjP6U9iuS4PKb4G2hM1NF3M2cvV8qfax08uAko9a7b5EtCh56VXANMizSU5EtYGAbtOJ-Jl23Eg/s320/bruth.jpg" width="306" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span><span style="color: #cccccc;">Dresden-based
art group SARDH explore soundscapes spanning the space between the
archaic and the futuristic.</span></div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;">SARDH
is the musical project of a group of established Dresden-based
artists who have been active in a range of creative spheres including
(sound-)installation and video art. Following their appearances with
album-oriented show “ausBRUTH” at Wave-Gotik-Treffen 2010, the
Wroclaw Industrial Festival and the legendary Morphonic Lab event
taking place annually at Dresden's Palais im Grossen Garten, they
advanced to becoming a hot tip not merely for avantgarde-minded
scenesters (which might also be due to the participation of the
notorious Voxus Imp).</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;">The
recently issued album </span><i><span style="color: #cccccc;">Bruth</span></i><span style="color: #cccccc;"> thus draws all registers of
sophisticated sound art at the audio-visual threshold between
experimental electronics and cinematographic ambient expeditions
without shrinking from using heavy, partly disharmonious post-rock
guitars and martial psychedelia which contain splinters of majestic
metal (“tessga tendur”). The vocals are amplified by harsh
effects, reciting cryptic glossolalia or associative semantic
constructions in accord with dadaist (anti-)poetics reminiscent of
Test Dept. at their most impressive (“para elion”). On some
tracks they are reduced to repetitively shouted warnings, but in
general, the understanding of the lyrical content isn't much eased by
the accompanying lyric sheets since SARDH's bruitist cut-up-texts
seem to defy every attempt at intellectual deciphering, deploying
exclusively sonic counterpoints reminiscent in their harsh
scratchiness of some sort black metal poetry. The beats are focussed,
sometimes slightly withheld in a dub way, and used with precise
efficiency in a powerful and mighty way, creating an extensive and
overall tension-laden effect before a backdrop of atmospheric
ambiances and soundtrackish sonic-scapes not unlike those of
pioneering dark ambient artists like Contrastate or Inade – yet the
compositions consist of coherent, rhythm-based song structures,
lending them appealing accessibility, pointedness and distinct space
for development which is used with a love for detail making full use
of the voluminous production. </span><span style="color: #cccccc;">
</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;">Among
the nine extensive, mostly mid- to downtempo pieces there are also a
few dance-floor compatible tracks (assuming you're running a club on
Jupiter, or a 22</span><sup><span style="color: #cccccc;">nd</span></sup><span style="color: #cccccc;"> century bar, or are looking for a
fitting soundtrack for a Matrix-style remake of “Eyes Wide Shut”)
like the previously mentioned, stomping “tessga tendur” or the
primitivist SF-hymn “asterloh”. So when not pushed against the
wall by psychedelic photon-guitars or metal forcefields, moodily
gloomy carpets of sound and spoken-word contributions invite
listeners to stay in the – certainly not humourless – cosmos of
SARDH. Within the richly textured sound structures, the ears are
repeatedly surprised by acoustic ready-mades (field recordings and
found sounds), used rather as stresses and mood setters than as
sampled references; beacons on the path through the convoluted
universe of SARDH. When looking for fitting genre descriptions, the
musically minded journalist's brain is frustrated by </span><i><span style="color: #cccccc;">Bruth</span></i><span style="color: #cccccc;">'s
staunch defiance of any particular style, but
Ritual-Industrial-Ambient-Rock might demarcate a frame of reference
not entirely off the mark. However, this too is too poor a
description to get close to the richness of ideas featuring on </span><i><span style="color: #cccccc;">Bruth</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">,</span></span><span style="color: #cccccc;"> which seems to draw its inspiration directly from post-apocalyptic and
futuristic parallel dimensions.</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span><span style="color: #cccccc;">The
artwork and production emphasise this range between opulence and
minimalism: the cover is adorned by a hand-printed silkscreen design
showing an intricate pattern of jagged lines the connections of which
seem fragile, but in its entirety gives a staunch and solid
impression like the cancellous bone supplying both stability and
flexibility to our musculo-skeletal system. Accordingly, the record
labels show similarly minimalist illustrations depicting likewise
fractured heads of extra-terrestrial visitors – possibly the
portraits of SARDH's actual members?</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;">The
heavy, 180g vinyl discs offer plenty of space for the grooves,
enabling great acoustic depth in sound reproduction which is made
full use of by the production. Every detail of this album
demonstrates the work of people aware of the means to realise their
visions and their ability to use them. </span><i><span style="color: #cccccc;">Bruth</span></i><span style="color: #cccccc;"> is an album
coming across as bulky and in instances even plagiaristic on first
listen, but uncovers its reflected eclecticism and the mature use of
technology, ability, knowledge and enlightened creativity on repeated
listening and can thus be recommended without hesitation not only to
connoisseurs of electro-acoustic avantgarde music. A rare fusion of
ideas realised with both archaic and modern techniques (ranging from
monochord and kaoss-pad to an instrument named piss-pot) amalgamated
with elaborate design to achieve a consistent all-round work of art,
the quality of which should satisfy both sophisticated music
enthusiasts and collectors of rare industrial culture artifacts. </span><span style="color: #cccccc;">
</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;">Alexander
Nym</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;">SARDH: </span><i><span style="color: #cccccc;">Bruth</span></i><span style="color: #cccccc;"> </span><span style="color: #cccccc;">
</span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;">Double
vinyl-LP (Gatefold sleeve with hand-printed silkscreen cover and two
inserts; numbered edition of 300 copies)</span><span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span><span style="color: #cccccc;">Label: self-produced
(mysyc)</span><span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span><span style="color: #cccccc;">Order/contact: contact@sardh.de</span></div>
a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-77122108349272124672013-02-24T13:53:00.003+00:002013-02-24T14:01:00.892+00:00Luther Blisset on Laibach and NSK!Despite some of the Blissets having links to Datacide, Neoism and others, it seems that at least one of the Blissets is able to view Laibach and NSK in a non-doctrinnaire way - "Now, hang on. Think about it a little. For me to admit to being a Laibach fan is not just a detail."
Even now, mentioning Laibach in some activist/autnomist circles is a real transgression. In a sense, this is as it should be - if Laibach is ever totally normalised it will be a sign that it has lost its capacity for full spectrum provocation. Still, there's no shortage of authoritarian, knee-jerk responses to this subject, so it's interesting to see a writer from this end of the spectrum attempting to work through the issues (and kudos for pointing out the under-discussed political aspects of <i>Iron Sky</i>). It's a lengthy text that open up some new angles on the subject and while we may not agree with all of it it's a very refreshing text. <b><a href="http://autonomousuniversity.org/content/overidentification">Read it here...</a></b>a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-51771890410928692692013-01-21T15:02:00.001+00:002013-01-22T13:41:45.134+00:00Avi Pitchon on the Zion Sky compilation<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://s.discogss.com/image/R-3589450-1336472008.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://s.discogss.com/image/R-3589450-1336472008.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Zion Sky, Topheth Prophet – TP025, 2012.</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We
present Avi Pitchon's notes on the 2012 compilation </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Zion Sky</span></span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">,
part of an attempt to apply Laibachian “over-identification”
techniques to the Zionist cultural project. From an I.C.R.N.
perspective the project is interesting not just because of the
wide-ranging musical contents but because of the conscious ways in
which it tries to (mis)-translate the aesthetic and conceptual
strategies of European artists to the Israeli context. It is also
intriguing (and no doubt perplexing for those with a one-dimensional
SWP-derived worldview) to see European neofolk artists engaging with
and perpetuating Zionist aesthetics – something which may offend
elements of their audience as well as their long-term opponents. The
project seems to represent </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">dispersed techniques and strategies
finding new homes in unexpected new contexts although in fact Israeli
counter-culture is far more developed than many outsiders realise and
Israeli artists have been active in industrial, martial and neofolk
circles for some time now.</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u><br /></u></span></span></b></span></div>
<div align="LEFT">
<span style="color: black;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u><br /></u></span></span></b></span>
<span style="color: black;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>The Zion Sky
project</u></span></span></b></span></div>
<div align="LEFT">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Zion Sky
compilation album was produced as part of the '</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Where
to?</span></span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">' art
exhibition, which opened in the Israeli Center For Digital Art in
April 2012, and was released by the Israeli industrial label Tophet
Prophet. The exhibition's theme was hidden/forgotten/neglected
currents in Zionism. The compilation was commissioned and
assembled by Avi Pitchon, aiming to appropriate Laibach's approach
and tactic (without any limitation on musical direction besides
perhaps a general desire for the sound, as well as content, to
express a certain utopian awe) and apply it to Zionist history,
thinking, texts and aesthetics. As opposed to the
historical/research/archival approach of the majority of the
exhibiting artists, 'Zion Sky' follows the intently a-historical
clash of motifs demonstrated by NSK, as well as the revisiting of
Zionism's aesthetic arsenal evident in the work of prominent Israeli artists
like Yael Bartana and the <a href="http://publicmovementenglish.blogspot.co.il/" target="_blank"><b>Public Movement</b></a> performance group. The intention was to speculate
on utopian vectors whose trajectory never completed, to ask a 'what
if?' about Zionism in particular and utopian ideas and movements in
general. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Full details and track
listing can be found </span></span><a href="http://www.discogs.com/Various-Zion-Sky/release/3589450" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">here.</span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<u><span style="color: black;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Zion
Sky: Saluting Those of Fair Hair and Features -</span></span></b></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
Interim Conclusions</span></span></span></span></u></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It
might sound like clichéd curatorial squirming to claim that although
the project did not achieve the objective it set out for itself, what
actually happened instead is more interesting. Well, no, not more
interesting, but surprising, to me at least. The compilation you hold
in your hands was supposed to be something the former Minister of Culture
Limor Livnat would listen to at home with pride. That former Foreign
Minister Avigdor Liebermann would feel comfortable with. Well, all
right, I’m exaggerating. However, as underdogs of Zionist
resistance in pre-state Israel, some Etzel and Lehi underground
veterans might possibly appreciate its melancholy grandeur. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: 400; margin-bottom: 0.42cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When
I advertised the call to contribute to a compilation album, I asked
for music that celebrates Zionism as a utopian idea, as if nothing
had ever gone wrong along the way. Music that would connect with the
original, sweeping, engaging power of a modern national movement from
the school of thought of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe. I
wanted to create a collective musical act of over-identification,
that is, an act that would be ‘more Zionistic than the Zionists’,
and thus remind contemporary Zionism, which is collapsing under the
burden of its own erosion, decay, and the injustice it caused not
only to the non-Jewish residents of Palestine, but also to the Jews
who answered its call for realisation, that powerful, beautiful
utopian grandeur was contained in the original idea. That power
without beauty cannot be just. That beauty without power cannot be
realised. I wanted to create a moment of power and beauty that would
stand before a centre that is gradually losing its mind in the
dangerous panic of a wounded animal. To face it, but not from a
judgmental, seditious, curtailing, sectorial position that is itself
mad with hatred and frustration, but from a position that states: you
were not born in sin. You are not born killers. There was another
way. What would have happened if. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: 400; margin-bottom: 0.42cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
music I received is full of power, awe and beauty. However it could
be said that not one of the participating musicians managed for even
a moment, even jokingly, to forget the present and remember parallel
probabilities that have vanished into oblivion, to the quantum
superposition bureau of lost souls: presence, but not in our
backyard. None of the pieces on the CD managed to sift out the sound
of mourning, of regret. Perhaps the fact that they did manage to
shake free from the rage and frustration for a moment is an
achievement, a first step. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Even
my own contribution to the compilation did not escape this fate.
Maybe because I recorded my track (the naked, minimalist cover
version for the Eurovision anthem, </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kan</span></span></span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> [Here], by Orna and Moshe Datz) after I’d already received all the
other pieces, and the noble, colossally melancholy nymph clung to me
too. The piece by Anat Ben-David is perhaps the closest one in the
compilation to be virtually free of elegiac elements, musically
speaking (yet the lyrics still mention blood and tears). The
romanticism of the non-Israeli participants (tracks 3, 4, 6, 7, 11)
comes from musical traditions that lament the fate of Europe, whether
because of its surrender to globalisation, or its surrender to
Judeo-Christianity. Even Na’ama Bat-Sarah, a skinhead member of the
Jewish Defense League who lives in the JDL's birthplace of Skokie, Illinois
(and appears on the CD under her moniker, Hadar), in a piece from an
instrumental album devoted to the festival of Hanukkah, is more
influenced by the dark industrial ambient music that was born in the
old continent, than the triumphant rejoicing of the festival songs we
are familiar with. The piece by Yarden Erez (originally part of the
soundtrack for </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
Dining Hall</span></span></span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">,
an installation by prominent Israeli artist Sigalit Landau
constructed around the communal washing machine at the back of every
Kibbutz' dining hall) imprints echoes of the Yishuv (pre-state
settlement) days in mechanical, motoric noise, a mechanism that has
lost its way but maintains its routine, clinging to it, incapable of
stopping and restarting itself. Even Alma Alloro’s rendition, on a
primitive Casio keyboard, of a Navy Troupe hit (indeed, military band
songs succeeded in hit parades of the '60s and '70s) doesn’t sound
joyous even for a moment. The two archival pieces – by Ma’atz and
Duralex Sedlex, both from the '80s – are important for the
compilation as representations of art that spoke a political language
but with the same aesthetic force of those it confronted. The power
of </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hasha’on
Hahistori</span></span></span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
(The Historical Clock) is in its detachment from the whimpering of
the sanctimonious Left of the city squares, and its mobilisation of
the ‘move, move, destroy’ (as goes the iconic Hebrew sample of
Six-Day War orders shouted through military radio communications)
momentum driving the pioneering sample-work that lead the piece and
directing it against the movers and destroyers. Had the piece not
possessed monumental grandeur, merely only opposition and defiance,
it would not have been included in the compilation. </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Shir
Hagiben</span></span></span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
(The Hunchback Song) achieved the original objective of this CD
twenty years ago when it was performed in a Trojan-horse act of
malicious over-identification at a 'Jabotinsky Quiz' TV broadcast
toward the end of the Shamir administration, in 1992. Thus it marks a
probability of endeavour that I believe can still be continued. A
torch worthy of being picked up. </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
song is the point of departure of my work in </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Where
To?</span></span></span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> from the start, and the entire CD departs from the forgotten moment
it created in actuality, for the purpose of commemorating and
continuing it. The pieces by Seven Morgues and Poochlatz, Israeli
representatives of dark ambient and power electronics, genres born in
a Europe that looks back at the abyss of 1945, are filled with the static
noise of collapse and destruction. The sweet rendition of the
children’s song that concludes the CD is a lullaby of what was, the
tears flow on their own, absorbed in dementia-ridden soil, sprouting
the desire for the lost grandeur of belonging, the justness of the
path, for realisation embodied in the golden orange fruit my mother,
a seven-year-old Holocaust survivor, was handed as a welcome present
as she disembarked from the immigrant ship, as it was manifested in
warm Saturday afternoons of my childhood, playing football on the
banks of Tel-Aviv's Yarkon River, my late grandfather standing
behind, watching over me with a proud smile, wearing his suit as
always, the Thessalonikian that he is.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; margin-bottom: 0.42cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Avi Pitchon</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-34777420111611766512012-12-20T00:00:00.000+00:002012-12-20T07:32:02.546+00:00I.C.R.N. presents... Spot the differenceSince it's Christmas we thought we'd share a little festive teaser with you to mark the occasion of the <a href="http://www.unkant.com/2012/11/amm-xmas-party-where-rubbish-meets.html" target="_blank"><b>Unkant Christmas party</b></a>. Can anyone spot the difference between the goodreads.com user Andy Wilson, who gives Andy Wilson's book on Faust 5 stars and the the goodreads.com user Andy Wilson who wrote Andy Wilson's book on Faust? Could they by any chance be related?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIz8roVIFXXIo-TY_cQ6VwsNKfF2NKxLhqZDcjiTngFv8MUcN31JVbLp-bICmPgfx_59I-V_dNbC2tsS-dVq4etVAAavicHdxH3G9iz8nAud4scHyyXOAx9REsptNcwoWQOjk7A/s1600/aw5s.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIz8roVIFXXIo-TY_cQ6VwsNKfF2NKxLhqZDcjiTngFv8MUcN31JVbLp-bICmPgfx_59I-V_dNbC2tsS-dVq4etVAAavicHdxH3G9iz8nAud4scHyyXOAx9REsptNcwoWQOjk7A/s400/aw5s.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A very modest man...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We only ask since this Andy Wilson seems to be a fan not only of his Association of Musical Marxists (AMM) colleague Ben Watson but of our old friend Stewart Home...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij9FkEW7wakZiHuEo_3IAg7hT50G059vRYskNq-Z2DbEGTB1zjQy8L9yZij2zISHl6OYqqztzZbjRdyFq2K62ZxwavoluD3obNULH2ynjsQmwHPxIa6sCHGggpu6GTklouYx8btA/s1600/awprofile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij9FkEW7wakZiHuEo_3IAg7hT50G059vRYskNq-Z2DbEGTB1zjQy8L9yZij2zISHl6OYqqztzZbjRdyFq2K62ZxwavoluD3obNULH2ynjsQmwHPxIa6sCHGggpu6GTklouYx8btA/s400/awprofile.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">.... with much to be modest about.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We also note in passing that if you search for <i>Who Makes the Nazis?</i> on the <a href="http://www.unkant.com/search?q=who+makes+the+nazis" target="_blank"><b>AMM page</b></a> you get some very interesting reading material. It's certain that AMM and Unkant are very much singing from the same hymn sheet and that they're linked to Datacide and other WMTN supporters. What could it all mean? Perhaps once their Christmas party is over Strel. and The Gang can use their renowned investigative skills to clear up the confusion.a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-81851319026645519022012-12-08T21:03:00.000+00:002012-12-08T21:04:14.072+00:00Misogyny in industrial<span style="font-size: large;">Coilhouse recently published <i><u><a href="http://coilhouse.net/2012/11/on-misogyny-in-industrial-music/" target="_blank">this interesting piece</a></u></i> attacking the attitudes of some contemporary "industrial" groups (the fact that a group like Nachtmahr is considered industrial suggests just how low the form has sunk). We present this as although we don't fully endorse it and there seem to be a couple of factual errors, it does raise useful questions constructively and gives examples of (post)-industrial performers intelligently criticising problematic tendencies from within the scene - a productive and useful contrast to externally-generated authoritarian approaches.</span><br />
<br />
<br />a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-68165124809579831372012-12-08T20:49:00.000+00:002012-12-08T21:15:29.269+00:00Industrial fanzine archive<span style="font-size: large;">Shock Corridor is a really useful resource for understanding industrial culture. The scans of the British publication <i><a href="http://shock-corridor.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Music%20From%20The%20Empty%20Quarter" target="_blank"><u>Music from the Empty Quarter</u></a> </i>are especially interesting...</span>a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-25311926578966142132012-02-19T20:32:00.001+00:002012-02-20T20:44:05.248+00:00Alexander Nym: A Call to Arms<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">So
you still think you can control them?”</span></i></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We
present a text by Alexander Nym reflecting on alleged events at the </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Neofolk Rauhnacht
</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">event
in Leipzig and their implications. The group at the centre of this
discussion is Triarii and some of its fans. It is the project of
Christian Erdmann who is supported live by members of Werkraum and
Wappenbund (Axel Frank and Volker Neumann). </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Triarii
is actually a martial, rather than neofolk group, whose iconography
and references seem to point only in one direction: the first album
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Ars Militaria
</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">includes
the track </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Der
Verwundete (In Memoriam Arno Breker). </span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">As
this is largely instrumental music there are no explicit viewpoints
perpetrated but the aesthetic is clearly a militarist-imperialist one
that seems to contain few if any ambiguous, balancing or
contradictory elements. </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">This
is </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">not </span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">to
say that we are attributing direct political intentions to the group
nor making any definitive political categorisation on a purely
aesthetic basis: great care and further research would be necessary
before doing so and we are well aware of the risks of making serious
political accusations based on insufficient evidence. However,
Triarii certainly does not seem to make any effort even to introduce
any ambiguity to its work or to steer clear of ideological branding.
If the reports from the gig discussed here are correct it would seem
that Erdmann gave a “Roman salute” from the stage and that some
audience members returned Nazi salutes. If correct, it's hard to see
this as anything other than cheap collaboration, naïve flirtation or
direct affirmation.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Even some brief research online
reveals Triarii tracks set to NS-propaganda footage:</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6WeU2vg0KQ"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6WeU2vg0KQ</span></span></span></a></u></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">In
this case the uploader, AveEuropa, has set the track </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Victoria
</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">to
a video entitled </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Reinhard
Heydrich - The Blonde Beast</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">,
dedicated to the notorious SS leader killed by the Czech resistance:</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.youtube.com/verify_controversy?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3Djbmkr-uhza0%26feature%3Dfvsr"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">http://www.youtube.com/verify_controversy?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3Djbmkr-uhza0%26feature%3Dfvsr</span></span></span></a></u></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Comments
below this video include “HEIL OUR ARYAN LEADER</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Tahoma";"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">HEIL
HEYDRICH” and “If this man had suplanted Hitler, German would
have won the war. Heydrich's assassination</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Tahoma";"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">was
one of the most pivoted moments in our history.” Perhaps Triariii
are unware of these videos or enjoy maintaining a position of
transgressive tolerance but if they really object to them they could
surely get them removed or disown them.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">To put it mildly, Triarii seem
to have a problematic fanbase, both online and in the concert halls.
Trairii's defenders might argue that theirs is a purely aestheticist
position, but the reports from Leipzig seem to suggest otherwise.
Even if they simply find it amusing to have such fans or use them to
subsidise their operations, they are playing a very dangerous game
that could jeopardise the scene that they are part of. Perhaps some
are hoping that should they be able to gain control of the scene they
can carry out an ideological Gleichschaltung (the Nazi euphemism for
the post-1933 purges), removing the decadent, Gothic, industrial and
neofolk elements of the audience and leaving a cleansed hard core
audience able to unambiguously and unapologetically enjoy an entirely
affirmative music and style in the service of a criminal ideology. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is why Nym's “call to
arms” is important. Acknowledging that rightist infiltration is not
just a myth spread by those opposed in principle to all neofolk,
industrial and martial is necessary and important. As Nym points out,
“neofolk” as a name is one that begs for trouble and it has
surely found it: not just from the self-appointed censors from
left-wing splinter factions but, more ominously, from right-wing
factions who will be happy to turn it against itself, abusing its
counter-cultural, contrarian glamour for just long enough to assume a
hegemonic position, after which the cleansing can begin. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The intellectual, alienated,
non-affiliated Neofolk listeners Nym describes are at direct risk
from unambiguously rightist incomers whose real cultural values are
inimical to any kind of distance, qualification, ambiguity or irony,
all of which have been traditional aesthetic and conceptual qualities
of much of industrial and its uncanny, ambivalent successors, neofolk
and martial. The transgressive thrill of enjoying the proximity to
malice and danger undoubtedly have their attraction for many, often
only increased by simplistic “politically correct” criticism.
However, there is definitely a need for self-consciousness,
self-criticism and self-assertion from within the scene if its
protagonists don't wish it to fall into darkness far more permanent
and fatal than the average Death in June fan would like to imagine.
This should be done not to appease leftist critics or to clean up the
reputation of these styles and prevent repetitions of the Leipzig
acts, but (also) for aesthetic reasons to prevent the triumph of
one-dimensional, mindlessly affirmative music and the reactionary
forces that support it. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I.C.R.N., February 2012.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Two "procedural" points: </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Firstly, as we have said, the
exact stance of Triarii in relation to these issues and events needs further
clarification and any further information on this question would be
welcome. The accounts here have been confirmed by several informants, all long-standing members of the scene.</span></span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Secondly, despite what some may
wish to believe, there is no permanent I.C.R.N. secretariat with
limitless time to dedicate to moderating blog discussions. We hope
that this text will provoke discussion in a range of other forums and
contexts, but I.C.R.N. is only the starting point for and not the
platform for this debate.</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size: large;">A
CALL TO ARMS</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">If the neofolk scene wants to survive, it has to
take up resistance against Fascist entryism – and reclaim its sense
of humour while doing so.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">By Alexander Nym</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">DISCLAIMER:</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">This
text may contain much (background) information and terminology
familiar to neofolkers, which may be unfamiliar to those less
involved in the scene. So please, bear with me through the
necessarily lengthy and dreary introduction. All cited instances of
aggression, discrimination and closed-mindedness during the event
described were reported to me first-hand by those who experienced
them. Though I attended, I was unaware of most of them until
after</span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size: large;">wards. As
I was unable to counteract or challenge them there and I'm now
writing this text, which I hope will be a useful contribution to this
ongoing debate.</span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size: large;">1)
Emergence</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">First, allow me to discuss briefly the extent and
history of my involvement with the so-called neofolk-scene in order
to prevent misreadings of what I'll say here. Despite the fact that a
good deal (though certainly not all) of my friends are fans of and/or
musicians within the field termed neofolk, those personal connections
largely date back to when that particular strand of underground music
was considered a part of (Dark) Wave, post-punk/industrial, and the
term “apocalyptic folk” was in use (a term I found to be a more
precise description than the more general neofolk meme), and I
readily admit to having been what I'd call a post-goth, for what it's
worth. For when I changed garment colours from simple black to
hippie/psychedelic camouflage colours and patterns at the start of
1993, it was first and foremost due to personal dissatisfaction with
the contemporary Goth scene in Germany, which I perceived as becoming
increasingly “trendy” and conformist (coinciding with the rapid
revival of Goth in Germany during the early 90s), and while the
solemn, and by comparison extreme expression of fundamental
disagreement with and resistance to mainstream “pop“ culture was
becoming a mere reproduction (if dressed all in black) of
intrinsically hierarchical and conservative patterns of wider
society, I found the transition from dark and withdrawn to militant
uniform garb a natural one. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size: large;">If
a scene priding itself on individualist freedom of expression and
critically minded distance from the rest of society was turning into
a self-referential mockery of the wider pop-culture of which it had
always been a part anyway (if, perhaps in the role of devil's
advocate), why not mirror the subtle process of that erosion by
taking the logical step and, instead of using the banishing charm of
Black, use the very signifier of uniformity by its deconstructive
abuse into a militant signal of disagreement with what everyone else
was doing unconsciously (or, even willingly) regarding submission to
style- and dress-codes which had erected clear “ideological”
boundaries between youth subcultures like punks, goths,
psychobillies, teds, mods, skinheads, metalheads, etc. By the
mid-90s, the all-absorbing sweep of techno had made such boundaries
superfluous and instead spawned a new array of more or less utopian
countercultural patterns such as FOPI (Family of Psychick
Individuals), goa raves, dreadlocked neo-hippie grunge rockers,
medievalists, dawning cyberculture, urban shamanism, in short: the
Awakening of the Tribes </span></span><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size: large;">in
line with the “Archaic Revival” celebrated by people like
Terrence McKenna, RU Sirius, Hakim Bey and Douglas Rushkoff. Among
the last remaining aesthetic fronts not engaged in technophilia,
neo-futurism and a generally optimistic vision of the future,
“neofolk” emerged as their evil twin brother: a neo-primitivist,
mythologically inclined and by its very nature irrational
DIY-movement for disenfranchised youth who had exchanged the suddenly
ubiquituous sequencers and samplers for acoustic guitars and kettle
drums, protesting against the sellout of their hard-earned
individualist ideas and an unclear idea of pan-European identity to
the spectre of all-pervading consumerism and corporatism (both of
which, it must be stressed, are strong vectors in the hyper-marketing
of youth-/counter-cultural codes and styles resulting in their
commodification and neutralisation; a poison which the neofolk scene
has shown a resolute immunity against).</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yet
another twist in the complicated history of youthful revolt: in an
era when (in both absolute and relative terms) far more people were
ingesting psychedelic entheogens and realising their dyonysian
potential at large-scale raves, the counterpoint to this
counterculture invested itself in outdated aesthetics, controversial
imagery and anything but progressive philosophies, taking further the
conservative twist post-punk had taken with the Goth scene after its
formative phase. From this perspective, it might not seem too
incidental that the surge of neofolk's popularity in the burgeoning
Goth scene of the early 90s originated in the traditionally
conservative minded Bavaria in Southern Germany, and was taken to new
heights by youths in the Eastern part of the country who had little
to no historical identity models at their disposal, be it the failed
GDR or the Federal Republic of (Western) Germany, which had simply
taken over what was left after the GDR's demise. No surprise then,
that those kids developed an interest in what had been before,
spanning the German experience from pagan times to the infamous Third
Reich, and the more provoking the references were to the new
reunified bourgeoisie, the better. In a country run by the veterans
of the 1968 student revolts, what better oppositional stance was
there to adopt than to display interest in the dark era of German
history, the one which had spawned the uneasy post-war truce their
parents had rebelled against 25 years before?</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">However, while
there were undoubtedly very unconventional notions of conservatism
around (one need only look at the topics covered by the scene's most
infamous zine, “Sigill”), in my experience, this milieu
nevertheless managed to attract particularly the disenfranchised, the
alienated, the introverted individualists, regardless of whether they
shared a solid upper-middle class upbringing (as sociological
observations indicate), or how they positioned themselves in relation
to their household's intrinsic conservatism, the church etc., it is
in my experience safe to say that higher education, intelligence and
cultural awareness, together with a certain sarcastic, sometimes
cynical sense of humour (not lacking a dark streak) are shared traits
of that particular subculture.</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">2)
Fascist Entryism is not a myth</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">During the 1990s, the emerging
neofolk-controversy revealed both the actually existing
neo-fascist/third positionist entryism (aimed at the whole spectrum
of youth subcultures, not limited to neofolk, but certainly attracted
by it) and the sometimes hysterical reactions to it, usually
articulated by outsiders, or presented in ridiculously generalistic
ways, thus alienating a good percentage of those at whom such
reactions were directed. Those concerned certainly debated the same
issues among themselves, but agreeing on a few givens (DIJ are not
Nazi, don't judge a book by its cover, enjoyment of
“controversial/transgressive” art; the sweet taste of “forbidden
fruit” – especially when growing up in Germany!) meant that
further discussion with hysterical and ideologically dogmatic
activists of any sort was utterly useless, resulting in accusations
that the scene was holding back from discussing the initial charges
(which had focussed on individual musicians or groups, not their
audience), and was failing to address the Nazi-problem which, for
many, seemed to be blown out of proportion. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="font-size: large;">By applying ideological
pressure and coercive tactics, the antifascist protesters would only
succeed in creating more aversion towards their arguments and thus
ease access for right wing entryism, enabling and nurturing an
informal alliance along the lines of “my enemy's enemy is my
friend” with people whose agenda, if allowed to prevail, would
systematically destroy the very same tolerance, open mindedness and
peacefulness which are characteristics of both goth and neofolk, just
as antifa-activists tried to push their own ideas of “valid” art
& entertainment onto what they perceive as an anti-modernist,
crypto-fascist elitist bunch of would-be-Übermenschen, despite (or
because of) the fact that many of the latter have roots in the
anarchist/antifa-spectrum themselves. The few cases of
structural/financial neonazi-/fascist dabblings in the scene are well
known and, thankfully, isolated incidents, but nevertheless they did
take place. But back to those most concerned, the fans of the music
itself.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">A good deal of the pleasure those people get out of
openly reactionary ideas is the abhorrence they create in their
uninitiated peers. Add to this brew the youthful confusion of
fascinated newcomers, some from (NS-)Black Metal, some from the
neopagan scene, but still mostly from (ex-)goth and industrial
circles, which entails an almost natural interest in fringe ideas,
“extreme” art and gloomy aesthetics like dark romanticism,
occultism/mysticism, satanism, social darwinism, chaos magick,
eco-terrorism etc. All this can easily lapse into dabbling in
völkisch runic cults, Black-Sun-mythopoiesis, and the immersion in
Heinrich Himmler's rather childish esoteric fantasies. This creates a
field of references so broad and open to interpretation that
tolerating other's readings of the same sources becomes a necessary
tool of survival. Yet, this is also the key to opening the gates of
entryism.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">3) If you don't give a shit, why should
I?</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Tolerance is being abused and turned against itself when
simple-minded ideological types, be they from the left or right,
appear at neofolk/industrial gatherings, which enable a community of
people of the most diverse interests to get together to enjoy the
textual poaching of their own controversial narrative, rather than
the tiresome political game that so many on the scene have discarded
and dropped out of anyway. However, while transcending mundane party
politics to celebrate tolerance and diversity might be an admirable
social practice, it is exactly that tolerance that begins to enable
its abusers to infiltrate and promote/show open support for ignorant
and bigoted belief systems from a century that's past for many good
reasons. Then the scene starts to endanger its own subcultural niche
of existence. That's the point when it stops being funny, witty,
provocative, playful, irresponsible, you name it, and becomes a
danger to itself.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Based on my knowledge of the neofolk scene
and the individuals that compose it to be, these people aren't
“Wolves”, they are rather the sensitive, the hurt, the
unconventional, the outcast and the ostracised, generally speaking
the more brainy/emotional types than your regular
testosterone-drenched rock audience. When repeatedly confronted with
openly aggressive behaviour patterns like those demonstrated at this
year's New Year's Eve “Neofolk Rauhnacht“ at Leipzig's
Theaterfabrik, where it is reported that there was repeated
Sieg-Heiling during TRIARII's performance. Austrian “Pan-Germanic”
thugs harrassed a concert-goer for not speaking German (not the only
incident of this kind) and some drank toasts for a “Jew-free new
year“ without the slightest hint of self-irony, political satire or
black humour (not that any of those would excuse such bad taste). If
such incidents were to become the norm rather than the exception (and
it should be emphasised that the troublemakers were NOT those
costumed in uniforms) the rather mild-mannered, friendly-minded
neofolker (who very often has above average education and income)
would probably rather avoid getting into potentially harmful
situations, and would not travel hundreds of kilometres and pay for a
hostel to see weird acts and meet like-minded friends from afar and
risk being harassed for *not being Nazi enough*. All this would thus,
let's face it, make events like the Neofolk Rauhnacht impossible in
the most mundane financial way. This scene is too small in numbers to
be able to survive without the frenetic long-distance audiences from
abroad. There were people from literally all over Europe present at
the event – evidence that the “Sons (and daughters) of Europe”
have indeed arisen and a united Europe has already manifested itself.
But without its character of exclusivity, its air of dark cabaret and
the thrill of participating in a controversial, potentially
“dangerous“ game while practicing its difference (and
indifference) to the cultural mainstream, the neofolk scene would
either dissolve, or fall into the hands of neonazi thugs, be they
rootless East-Germans looking for identity, völkisch pagan
radicalists or “racially aware“ NSBM-fans or coming from wherever
else such infiltrators have sprung from.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">4) “I've seen
the future, brother...” – it's a dead end!</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">While neofolk
as a music genre and community and its perceived entry points for
backward thinking might not be the actual problem, for racism,
bigotry and ignorance tend to thrive among the simple-minded, the
uneducated and the socially disadvantaged, neither is it a solution.
Philosophically, its frame of reference increasingly limits itself to
referencing a “provocative“ (often more offending than offensive)
canon of figures from the conservative revolution, WW2 and the new
right, despite the abundant richness of European culture they could
easily draw from instead. Aesthetically, the last ship had already
sailed when the term “neofolk“ was first coined, and there's no
fresh blood in sight. When “Europa“ is invoked nowadays, it is
done in ways that appear remote and redundant rather than being
pertinent to the current overall situation in Europa and beyond. If
anyone should find a truly relevant social commentary to the world
THIS summer in any recent neofolk or martial/military outfit, please
drop me a line. To quote LAIBACH, “it's a burnt aesthetic“, and
musically its apex in the post-cold war, post-apocalyptic yet
millenarian 1990s has never been surpassed.</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Counteracting
this artistic nullity, there were only few acoustic guitars at play
at the “Neofolk Rauhnacht“, and one of them came from TRIARII's
backing track. Pathetic and pitiful, to say the least. Why not have
the stiff affirmative “fans“ standing to attention with staring
but empty gaze throughout the show perform actual military service
and get their asses shot off in some dirty ditch? People voicing
support for the “re-militarisation“ of Europa's nations (a notion
that's sooo 19th century, but ah no we chose to call it
“anti-modernist critique“, wtf) should be held true to their
words and forced to join up. If they really get off on authoritarian
hierarchy, outmoded gender roles and clichéd ideas of glory and
heroism, they deserve nothing less than being confined to barracks –
for that authentic camp feeling!</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size: large;">The
main problem seems to me that both the grim humour and the
provocation of neofolk have disappeared. TRIARII's show only
succeeded in provoking the most earnest veterans of the scene to
leave the hall in open disgust for putting on an unabashedly
affirmative image, and being unnervingly boring and bland in doing
so. Which left them to play to an audience that didn't feel provoked
at all, nor did it perceive any of the contradictions neofolk prides
itself of. Perhaps because there had been no such contradictions?
While the musicians themselves are known not to have sympathies for
the Nazi-dictatorship, their performance didn't offer any aesthetic
breaks or thought-provoking contradictions to confront, confuse and
confound those in plain appreciation of the empty simulation of
monumental heroism. One could argue that the total absence of such
breaks conforms to LAIBACH's presentation strategy in the late 80s,
when both left and right were seriously irritated at the Slovenes'
stage shows. However, this particular strategy operated precisely
with contradictions, juxtapositions and overidentification. With
TRIARII, only the (over-)identification remains. It would have been
far more interesting (and way funnier) if they had presented
themselves not as plainly affirmative, but contradictory artists, not
mere embodiments of their favourite aesthetic, and gave the audience
something to chew on and think about, instead of a stale
celebration.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">5) So, this laughter kills
fascists?</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Seriously people, it's essentially the ability to
laugh at oneself that sorts the illuminated, truly meta-political
people from those who need ideologies of strength and power to make
up for their own feelings of inadequacy, weakness and frustration.
Isn't it strange that social darwinism, if taken literally, would put
precisely those at evolutionary risk who are fondest of loudmouthing
it?</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Yet, they don't get the joke, and if you were to tell
them, you'd be likely to get into trouble, but certainly not the kind
of noisy but abstract nuisance that the antifa occasionally likes to
stage, but a concrete and physical danger. Not merely on the personal
level, but for the scene as a whole. How would you react if someone
next to you at a neofolk/martial gig were to give the “Roman
salute“ or shout “Sieg Heil!“ at the stage? </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Right, you
wouldn't care. Perhaps you'd shrug at such a misplaced sign of lack
of independent thinking, but you probably wouldn't dare confront such
behaviour, because it doesn't concern you, or worse, you might get
into an ugly situation.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">How do we cope with such a threat,
most of my peers including myself being peaceful intellectuals who
can't remember the last time they got into a fight – and wouldn't
exactly love to repeat experiences made after the demise of real
existing socialism, when actually existing skinheads used to attack
unusual looking people and hunt them with baseball bats –
threatening, among others, THOSE FAGS FROM DEATH IN JUNE in Leipzig
in 1992, believe it or not. Ask Ossian Brown about it, if you run
into him (this, of course, is not mentioned in Aldo Chimenti's DIJ
biography).i</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Frankly, I'm turned off by the way that people
like WMTN are trying to scrutinise, gauge and judge from the outside;
I'd much rather plead for clear consciousness within, and the courage
to take a strong and proud stand wherever racism, ignorance and
bigotry rear their ugly heads and threaten people, or the expression
of their ideas, even if they're as stale as TRIARII's. Instead, I
suggest a Discordian, chaos-magickal and fun approach.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">What
were to happen if neofolk acts suddenly jumped the “crypto-communist“
train and acted out all kinds of Warsaw-pact-style rallies, seemingly
glorifying Stalin etc? The fans would certainly enjoy it, yet not the
stiff ones. And a whole good deal of the population of Leipzig, now
that I come to think of it. A goldmine of provocation waiting to be
harvested. Another strategy could be exaggeration ad extremum,
following LAIBACH's example of overidentification, to systematically
unveil the absurdity of supremacist ideologies – turn the wheel of
extremism too far for even the extremists. Next time when someone
makes a racist remark or gives a Nazi salute, why not recommend
killing *everyone* and be done with it (to give a really simple
example)? Challenge stupidity and close-mindedness to mock them by
uncovering the inherent absurdity of their mindset, instead of having
them spoil our fun.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">What would happen if, as an ultra-true
neofolk-dinosaur friend of mine suggested, people started wearing
brown clown's noses at such events? Would that be enough of an
in-joke to put off the real fascists effectively enough to drive them
away for good? For, in my experience, it is exactly this ability to
laugh at oneself and not take oneself so seriously as to spoil the
fun of controversial attitudinising, which divides the ironic
connoisseurs of neofolk et al from those folks who simply take it in
as a reification of their supposed stance? Or have some of them even
become recognisable faces, distant friends of friends; is the enemy
already within? Where does the “coeur noir“ really beat?</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">I
for one choose not to retreat, nor to submit; even though I'm not
into most of this music, I have no intention of letting this
subcultural haven, this bizarre tribe, this unique community of truly
committed and colourful beings some of whom I'm proud to call my
friends fall into the dominion of the blind. And knowing the actual
personal politics of many of those who put on, perform at and visit
such events, neither will they.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">AN 120112</span></span></span></span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="background: transparent;"><span style="font-size: large;">i
– Aldo Chimenti: Verborgen Unter Runen/Nascosto Tra Le Rune,
Leipzig 2012 (German edition)/Milan 2010 (Italian edition)</span></span></span></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-64717832301732883362011-10-16T17:25:00.003+01:002011-10-16T17:27:03.164+01:00Extensive interview with Adi Newton (Clock DVA)The Belgian magazine Peek A Boo has published an interview with interesting news on imminent Clock DVA releases and some of the ideas behind the group. Read it <a href="http://www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be/en/interviews/clock-dva/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">here...</span></a>a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-34553811792043064442011-09-19T13:09:00.001+01:002011-09-19T13:11:04.116+01:00Laibach Gesamtkunstwerk: Dokument 81-86 Box Set<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHzZEGRODIB1Bql1JxYzCY1ka_SFiGlSXL3_477wimQNbUe5Vvqrwg2-gNZlt7IfkfVM2LUmKW37co3Uqhl7hvff_Im_nZ1I0nNYBc9XeoBBa2I4PSDQcjX2prcxaHgU_Wch7NQ/s1600/PromophotoBox2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLHzZEGRODIB1Bql1JxYzCY1ka_SFiGlSXL3_477wimQNbUe5Vvqrwg2-gNZlt7IfkfVM2LUmKW37co3Uqhl7hvff_Im_nZ1I0nNYBc9XeoBBa2I4PSDQcjX2prcxaHgU_Wch7NQ/s320/PromophotoBox2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This deluxe box of rare archive audio and video is </span><a href="http://vinyl-on-demand.com/index.php?ln=1&navid=6&sid=&shopid=24&open=353#353" style="color: green; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">available now from Vinyl on Demand</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. Besides the five LPs, DVD and deluxe artwork there is an extensive booklet edited by Alexei Monroe. There are also exclusive texts from Donald Campbell, Igor Vidmar, Michael Goddard and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Aleš Leko Gulič, shedding new light on the social, cultural and political conditions that shaped the first phase of Laibach's activity. </span></span></span></div>
a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-5416612080790153652011-09-12T18:18:00.003+01:002011-09-12T22:26:38.817+01:00Peter Webb discusses Neofolk at Subcultures ConferenceI.C.R.N. member Peter Webb will be discussing Neofolk together with Anton Shekostkov and others the Subcultures conference at London Metropolitan University. It should provide an opportunity for a measured and constructive discussion of neofolk and recent associated controversies. The session is scheduled for 10AM this Thursday 15th. Full details of the event can be found <a href="http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/depts/fass/research/subcultures/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">here</span></a>.a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-88546912628614161672010-10-12T12:09:00.006+01:002010-10-13T00:25:09.698+01:00Statement by Peter Webb of I.C.R.N. on Neofolk<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span>Following some recent hostile commentary on his work on Neofolk, Peter Webb has asked us to publish the following statement. It is possible that both parties may be somewhat over-stating the ideological/conformist power of the scene - certainly some insidious ideas are being re-circulated, but it's unclear how many political converts such groups win in this way. From (somewhat distant) and anecdotal observations of the scene, we have the impression that listeners are tiring of by-numbers Neofolk accompanied by rightist references and that the movement may have passed its peak. It's also worth remembering that now Neofolk is a codified 'style', some producers probably make such references as an act of aesthetic rather than ideological conformity. Constant banal propaganda can sometimes have the opposite effect to that intended by its creators. Nevertheless, there are important and legitimate questions to be considered here...<br /></span></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Statement on Neo-folk and Post-industrial music in response to Whomakesthenazis.com and a.n.other `commentator’!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I have been alerted to the contents of this blog <a href="http://www.whomakesthenazis.com/">www.whomakesthenazis.com</a> and one other website and feel that I have to respond to the criticism and confusion that seems to link my work to some kind of support or covert agreement with some of the ideas that are discussed here in the Fascist, Conservative Revolutionary or Traditionalist sphere. I firstly want to make clear that my work in `Exploring the Networked Worlds of Popular Music’ (2007) is partial and a discussion and description of some element of the Neo Folk/post-industrial music scene in amongst chapters on hip-hop, Bristol’s music culture, the Independent music production of Crass and a variety of house music labels and musicians dealing with each other, writing credits and the wider music industry. Therefore it is not exhaustive or comprehensive and does not fulfill the remit of discussing the ideological/political implications of this scene (Webb, p105) in much detail, this is something I had always intended to fulfill in other pieces of work. Sites like whomakesthenazis.com are one set of views on the political implications of this scene and whilst I feel my work and reputation are being crudely represented within them they do have a place in presenting information on this scene.<span style=""> </span>My position politically is one of opposition to many of the political/ideological elements of this scene and below I present some comments on that.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Christopher Browning in his book `Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland’ (1992) describes the events that led to the deaths and deportations of tens of thousands of Jews from Poland in 1942. The focus of the book is on the German order police (Ordnungspolizei), battalions of drafted middle-aged reservists who couldn’t fight on the frontline and who were used to police Polish cities and also to round up and kill Jews en masse. This group who had no particular affiliation with Nazism (but had nationalist ideas) were attached to units led by SS men. The executions were carried out by large groups of officers, mainly by shooting their Jewish victims one by one in the neck after they had been forced to lie down in forest areas used for the killings. Browning tries to examine how this group of men who came from ordinary backgrounds and jobs had been turned into mass executioners able to kill tens of thousand of Jews in cold blood day after day whilst in Poland. His explanation suggests that a combination of Nazi Ideology, peer pressure, the situation of the war (even though these individuals had not experienced any fighting before their part in the killings), conformity and indoctrination were responsible. Only a minority refused to take part in the acts and as they developed they became routine and were even joked about. The point of Browning’s book, if we accept its thesis, is that ordinary men and women can become detached killers and brutal racists through a mixture of ideological leadership (in this case from those who had gone through SS training) and the power of group conformity. The reason I discuss this is that, like Stanley Milgram’s obedience and authority experiments or Phillip Zimbardo’s Prison experiment, Browning alerts us to the importance of group dynamics and conformity or obedience to a dominant set of ideas or norms that are pushed to the foreground in a group (either politically, socially or culturally) and often followed uncritically and obediently by the majority of the social group involved. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Browning’s work is useful here as it gives an insight into how strong ideological elements within a social grouping can heavily influence the way that grouping continues to act and think. Even though there is clearly no direct comparison to the events that Browning describes and a small music scene (Neo Folk/ post industrial), the idea of dominant figures in a social situation gaining people’s obedience and shaping their actions through ideological hegemony is important for this discussion. Both situations, do however, contain ideological positions that foreground elitism and disgust, demonization and contempt for an `other’ group (e.g. Jews, gypsies, the ignorant mass population). The chapter I wrote describes elements of this milieu as accounted for by some of its members and through some of my engagement with it over a number of years; it focused particularly on the three musicians of the band Death In June and their various musical projects since two of them (Tony Wakeford and Patrick Leagas) left and Douglas Pearce continued the project to the present day.<span style=""> </span>The chapter does not delve consistently into the various ideological elements of the scene and I suggested that it was beyond the remit of this particular piece of work as I think it would require a book or series of articles in their own right to really discuss the full extent of the ideologies that are referenced by this milieu. That said however it is an omission that needs rectifying. <span style=""> </span>I wish to state clearly that within the milieu there is a clear timeline that runs from the incarnation of Death In June through to the current output of bands like Von Thronstahl, Alerseelen, Orplid, Blood Axis etc that leads its audience to look at thinkers from the three ideological and philosophical areas previously mentioned i.e. Fascism, Revolutionary Conservatism and Traditionalism. The artists themselves have clearly explored and would subscribe in some cases to elements of the worldview of Julius Evola, Savitri Devi, Ernst Junger, Moeller Van Den Bruck, Armin Mohler, Oswald Spengler, Rene Guenon, Francis Parker Yockey, The Strasser brothers and particularly in the present configuration of the milieu, the European New Right and the work of Alain De Benoist and associated thinkers around him.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Douglas Pearce stated in an interview with Zillo magazine (late 1992) that:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">“At the start of the eighties Tony and I were involved in radical left politics and beneath it history students. In search of a political view for the future we came across National Bolshevism, which is closely connected to the SA hierarchy. People like Gregor Strasser and Ernst Rohm who were later known as `second revolutionaries, attracted our attention” (Forbes, p.15)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">He has not discussed this topic in great detail again, never wishing to publicly account for his political or ideological position, but it is prophetic and telling in its indication of ideas that are still referenced and linked to by leading artists and fans of these bands and some of the various webzines and magazines that have given space to them (e.g Heathen Harvest, Occidental Congress etc). It also seems clear that these were the ideas that DIJ were engaging with around the period of 1981 – 1984 when Tony Wakeford was a member of the National Front and part of the group who were being referred to as Strasserites and Third Positionists. The milieu of neo-folk is littered with references to these thinkers, to the political project of the New Right and the third positionists that came out of the fracture of the (UK) National Front in the early 1980s. DIJ, in name, referenced the `night of the long knives’ and the culling of the leadership of the SA and also in the dates put on the first two releases: SA 29 6 34 and SA 30 6 34, Tony Wakeford’s post DIJ band Above the Ruins were a direct reference to Evola and contained lyrics that echoed the third positionist direction of the NF, the title of the first Sol Invictus album was `Against the Modern World’ a reference to Evola’s work `Revolt against the Modern World’ (1996), Current 93 referenced Francis Parker Yockey’s `Imperium’ (1969) work on the album of the same name in 1987 and Savitri Devi on the album `Thunder Perfect Mind’ (1992). As the scene develops many bands reference and provide links to this range of thinkers maybe most clearly in the compilations Cavalcare El Tigre (Eis Und Licht, 1998 a reference to Evola’s work of the same name) featuring Von Thronsthal, Alerseelen, Orplid, Blood Axis, Waldteufel, Camerata Mediolanense and Ain Soph amongst others and more recently the Von Thronstahl album `Sacrificare’ which alerts readers of the CD liner notes to look at the work of Moeller Van Den Bruck and Joseph-Marie Comte De Maestre, one of the founders of a European Conservatism that put its trust in emotional allegiance to an unquestioned authority; usually a form of hereditary monarchy. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">From Boyd Rice’s continuous references to Ragnar Redbeard’s Social Darwinist `Might is Right’ text and his appearance on Tom Metzger’s Race and Reason Cable TV show (where he discusses White Nationalist/power music mentioning DIJ, C93 and Above the Ruins) to Tesco distribution (neo folk and Marital Industrial distributer <a href="http://store.tesco-distro.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?search=action&category=BOOK%20%29">selling books</a> such as<span style=""> </span>De Benoist’s `On being a Pagan’, John Michell’s `Confessions of a Radical Traditionalist’ and the Evola inspired `Handbook for Traditional Living’ published by Artkos (who also publish work by Troy Southgate the National Anarchist/3<sup>rd</sup> Positionist and racial separatist), through to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moynihan_%28journalist%29">Michael Moynihan’s</a> publishing of `Siege’ (1992), the work of James Mason the American National Socialist Mansonite, there are continuous and clear signposts to writing and work in the fascist, traditionalist and conservative revolutionary tradition. There are many other examples of this tendency within this scene and to clearly outline and discuss these specific elements of this milieu would need a fairly exhaustive work, which, I am sure, will be produced by many different writers and commentators. I am currently finishing a piece that deals with some of these elements but my intention here is to state clearly that I have no political, ideological or philosophical sympathy with any of the ideas of Fascism, traditionalism or conservative revolutionary thought. My interest in this milieu stems from my own immersion and interest in anarchist punk, post-punk, gothic music and various dance music scenes that provided clear links to sets of ideas, artistic practice, political activism and lifestyles – my own politics has come partly out of these types of engagement and could be described as a type of humanism derived from a combination of post Marxism, anarchism and libertarian thought but clearly driven by non-elitist, democratic and egalitarian principles all of which are clearly totally oppositional to the ideas presented by some of the key members of this musical milieu and in fact openly despised by some of them.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The reason for starting this piece with reference to Browning’s work is that although the neo-folk and post-industrial milieu is inhabited by a variety of different political, philosophical, spiritual and lifestyle ideas, practices and supporters there is a clearly significant and dominant use of the ideas of some of the most elitist, racist, conservative and traditionalist thinkers from the 19<sup>th</sup>, 20<sup>th</sup> and now 21<sup>st</sup> centuries, those ideas can lead to and provide a strong conformist group dynamic. Some people will be drawn to these ideas through their engagement with this milieu and some will take these ideas forward to develop a type of political engagement. I would hope that further discussion of these ideas and illumination of their potential social and cultural impact will break many individuals from that engagement and get them to look to develop their own work with a different set of reference points. So even though I think that this blog has taken my work completely out of context in terms of what it suggests should have been the focus of my chapter and contains some fairly crude slurs on my reputation I would suggest that `some’ of the material here is useful. Whether individuals in this milieu are active politically or not, the main point here is that the use of these thinkers in the forefront of the reference points used by the main bands as they have developed over the years leads to the creation of a group dynamic and conformity to this type of thinking amongst a significant section of the audience and new bands that emerge. This element of the milieu is one that I feel is highly problematic and one that needs opposing critically within the scene as well as from outside. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Peter Webb – October 2010 <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bibliographic references:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Evola, Julius (1996) Revolt Against the Modern World: Politics, Religion and Social Order in the Kali Yuga.<span style=""> </span>Inner Traditions Bear and Company</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Evola, Julius<span style=""> </span>(2002) Men among the ruins: Post-war reflections of a radical traditionalist. Inner Traditions Bear and Company</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Spengler, Oswald. (2007) Decline of the West. Open University Press</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Silfen, Paul Harrison (1973) The Volkisch ideology and the roots of Nazism; The early writings of Arthur Moeller van den Bruck. Exposition.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">De Benoist, Alain. (2004) On Being a Pagan. Ultra Press.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Southgate, Tory. (2010) Tradition & Revolution: Collected Writings of Troy Southgate. Arktos Press.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Devi, Savitri (2000) The Lightning and the Sun. Lulu.com</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Goddrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2000) Hitler's Priestess: Savitri Devi, the Hindu-Aryan Myth and Neo-Nazism. New York University Press</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Browning, Christopher (1992) <span style="">Ordinary Men : Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland</span>, New York : HarperCollins</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yockey, Francis Parker (1969) Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics. Noontide Press</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Forbes, Robert (1995) Death In June: Misery and Purity. Jara Press</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p>a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-13549235505785649682010-10-10T22:36:00.004+01:002010-10-10T22:43:16.611+01:00Article on Crash Worship by Alexander NymHere's a link to a recent article by I.C.R.N. member Alexander Nym on the American project industrial/aktionist project Crash Worship, which featured Markus Wolff of the neofolk project WALDTEUFEL. Read it <a href="http://unartignyc.com/2010/09/13/cw/">here</a>.a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-59228899987803523242010-08-19T13:21:00.007+01:002010-08-19T13:40:25.142+01:00THE RED DISTRICT SYMPOSIUM (Past Perfect – Future Tense)<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4QeXdGjZFBvsQqAQBvKaJYacKXDuqHUKJXwJQ70dSGxCoahthIeiNlUoEcJv0i5ksciUXPrkpZDL8g-qLIPyQucYU5WnHFUivr5vf5GclxkXnH-sm0urEzf5bixvh_ZpfeMFZQ/s1600/Trbovlje+entrance+29.8.1979+96+small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 205px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4QeXdGjZFBvsQqAQBvKaJYacKXDuqHUKJXwJQ70dSGxCoahthIeiNlUoEcJv0i5ksciUXPrkpZDL8g-qLIPyQucYU5WnHFUivr5vf5GclxkXnH-sm0urEzf5bixvh_ZpfeMFZQ/s320/Trbovlje+entrance+29.8.1979+96+small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507098363777288706" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Trbovlje, S.F.R.J., 1979. </span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>I.C.R.N. members Alexei Monroe and Peter Webb will be present at this symposium exploring the past, present and future of Laibach, Neue Slowenische Kunst and the NSK State. The event is co-organised by Alexei Monroe and Naomi Hennig in collaboration with Delavski Dom Trbovlje. Dr. Webb will be part of a panel session on the 24th discussing key Laibach actions. The symposium is FREE and will include presentations by some of the key experts on the subject, including Laibach's former manager Igor Vidmar. Further information on the symposium and associated concerts and exhibitions can be found <a href="http://laibachkunst.com/symposium.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">here</span></a>.a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-83058372818345689242010-06-13T20:09:00.004+01:002010-06-13T20:25:02.447+01:00Heinrich Deisl - Cultural Noise Noise as a musical metaphor for contemporary aesthetics in popular culture.I.C.R.N. presents a recent lecture text by our Vienna representative Heinrich Deisl...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Cultural Noise<br /><br />Noise as a musical metaphor for contemporary aesthetics in popular culture.<br />Exemplified by the Works of Throbbing Gristle<br /><br />Zachęta National Art Gallery, Warsaw (PL), 12/5/2010<br /><br />Soundlecture<br /><br />Heinrich Deisl<br /></div><br />In this lecture I want to present a framework of how to cope with Noise as one of the most prominent, still widely neglected academically phenomena in contemporary music and popular culture. In doing so, I decided to discuss Throbbing Gristle.<br /><br />The London-based group Throbbing Gristle (TG) originally existed from 1976 to 1981, comprising the two conceptual art performers Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti and the two electronic musicians Chris Carter and Peter Christopherson. One of their friends, Monte Cazazza, had coined the slogan “Industrial Music for Industrial people”, a slogan that later constituted an entire genre of music. In 2005, TG decided to return to the stage and since then, they have gained massive attention, especially in the art world. The last years have seen some publications on the Industrial genre, amongst others Simon Ford’s book “Wreckers on Civilisation” (2001), which is one of the most coherent on the topic.<br /><br />I will use the artistic interventions of Throbbing Gristle as a reference point for some general thoughts on Noise music. I see industrial as one development of Noise music and as a prominent aspect within late 20th. century avant-garde music.<br /><br />My lecture is divided in three parts:<br /><br />1)An introduction to theoretical discourses and a brief abstract of the historical framework of Noise music<br />2)The history of TG<br />3)The “practical” side of it: A sound-lecture would be nothing without images, music or films.<br /><br />I want to begin the theoretical part by arguing the following:<br />Noise can be considered as the maximum compression of information within a certain framework of space and time. If we consider music in the light of the Futurist Luigi Russolo and of John Cage, music no longer has to be a canonized system of notes but can be understood as a structure of organized audio phenomena. It’s the same argument posited with Marcel Duchamp's Readymades: everything then becomes a sonic quantum. The result is a radical democratisation of sounds in comparison to music.<br /><br />As the French scholar Jacques Attali has put it in his ground-breaking essay “Noise: The Political Economy of Music” from 1985: Noise lets us hear the audio-signals of the future, as we, the listeners, have not yet arrived at an adequate system of references to decipher these audio-signals as a new semiotic gesture. He argues that “the noises of a society are in advance of its images and material conflicts” (11) and continues: “It is necessary to imagine radically new theoretical forms in order to speak of new realities. Music, the organisation of noise, is one such form. It reflects the manufacture of society; it constitutes the audible waveband of the vibrations and signs that make up society. With noise is born disorder and its opposite: the world. With music is born power and its opposite: subversion”. (6)<br /><br />The English scholar Paul Hegarty adds in his book “Noise/music”(2007): “Noise is an excess, is thought of as being too much, and for human hearing, this occurs almost entirely through cultural perceptions, and individual reactions within that framework.” (4)<br /><br />Noise music is not a sonic disturbance but a strategy to make political and socio-economic structures audible. Noise isn’t necessarily “loud”; but it is much more fun to use the whole body as a target-field for sonic assaults.<br /><br />Some further biographical notes on TG now: Developing from the performance group COUM Transmissions, which had been founded by P-Orridge and Tutti in 1969, Throbbing Gristle released only five official albums on their label Industrial Records plus some extra records like the soundtrack for the film “In The Shadow Of The Sun” by Derek Jarman. Apart from a massive corpus of live cassettes, the label released the output of bands like SPK, Cabaret Voltaire or William Burroughs.<br /><br />Most prominently known for their bruitistic sound experiments and deviant iconography, they also released some fine, Giorgio-Moroder-like Roboter-Disco-tracks like “Adrenalin” or “Hot on the Heels of Love” from 1978. They became one of the most cited underground bands and inspired legions of other bands, ranging from Einstürzende Neubauten to Nine Inch Nails, Pan Sonic or the Polish avant-garde band Za Siódmą Górą. If you search in Google, TG produces more than 350.000 hits.<br /><br />In 1975 Lou Reed released his ground-breaking noise-record “Metal Machine Music”, two years later TG came up with their vinyl debut “2nd Annual Report”. In 1980, the Australian band SPK released “Information Overload Unit”, another pioneering Industrial LP and again five years later Attali’s book “Noise” was published in English.<br /><br />In “Industrial Culture”, from 1983, one of the most essential books on the topic, music journalist Jon Savage outlines five characteristics of early Industrial music:<br /><br />1) organizational autonomy,<br />2) access to information,<br />3) use of synthesizers and anti-music,<br />4) extra musical elements,<br />5) shock tactics.<br /><br />P-Orridge told Savage in an interview from that period:<br /><br />“We’re interested in information, we’re not interested in music as such. And we believe that the whole battlefield, if there is one in the human situation, is about information. We’re interested in taboos, what the boundaries are, where sound became noise and where noise became music and where entertainment became pain and where pain became entertainment. All contradictions of culture”.<br /><br />That’s why their quite ambivalent album “Greatest” features the sub-headline “Entertainment through pain” on its cover and why in its images the album quotes the American Easy-Listening-/ Exotica-composer Martin Denny.<br /><br />In 1949, the American mathematician Claude Shannon developed an Information-Communication model, in which Noise is that part of information which doesn’t contain concrete content and thus is diffuse and redundant. If we stay with this definition, Noise can be compared to the interval, defined by Gilles Deleuze. The interval in this sense is the place where “nothing” happens, the “place in-between”. It is not necessarily the beat that defines musical genres, but the time in between the beats; what in Dub music is called “space”. Through a reverse thought, the interval becomes exactly the place of Noise because it is here that all the information is stored, it opens the sonic text to the future, to the next note or the next break. The musical creation out of Noise, out of the interval, is nothing other than what Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek – referring to Lacan – calls “the creation out of nothingness”. Noise constantly produces its own simulacrum through its affirmation of “nothingness” and its rejection of “traditional western values” like rhythm, melody and cadence. Out of its compression of time and space, it generates an information overload unit, an excessive “too much”. Noise is the accompanying soundtrack of the desert of (Lacan’s) Real.<br /><br />In the last one hundred years, numerous artistic articulations have dealt with the phenomenon of how to “audio-picture” modern life’s necessities in an industrialized environment and revealed repetition as its paradigmatic sonic score. Futurism and Constructivism can be considered as crucial innovations due to the way in which they broadened the sound spectrum with “non-musical” elements like the noises of cars, airplanes, factories and other acoustic manifestations, trying to “audio-picture” the surrounding social noise; Or, what Russian film director Dziga Vertov, in his famous “Kino-Glaz” theory from 1925, had termed “life-facts”. In the middle and late 70s, industrial musicians executed these “life-facts” by reflecting the social grievances and conservative bureaucracies in societies with strong social and hierarchical divides. Industrial musicians would break with musical traditions, mainly understood as an appropriation of self-definition of music and of self-empowerment.<br /><br />Yet was this also not the case with for example. the “Viennese school” of Schoenberg or Webern, or with Edgar Varèse and Penderecki? This line of reference can be traced back to “Le Sacre du printemps” by Igor Stravinsky (1913) or Eric Satie’s “Parade” (1917), to John Cage, Stockhausen, Tony Conrad and numerous others, nowadays mostly present in works of notorious Noise artists like Merzbow from Japan, The Haters from Canada or Whitehouse from Great Britain. The striking difference to the previously mentioned compositions is that practically all industrial musicians were auto-didactic composers who didn’t want to make music as such – let’s remember the quote of P-Orridge in the beginning.<br /><br />By discussing Industrial as one occurrence of Noise music, I want to refer to topics like “control”, “power”, “the body” and “production”. Industrial owed much to the “Do it yourself”-approach of Punk and Fluxus. Thinking of COUM, the Viennese Aktionism in the mid-60s also can be named as one of the paradigmatic interdisciplinary artistic articulations – which is putting the body in question and occupying it as a symbolic battlefield. The Aktionism-inspired, but already diluted body-politics of Punk were absorbed by Industrial, highlighting the concepts of the “Materialaktionen” – as a loss of control and power over one’s own body.<br /><br />As in Aktionism, we have to think of industrial as a genre that identified “the” industry as a synonym for conservatism, an industry that used mass-produced and fascistic strategies for surveillance and suppression. It seems emblematic that industrial provoked deviant aesthetics, as it produced semiotic disturbances through cut-ups of the media, inspired by the notorious Beat-poet William S. Burroughs. Materials were removed from their restricted economy of usefulness. Or, to put it metaphorically, the sense of a user’s manual of a synthesizer was not to read it but to make a cut-up out of it using scissors and glue.<br /><br />The fascination with machines opened up a field of discourse that is most significantly exemplified by a line of reference from Fritz Lang's film “Metropolis” (1926) to the band Kraftwerk and then to Techno. The mechanisation of production had caused a major loss of the auratic moment of the piece of art. Bearing in mind Walter Benjamin's text “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1936) but at the same time that the possibility of mechanized reproduction would extinguish the bourgeois idea of the artist as a genius, which meant a democratisation of facilities, knowledge and acquirement.<br /><br />The dependence on the mercy of prototypical machines dislocated the artists’ settings of control outside of them. This conscious loss of control was practised as a response to the feelings of social repression within a society of control, as outlined by Foucault’s concept of “Discipline and Punish”. That’s why many Noise artists offer a vast catalogue of live recordings and integrate the affirmation of the atavistic and the primitive. Finally, autonomous label structures guaranteed an output that would blow away Adorno’s theories of the “culture industry”.<br /><br />In no other country than England, the native land of the industrial revolution, would the evolution of Industrial music have made more sense. P-Orridge once said that they wanted to transfer the music of the time of slavery, Blues and the whole tradition of rock music, to the industrial era. In that respect, the change from guitar to synthesizer bore a political connotation as well.<br /><br />What brought TG the freedom to record tracks like “Zyklon B Zombie”, to name one of their manifestos “Freedom is a sickness” or their studio “The Death Factory”, to use a picture of the Auschwitz crematorium for their label logo and to use a lightning flash for their band-logo that resembles both the the sign for high voltage but also the SS-rune? As a first answer, TG liked to refer to the aphorism of the Spanish philosopher Georges Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. Music critic Brian Duguid wrote in 1995: “Throwing the establishment’s own excrements back into the throat is sure to result in a nauseous reaction. For groups intending on outraging society, fascism was a powerful weapon. With methods you had for doing so were those that the authorities had themselves taught you.”<br /><br />In the times between the decay of Punk and the foreshadowing of the English neo-conservatism known as Thatcherism –, TG's sonic warfare formed one of the first indications of the arrival of the media- and information-society.<br /><br />TG’s attacks on established modes of listening drew its most powerful legitimation from the parent generation’s coming to terms with the past and from Punk: both were considered on the one hand to be too much programmed in the direction of de-escalation and on the other hand too much occupied with a pseudo-rehabilitation of the past. They used Fascist semiotics to fight the politics of historical exclusion and its culture of silencing it. Or, metaphorically speaking: TG sought to destroy that freedom which had been cynically promised by the Nazis to around one million people, when passing the gates of the concentration camp in Auschwitz which bore the slogan “Arbeit macht frei” (“work will set you free”). This perverseness of freedom could only be wiped out by perverting it. In their artistic expressions, TG synchronized economic concepts like Fordism, exemplified by the assembly-line which was felt to be inhuman, with the factory-like killing machines of the Third Reich. Their noise of factories was the noise of decaying factories, of a society in decomposition. Their 1980 single “Zyklon B Zombie” sold more than 20.000 copies and became one of the “hit”-tracks of the band. Listen closely to the noises at the end of the track which are a sample from a train that arrives at a concentration camp.<br /><br />Following this, I will show you an excerpt of the video “Discipline”. “Discipline” was a kind of blueprint in the output of TG and typical for their inversion of the inversion. Released in 1981 as a 12” single, the band, standing in front of the former ministry of propaganda in Berlin and wearing self-designed camouflage uniforms, proclaimed: “We need some discipline in here!”. The dry lyrics are overlaid by a massive, ear-piercing noise, however the beats make “Discipline” quite danceable. Consequently, these quasi-dictatorial agitations were barked during live shows in Berlin, which was so to speak the former centre of evil and in Manchester, a centre of the industrial revolution. TG confronted themselves and the audience with a harsh exorcism of the industrial revolution. From this catharsis, there was no way back. As a consequence, they declared shortly after “The mission is terminated”.<br /><br />To end my lecture, I want to return to some more general thoughts on Noise and on Industrial. Industrial dealt with established taboos by breaking them, their brutal sounds and images merged into transgression. But this transgression in the sense of the French writer George Bataille can’t last for long, as it would become just another boring permanence of the norm itself. Bataille wrote in “Eroticism” (1957) that “transgression suspends a taboo without suppressing it”. From that we can say that for transgression the need for taboos is essential. There can’t be any doubt that TG’s use of Fascist signs arose from an anti-fascist ideology. But way too many people saw in TG only the “wreckers of civilisation” and TG’s martial and national-socialist iconography would open the field for many stupid followers who did not take into account their cynical and even funny tactics of social confusion. Think again of the reference to Martin Denny in TG’s “Greatest Hits” or the picture of Chris Carter on the album “Heathen Earth” (1980), wearing on his shirt a sticker of the Swedish super-pop-group ABBA.<br /><br />Most of what I have exemplified so far draws its parameters from an analogue age. The digital version of this, to move from the industrial revolution to the revolution of information and its rhizomatic, de-centralized networks of gathering and storing information, is still to come. Nowadays, if you want to produce a contemporary sound-work, you no longer have to compete with the sounds of factories but with those of urban traffic in mega cities, of earthquake simulators, tankships, super-fast computer networks, transatlantic airplanes or sound weapons and cyber organics.<br /><br />Still, there is no serious debate about how to handle Noise if the sound-tools and its aesthetics are available in every supermarket around the corner; Which means that Noise, the “sound of nothingness”, has become omnipresent.<br /><br />Noise makes audible the fragile order of chaos, but what to do in a social framework that seems to be obsessed by a paradoxical symptom of total freedom that just looks like the reverse side of the coin called control? Noise music offers a good example of how to overcome repression – but how to cope with Noise if is no longer an exception but a permanent state of existence?<br /><br /><br />Further reading:<br /><br />Attali, Jacques (1985): Noise. The Political Economy of Music. Theory and history of literature, Vol. 16, Manchester University Press.<br />Duguid, Brian (1995): The Unacceptable Face of Freedom. http://media.hyperreal.org/zines/est/articles/freedom.html<br />Ford, Simon (2001): Wreckers of Civilisation. The Story of COUM Transmissions& Throbbing Gristle. Black Dog Publishing.<br />Hegarty, Paul (2007): Noise/music. A History. Continuum.<br />Re/Search Publications (1983): Industrial Culture Handbook. Re/Search, San Francisco. http://researchpubs.com<br /><br />Throbbing Gristle: www.throbbing-gristle.coma.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-28740725148110303562010-05-21T15:41:00.003+01:002010-05-21T15:56:59.615+01:00Talk at Schillerndes Dunkel book launch, Leipzig May 23rdI.C.R.N. founder Alexei Monroe will give a short talk at this event taking place in the courtyard of Absintherie Sixtina, Leipzig from 11.00. The talk will discuss industrial's relationship to other "dark scenes", on the occasion of the launch of this new German publication edited by I.C.R.N. member Alexander Nym:<br /><br />www.ploettner-verlag.de/shop/Buecher/-Shop/Sachbuch/Schillerndes-Dunkel::126.html<br /><br />Monroe has two texts in this major collection, one on Gerechtigkeits Liga and one on Laibach, both appearing in German for the first time.a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-42975699093758797442010-04-19T14:50:00.004+01:002010-04-19T14:56:43.802+01:00Klub V.E.B. V at The Grosvenor, 14.05.2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Y1XPMF4PolhlG2XWOY3Dy7WAzAqEU7gyof00rorSV1mKmRfckU7Y0nHf6DRGB-IklPxy40PSyfwk45Nf-2Gil5WouTU4H0mId13ZxW52kHH1BjttosIkYZiYcdb9zZMoK25SYQ/s1600/flyerEurostileOhne.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Y1XPMF4PolhlG2XWOY3Dy7WAzAqEU7gyof00rorSV1mKmRfckU7Y0nHf6DRGB-IklPxy40PSyfwk45Nf-2Gil5WouTU4H0mId13ZxW52kHH1BjttosIkYZiYcdb9zZMoK25SYQ/s320/flyerEurostileOhne.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461845839428036706" /></a><br /><br />Klub V.E.B. presents its first live action of 2010 featuring:<br /><br />Eva 3 feat. Riotmiloo<br />Jose Macabra<br />Sz. Berlin<br />Jamka<br /><br />Plus Industrial, EBM, Power Electronics, Dark Ambient, Dystopian electro, techno and other ailing frequencies from DJs Codex Europa, Kriegslok and Floressas<br /><br />3 pounds before 10, 5 after.a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-54524638569170469082009-12-30T13:02:00.003+00:002009-12-30T16:15:59.501+00:00Codex Europa download on Southwark Anthology of NoiseThe recording of Codex Europa's selection for the Southwark Anthology of Noise is now online and can be downloaded <a href="http://southwarknoise.blogspot.com/2009/12/part-11-18th-november-2009-codex-europa.html">here</a>.<br /><br />It's Codex's personal selection of industrialised/structured noise - industrial, power electronics gabber, techno, techstep and more.a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15670004.post-88184154658442406502009-11-13T21:56:00.005+00:002009-11-14T00:08:12.881+00:00Black Scenes: Call for papers<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I.C.R.N. member Alex Nym is editing an interesting anthology and has sent the following message...<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><br />Hello,<br /><br />we are an enthusiastic and professional team of publishers, Culture scientists, photographers and authors (most of us with „scene“ experience) planning to produce a lush & aesthetically designed reference book about the Black Scene (which, although primarily known in English-speaking countries as „Goth/ic“, includes Goth as a subgenre aside others considered generally as black, like EBM, Industrial, etc).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Besides offering a collection of texts by artists, promoters and audience members as well as contributions from social and cultural scientists, which aim to present and analyse the scene and its aesthetics and history, the accompanying illustrations are supposed to make this book a first rate artistic and intellectual experience – and you are asked to contribute!<br /><br />What we need:<br />- Text contributions from/about the Scene about a diverse range of subjects. Please send texts ranging from 2000 to 10.000 characters in length to text</span><span lang="EN-GB">[at]</span><span lang="EN-GB">ploettner-verlag.de in odt, doc or rtf formats. Size limitation does not apply to scientific contributions, please contact the editor for details: a.nym</span><span lang="EN-GB">[at]</span><span lang="EN-GB">ploettner-verlag.de. Language used throughout the book will be German; texts in German or English are acceptable.<br />- Colour- or b/w photos from events and people (e.g. Festival-visitors – please no photos of bands onstage, except they're artistically or historically relevant, see below)<br />- Documentary photos (e.g. From the 70ies, 80ies..., here concert pictures too)<br />- Event ads, flyer- and poster-motifs, tickets in colour of b/w (original or digitized; originals will be sent back; don't forget to give return adress)<br /><br />!All illustrations have to have printable size/resolution (300 dpi, cmyk)!<br />!Deadline for all contributions is December 23rd 2009!<br /><br />Since the book is supposed to cover the Black Scene in all its diverse facets, images of all sorts are welcome, whether they be old-school, medieval, cybertech, fetish, industrial, EBM, neofolk, neoromantic etc in nature.<br />Due to the fact that the book should be considered a kind of documentary exhibit catalogue of the Black Scene, the prime of artistic value in the illustrations cannot be stressed clearly enough; hence artistic works are expressly welcome.<br /><br />What we offer:<br />Aiming for a total of 250 pages, we're unable to pay individual fees, but will gladly compensate you with free review copies, ranging from one to five depending on the amount of your contribution. In addition, you'll receive further copies at subscription rate, thus cheaper than in stores or at amazon ;)<br /><br />What you should consider:<br />The rights to the text/image has to be the authors/the photographers, so has to be yours; in case we publish any, you'll have to provide us with a consent to print, but in any case we need image captions, e.g. „Tamara, 23, transvestite from Giessen“, something along that line. In relation to historical photos, please relate event, location & date, e.g. „German gothpunk meeting, Cologne, pentecost 1990“ – without such references, we're unable to use the picture.<br /><br />There is no entitlement to use for print of sent materials – it'll be impossible to use *all* material; please be not disappointed if your material should not have found consideration in the final product. We will keep you updated about the project's progress.<br /><br />In case there should be too much outstanding material for merely one book, if this one's sales allow, there even might be option for use in a possible sequel.<br /><br />Contact address/-form:<br />Digital images of up to 20 MB size can be sent directly to images[at]ploettner-verlag.de.<br />If you have online-photo-galleries, you can also send link adresses to images[at]ploettner-verlag.de; in case we select your picture(s) we'll get in touch with you. Otherwise, you can send images in printable size/res on CD/ DVD/USB to:<br /><br />Plöttner-Verlag, Red. „Schwarze Szenen“<br />Marbachstr. 2a, 04155 Leipzig/Germany<br /><br />Please note that unrequested data carriers, manuscripts, etc cannot be returned (unless you provide ample return postage).<br /><br />The best of luck,<br /><br />Alexander Nym & Claus-Peter Paulus, ed.<br /><br /><br />„Black Scenes“ – Table Of Content<br /><br /><br />- Preface: What is black?<br /><br />- Adolescence of a youth culture: History and development<br />~ From punk to post-punk: The 70s<br />~ New Romantic, New Wave, Gothic Rock: The 80s<br />~ Between bambam and campfire romanticism: The 90s<br />~ Grown-up subculture: The 21st century<br /><br /><br />- Genres and sub-scenes<br />~ Batcave, Gothic rock & -metal<br />~ Synth-pop, Electronic Body Music, Technoise<br />~ Industrial & Neofolk music<br />~ Medieval & Neo-classical music<br />~ The most important festivals – WGT, M'era Luna, Amphi, etc<br />~ The scene in the DDR<br />~ The scene overseas: USA and Japan<br /><br />- Between Avantgarde and assimilation: Themes & influences<br />~ Death, Transience, Apocalypse<br />~ Mysticism, Spirituality and Religion<br />~ Literature, Art and History<br />~ Sex and Fetishism<br />~ Transgression and Taboo-breaking<br />~ Ethics of DIY – from (self-)destruction to Cultural Engineering<br />~ Outward boundaries, inward elitism – tolerance and strife for identity<br /><br />- Self-images and representation<br />~ From Avantgarde to Apocalypse – how progressiveis the scene really?<br />~ Roles and rituals – Gender relations<br />~ „Gothic“ in the media – stereotypes and prejudices<br />~ Between Indie and commerce – the black music industry<br />~ Fashion & styling – the aesthetics of the abysmal<br />~ Creativity in action and the Gesamtkunstwerk: summary<br /><br />- Authors and photographers<br /><br />- Literature, Films, Musics (sources)<br /><br />- Register/glossary</span></p>a.m.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08923047788459844879noreply@blogger.com0