Black Metal is Opening Up

WARNING: This video clip and post are about a music style you’ll most likely hate. It’s the first time I actually blog about this and pretty sure also the last. Enjoy.

I’ve been out of the scene for a long time already, finding much more interesting and relevant things in other (underground) music scenes. One of the main reasons it couldn’t satisfy me anymore for a single bit was the lack of intelligence among most of those people and also the lack of relevant contemporary behavior and attitudes. It did have some advantages later on. There were (and still are) a few bands that grew older and matured in my eyes as much as life around them and the style of music did, but with most of those garage bands existing out of ‘not-gonna-invent-anything-new-shit-artists’ trying to profile themselves as ‘traditional’ or ‘old-school’ which basically was an excuse for repeating the same shit over and over again, music-wise as well as content-wise. “Really, you praise Satan, huh? Here, have a lollipop and suck some more on mediocrity.”

But last week I got to see this clip. Music-wise it’s the same raw French material coming from the artists who have been responsible for corrupting lots of teenage minds with their music in the acts Hell Militia and Arkhon Infaustus. But it’s the video clip that makes this so damn interesting. Not because there’s some hot chicks doing nasty stuff, but because it relates so much to contemporary urban nihilism, which is what this band, and lot of the music in this genre actually is all about.

There are some insiders in there only people in the scene can see and can laugh with, such as throwing away the Mayhem-cd (one of the traditional Norwegian pioneers in the genre) or the guy that gets a nice shag in the bathroom wearing a Mütiilation shirt. But overall, I think everybody young can relate to this content, at least ‘understand’ it. Which is why I think this is a good sign and hopefully we will see more of this. [of course we’ll see more of this, every time a BM-band does something original, 500 other copy-cats follow] But there has been a gap for too long between bringing a message of depression, negative thoughts and nihilism, and standing on a stage painted like a fucking ridiculous panda bear. How can anybody ever take you serious? Do you even want to be taken serious? I guess not …

This stuff comes from the guy most of the promoters wouldn’t want to book (I did twice). He has been caught throwing (used?) needles on his audience and more than once thrashing an entire backstage. He’s also pretty much of a veteran (his first release dates back from 1992!) in the scene, yet here he (them) proves himself worth some respect again in my eyes. Because if you’re really searching for the destructive minds in contemporary society; it are those who got bored on routine and escape reality into binge drinking, lots of drugs, unprotected sex, an most of all: a complete careless attitude about your surroundings and yourself. Bret Easton Ellis’s novel ‘Less Than Zero’ described this attitude perfectly. And NOT about praising some theme-park devil or Pagan heritage nobody gives a fuck about, wearing a black uniform like everybody else who wants to be “special”, or for just trying to have an excuse for being a complete failure in life.

That said; I do hope to see some more mature material in this style without losing touch and coming up with something really original. I’m not saying this clip itself is original, but the combination with this music is. And it fits so well.

Promoters: Wake-Up!

Two months ago I went to see ALCEST here in Shanghai. Chances are pretty big you’ve never heard of them and that is exactly the reason why it should surprise you as much as it did me that they came all the way from France to do a China tour. And with success.

When I read on a Shanghainese event website a band Alcest was soon doing a show at Mao Livehouse I first said to myself “if it only was the Alcest I know” thinking some other (local?) band had taken the same name to spread their broken dreams all over an audience. But it was actually the band I’ve known for years and the one of which I am the proud owner of an original copy from their first limited MCD ‘Le Secret’ (brag, brag …). Knowing they actually were seriously coming over and even doing a lot other gigs in Chinese cities (with almost no expats living) as well, I was afraid this could be a serious financial disaster for them. And a pathetic public performance, none the less.

I thought they almost would have no local audience here. And most of the expats that are living here are not really the kind of types to go to an experimental rock / black metal concert. Funny thing is; I was only right for the latter. The venue was not ‘packed’ (since it’s a big fucking hall), but I guess there were at least +250 people. That’s more than 200 of what I was expecting. And so, this was one of the first times here I went out and where locals were present in significantly higher numbers than expats (think I saw less than 15 white people). I even saw a Chinese guy with a Burzum t-shirt (only the BM-wankers know what I mean here)!

I was blown away by the experience. And although the audience may not have been such big “fans”, just like the ‘posers’ got beaten up during the old days in the ‘true underground scene’ in Europe; they were enthusiastic as hell. It made me realize that music wise (and beyond) there are massive opportunities here (didn’t we know that already?). Seriously, if a European band of which 95% (or more) of their own country doesn’t know, can do a successful tour here – everybody can. Especially a black metal band coming to a city driven by finance, economics and censored internet. The conclusion is actually really easy: There are so many people here. So many. For every niche (music) scene, there will always be enough to make an event successful and a financial winner. Alternative has a different meaning over here.

Where are the other (foreign) artists, bands and djs? The past two years we saw very few. The ones we saw (Armin Van Buuren, Above and Beyond, Steve Aoki, Boys Noize, Mogwai, Mono …) were always sold out if I can recall. And I can assure you, expats are dying over here to have the music from back home. The nightlife and clubs here are definitely not to complain about, but we miss really good music, good names, things we actually listen to on our iPod during the day; and not the same crap coming from the speakers night after night in the clubs.

Promoters, grab your chances, now that the club owners have long established themselves here.

Take It Underground To Look Up

… or why circulating in an underground music scene can be helpful for you in advertising.

I used to have a very small underground black metal label. I used to spend a lot of money on several bands you have never heard of (and never will) and you will crack up when you hear their names and song titles. I used to organize concerts and be very pleased if a hundred people showed up. I used to think it’s awesome to know so much about something so small while so few others didn’t, and frankly … I still do.

But I never used to believe it was all I needed. The ‘this is it’ feeling an adolescent has for his favorite rock band thinking he will never listen to anything else again except for those 5 albums the band created. I never took it for granted and I always knew it would be a certain fase in my life. An active fase I mean, since I still listen to a hand full of those bands, yet I’m not actively involved in the scene anymore. Also due the fact I’ve been travelling a lot and busy with more meaningful things in my life. And also because my intellectualism couldn’t handle it anymore. That’s right, I just said that.

I think it only gets dangerous and actually just to the point of being completely pathetic, when you lose that touch with reality and start to believe your scene is the only scene out there and life you are experiencing, is life in general for everybody else as well. Or just the obsessive denial for what’s happening around you. (Then again, I don’t think those people would line up for an ad-job.) I think that only happens when you are all completely filled up with your own scene and refuse to acknowledge others are out there as well, operating under the exact same norms as your scene is. I was mostly into the black metal one, yet I’ve seen a lot already – passively and actively. Shifting from the black metal one into the more hardcore themed. I’ve been at some GOA parties at the most smelly places possible. When I was 10 I already was fascinated by the electronic hardcore scene taking place in Holland and Belgium in that time. I got in touch with the vibrant jazz scene in Gent the last years I was living there. As well as the KRAAK type of scene in Gent put me in contact with lots of experiment music such as drone, ambient, sludge, noise, and so on. We can thank the internet for that like no other.

Apart from getting to know a lot about one particular musical subject, meeting the same people a lot at the same places and pushing yourself into your pre-adult entrepreneurial skills like organizing events and running a label with foreign bands and select international distribution; I believe getting involved in such a mess is beneficial for people working in advertising or communication. I don’t think that Harvard marketing graduates are close to the truth of what lives out there on the street and among the people. Same for lots of CEO’s who take every morning their private car, come into the office, take the elevator to the upper floor and behold their view on the skyline of whatever city they may be in. The best creative and most appealing ideas have come from people that truly understood what’s living out there and who they’re talking to. People living among them.

Now why would this come from people who spent their entire adolescence in crappy surroundings digging into something noncommercial?! Because, like I mentioned above, if those people have always been in place with reality as well, which in most of the cases they have, they would normally have developed a certain skill to look at ‘the general people’ and themselves and more importantly: what sets them apart from that. Into that differentiation there’s an enormous and valuable resource to be found, not only informational but most likely more socially practicable. If they have been circulating or at least got introduced to a lot of other underground scenes (and as of today, there A LOT out there and all mixed up anyway), they simply got to know and understand lots of other people, sub-cultures and styles that breaded further their knowledge base in all the different kinds of people who’re out there.

Now; to refer to the title of this post. I see being around in an underground scene as a perfect metaphor for actually being able to look slightly up and observe what’s happening ‘above the ground’. Keeping a short distance, yet never too far away brings a huge advantage in trying to understand people, movements, (sub-)cultures, youth styles and many more. And I think that knowledge is the most valuable if you’d like to capture contemporary behavior.

Lost In Moments

It’s not my habit to post here certain things that by a lot of people ought not to be posted here. Because, yes, a lot of my interests go way further than the ones I’ve been posting here, especially when it comes down to underground music genres. There are bands and projects I would almost donate a kidney for to keep them going, but I would never ever share them on this blog. Why? Because then all the magic is gone! ;)

But here’s a band I do feel there’s no harm in sharing it with you. It’s Ulver, a Norwegian band that first started as a black metal band and slowly got more into the avantgarde and experimental style. This is the point where it gets interesting. It’s hard to even recognize the black metal parts in it, yet they did not loose any of it world-downfall, destructive ambiance. With some electronics and some jazz influences and this new instrumental approach, these guys really managed to bring the same idea into a whole new HOLE.

Here’s the song from the well respected and recommended album “Perdition City” you can not buy in your music store around the corner. Let’s Get lost in the moment …