Negative Energy

[polystyle]

Also under 'against fun'

Iggy & The Stooges Raw Power
Boyd Rice live
Early SPK

 

[Mr. Tea]

Iggy & The Stooges Raw Power

You have to be joking, right? That's got to be the most gleefully destructive album I've ever heard! With the emphasis on "gleeful"...I'd be very interested to hear why you thing it's "anti-fun".

 

[polystyle]

I was just listening to the album again now.
Well, I was thinking of Raw Power's original mix and it's hardcore Detroit *uck you attitude throughout the album.
Songs like Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell don't really invite the listener in ,
and the album maintains that distorted edge straight to the end.
Agreed on gleeful destructive too !

 

[nomadthethird]

gleeful destruction = Dionysian

Raw Power is probably the most Dionysian album of all time

(I really like Gimme Danger and Search and Destroy, Shake Appeal is really good too in a garagey way)

 

[polystyle]

Agreed !
I love this album ,
let's say it works on a few levels ...

 

[zhao]

It is probably no coincidence that target demographic for metal (until recently) has been mostly blue collar Bible belt white men who are a couple of tattoos short of being skinheads. In the U.S., at least. The Scandinavian contingent has some far right tendencies, too, but for some reason it's less offensive coming from them...possibly because they're more on the fringe within their culture than the American types are.

always disspointting to see such grand beautiful hatred of modern society, Christianity and capitalism devolve into pathetic and stupid racism and nationalism. which is why i always like reading things like this (about Mayhem main man): (thanks for the link Padraig. some interesting reading)

Furthermore, one does not need to stretch the imagination to see residual traces of Socialist ideals in Aarseth's proposal. In effect, Aarseth proposes that DSP should become a musicians' cooperative, a business organization owned and operated by a group of Black Metal musicians and concert arrangers for their mutual benefit. Such cooperatives have their roots in Socialism. It should be borne in mind that Aarseth at the time was a member of a radical left wing political group called Rød Ungdom ("Red Youth"). A hammer and sickle (☭), symbol of Communism, are carefully drawn under each and every letter as part of Aarseth's signature, underlining the importance of Socialist ideas for Aarseth's personal identity.

I always read white-powertrip angst as something that comes with no longer being an emblem of authority/dominion--hence the regression into nationalism, homophobia, and racial "pride" and all of that. Wounded entitlement.

that is certainly an important part of it... pretty sad really. but with BM i choose to focus on the aforementioned critical (understatement of the year) attitude towards how the world turned out.

Always seemed to me that artists who deal with fascist imagery are acknowledging the simultaneous horror and aesthetic appeal of all of those ultraviolent 20th century political movements. There's nothing animals are more susceptible to than (so-called atavistic) mass hysteria.

well put...

 

[zhao]

Yeh Fenriz has always been an odd man out (in the best way). I reckon he's just a huge music nerd & genuine music lover. check out this interview where he discusses his love of house music (!!!).

as i love reading things like this

I started getting into techno in ‘92, all that Chicago house stuff. Then I thought, “this is gonna be huge.” After three years, I was still into it. I thought, “ok, I’m not gonna ruin this magic as well.” I learned just how to work the turntables.

Yeah, when I say to metal people that I listen to techno, they go, “oh, yeah! I really like Gabba!” It has no soul in it. They don’t understand at all. I don’t blame them, though.

I listen to fifteen of the sub-genres of what we’ll call techno, but that also includes house. When I DJ, I play between 20-25 styles.

 

[shaolinsoul]

as i love reading things like this

Haha..you might like DJ rush then!

 

[zhao]

dark music & hedonism - mixing darkness/negative energy & hedonism.

well i understand that very well, since the dark shit has been at the center of my love for music since i got into music (if you remember my nominations for the Music to Fuck To thread) -- if it doesn't have depth or a dark streak i won't really listen to it. even today: all the amazing celebratory joyous 60s and 70s Latin and African music acknowledges and includes, either directly, by reference, or in a sense of decidedly immersing in light BECAUSE of, and in spite of, all the suffering.

of course the magic of sensuous music of any kind, music which is genuinely sexy, music which make people want to tear off each other's clothes, has to be real to be felt, has to convey some kind of deepness, rolling all of the mixed emotions of life together...

what i was on about is the angry = hedonism, the if you are hedonistic you have to be angry, if you are against the bullshit rules of bourgeois society you have to be angry, etc., thing being a kind of glossy commercialized theatricality. which never made sense to me.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Now I've tried to listen to grime, I really have - mainly stuff people have posted on here, on the basis that Dissensians seem to know what they're talking about regarding music - but my brain invariables takes about two seconds before categorising it as "really fast, annoying hip-hop". Often less than two seconds, actually. I guess it's just not for me.

Hmmm, well obviously if you don't like it then just don't like it, no shame in that.
However (and mainly just 'cause I like to be annoying ) if it's specifically the MCing that you find annoying and hip-hop-like, then I would suggest you give the 69 Allstars mix, that Lower End Spasm did for the Blogariddims series, a shot. It's basically a megamix of tonnes of classic grime instrumentals (though they do sneak in just a couple of vocal tracks as I recall).
Download it here:
http://www.weareie.com/audio/blogariddims/blogariddims29.mp3
Or you can stream it from here, if you scroll down towards the bottom:
http://www.digitalpodcast.com/detail-blogariddims-14059.html
This mix really demonstrates what I was meaning about the industrial sounds (albeit in a generalised sense of the term I guess), esp in the first half. Also shows just how inventive so many grime productions are, which I know is a vague statement, but it's true!

Obviously if it's the music or the whole package that you find annoying then disregard all of the above!
Nomad, you should definately also give this mix a listen if you haven't before.

 

[minikomi]

fu manchu ?

 

[Sick Boy]

I don't think grime's hit it's darkest period yet, we're only just getting to 1998 with it I think.

1998? More like 1989.

I agree with Padraig about hip hop a la mobb deep's negative approach. This kind of rap is dark in the most nihilistic way. The violence is Genet-like: "a boldness lying idle, enamoured of danger [...] a violence that calms and disturbs you."

 

[slye]

mobb deep's negative approach.

Yeah that Mobb Deep stuff is pretty bleak for sure. That line in Shook Ones Pt. II always jumped out at me:

"rock you in the face, stab your brain with your nose bone."

And it's uttered in the most nonchalant, matter of fact way (and toward the beginning of the song). I mean it's pretty hard to compete with that!

 

[nomadthethird]

Hmmm, well obviously if you don't like it then just don't like it, no shame in that.
However (and mainly just 'cause I like to be annoying ) if it's specifically the MCing that you find annoying and hip-hop-like, then I would suggest you give the 69 Allstars mix, that Lower End Spasm did for the Blogariddims series, a shot. It's basically a megamix of tonnes of classic grime instrumentals (though they do sneak in just a couple of vocal tracks as I recall).
Download it here:
http://www.weareie.com/audio/blogariddims/blogariddims29.mp3
Or you can stream it from here, if you scroll down towards the bottom:
http://www.digitalpodcast.com/detail-blogariddims-14059.html
This mix really demonstrates what I was meaning about the industrial sounds (albeit in a generalised sense of the term I guess), esp in the first half. Also shows just how inventive so many grime productions are, which I know is a vague statement, but it's true!

Obviously if it's the music or the whole package that you find annoying then disregard all of the above!
Nomad, you should definately also give this mix a listen if you haven't before.

Thnx Andy I'm downloading right now. Normally I wouldn't, since I don't want viruses, but I'm pretty sure I already have several. And I just bought this computer like 6 months ago. dammit.

 

[nomadthethird]

1998? More like 1989.

I agree with Padraig about hip hop a la mobb deep's negative approach. This kind of rap is dark in the most nihilistic way. The violence is Genet-like: "a boldness lying idle, enamoured of danger [...] a violence that calms and disturbs you."

As opposed to the cartoonish violence and evil of B.I.G.'s posthumous "Dead Wrong"...

 

[Tentative Andy]

Thnx Andy I'm downloading right now. Normally I wouldn't, since I don't want viruses, but I'm pretty sure I already have several. And I just bought this computer like 6 months ago. dammit.

No problem. Never gotten any viruses from those pages, but if you do then hey, think of it as another addition to your happy little virus family . Gimme a shout if you need tracklistings.

 

[bassbeyondreason]

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(Not nearly as politically dubious as it looks)

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

(about Mayhem main man)

yeah Euronymous is a bizarre & fascinating character. much more interesting IMO than Vikernes' & his frankly tedious same old same old idiotic white supremacy line. refer to this great piece on Euronymous as Kafka & the absurd desire to have one's existence validated by being denied the right to exist..

I’ve been very interested in communism for a while, especially the extreme countries like Albania, Kampuchea, North Korea and so on...Ceausescu was great, we need more people like him, Stalin, Pol Pot too... I like secret police, cold war and worshiping of dictators. I like bugging and spying on people, torture chambers in police stations and that people suddenly “disappear”.

I openly admit that I am a Stalinist and I'm very fascinated by extreme countries like Albania and Romania in the good old days. I have thought about quitting from the Communist Party though, but this is just because they are not brutal enough any more. It was much better in the '70s, when they were very Albania-inspired and the leader even visited Cambodia during the Red Khmer period and had dinner with Pol Pot!! Those were the days!"

if nothing else, not an argument you hear every day - in favor of Stalinism not despite but because of the gulags & torture chambers. of course Euronymous would have been liquidated post-haste under any of the regimes he mentions. who knows how much of it was simply the desire to shock & provoke the accepting social democracy in which he lived. bizarrely, it also seems he legitimately believed in Communism in a utopian sense ("I have to say that I have studied so much that I know that real communism would be the best possible system, BUT as I HATE people I don’t want them to have a good time").

I wonder what would have happened if Euronymous had lived. would there today be a flourishing Stalinist Black Metal scene?

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

mobb deep's negative approach.

this a great title to a chapter of a book no one will ever write on nihilism in popular music since World War II.

As opposed to the cartoonish violence and evil of B.I.G.'s posthumous "Dead Wrong"...

yeh actually I think the overt violence of most classic gangsta rap is way too cartoonish & OTT to retain that bleakness. N.W.A at moments - especially later on minus Cube's pseudo-social commentary - mainly I guess cos all the cartoonish-ness is tempered by Eazy E's utterly rational businessman approach to everything. like, where Cube really cared about what he was talking about (at least, at the time) then you have Dre & E going going "fukkit, let's make $" - not in a venal sense, not at all, cos that kind of flashy consumerism is on that cartoons nonsense as well. like where Cube is hot-blooded, E is cold-eyed.

re: Mobb Deep - there's something very Rimbaud-ish about them - "I'm only 19 but my mind is older" - & of course they weren't actually hard men. very much in the Tupac mold of "we're short skinny dudes who went to art high school but now we're Tuff Thugs 4 Real". which Jay-Z of course infamously & ruthlessly exploited with the "you were I ballerina, I got pictures, I seen ya" diss (which was unfair on its face but I reckon actually penetrated to the heart of the matter which is why it was so devastating an attack).

like nomad said about the bleakness & despair lurking at the heart of the most banal pop songs. in that way I guess all that Puffy-inspired shiny suits jigginess is more nihilistic than anything even Mobb Deep could match.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

In Darkness - A Case Study

& 1 more if you'll forgive me...

proto-crust & jungle. if I ever start a blog devoted writing absurdly long (like, anti-Twitter long) bullshit essays this is topic #1.

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that vox sample is Janet Jackson.

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& of course the most beautifully melancholic record ever by anyone ever