Magnus Ver Magnusson: EBM Icon?
We’re offering a roots-EBM episode of the podcast this week, friends! Old-school, anhalt, traditional, whatever you want to call it, it’s big in Europe with guys with Guile Mohawks, and we’re here to talk about it. From it’s roots in the earliest forms of post-industrial to its passionate revival in Europe about a decade back, from it’s reactionary anger against futurepop to its sense of working class solidarity, there’s lots to talk about when it comes to simple basslines, kick drums, and barked vocals. So put on a black singlet and some combat pants, crack a tallboy of lager, and settle in with this week’s episode of We Have A Technical! Rate and subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher, download directly, or stream from the widget down below!
Recommendations:
–Papergirls
–“Inside The Strange, Hidden World Of Offstage Touring Musicians”
Regarding the preamble: my best friend and I are both huge AFI and Youth Code fans, although unfortunately neither of us caught them on tour together (although I did catch Youth Code for eye vs. spy and yes, their live show fucking rules). It was Decemberunderground that Ronan Harris worked on, not Sing the Sorrow, and the “other guy” is AFI’s guitarist Jade Puget, who also does electronics.
Thanks for the info Valek!
Great episode! As a currently non-working member of the academic precariat class, I can’t exactly relate to the whole “working class pride” thing in music/subcultures. To me it has never sounded much different from shouting “Working class is the best class! If you’re not working class too, we don’t like you!” Reminds me of Brave New World, you know, the way people were conditioned to love their own place in the class system, and thus the class system as a whole. Anyway…
I’d say North America does have its own distinctly working class post-industrial subculture, in some circles of American power electronics and noise (I’m aware of more eastern/midwestern acts, your experience on the west coast may vary). Large amount of crossover with the hardcore punk community, and very little or no connection to gothic electro-industrial. If you can find it, watch the film “City/Ruins: Art In The Face Of Industrial Decay” about the Cleveland scene. I’m interested in power electronics, but I sometimes feel like my lack of working class status makes me an outsider in the audience for some of these artists.
Are there any industrial projects with genuinely held ANTI-working ideology? Human employment is obsolete, working is nothing to be proud of, demand total automation, demand universal basic income, and so on… Given how much hostility these beliefs face from large segments of society, it seems like a natural fit for someone making transgressive music.
I can certainly appreciate the idea of music being a part of a continuum of daily life rather than as an escape or a separate pursuit which “elevates” us above the worldly. Really, we’re probably back to the perceived schism between folk and art music going back centuries and all of the issues involved in blending those traditions. There’s some of that noise crossover here in Van as well; power electronics bands’ll play shows with Weird Candle or Spectres or whoever else. Here it’s a combination of just about everyone; students, workers, punks, the odd trust fund kid, or rapidly aging trainspotters like ourselves. 😛 In terms of the total rejection of work, well, that’s certainly part of the transhumanist ethos which has its own thorny problems. 🙂