Interesting www/blogs still visiting?

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I see myself been drifting away from a lot of "internet". Not part of most social media, except a bit of facebook, where I don't follow people, but couple groups. Apart of this forum, seems like not really even forums or websites where I would go search things.
I do like the idea of independent creativity, and occasionally talked with friends, what are places in www where something interesting is being done. Instead of googling around without direction or clicking random things appearing in your feed, could be good topic to do it the old way: Link list.

Now that most label and band sites are just uniform corporation platforms selling things, I am more interested in writing and critique. Places that would include some kind of vision

I was never big fan of Quietus. I did notice when Adam Lehrer was booted out from staff, and his website included quite detailed response which could be interesting.

Perhaps severing ties to big music media nonsense is good way to go, when indeed one can just pursue writing regardless of not doing it for big platform. I am quite sure, something like this one piece linked below, could have never been done for media like Quietus. Everybody else seemingly trying to avoid any trouble, but Lehrer seemed like one rare case of standing in defense of industrial artform against low-IQ online hysteria.

https://safetypropaganda.substack.com/p/based-safety-vs-cringe-propaganda-0e6

This would be first link I'd share. Best would be not to flood thousand pages here, but pick up relevant, and tell why others should pay attention. 

[Cementimental]

Adam Lehrer

was completely surprised to discover yesterday that he'd written this strangely political review of my dungeon synth album. Weird analogy but he actually does get it! Hope i'm not cancelled now.

Disgusting Cathedral Adventurer's Despised and Rejected

Alex Lee Moyer's documentary TFW NO GF shocked leftoids and liberals alike earlier this year by positing the theory that the alt-right and incel phenomena that have played out across the internet sphere over the last few years might just be connected to a set of specific economic and material conditions. When American leftist magazine Jacobin tweeted this groundbreaking take on the film (which they postponed for five months after the film's release, emphasizing the publication's typically abject cowardice in the face of their woke and decidedly unsocialist readership), their followers were just aghast! "WOMEN ARE POOR TOO AND DON'T SPEND ALL DAY POSTING VIOLENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA!" exclaimed one particularly exasperated reader, in a post not unusual given the overall response to the tweet. But this is where Moyer's documentary was so successful. How could any Marxist not view this subculture through the prism of economic failure? How could the material conditions of a jobless, hopeless, uneducated and poor group of young men not warrant a materialist critique? Moyer forced the DSAers to reveal themselves. They aren't socialists, they are liberals, viewing the world through the binary of good and evil.

One of the film's most recognizable characters, internet poster Kantbot, became the closest thing to a breakout star that could realistically be produced by a film about dejected, angry, male youths. Kantbot fancies himself something of a crackpot philosopher, a self-help guide for the perpetually unemployed and unlaid. Throughout the film, he recalls directing his followers away from hate posting about women on 4Chan and towards the philosophy of his influences like Friedrich Schelling and Immanuel Kant. Kantbot can best be interpreted as a sublimation of the incel's alienated condition, directing the incel towards idealist philosophy and transcendence. "It's all going to be ok, it'll all be ok," he repeats to the camera towards the end of the film, replacing bottomless hopelessness with just the vaguest sense of light at the end of the darkness.

However much I might be reaching with this long-winded metaphor, self-described "dungeon-synth" project Disgusting Cathedral appears to do for rank, hideous, sickly electronic sounds what Kantbot does for incel ideology. The isolated parts of debut album Adventurer's Despised and Rejected; casio keyboards, Eurotrack synths, Nintendo DS music apps, obsolete FX, and tape manipulations; shouldn't amount to much more than the dank, squiggly, head fucked electronic noise that I usually write about in this column. And yet, those components congeal into something.... More. This music is deeply unsettling, no doubt, but it's also exalted, cosmic, and beyond. It's so depressing what passes as "psychedelic music" in 2020 (I mean what isn't depressing in 2020, really?). It's all just post-Loop, wah wah guitar-driven rock music, or Sunburned Hand of the Man-esque freak folk 15 years too late. Psychedelia shouldn't be a genre, but an extra-dimensionality. Todd from Ashtray Navigations told me that he sees psychedelic music as "music in 3D," and that's what I'm looking for. Music with dimensions, and drama. Music that sucks you into a void before caressing you in its womb and spitting you back out into a new world, or the same world, but an altered version of it. That's the kind of psychedelia that Disgusting Cathedral is putting forth. There are perhaps some formal precedents here in young James Ferraro's noisy duo The Skaters (with Spencer Clark), or perhaps Helm's early project Birds of Prey (with Steven Warwick), but there are perhaps even more chemtrails and psychic distortions here. I really dig this.

internet-wise there are quite a few active noise Discord channels but they contain mostly floods of youtube/bandcamp posts and edgy 4chan brats chatting and posting memes

I know some people completely getting away from any social media / public internet by coding their own noise/art forums + networks but they are all private or too leftist for you lot

[Soloman Tump]

My distaste for Instagram reached boiling point last week. I was happy when it all went offline then had the sads when it came back on so quick. So, I've started a new blog and I intend to migrate my social time there over the next couple of weeks.

So I'm not saying my new venture is interesting or worth visiting yet but hopefully will be soon.

https://intrusivesignals.blogspot.com/?m=0

Everything about Instagram is designed to shorten our attention spans. I have always preferred forums and blogs where longer conversations and opinions can be formed.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

One of the rare music web-zines I find interesting nowadays (or know of..) is Bardo Methodology. Stuff is unusually well written, mostly Black Metal and related, but there is occasional experimental artist too. For example shorter version of the paper magazine article of CMI / Karmanik.

Good thing of Bardo Methodology is, that even bands you are not that interested in, often comes out interesting as interviews are not conducted in the usual routine. They usually have focused angle, how band is approached, based on something band themselves is interested in. Not just promotions of new album. No just recap of entire band history and so on. So lets say, real journalism in the good sense of word!

http://www.bardomethodology.com/articles/2021/09/01/cold-meat-industry-roger-karmanik-brighter-death-now-interview/

[Lysergikon137]

Everything I've read from Adam Lehrer makes me feel like I'm gonna get cancer. I'm sick to shit of the overpoliticization of everything. If people haven't figured out how to tune in / turn on / drop out of that bullshit by now I don't have time for it.

On that note Bardo Methodology is a really great oasis in the sea of shit. Really enjoyed that piece on CMI and I learned quite a bit; the pieces on Phurpa, Vanum, and Katatonia also stand out to me as great interviews. Just real explorations, a lot of the occult stuff in extreme music can get REALLY tiring and theatrical, but the way Bardo Methodology is written keeps it legit.

[Theodore]

I'm sick to shit of the overpoliticization of everything.

I agree. Had the same feeling when reading political analysis of Squid Game. They almost made me feel bad that i liked it !

But this habit of politicization / 'academic' over-analysis of everything originally comes from one side. The left. It's in the DNA of their ideology. They dont know any other way to interpret anything. - I read only 3-4 texts by Lehrer, only after he was mentioned here. Dont know him. Judging by them, i think he is trying to react / response to this political correctness madness, still i sense his probably left background [?] leads him to use similar language / ways / 'tropes' , to engage in this political debate , to trying to convince the 'neutral' reader , pretty much a political 'apology' / explanation of why he likes something or of his opinion. Totally unneccesary and worthless.

[AdamLehrerImageMaker]

Tendencies that I overcoming, slowly. I have undergone a political transformation that some people have gotten to witness in real time, I suppose. However, I do think there is a full frontal assault on everything that has ever been interesting or antagonistic in any way, shape, or form, and that this needs to be opposed. Not always, of course. I have just published a book that has no mention of any contemporary discourses. But having been on every side of these debates, when I'm essaying I'm obviously responding to what I see right in front of me.

When the Quietus, for instance, asked me to do a noise column, they did so with the explicit warning not to publish anything that might invite right wing leaning accusations. Which means a good percentage of the kind of music I find interesting wouldn't even be allowed to be published. I had to snap out of that comfort to say something that I've felt in my bones for a long time.

As far as leftism, yeah I mean I'm a jew from the east coast in America. That's my background. However, I certainly wouldn't define that way at this juncture.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I'm sick to shit of the overpoliticization of everything.

I agree. Had the same feeling when reading political analysis of Squid Game. They almost made me feel bad that i liked it !

I don't know what type of political analysis is talked about in general. I only listened interview with person who had years of cultural studies of South Korea, who could enlighten about various things that are happening there. My impression was, that is you remove political analogies with Korean society and culture, all what Squid Game has, is like equal to shitty computer game. So therefore, I am not surprised it is a success, but there was nothing really why I would recommend it to anyone.

I have no problem with overpoliticization, unless it simply means that everything is reduced into pointless contemporary jargon.

If people haven't figured out how to tune in / turn on / drop out of that bullshit by now I don't have time for it.

I don't have distaste of phobia about politics themselves. I assume above mentioned Leary type slogan would suggest embrace the cultural changes by detaching from the existing conventions? I often see that people lump together any "idea" any idealism, any discussion of real world as "politics", without distinction what someone is doing or saying. It often makes me wonder so what it really is that appeals in noise/industrial/books/movies etc? It often turns out that it is preferably escapism. That it would be meaningless. That is something I do not have time nor interests for.

But that said, of course, the whole freedom of speech, freedom of expression, anti-cancel culture, whatever, it is fairly fruitless perspective in the end, but not un-interesting in certain ways. As observation, there is this "Finnish experimental music" social media group. 1000+ people in it. It consists of artists self-promotion, that pretty much nobody cares of. With luck, you get 1-5 thumbs up. Nobody has anything to say, about anything. Nobody will promote or talk other peoples work. Except, when there is a problematic situation, that what should be done with unnamed Finnish noise labels and artists who promote questionable ideas and values. In couple days erupts hundreds of messages of concern and confusion that gets out of hand. When having 1000+ people, in genre seemingly filled with creativity and interesting ideas, and endless potential to be harnessed to make interesting things happen.... So how come it could be, that only thing that motivates people to post or react, is.... that? It is sort of mind-blowing to see level of wasted potential and how dull simple-minded even the supposedly alternative crowd would be. It would be easy topic article, but as said, it would be fairly fruitless.

Instead, one could easily promote and write about interesting things. Even if one may not totally escape the substance that just sort of "write itself ready to be criticizer", I see that Lehrer does it. Recent entires include for example:

Piece dedicated to the work of New York-based painter Sedrick Chisom

Or interview with HELM. I just was holding HELM vinyls in my hand couple days ago wondering what's up with Luke. If you wondered same, you can check here:
https://safetypropaganda.substack.com/p/safety-propagandist-9-helm

[Theodore]

Articles that pretty much present the Squid Game like an anti-capitalist evangelium ! It's ridiculous when people try to present something as bigger than its 'size' , in order to serve their agenda and say their 'piece' . And i dont talk only about audience and critics. Creators are guilty too, often. Squid Game creator may thought he does a critique to capitalism, modern society etc. The result, what i saw, is a well-made series, that kept my interest, and i had good time watching it. I took no 'message' , no 'depth' . I wasnt looking for that, anyway. Shallow approach ? Yes, i dont look for series to shape my worldview. I am a guy who has watched 11 seasons of Walking Dead anyway, haha.

RE: Politics : I wont speak bad against anyone who opposes PC culture/politics. I probably hate / despise them more than he does ! But me too, i have concluded that it's pointless effort. And it can be very boring and tiresome for the reader/listener, even if he agrees. From political point of view it only helps them to establish their agenda more, to lead the 'game' . There is only a proper way to deal with them. Ignore them. And sometimes laugh at them -these bastards do for great comedy material- . So let them win ? Yeap, If they do. Let them fuck the world more. Till natural order crashes them down. It will take much less time than it did for communism.

[AdamLehrerImageMaker]

I'm sick to shit of the overpoliticization of everything.

I agree. Had the same feeling when reading political analysis of Squid Game. They almost made me feel bad that i liked it !

I don't know what type of political analysis is talked about in general. I only listened interview with person who had years of cultural studies of South Korea, who could enlighten about various things that are happening there. My impression was, that is you remove political analogies with Korean society and culture, all what Squid Game has, is like equal to shitty computer game. So therefore, I am not surprised it is a success, but there was nothing really why I would recommend it to anyone.

I have no problem with overpoliticization, unless it simply means that everything is reduced into pointless contemporary jargon.

If people haven't figured out how to tune in / turn on / drop out of that bullshit by now I don't have time for it.

I don't have distaste of phobia about politics themselves. I assume above mentioned Leary type slogan would suggest embrace the cultural changes by detaching from the existing conventions? I often see that people lump together any "idea" any idealism, any discussion of real world as "politics", without distinction what someone is doing or saying. It often makes me wonder so what it really is that appeals in noise/industrial/books/movies etc? It often turns out that it is preferably escapism. That it would be meaningless. That is something I do not have time nor interests for.

But that said, of course, the whole freedom of speech, freedom of expression, anti-cancel culture, whatever, it is fairly fruitless perspective in the end, but not un-interesting in certain ways. As observation, there is this "Finnish experimental music" social media group. 1000+ people in it. It consists of artists self-promotion, that pretty much nobody cares of. With luck, you get 1-5 thumbs up. Nobody has anything to say, about anything. Nobody will promote or talk other peoples work. Except, when there is a problematic situation, that what should be done with unnamed Finnish noise labels and artists who promote questionable ideas and values. In couple days erupts hundreds of messages of concern and confusion that gets out of hand. When having 1000+ people, in genre seemingly filled with creativity and interesting ideas, and endless potential to be harnessed to make interesting things happen.... So how come it could be, that only thing that motivates people to post or react, is.... that? It is sort of mind-blowing to see level of wasted potential and how dull simple-minded even the supposedly alternative crowd would be. It would be easy topic article, but as said, it would be fairly fruitless.

Instead, one could easily promote and write about interesting things. Even if one may not totally escape the substance that just sort of "write itself ready to be criticizer", I see that Lehrer does it. Recent entires include for example:

Piece dedicated to the work of New York-based painter Sedrick Chisom

Or interview with HELM. I just was holding HELM vinyls in my hand couple days ago wondering what's up with Luke. If you wondered same, you can check here:
https://safetypropaganda.substack.com/p/safety-propagandist-9-helm

Thanks for the shout out Mikko it means the world truly. It's ok that some people aren't into my thing, I wouldn't trust it if I only heard complimentary things. If I can be a self-promotional whore for a second, I have a new book out, https://hyperideanpress.com/shop/p/l9hfndvkvbawh5tqrg560qx8jrl205, which I think makes clearer the larger aim in my work, which is to blend art criticism, fiction, and encrypted memoir (of sorts) into some broader kind of theory fiction. All my writing has elements of hyperbole, half-truth, etc.. I do make very clear enemy distinctions in my writing, and I think that's largely just due to the very real experiences I had with some truly venomous and fraudulent people.

[Cementimental]

the only good thing left on the internet is https://archive.org/details/hypercardstacks

[theotherjohn]

For anyone that wants to keep the endless stream of online content coming from all directions contained in one place, I HIGHLY recommend using RSS feeds. It's unfortunately a bit neglected these days as a web tool but they're incredibly useful for running in the background to source the content you're only interested in as and when it's uploaded. In particular I've been using the browser extension FeedBro for a year now to "subscribe" to all the blogs, YouTube channels, audio podcasts, Soundcloud accounts and Twitter feeds I'm interested in and view/listen/watch them all inside there within minutes of something new being added to them - that then saves me from actively visiting the sites the content belongs to on the off chance something new is there, and thus finding myself getting distracted by the pull of autoplays, sidebars, recommendations, comments and other bullshit I don't need. When something new appears online I get a notification saying so, I click the extension button and I can access it there and then move on with my life. The only thing it doesn't seem to like is pulling content from Instagram accounts, but eh, fuck that app.

As for a non-written blog that's worth following, drtenge.com is up there with the best even if they've haven't been updated with new posts in a while. But once they do, I'll get a notification from Feedbro right away...

[Bruitiste]

That's good advice.  I just use the free version of Feedly, works well for me.  I migrated to that after Google Reader shut down.

[Atrophist]

. As observation, there is this "Finnish experimental music" social media group. 1000+ people in it. It consists of artists self-promotion, that pretty much nobody cares of. With luck, you get 1-5 thumbs up. Nobody has anything to say, about anything. Nobody will promote or talk other peoples work. Except, when there is a problematic situation, that what should be done with unnamed Finnish noise labels and artists who promote questionable ideas and values. In couple days erupts hundreds of messages of concern and confusion that gets out of hand. When having 1000+ people, in genre seemingly filled with creativity and interesting ideas, and endless potential to be harnessed to make interesting things happen.... So how come it could be, that only thing that motivates people to post or react, is.... that? It is sort of mind-blowing to see level of wasted potential and how dull simple-minded even the supposedly alternative crowd would be. It would be easy topic article, but as said, it would be fairly fruitless.

In fairness, most fb groups are exactly like that. People join because the topic or subject matter is something they are interested in, not so much because the group itself is interesting. You know, "I should join this group because if I don't, one day something actually interesting might happen and then I'll miss it". I'm a member in probably several dozen noise etc. oriented fb groups, will scroll through some of them once in a blue moon. Rarely there is anything actually interesting.

After that fiasco I think about 300 people quit that group, myself included. The most absurd thing is that they really seem to think that not allowing some type of material in that group, or being kicked out of it, would be seen as a loss of any kind for anyone.

[Atrophist]

Articles that pretty much present the Squid Game like an anti-capitalist evangelium ! It's ridiculous when people try to present something as bigger than its 'size' , in order to serve their agenda and say their 'piece' . And i dont talk only about audience and critics. Creators are guilty too, often. Squid Game creator may thought he does a critique to capitalism, modern society etc. The result, what i saw, is a well-made series, that kept my interest, and i had good time watching it. I took no 'message' , no 'depth' . I wasnt looking for that, anyway. Shallow approach ? Yes, i dont look for series to shape my worldview. I am a guy who has watched 11 seasons of Walking Dead anyway, haha..

Completely off topic, but .... I actually enjoyed Squid Game. Possibly at least in part because of the utterly miserable state of Western television drama. It stays with you and it's actually rather cleverly written in parts. You can tell the guy spent over decade rewriting the script over and over as he was trying to get it produced. And it's pretty rich describing it as primarily a "critique of capitalism" when one of the main characters in a defector from North Korea.