Villiage Voice deconstructs VNV and futurepop

[~rivetbadtz]

Well, here is a rather interesting exercise in word masturbation. The Village Voice, one of the mainstays of the so called alternative hipster scene for many a year has a rather unfortunately written article on VNV Nation:

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0250/catucci.php

At least that promo image of VNV is cool.

Finally, you can see them further waxing their out of the loop observations on the ebm/futurepop sound:

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0250/catucci.php

Here, the writer somehow manages to get in VNV, Apop, Covenant, Funker, and Icon of Coil all in the same article whilst still incorporating 'Hot Topic' into the mix(eh, at least theyve been the most reliable retail source for Metropolis Record bands stateside) At least this reviewer seemes to go more in depth with Covenant and VNV than that other recent article.

Best line of the article: "The chubby Torrid kids seem to have landed in the Apoptygma/VNV Nation/Covenant disco-land (echoes of Telex, Kraftwerk, Sisters of Mercy's Floodland, Kate Bush, Pet Shop Boys, a-ha) without realizing that their favorite songs call up disco-pop sounds from times past."

"Apop/VNV/Covenant diso-land". Gotta love it. ^_^

[~Ninthwaver]

Is this what they are teaching in Journalism school these days? Both of these articles are wordy and verbose, obviosuly trying to reach some sort of mandated word count with minimal content. I see this more and more in journal articles I read for Political Science too, people think that lots of little used words and heavy use of "-" will somehow make their work good. At least the author talked to Metropolis and did some background work other than go to a club and pass judgement.

As for the topics and reviews- eh, opinions are like certian orifices, everyone's got em, most shouldn't bring theirs out into the light.

-Dave

[~CUBALIST MUZIK]

''As for the topics and reviews- eh, opinions are like certian orifices, everyone's got em, most shouldn't bring theirs out into the light.''


GREAT LINE!!! Hit the nail on the head there Dave!

-Aidan
Empire State Human

[~Kirlian Blue]

agrreed ..may the journsalit responsible be chained to a table and may a beaded mullet be placed on his filthy maggot infested head! Then we will get him a shirt with "Im a result of mistaken act of incest between my dad and my uncle i call"mammy"!"
Then i would get this little journalist to scuba dive with his chums in a sewage works looking for washed up dimes and fase teeth which i would heat up and ramm up his loose oraphis ! With some industrial branding iron....lol

(kirlains on a anti journalist rant)

[~cliffwalk]

I wont bother elaborating on the journalistic style because it speaks in piss-poor structure all on its own.. however, I do find the perspective of the article interesting considering the date on it...

I guess with fashion, music, art, etc I'm starting to find it ironic than in this day were information is at our fingertips in a matter of seconds there's such a lag in how prompty subject matter is addressed...

atleast the articles were relatively objective... the explanation of the music is like most other music critics: Amateur Hour.

Dave

[Electroswank]

"beaded mullet?"
wow, as if the mullet wasn't bad enough... adding beads for extra humiliation, huh? *files that information for future use*

anyway...
I think its messed up but what do you expect? raving reviews and flourishing language? This guy knows nothing about the scene and less about being a journalist. (he should have done more research) But regardless, of that... any press is good press i suppose. At least the names are out there... its a start. (trying to be positive)

[~NullDevice]

Well, it *is* the Villiage Voice...not a paper known to be bereft of pretension.

Despite the rather purple and heavy-handed style, I kind of agree with the guy. :)

[~interface2x]

So .... was that supposed to be a review? At first reading, it just looked like a quick exposition that happened to discuss VNV in there. And then I see the header that lists the band and album name.

Man, if I used reviews to decide what music to buy and regularly got tripe like this, I'd be pretty confused.

[~Pop-off]

Well, speaking as a journalist (albeit one who has wrtitten mebbe one article on synthpop) at least the genre is getting exposure. There is no such thing as bad publicity

Understand the article for what it is: it's Village Voice -- so an authoratative, slightly sneering, superior, yet trying valiantly to be hip voice cramming as many music references as posssible into the story in an effort to be oh so relevant (kinda like this sentence) is mandatory. It is tho' ultimately the equivalent of journalistic masturbation (as the first writer said).

Fun for what it is tho' .....in a guilty pleasure kind of way.

[~Eyuva]

what type of paper is the village voice again?

Anyways, I know a few so called newspapers, especially the weekly newspapers that are all politics and no news. The city newspaper in my home town is full of it, and is simply there to force their political agenda onto unsuspecting readers of what at first glance appears to be a newspaper, but is in reality far from the title; more like an op-ed page with an exclusive liberal slant.

[~David Vesel]

We have one here in St. Louis, the Riverfront Times. Willamette Week in Portland was almost identical. I understand that a whole bunch of them are owned by the same publisher now.

My summary of them is, abhor/hate the political slant, but frequently they're the only source of local music coverage, so I occasionally pick one up for the music articles.

[~goedley]

Originally posted by David Vesel
We have one here in St. Louis, the Riverfront Times. Willamette Week in Portland was almost identical. I understand that a whole bunch of them are owned by the same publisher now.

My summary of them is, abhor/hate the political slant, but frequently they're the only source of local music coverage, so I occasionally pick one up for the music articles.

There is a large tradition of weekly political/entertainment newspapers. In San Fran we have the SF Weekly and the bay Guardian and there is also the East Bay Express. Salt Lake City has a similar paper, as does Madison (the Isthmus.)

I like the political slant if only for the perspective. If conservatives want to make a similar newspaper, they are welcome to. I doubt, however, that I would be very interested in their opinion and analysis of films, music and clubs.

[~rivetbadtz]

Originally posted by goedley
[b]

There is a large tradition of weekly political/entertainment newspapers. In San Fran we have the SF Weekly and the bay Guardian and there is also the East Bay Express. Salt Lake City has a similar paper, as does Madison (the Isthmus.)
b>

Actually ZERO from the Bay area is good about giving equal balance to scenes. I remember a couple years back while they had Marilyn Manson on the cover, they had a really cool feature on the VNV/Apop tour, with an interview with Apoptygma Berzerk.

*me, who is sad I couldnt make it out for my yearly record shopping in Berkeley yesterday due to abhorrent weather conditions*

[~Gandalfe]

Denver also has a pretty good weekly rag, as does (if I recall correctly from my travels) Sacramento, Seattle (duh!) and, of all places, Kansas City!

[~Daft Monk]

Actually, I was just reading the SF Bay Guardian's "year in music" issue and the thing that impressed me most was the cynicism toward music in general. There was one "critic" who dismissed half a dozen of the "big" albums of the year by saying they had listened to one track each before deciding that they were utterly worthless. Back when I was doing "reviews" for the college radio station I dj-ed at, I always listened to the complete album twice, and I was shooting for an audience of half a dozen djs who played electronic music, not publishing my opinion as the final say on the "scene."
I've found Zero to be more useful, but I haven't seen it around in a while(I'm probably not spending enough time in record stores). It's got more of a goth/industrial spin than the usual indie rock/punk slant in the Guardian/SF Weekly/Metro..., but I've found most of the reviews rather uninformed when it came to the electronic scene. For example they reviewed a compilation with the Pump Panel remix of New Order's "Confusion" and the reviewer apparently thought it was a new original track where they weren't doing "the usual synthpop" or something to that effect. Not to mention the ton of spelling errors, but hey, it's free. You get what you pay for.

[~rivetbadtz]

I feel kind of saddened the music we love doesnt get much respect in newstand magazines, even ones you'd think our geared toward our style.

Oddly enough it was Alternative Press that had a little bit of coverage...ok, yes Metropolis pays for ad space, maybe that has something to do with it. But the guys from AFI wearing Metropolis band shirts is cool.

Now...magazines like Outburn seem stuck int he 90's, reviewing mostly industrial rock and metal. I think they have something against future/synthpop. grrr

Then there is Propaganda and Permission which turned into twink
and tuck fashion mags.

And as for all those DJMixMag/XLR8R/URB type mags...ya can forget it sadly. They are more concerned with the latest
club craze and Carl Cox vs. Moby crossover,

[~NullDevice]

It's not surprising that we never get much respect. As a scene, anything mildly related to kids-wearing-a-lot-of-black gets perceived as being way too self-serious and self-involved.

But it's not just Synth/EBM/futurepop. The press rags on emo. The press rags on ravers. They rag on metalheads. These are music *critics* after all. In these indie papers, the struggle for credibility seems to be based entirely on how superior you can sound.

I figure if NME can disparage on The Smiths for 20 years and then vote them the most influential band of all time, then we shouldn't really be worrying too much about what the press has to say.

[~Daft Monk]

I remember picking up XLR8R in the mid-90's back when they were a monthly freebie, and they've always had a focus on rave and underground club culture. They've always had a fairly narrow focus so I don't blame them for ignoring industrial & synthpop stuff. It's just not their scene.
Actually, Alternative Press was the only place you could find anything on "new wave" music through a good chunk of the 90's. I haven't picked up the magazine for awhile now, but Aaron who did an industrial column and reviews deejayed at the same college radio station I used to, and he had an amazing show. I used to listen to it back when I was in high school and got to hear all sorts of great electro-industrial bands like Wumpscut, Evil's Toy, and just about everything put out on Metropolis. Good times, good times.

[~rustcwc]

i am just wondering why there are so few magazines about our music in the states....i like outburn, but have to agree the biggest inclusion of anything ebm/synthpop/futurepop is primarily only in the reviews...other than that i have not seen any...i am sure they are out there, but most have completely changed style or are web based only (call me old fashioned, but i love holding the mag in my hands, i was a print journalism major)....i have to rely on imports like sideline (which i love) for my info...and here in dallas that means mail order (god i miss being able to waltz into musicwerks in seattle)....if anyone knows of any, i would love suggestions....i would love to start my own someday soon....as for the Village Voice article..it's another piece for the hipsters to feel superior about...whether it is feeling they discovered something underground, or a way to make fun of it (i get so much flack for the music i listen to!!! it is like high school again). anyway....

[~rivetbadtz]

Originally posted by rustcwc
i am just wondering why there are so few magazines about our music in the states....

The short of it seems noone cares about our music. I read Industrial Magazine just came out(Which has made an efort to expand past industrial) But yeah, there really isnt any stateside. OMG I wish we had Sideline available other than online. That magazine, wow.

The best darn magazine that covered the new EBM/futurepop/synthpop/techno scene was Interface. They also covered anime and video games. I mean it really was something to behold. I think their last issue had VNV onthe cover. Itd be my dream to start a huge rival to the techno magazines...itd be called like EBM and feature modern synthpop, futurepop, techno,
electro clash, industrial, etc...as well as anime, video games, and technology.

As for Outburn, all they care about is death metal, trendy 90's industrial rock, and other crap. Youd think theyd have lot of stuff covering our scene, sadly not.

Alternative Press...they are mostly into the 'yo man, bizkit is siiick' rap metal g-punk late 90's sound, punk, and the emo/indie nerd core stuff. Once in awhile I do find a few things on our scene, tho not much.

So yeah, maybe one of these days someone will start a nice slick glossy color magazine about the scene. I think Im gonna puke if I see another 'gothic plump and twink' fashion rad on newstands. Do we need more magazines devoted to SS fashioned androginous boys and Torrid chick spokesmodels?

[~rustcwc]

i would love to start one...that is actually my big dream...maybe someday...does anyone remember back in the days before Alternative Press was putting whiney-momma'sboy-pseudoangstridden-metal bands on the cover, that they had the slaughterhouse...their industrial review section?? i used to be able to walk into musicwerks in seattle and get sideline, as well as numerous other mags in this scene...here in dallas, i can't find much of anything (not that it's surprising)...there are seemingly thousands of metal and dj mags, but where the hell are our's? guess it's like the whole punk thing...if you can't find it or don't like it...do it yourself...and that is something i hope to start working on here soon....

[~Breye 7x]

Originally posted by rivetbadtz
Now...magazines like Outburn seem stuck int he 90's, reviewing mostly industrial rock and metal. I think they have something against future/synthpop. grrr

Then there is Propaganda and Permission which turned into twink
and tuck fashion mags.

And as for all those DJMixMag/XLR8R/URB type mags...ya can forget it sadly. They are more concerned with the latest
club craze and Carl Cox vs. Moby crossover,


---OMG You Are So Right. And I Always Thought i Was the Only One Who Had Noticed this.

I Love You! *Giggle*

Breye 7x / Provision

[~Bornslippy]

Today I subsribed to Side-Line Magazine.... Anyone else subscribe to this mag?