Fascism In Ambient Music Culture

[WeAreOceans]

It links this which is pretty tight shit

 

ambient

 

 

People have been up Bennett's dick ever since he made some tongue in cheek manifesto about being concerned about “unhealthy Negroid influences in all popular music today.” in an art publication called Force Mental.

 

One recent article made the rounds complaining about cultural appropriation with his Cut Hands work: http://joshhall.net/post/81578386910/fascism-and-colonialism-in-the-work-of-cut-hands

 

Bennett's response a year or so prior to accusations of racism/fascism: http://williambennett.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/statement.html

 

edit: and yes Cut Hands is some tight shit. Wish he want back to working on Whitehouse though.

[Silent Member]

Not sure if to burn my ambients or my Jews. Such predicament. Wow.

[dr lopez]

this is the dumbest article ever

[WeAreOceans]

 

Ian Dominick Fernow aka Vatican Shadow’s artistic profile upholds much esoterica, namely catholic symbology, whether ironic or not. With song titles like “Bin Laden’s Corpse,” “Not The Son of Desert Storm, But The Child of Chechnya,” “God’s Representative on Earth,” we run into not only acute hyperbolic commentary on rather contemporary, too-soon circumstances, but also and conversely platitudes that are nonetheless patriarchal, ethnocentric, and displaced medievalist. The artist’s moniker alone designates some kind of niche fascination dwelling happily and perhaps unsavorily in the shadow of Italy’s extensive history of national socialism, imperialism, and intellectual as well as architectural innovation. Bearing in mind that the Roman Empire was referred to as the First Reich by the Nazis, such historical entanglement, suspicious celebratory referencing, and questionable remission of centuries of oppressive politics all draw attention to a fascistic rhetoric as well as aesthetic.

 

I don't think the Vatican Shadow project is exactly in suppport of American foreign policy in the Middle East so I'm not sure what her point is here exactly. Fernow points out fascist imagery in American politics, so Fernow is a fascist?

[dr lopez]

il duce hated the catholic church btw

[zkom]

 

 

Ian Dominick Fernow aka Vatican Shadow’s artistic profile upholds much esoterica, namely catholic symbology, whether ironic or not. With song titles like “Bin Laden’s Corpse,” “Not The Son of Desert Storm, But The Child of Chechnya,” “God’s Representative on Earth,” we run into not only acute hyperbolic commentary on rather contemporary, too-soon circumstances, but also and conversely platitudes that are nonetheless patriarchal, ethnocentric, and displaced medievalist. The artist’s moniker alone designates some kind of niche fascination dwelling happily and perhaps unsavorily in the shadow of Italy’s extensive history of national socialism, imperialism, and intellectual as well as architectural innovation. Bearing in mind that the Roman Empire was referred to as the First Reich by the Nazis, such historical entanglement, suspicious celebratory referencing, and questionable remission of centuries of oppressive politics all draw attention to a fascistic rhetoric as well as aesthetic.

 

I don't think the Vatican Shadow project is exactly in suppport of American foreign policy in the Middle East so I'm not sure what her point is here exactly. Fernow points out fascist imagery in American politics, so Fernow is a fascist?

 

 

Vatican Shadow -> Vatican is in Italy -> Italy had fascists -> Vatican Shadow is fascist. Also Roman empire and nazis, omg.

 

Btw, how is Vatican Shadow ambient?

[doublename]

what, no Burzum?

[Npoess]

 

Vatican Shadow -> Vatican is in Italy -> Italy had fascists -> Vatican Shadow is fascist. Also Roman empire and nazis, omg.

 

Btw, how is Vatican Shadow ambient?

 

 

Pretty much this.

 

And lol @ accepting the premise of this article.

[TubularCorporation]

Ok now somebody do one about modular synth users being inherently classist because I don't have the budget to make a sweet eurorack setup.

[kieselguhr kid]

To be serious, are there any studies, books or articles on ambient music's relationship to politics, religion and mysticism? Could be interesting.

 

Also I don't think there's a coherent ambient music culture? I've been listening to ambient music for 20 years and never felt that it made me a member of some group, even when I've been to live shows. Just a bunch of nerds and hippies making weird sounds in their bedrooms to another bunch of nerds and hippies.

 

 

^ this

 

the topic has been widely (and with much more insight) discussed in regards to (post)industrial, though, e.g. here

[dr lopez]

what, no Burzum?

i know lol...

[th555]

Ok now somebody do one about modular synth users being inherently classist because I don't have the budget to make a sweet eurorack setup.

Sokal affair: IDM edition.

[awepittance]

 

edit: and yes Cut Hands is some tight shit. Wish he want back to working on Whitehouse though.

 

(filmed in the rose garden)

[KovalainenFanBoy]

Beatwife + Experimental Housewife tour incoming

[Candiru]

No black people have made ambient music unless you count cloudrap, so obviously lush pads are a tool of the white oppressors. Sean pls

[Rotwang]

[listens to Amber]

 

[invades Poland]

[khov]

there is this interesting interview from Drew Daniel on ambient, black metal & facism

http://www.factmag.com/2014/07/07/i-dont-think-ive-ever-had-more-anxiety-about-a-record-drew-daniel-talks-burzum-blurred-lines-and-tackling-black-metals-issues-head-on-with-the-soft-pink-truth/2/

[Guest Enter a new display name]

Martial industrial music has been actually accused of fascism.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_industrial#Accusations_of_fascism

[joshuatxuk]

Martial industrial music has been actually accused of fascism.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_industrial#Accusations_of_fascism

 

 

same with Oi! music - smaller parts of it crossed over to the white power / skinhead punk scene. in fact i went to see a friend's hardcore punk band and one of the other bands booked that night who played before them was a oi band called "ironhead division" - besides the name they had some other indicators something was up - drummer had a death in june shirt on and the bass player had a motorhead shirt - not a racist band at all but lemmy is a weird Wehrmacht/third Reich collector / aficionado. they didn't play anything clearly iffy lyrically tho that night....anyway months and months later I look them up and realized the put out a promo 7" on a label that totally is skinhead punk bullshit - so even if they aren't openly skinheads they have no qualms being associated with the scene

 

kvlt black metal has it's problems too - a minority tho - most bands are apolitical and anti-christian if anything, and more often than not bands are labeled as fascists and neo-nazis but totally aren't. that said there are NSBM bands out there, especially in East Europe. I heard a Russian band on a local black metal radio show (which is ironic because a lit of pro-Ukraine / anti-Russian forces in the Donbass war are openly fascist) and turns out they sell fucking shirts with blatant neo-nazi imagery. if you read any reviews on metal archives or other forums though it's pretty clear most metal heads dismiss the stuff or at most listen to the better albums on a whim without even acknowledging the lyrics.

 

so this shit is on the fringe but its out there if you look for it

[joshuatxuk]

 

 

 

Ian Dominick Fernow aka Vatican Shadow’s artistic profile upholds much esoterica, namely catholic symbology, whether ironic or not. With song titles like “Bin Laden’s Corpse,” “Not The Son of Desert Storm, But The Child of Chechnya,” “God’s Representative on Earth,” we run into not only acute hyperbolic commentary on rather contemporary, too-soon circumstances, but also and conversely platitudes that are nonetheless patriarchal, ethnocentric, and displaced medievalist. The artist’s moniker alone designates some kind of niche fascination dwelling happily and perhaps unsavorily in the shadow of Italy’s extensive history of national socialism, imperialism, and intellectual as well as architectural innovation. Bearing in mind that the Roman Empire was referred to as the First Reich by the Nazis, such historical entanglement, suspicious celebratory referencing, and questionable remission of centuries of oppressive politics all draw attention to a fascistic rhetoric as well as aesthetic.

 

I don't think the Vatican Shadow project is exactly in suppport of American foreign policy in the Middle East so I'm not sure what her point is here exactly. Fernow points out fascist imagery in American politics, so Fernow is a fascist?

 

 

Vatican Shadow -> Vatican is in Italy -> Italy had fascists -> Vatican Shadow is fascist. Also Roman empire and nazis, omg.

 

Btw, how is Vatican Shadow ambient?

 

 

vatican shadows has always been a mediocre industrial techno project - sounds like the same stuff black metal side-pojects were doing in 20 years ago - the aesthetics and track titles more intriguing than the actual music (but still lazily emulating muslimgauze)

 

if anything it's vaguely anti-western imperialist

[joshuatxuk]

this is the dumbest article ever

[Kavinsky]

reminds me of this crap

[chassis]

eno-nazi

[joshuatxuk]

I hate how some of these nazi punk / fascist bands sort of try to hide or are coy about their affiliations.

 

also if you're a band that isn't explicitly fascist but you associate with many bands that are, or are on a label that is known for it, you're a pussy. i think racism and fascism is the sort of thing where if you're not explicitly against it, then you're basically supporting it.

 

yeah it's also to point out how fringe and small the scene really is - the reality is there's likely more racists/right-wingers/fascists at say, a huge metal festival, pop music concert, etc. at any given time than there are openly racist/fascist people at a nazi punk or NSBM show at point venue.

 

this article seems like more of a solution in search of a problem. there's no threat that any overt fascist music scene will ever gain traction and even the "iffy" stuff is pretty niche. and a lot of the iffy stuff is exploring the aesthetics of fascism or referencing the history: a lot of metal bands mention WWII not out of nazi sympathy but because it's a fucking brutal subject. if I was writing music with death, destruction, and the absolute failure of humanity morally I would be drawn to the third Reich as well.

 

ironically fascist imagery is inherently interesting, even apolitically. there's been a lot of reddit threads about how shitty nazism is yet aesthetically it's hard to criticize from a design perspective (dat aesthetic tho!). also, when it comes to film triumph of the will has had a major influence on classic films. there's always been apolitical and/or leftist groups that have used nazi and fascist stuff ironically or for shock value - i.e. 70s UK punk especially. hell, the eno song uploaded earlier was referencing a nazi themed porno.

[cwmbrancity]

fyi, i like the vocals of Death In June, but that whole trench coat image bollix n weak tunes = meh

 

plus theyre not even ambient = far out