Note: No AI in any form has been used when writing this text.
Jodorowsky's works were one of my first big, big loves, and not just in the field of scifi, but when talking about media, stories, art, when I was a teenager, even before William Gibson really hit me, before Neo and The Matrix, or before I became lost within the stories of Stanislaw Lem.
How was that possible, or rather, how did that happen?
Well, I guess, and it's an educated guess (I hope!) that the majority of people these days know Jodorowsky because he did not make Dune. And that is quite the feat indeed, becoming famous for a movie that... you did not even end up making!
The story is covered elsewhere already, just go and dig on the internet. In the 70s, Jodorowsky got the rights to Dune (or he thought he could get them, can't remember exactly), then went on a completely whacked out cruise around the world, in order to recruit Pink Floyd, H.R. Giger, Orson Welles, future set and special FX artists of Star Wars and Alien... and then it went "kaboom!" as expected, even blew a few people's brains out (i.e. they became "mental unstable" for a while).
In the end, David Lynch got to make Dune instead, and, much much later, Denis Villeneuve got to make a more well-received version. (BTW, as Pink Floyd was in the trailer for that version of Dune, my educated guess is that Denis Villeneuve sought out to rip-off Jodo's ideas for good).
So, I assume people know all of this. But, I think there is a thing that is lesser known, which is what happened to Jodorowsky afterwards.
And this is that he became a comic book artist (or "graphic novel", like the art folk like to say these days). And I kid you not, he went into the comics industry, and became very, very well known and famous by making comic books for teenagers and young adults (like me when I first read them).
At least on the outside label.
Because the truth is that he took the most outrageous ideas he had for his dune movie. and even expanded them. he added some other strange ideas. and also used some of the earlier ones he had. and used that to build his comics (aka "graphic novels"). and for later comics, he came up with just as outrageous ideas.
i should add that he rarely painted (drawed?) them. he recruited other people for that, like moebius (author of the well known "blueberry" comics) or a host (army?) of others.
the books were a creative collab between him and the artists.
so... yeah, how to describe his comics? it's usually scifi, but his own style, i'd say... often very cyberpunk, there is also stuff that is like space operas, but never with a clean "black vs white" morality... more like a dirty version of epic scifi franchises...
the stories are full of references to psychoactive substances, religious cults, conspiracy, tarot, tantra, there is real violence (often getting very nasty), there is intimacy... let's just say that when some big US corporation brought his "before the incal" series to the american audience, they literally enlisted artists to "paint the clothes back on" for some panels! (quite a few panels, actually).
but it's never 100% nihilism, there are also shiny heroes and a possible, positive ending...
that's the universe, the future of mankind, like these books envision. books? well, comics, and i hope you are able to consider comics as real, serious "books".
okay some people will scream now: "wait, i know jodorowsky, but he did not do comics, he made movies, like el topo or the holy mountain".
yes, that is true. but his major body of work is his comics books (aka "graphic novels", hah!)
i suppose he is one of the most prolific comic authors in the 20th and 21th century. it is hard to find a complete list or index. but it must be close to 100 of volumes (or more).
"the incal" alone has a dozen of spin off series that are completed by now, and new spin offs seem to spawn every year.
plus it's not just scifi anymore, there are western comics, comics set in the middle ages, fantasy books. oddly enough, they stay similar to his other works, and even the western ones are about drugs, divine intervention / punishment, mystical conspiracies.
ah well.
all i can say is i highly recommend jodorowsky's comic books.
my top 5 of comics one should (could) check out by him:
1. The Incal (with Jean Giraud / Moebius)
2. The Metabarons / La Caste de Méta-Barons (with Juan Giménez)
3. Before The Incal / Avant l’Incal (with Zoran Janjetov)
4. The Technofathers / Les Technopères (with Zoran Janjetov, too)
5. Megalex (With Fred Beltran)
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Samstag, 12. September 2026
Montag, 10. August 2026
Non-erotic nudity as a metaphor for the creative process or: How to keep that productive streak running
Non-erotic nudity as a metaphor for the creative process or: How to keep that productive streak running
How to keep that creative streak running (Looking back at my life as an artist)
I often think stuff like: how could I sum up my biography as an artist, what advice could I give to others, is there something others could learn... some information to share.
Either way, the other day I turned on TV to watch a movie, and it seemed like the movie was not on yet, as the end of another movie was playing, a movie I did not know.
So there was a football (soccer) game going on, when suddenly some middle aged dude ran onto the pitch, unclothed. A sports streak, a thing that is not entirely unknown to happen in Europe. Turned out he was some friendly but boring loser with an even more boring job, had fallen out of favor, was in a financial and otherwise crisis, and was somehow involved in sports bets in order to find a remedy to his situation.
Now he was literally running for his bare life (pun intended), trying to dodge any kind of security, as the crowd in the stadium, and the millions of people in front of TV, cheered him on. Turns out he had to run for 3:18 straight, without being toppled or tripping, in order to beat the world record in - tada - "sports streaking".
He did succeed, and in the end this solved all his problems. Wonderful!
Why do I tell you this? Because, I think this little sequence of 3 and ⅓ minutes, perfectly sums up what creativity and the artist's life is about. It's a marvelous metaphor, really.
If you want to be a musician, or artist, and if you want to really get somewhere, and are not just doing it for hobby, or to become an unknown "in-house" producer for some label, or a similarly plain fate, ask yourself this:
Would you be comfortable in a situation like this? Being completely unclothed, millions watch you, several dozen chase you and try to topple you, and you must stay up, you must not trip, you must not allow yourself to be pushed to the ground?
And no, there is nothing "romantic" about this situation, you don't look above average, it's totally un-erotic nudity, no kink or fetish thing, and millions of people are free to laugh at you and your bare self, hate you, point at you, mock you, criticise you?
Because *that* is what art and music is about. You put your innermost emotions, thoughts, feelings, *secrets*, out to the world. Things that can be seen as embarrassing, shocking, ugly, or even just "stupid and dumb".
Normal people hide behind a shield, a shell, a protective layer, if you want to call it that. Where they are allowed to keep a lot of themselves, their moods, their true thoughts, to themselves. And that can give a sense of security and stability. To them.
But an artist does not have that security.
And don't think you could still keep something about yourself - to yourself. Once you are "moderately" known, they will come for you, and strip away everything that is left, of your "secrets".
The lions are hungry, and they come to devour you.
Oh, and the security force? That's a metaphor for the army of humans that are jealous, mean, evil, that see you, see how you are, do not like this, and try to stop you. You need to be able to dodge their attempts. And also be able not to trip by yourself.
And be able to keep running, and running, and running...
So, if you are able to put yourself in such a situation, in your own imagination, and you are comfortable with it, and you have the courage...
Then congrats, you really are an artist.
I should add two more notes to this otherwise finished text, because it is easy to be misunderstood:
In many European countries, being unclothed is semi-legal or not entirely illegal. I know that in other countries (hello USA!), there are different sensitivities.
And, most importantly, "nudity" really is just a metaphor in the entire text. Just like I said!
It's a metaphor for showing your creativity and thoughts, and everything else, out to the world. I don't mean "literal" nudity in this text! So please do not misunderstand it.
How to keep that creative streak running (Looking back at my life as an artist)
I often think stuff like: how could I sum up my biography as an artist, what advice could I give to others, is there something others could learn... some information to share.
Either way, the other day I turned on TV to watch a movie, and it seemed like the movie was not on yet, as the end of another movie was playing, a movie I did not know.
So there was a football (soccer) game going on, when suddenly some middle aged dude ran onto the pitch, unclothed. A sports streak, a thing that is not entirely unknown to happen in Europe. Turned out he was some friendly but boring loser with an even more boring job, had fallen out of favor, was in a financial and otherwise crisis, and was somehow involved in sports bets in order to find a remedy to his situation.
Now he was literally running for his bare life (pun intended), trying to dodge any kind of security, as the crowd in the stadium, and the millions of people in front of TV, cheered him on. Turns out he had to run for 3:18 straight, without being toppled or tripping, in order to beat the world record in - tada - "sports streaking".
He did succeed, and in the end this solved all his problems. Wonderful!
Why do I tell you this? Because, I think this little sequence of 3 and ⅓ minutes, perfectly sums up what creativity and the artist's life is about. It's a marvelous metaphor, really.
If you want to be a musician, or artist, and if you want to really get somewhere, and are not just doing it for hobby, or to become an unknown "in-house" producer for some label, or a similarly plain fate, ask yourself this:
Would you be comfortable in a situation like this? Being completely unclothed, millions watch you, several dozen chase you and try to topple you, and you must stay up, you must not trip, you must not allow yourself to be pushed to the ground?
And no, there is nothing "romantic" about this situation, you don't look above average, it's totally un-erotic nudity, no kink or fetish thing, and millions of people are free to laugh at you and your bare self, hate you, point at you, mock you, criticise you?
Because *that* is what art and music is about. You put your innermost emotions, thoughts, feelings, *secrets*, out to the world. Things that can be seen as embarrassing, shocking, ugly, or even just "stupid and dumb".
Normal people hide behind a shield, a shell, a protective layer, if you want to call it that. Where they are allowed to keep a lot of themselves, their moods, their true thoughts, to themselves. And that can give a sense of security and stability. To them.
But an artist does not have that security.
And don't think you could still keep something about yourself - to yourself. Once you are "moderately" known, they will come for you, and strip away everything that is left, of your "secrets".
The lions are hungry, and they come to devour you.
Oh, and the security force? That's a metaphor for the army of humans that are jealous, mean, evil, that see you, see how you are, do not like this, and try to stop you. You need to be able to dodge their attempts. And also be able not to trip by yourself.
And be able to keep running, and running, and running...
So, if you are able to put yourself in such a situation, in your own imagination, and you are comfortable with it, and you have the courage...
Then congrats, you really are an artist.
I should add two more notes to this otherwise finished text, because it is easy to be misunderstood:
In many European countries, being unclothed is semi-legal or not entirely illegal. I know that in other countries (hello USA!), there are different sensitivities.
And, most importantly, "nudity" really is just a metaphor in the entire text. Just like I said!
It's a metaphor for showing your creativity and thoughts, and everything else, out to the world. I don't mean "literal" nudity in this text! So please do not misunderstand it.
Dienstag, 16. Juni 2026
To trick the devil: the "blasphemous" symbolism of european folk stories and fairy tales
Christianity is a pretty unique religion in one regard. Other religions, or systems of spirituality have concepts of "good vs evil" too, or even ultimate irredeemable "evil" deities and forces. But, in nearly all these cases, these "evil" deities sometimes *do* actually do things that can be considered good.
For example, there could be a myth, where an evil force resurrects someone's child, not because they are so nice and helpful, but because they made a bargain, or want to spite someone (or something) else or whatever.
In some myths, forces that are mostly considered to be evil did important parts of the creation of the world, for example in the greek myths. So they actually *did* achieve something good. Maybe not in a direct, or straight forward way, but in its consequences.
For faithful christians on the other hand, the devil, satan, lucifer, is not only the absolute of all evils, but any faithful soul must, under no circumstance, ever petition the antichrist, call out to a demon, or to anyone who is in "league" with the legions of hell, or anything in this vein.
While in other religions, like I said above, under some circumstances, and they might be very rare, an "evil" spirit might be employed by a human to do something - "good".
This brings us to traditional european folk stories and fairy tales, for example the famous collections by the brothers grimm.
These deal with the devil quite a lot.
Often there is a person who calls out to some "demonic" force straight away. For example, in order to cure one's children, wife, husband... or to gain worldly riches, to overcome poverty. Sometimes the devil or a minion appears to a person in need and makes an offer.
In other cases, a mysterious object or secret is the cure or object of desire. and a "wise man" or "witch" tells our troubled protagonist that the object is only to be found in the underworld, and they need to go there and face the dark forces in order to get it.
And, just like expected, dealing with lucifer in such way, or enjoying the communion of demons, is not what was expected, there is evilness attached to it, and now our protagonist is in deep trouble.
The message, at the surface is: calling out to un-christian, dark, occult forces, will lead to evil, punishment, and ultimately death.
But the story does not end here, our poor protagonist starts to think and struggle, and with the help of others (or even alone) they are able to "outwit" the devil, trick the underworld in some way, and ultimately reign victorious.
These tales seem harmless enough (they can still be pretty grimm, though), and seemingly portray a message of faith to good christian souls: stay on your course, dont talk to demons, dont look to the ground and into the underworld.
But, if we think logically about it. These protagonists actually *did* gain something. By going to these dark, infernal, whatever forces.
Yes, they barely escaped death or eternal punishment in some cases. But they were brave and clever, and now their children are cured, wealth has come to them, they are kings and queens, maybe future rulers of the world.
And none of these quite good things would have happened if they *did* nothing. If they had avoided calling out to... these forces they were warned about.
And that's not really a "good" message to faithful believers, right?
I am not sure in which way the christian scholars of those times were aware of this "dangerous" symbolism in those stories. I know that a lot of them were against the belief in mystical forces outside of what the bible allows, including fairy tales (with their stories about pixies and ghosts and witches).
but just like alcohol, gambling, and many other things, these were so popular amongst the population, that they could not really weed this out. so i guess they had to accept that those folk stories got happily passed on by the general populace, while gnashing their teeth in the shadows themselves.
Interestingly, the above mentioned "infernal logic" of those folk stories mirrors similar "logic" in traditional pagan or other religions.
for example, if you go to a shaman somewhere, and ask them if it's possible to gain something out of dealing with a "chaotic" or "infernal" force, spirit, even deity, they might say "it is possible. but you have to be really clever and cunning about it. you might have to trick them".
or a shaman might tell their listeners that, at one point in their journey through life, they *have* to encounter and deal with an unpleasant and fiery realm, unless they want to remain in their starting conditions forever.
Just like the protagonists in our fairy tales!
So it's quite possible that in those classic tales, some remnants of the pagan religions that existed in europe. before the advance of christianity, still exist.
Note: No AI has been used when writing this text
Mittwoch, 20. Mai 2026
The ultra-niche genre of political horror movies
There is a tiny sub-genre of movies I am pretty fond of; "political horror movies".
It's not the 60s and 70s anymore, and movies with a political theme or overt political plots have become pretty rare (maybe they even were already rare back then). Most political movies deal with shady business operations, shady government operations, or both. Horror movies do not seem to fit well to any kind of politics.
Because what would be political to a group of people getting butchered near a crystal lake?
Either way, oddly enough, these movies exist, and a lot of them are pretty damn well!
Let's take a look at some of them. (Major spoilers ahead, so take care if you have not seen these movies yet)
The Serpent and The Rainbow https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096071/
Was Craven is one of the "maestros" of the horror genre, of course. After all, he created the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series. And a lot of other classics.
This one stars Bill Pullman and Cathy Tyson. It tells the story of a scientist who is sent to Haiti in the late 70s by a pharma corp in order to investigate the case of people coming back to life due to a "voodoo drug". The business people think such a drug might come in mighty handy for western medicine, too (makes sense, right?).
During these days, Haiti was under the brutal reign of the fascist government by the Duvalier family. But it seems resistance is already growing...
As a non-believer in the occult, and a "western outsider", our scientist finds it hard to penetrate haitian society and it's voodoo underground. It turns out nothing is as it seems, there are a lot of crooks and strange characters.
And it turns out haiti's voodoo elite priests are more or less split into two camps. There are evil, black wizards who are aligned with, support and uphold the fascist government. The good, benevolent voodoo mages on the other hand are unaligned and do not want to have anything to do with the police and government brutality that is happening; they try to stay "unpolitical" though, and are reluctant to join the revolutionary citizens (but will they, in the end?).
as the movie goes on, our protagonist finally gets initiated in the voodoo mysteries of haiti, in more than one way.
It seems the movie is based on a real-world book by an "ethnobotanist" who studied cases of "zombification" in haiti.
The movie itself has its moments of cheese and camp, it's not some ultra-serious, ultra-intellectual dry affair... it's done by wes craven, after all.
But the whole thing is less cheesy than the above description might imply.
The whole portrayal of voodoo and magic is astonishingly complex.
For example, there is a female, haiti-based scientist that tries to explain the syncretism of a scientific worldview, catholicism, and voodoo magic. she is a psychiatric scientist and voodoo practitioner at the same time.
and she shows him, by leading the protagonist to the sight of a ceremonial burial with one of the most beautiful and haunting compositions i ever heard in a movie...
Suspiria Remake https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034415/?ref_=fn_t_1
the original suspiria, of course, is one of the all time great in horror movies. btw, i read somewhere that the "strange" colors of the original movie were there because the director used a recording technique that was already outdated by the time the movie was made! very interesting.
the remake has tilda swinton and dakota johnson. the story and everything is actually quite different from the original. it is more like a completely new movie, that has just some of the elements of the first one.
the movie takes place in 1977 in west berlin. international viewers might not know this, but this was the time of the so called "deutscher herbst". a left wing struggle against the german government. there were armed terrorists groups, but also a lot of more peaceful protests. the scent of revolution really was in the air, and a "comrade" later told me that germany was really a matchstick's length away from revolution in that year... (he was still an infant when all this happened, so what does he know, really?).
and unlike the original movie, this political backdrop is very visible in the movie. and audible, too, as the movie starts with the sound of a left wing bomb attack going off...
but there is not just the left side making their agitation audible. there is also the theme of fascism and post-fascism. buried, dark secrets in the history of germany, the nazi trauma. and our protagonists are entangled in this, one way or the other.
the "witches coven" that is the central part of the movie seems to be the still eye in the storm here, strangely devoid of the politics that is going on in the outside world.
but in my interpretation, there is an intended synchronicity in the plot; the hierarchy, the struggle for power, the brutality, the lies and deceit, well, everything that is going on in this spiritual, symbolic "witched world" actually mimics the themes of fascism, power abuse, struggle for freedom, that is happening in parallel, in the outside world.
and, of course, the witches mirror feminist politics. both in a negative and positive sense.
Pan's Labyrinth https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/
Maybe the most known political horror movie, and one where it is quite clear that it is a horror movie, and a political movie. one where one does not have to fear to be criticized of "dragging politics" into an otherwise normal movie.
it's set in the world and time of fascist spain.
i don't think i need to write much about its content, as i guess most people know this movie already.
but let me add that, just like in the suspiria re-make, the story seems to roll out on two levels.
the magic struggle and quest of the protagonist (a young witch, once again) mirrors the events that happen in the outside world, including the political ones.
Medusa Touch https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077921/
Oh oh, the medusa touch. this movie left quite the mark on me. there is richard burton and lino ventura in it. the entire world of the movie feels very depressing and austere, and i think only 1970s movies can feel this bleak (maybe people actually were quite depressed in that decade?).
there are two protagonists in the movie, lino ventura, the detective, who is called upon to investigate the death of an author, who is played by richard burton. he surprisingly comes back to life, though, and is put into a coma. this is when the mystery begins
in flashbacks we then witness the life of our author, which was quite bleak and depressive too, and reminds me of the hardships "pink" has to experience in pink floyd's "the wall" opera.
he also realizes he has supernatural gifts, but he does not use these to do good things, instead he does very bad things, like telekinetically killing people through accidents. he is haunted by this and feels guilty, to the point he seeks the help of a chirologist and a therapist. he feels he is only capable of doing evil, and wants to get rid of this cursed magic gift.
so where is the politics? well, one day our protagonist has an "epiphany" and thinks he finally found a way to use his dark powers in a good way; by using them to punish the "wickedness" of mankind. he starts by slaughtering a whole crew of astronauts on their way to the moon, because he felt the money of the space program had better been used to feel hungry people or for medical research.
towards the end of the movie, he tries to snuff out the upper echelon of british society by collapsing a cathedral on top of them.
in the end, he seeks to help out the anti-nuclear protesters that we see in the beginning of the movie, by blowing up the nuclear power plant that they are protesting against. which would have irradiated most of great britain, i suppose.
so, in this movie the protagonists are not really aligned with any political movement or group. it is political, because of the "anti-establishment" hatred of our author, which is especially visible in the rhetoric he uses to defend his magic attacks (despite all this evil stuff, he really thinks he is ultimately following a good cause with this mayhem).
which, i guess, makes it a political horror movie, too!
do you know more movies in this weird sub-niche of movies? let me know!
It's not the 60s and 70s anymore, and movies with a political theme or overt political plots have become pretty rare (maybe they even were already rare back then). Most political movies deal with shady business operations, shady government operations, or both. Horror movies do not seem to fit well to any kind of politics.
Because what would be political to a group of people getting butchered near a crystal lake?
Either way, oddly enough, these movies exist, and a lot of them are pretty damn well!
Let's take a look at some of them. (Major spoilers ahead, so take care if you have not seen these movies yet)
The Serpent and The Rainbow https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096071/
Was Craven is one of the "maestros" of the horror genre, of course. After all, he created the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series. And a lot of other classics.
This one stars Bill Pullman and Cathy Tyson. It tells the story of a scientist who is sent to Haiti in the late 70s by a pharma corp in order to investigate the case of people coming back to life due to a "voodoo drug". The business people think such a drug might come in mighty handy for western medicine, too (makes sense, right?).
During these days, Haiti was under the brutal reign of the fascist government by the Duvalier family. But it seems resistance is already growing...
As a non-believer in the occult, and a "western outsider", our scientist finds it hard to penetrate haitian society and it's voodoo underground. It turns out nothing is as it seems, there are a lot of crooks and strange characters.
And it turns out haiti's voodoo elite priests are more or less split into two camps. There are evil, black wizards who are aligned with, support and uphold the fascist government. The good, benevolent voodoo mages on the other hand are unaligned and do not want to have anything to do with the police and government brutality that is happening; they try to stay "unpolitical" though, and are reluctant to join the revolutionary citizens (but will they, in the end?).
as the movie goes on, our protagonist finally gets initiated in the voodoo mysteries of haiti, in more than one way.
It seems the movie is based on a real-world book by an "ethnobotanist" who studied cases of "zombification" in haiti.
The movie itself has its moments of cheese and camp, it's not some ultra-serious, ultra-intellectual dry affair... it's done by wes craven, after all.
But the whole thing is less cheesy than the above description might imply.
The whole portrayal of voodoo and magic is astonishingly complex.
For example, there is a female, haiti-based scientist that tries to explain the syncretism of a scientific worldview, catholicism, and voodoo magic. she is a psychiatric scientist and voodoo practitioner at the same time.
and she shows him, by leading the protagonist to the sight of a ceremonial burial with one of the most beautiful and haunting compositions i ever heard in a movie...
Suspiria Remake https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034415/?ref_=fn_t_1
the original suspiria, of course, is one of the all time great in horror movies. btw, i read somewhere that the "strange" colors of the original movie were there because the director used a recording technique that was already outdated by the time the movie was made! very interesting.
the remake has tilda swinton and dakota johnson. the story and everything is actually quite different from the original. it is more like a completely new movie, that has just some of the elements of the first one.
the movie takes place in 1977 in west berlin. international viewers might not know this, but this was the time of the so called "deutscher herbst". a left wing struggle against the german government. there were armed terrorists groups, but also a lot of more peaceful protests. the scent of revolution really was in the air, and a "comrade" later told me that germany was really a matchstick's length away from revolution in that year... (he was still an infant when all this happened, so what does he know, really?).
and unlike the original movie, this political backdrop is very visible in the movie. and audible, too, as the movie starts with the sound of a left wing bomb attack going off...
but there is not just the left side making their agitation audible. there is also the theme of fascism and post-fascism. buried, dark secrets in the history of germany, the nazi trauma. and our protagonists are entangled in this, one way or the other.
the "witches coven" that is the central part of the movie seems to be the still eye in the storm here, strangely devoid of the politics that is going on in the outside world.
but in my interpretation, there is an intended synchronicity in the plot; the hierarchy, the struggle for power, the brutality, the lies and deceit, well, everything that is going on in this spiritual, symbolic "witched world" actually mimics the themes of fascism, power abuse, struggle for freedom, that is happening in parallel, in the outside world.
and, of course, the witches mirror feminist politics. both in a negative and positive sense.
Pan's Labyrinth https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/
Maybe the most known political horror movie, and one where it is quite clear that it is a horror movie, and a political movie. one where one does not have to fear to be criticized of "dragging politics" into an otherwise normal movie.
it's set in the world and time of fascist spain.
i don't think i need to write much about its content, as i guess most people know this movie already.
but let me add that, just like in the suspiria re-make, the story seems to roll out on two levels.
the magic struggle and quest of the protagonist (a young witch, once again) mirrors the events that happen in the outside world, including the political ones.
Medusa Touch https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077921/
Oh oh, the medusa touch. this movie left quite the mark on me. there is richard burton and lino ventura in it. the entire world of the movie feels very depressing and austere, and i think only 1970s movies can feel this bleak (maybe people actually were quite depressed in that decade?).
there are two protagonists in the movie, lino ventura, the detective, who is called upon to investigate the death of an author, who is played by richard burton. he surprisingly comes back to life, though, and is put into a coma. this is when the mystery begins
in flashbacks we then witness the life of our author, which was quite bleak and depressive too, and reminds me of the hardships "pink" has to experience in pink floyd's "the wall" opera.
he also realizes he has supernatural gifts, but he does not use these to do good things, instead he does very bad things, like telekinetically killing people through accidents. he is haunted by this and feels guilty, to the point he seeks the help of a chirologist and a therapist. he feels he is only capable of doing evil, and wants to get rid of this cursed magic gift.
so where is the politics? well, one day our protagonist has an "epiphany" and thinks he finally found a way to use his dark powers in a good way; by using them to punish the "wickedness" of mankind. he starts by slaughtering a whole crew of astronauts on their way to the moon, because he felt the money of the space program had better been used to feel hungry people or for medical research.
towards the end of the movie, he tries to snuff out the upper echelon of british society by collapsing a cathedral on top of them.
in the end, he seeks to help out the anti-nuclear protesters that we see in the beginning of the movie, by blowing up the nuclear power plant that they are protesting against. which would have irradiated most of great britain, i suppose.
so, in this movie the protagonists are not really aligned with any political movement or group. it is political, because of the "anti-establishment" hatred of our author, which is especially visible in the rhetoric he uses to defend his magic attacks (despite all this evil stuff, he really thinks he is ultimately following a good cause with this mayhem).
which, i guess, makes it a political horror movie, too!
do you know more movies in this weird sub-niche of movies? let me know!
Freitag, 27. Februar 2026
Do you remember the very heavy 90s rock band "Therapy?"
Hey friends,
This is a text I have written for a small fanzine / blog, about the band "Therapy?".
Wanted to share it here, too, maybe someone is interested in it :-)
Note: No AI was used in writing this text.
And here it goes:
Do you remember the very heavy 90s rock band "Therapy?"
To answer the question in the title right away: I guess most people in the world of today will not remember or know the band. But, on the other hand, they are still very active, touring, releasing albums, and still got plenty of their old fans or even new ones. So, even if the "mainstream" of society did - time itself did not forget the band.
Now that we answered the title question pre-maturely, we could end the text right away... but I won't. Also I don't want to just talk about their best songs, hit songs, or how much I loved the band as a teen.
I want to peek a bit deeper, and look at the "logic" behind the band, the sound... and how they somehow connected a plentitude of genres in the 90s... and then slipped right through the net.
As you know, the 90s were the decade where "commercially cheesy" music was at an all-time high. Boybands, Girlbands, Eurodance, happy elated pop and pop-dance songs everywhere.
"Credibility" was no longer seen as a viable concept. By no-one.
Right at the start of the decade, it still shocked the audience when Milli Vanilli got exposed - no, not in a NSFW moment. It turned out they merely lip synced to their "songs".
People objected to that! Can you imagine that?
Because as the 90s went on, nobody could have cared less if the various members of all the boy- and girl-bands did sing, could sing, wanted to sing, or if their music just came out of the can and by studio session vocalists.
(Not to slag off these bands - just want to show how quickly "values" can change).
But as a reaction to this, the 90s also had an underground. Or a massive range of underground subcultures, to be more specific.
Industrial Rock, Industrial Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Grunge, Psychobilly, Trip Hop, Jungle, Rave, Gabba, Speedcore...
And this was the complete opposite of the happy 90s mainstream! Super twisted, super dark music. Usually by people who lived very troubled lives themselves...
Therapy? originated from Northern Ireland, and started as an "alt rock" band with serious metal and industrial influences.
A lot of the early songs were "brilliant noise", there were no hooks, no sing a longs, there were vocal samples about psychiatric conditions, true crime killers... sincere disturbia. Often sampled out of transgressive movies and other discarded media.
So far, so good... or "so far, so dark".
But then something changed, the members alluded to this in interviews etc, but it's hard to pinpoint why that happened.
They decided to make more "simple" rock songs too. With hooks. With verse / chorus structure. With "catchy" melodies. For example, about their song "Lonely, Cryin, Only", the band stated that it was an attempt to "write in the style of Ramones meets Roy Orbison".
And this is when things went really off the hook.
When listening to the band back then, I did not realise how "deranged", but how "brilliant" this concept is, at the same time.
There were suddenly albums like "Troublegum" or "Infernal Love". And I would describe the sound as Industrial Metal soundscapes, with heavy metal riffs, "alternative rock" style drums (i.e. swinging percussion, not that simple stuff of more traditional metal groups) - and extremely good melodies, sing-a-long "hooks"...
Therapy? had some of the most saccharine, melancholic, soothing, beautiful melodies and harmonies of the 90s... no, of all eras of music.
And yes, at the same time, their guitars were ultra hard, ultra distorted.
(The "industrial" part is less visible on Troublegum btw - maybe that one is more traditional)
Pop / fun metal was a thing in the 90s already. But Therapy? did not feel as a parody. They managed to blend these two very different ideas of "music" very well.
Hell no, not just two ideas. It's like a patchwork of 90s music (they even got some MTV rotation for jungle remixes of their songs).
The major labels and the MTV loved this, the band became big because of these... they alienated their "underground" fans with this more approachable sound, then they got tired of it, and alienated their new "overground" fans by making more "strange" albums again... and then they struggled to survive, but somehow, they managed.
On a side note, I read an interview somewhere where the singer expressed "guilt" for maybe starting the "nu metal" sound of the later 90s and the early millennium... huh?
But regardless of that, rest assured, Therapy? were more influential than you think.
This was my short retrospective for a band that got forgotten by the rest of the world, even though their sound might be bigger than ever. Maybe you enjoy their songs, too!
My top 5 Therapy? favorite songs:
1. Lonely Cryin' Only
2. Ghost Train
3. Loose
4. Teethgrinder
5. Stories
This is a text I have written for a small fanzine / blog, about the band "Therapy?".
Wanted to share it here, too, maybe someone is interested in it :-)
Note: No AI was used in writing this text.
And here it goes:
Do you remember the very heavy 90s rock band "Therapy?"
To answer the question in the title right away: I guess most people in the world of today will not remember or know the band. But, on the other hand, they are still very active, touring, releasing albums, and still got plenty of their old fans or even new ones. So, even if the "mainstream" of society did - time itself did not forget the band.
Now that we answered the title question pre-maturely, we could end the text right away... but I won't. Also I don't want to just talk about their best songs, hit songs, or how much I loved the band as a teen.
I want to peek a bit deeper, and look at the "logic" behind the band, the sound... and how they somehow connected a plentitude of genres in the 90s... and then slipped right through the net.
As you know, the 90s were the decade where "commercially cheesy" music was at an all-time high. Boybands, Girlbands, Eurodance, happy elated pop and pop-dance songs everywhere.
"Credibility" was no longer seen as a viable concept. By no-one.
Right at the start of the decade, it still shocked the audience when Milli Vanilli got exposed - no, not in a NSFW moment. It turned out they merely lip synced to their "songs".
People objected to that! Can you imagine that?
Because as the 90s went on, nobody could have cared less if the various members of all the boy- and girl-bands did sing, could sing, wanted to sing, or if their music just came out of the can and by studio session vocalists.
(Not to slag off these bands - just want to show how quickly "values" can change).
But as a reaction to this, the 90s also had an underground. Or a massive range of underground subcultures, to be more specific.
Industrial Rock, Industrial Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Grunge, Psychobilly, Trip Hop, Jungle, Rave, Gabba, Speedcore...
And this was the complete opposite of the happy 90s mainstream! Super twisted, super dark music. Usually by people who lived very troubled lives themselves...
Therapy? originated from Northern Ireland, and started as an "alt rock" band with serious metal and industrial influences.
A lot of the early songs were "brilliant noise", there were no hooks, no sing a longs, there were vocal samples about psychiatric conditions, true crime killers... sincere disturbia. Often sampled out of transgressive movies and other discarded media.
So far, so good... or "so far, so dark".
But then something changed, the members alluded to this in interviews etc, but it's hard to pinpoint why that happened.
They decided to make more "simple" rock songs too. With hooks. With verse / chorus structure. With "catchy" melodies. For example, about their song "Lonely, Cryin, Only", the band stated that it was an attempt to "write in the style of Ramones meets Roy Orbison".
And this is when things went really off the hook.
When listening to the band back then, I did not realise how "deranged", but how "brilliant" this concept is, at the same time.
There were suddenly albums like "Troublegum" or "Infernal Love". And I would describe the sound as Industrial Metal soundscapes, with heavy metal riffs, "alternative rock" style drums (i.e. swinging percussion, not that simple stuff of more traditional metal groups) - and extremely good melodies, sing-a-long "hooks"...
Therapy? had some of the most saccharine, melancholic, soothing, beautiful melodies and harmonies of the 90s... no, of all eras of music.
And yes, at the same time, their guitars were ultra hard, ultra distorted.
(The "industrial" part is less visible on Troublegum btw - maybe that one is more traditional)
Pop / fun metal was a thing in the 90s already. But Therapy? did not feel as a parody. They managed to blend these two very different ideas of "music" very well.
Hell no, not just two ideas. It's like a patchwork of 90s music (they even got some MTV rotation for jungle remixes of their songs).
The major labels and the MTV loved this, the band became big because of these... they alienated their "underground" fans with this more approachable sound, then they got tired of it, and alienated their new "overground" fans by making more "strange" albums again... and then they struggled to survive, but somehow, they managed.
On a side note, I read an interview somewhere where the singer expressed "guilt" for maybe starting the "nu metal" sound of the later 90s and the early millennium... huh?
But regardless of that, rest assured, Therapy? were more influential than you think.
This was my short retrospective for a band that got forgotten by the rest of the world, even though their sound might be bigger than ever. Maybe you enjoy their songs, too!
My top 5 Therapy? favorite songs:
1. Lonely Cryin' Only
2. Ghost Train
3. Loose
4. Teethgrinder
5. Stories
Samstag, 31. Januar 2026
The kinda interesting German Gen X Punk / Indie Rock band scene of the early 90s (Have you missed this one?)
Hello Friends,
here is a new text by me. Sources: I was around at that time, so it's from my memory, and tons of hours spent on watching and collecting media (and listening! :-) Oh yeah and I am a bit of a "low life music journalist" that writes for magazines since a few decades ;-)
Note: No ai has been used in writing this text!
If you just want to check the bands and skip the text, you can scroll down directly to the music.
And now, let's go on:
Germany always had very interesting underground music cultures which are largely unknown to the rest of the world - and to most of the Germans themselves!
Post-war Germany was a kind of black hole or void, when it came to music, or culture, or a lot of other things. Especially the youth felt this way.
From the 50s on, German mainstream music or TV lacked any form of innovation. It was stuck in endless repetition of "Schlager"-kitsch, or worse.
For aspiring musicians, there were two options, basically.
Bands like Kraftwerk said they drew from the pre-war German era, as nothing was going on after the war anyway. Same could be said about the "Neue Deutsche Welle" in early 80s, with bands like Trio and their hit song "Da Da Da" (The "Dada" art movement began in German speaking countries at the start of the 20th century).
But I guess you had to be 'aristocrats' (like Kraftwerk) or art school intellectuals (like Trio) to even have access to this rich pre-war German cultural capital. It was the pre-internet era after all, so even *knowing* about these things could be hard.
So for the more common people based youth, there was an option that seemed to be more appetizing:
Looking at subcultures in other, "more advanced" countries, and maybe even pulling some of that back - to the homeland?
Besides UK and, at smaller parts, diverse countries like France or Russia even, the big thing here was - America, USA, the yankee nation.
"American" culture was big in the 20th century anyway (who, in the world, did not know Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Marylin Monroe, etc?)
But the youth was of course more interested in the sub culture. First rock and roll, then the hippie stuff, even disco stuff (which led rise to such things as the "Munich sound"). But as we get to the 90s... it was the punk, alt rock, indie, crossover, grunge and alt metal sound that crossed over the atlantic to good ol' germany.
So, to cut it short, a lot of German bands in these genres were around in the early 90s.
And beyond that date, too, but I am looking at this 90 era here, right now (let's talk about the rest at a later date).
Before I list some bands, I want to state a few things that I think that are noteworthy:
Germany, at this point was a kind of "clean", "ordered" and somewhat authoritarian state. It was also - somewhat - rich and had a welfare system.
But it also had a lot of poverty and social misery at the same time.
So even if there was a rugged and rough street punk band, it could be the case that its members were actually sheltered university type people. but they were still tough.
Second, there was a kind of language (and culture) clash. Some bands really tried to rid themselves of anything German and "made-pretend" to be as american as possible (not mainstream american, mind you, but "punk america") and thus had all the lyrics in english too, etc.
And other bands sang in German language, and even tied themselves to German boomer culture in some ways too (like covering old and dreaded "Schlager"-kitsch songs).
And often, all of this got mixed up.
I said there was a fair amount of money around in Germany. So, while some bands decided to stay underground, others got picked up by the big labels - and studios.
Which meant *professional* album and song production.
Some of the punk / hardcore rock songs with the best production values that I know, from the 90s, are actually from German bands!
And last but not least, these bands, and maybe the whole German Gen X youth, were "lost battalions", or stuck between two worlds.
They desired "American" underground culture, but they never got there, so "their" scenes (over the pond) rarely knew they even existed.
But neither were they understood within their homeland, within Germany, as they belonged to another world. To a never world.
They sailed off to a promised land that they saw in the media and images, then somehow got lost while traversing the Atlantic.
But maybe this can be said about the global gen x culture in the 1990s as well, generally, applying to everyone who felt young and "different" back then.
But hey hey, let's not drown this text on a downer note.
Some bands achieved "fame", and some were happy with being local heroes.
Some are forgotten, and some are still remembered fondly (or are still touring and releasing albums).
And here are some of them:
Swoons
Female-fronted pop-punk band that lingered in the underground, and popped up here and then.
Listening suggestions:
My Grandpa Is Joey Ramone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9t4gfzWEzU
Kamikaze Sushi Girl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAverU-qyRU
Wizo
They got signed to Fat Wreck Chords (NOFX label) for one album. Then noted that the American kids likely confused them with Weezer. "Because of the band name", you know.
Überflüssig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vgJuqghEnk
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW7D7VHVa3U
Die Toten Hosen
Notes: best known german "punk" band. and still famous.
the single release Carnival in Rio featured famous British train robber "Ronnie" Biggs on vocals.
Nichts bleibt für die Ewigkeit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V7-nrZaDNU
Carnival in Rio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttm3BIryhFw
Throw That Beat In The Garbagecan!
The original German indie darlings! Made the front covers, then disappeared. They took their name from a B-52s song.
Cool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukbETJTvGmo
Thanks For Knockin' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pdVA7rVdgI
Atari Teenage Riot
On the fringe of everything I said above, because they were "outside of anything".
But, technically, they were around in the 90s, and somehow belong here, too.
Speed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plAr3adKbyc
Kids are United https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbsDJyFrW0c
Die Goldenen Zitronen
Also on the fringe, as they sort of belong to the earlier Generation of... 80s underground bands. And maybe not so keen on "american music".
But they were around, and listened to by those in the scene.
Das bißchen Totschlag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Hxq-PFOlc
80 Millionen Hooligans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VTPttz2oD0
here is a new text by me. Sources: I was around at that time, so it's from my memory, and tons of hours spent on watching and collecting media (and listening! :-) Oh yeah and I am a bit of a "low life music journalist" that writes for magazines since a few decades ;-)
Note: No ai has been used in writing this text!
If you just want to check the bands and skip the text, you can scroll down directly to the music.
And now, let's go on:
Germany always had very interesting underground music cultures which are largely unknown to the rest of the world - and to most of the Germans themselves!
Post-war Germany was a kind of black hole or void, when it came to music, or culture, or a lot of other things. Especially the youth felt this way.
From the 50s on, German mainstream music or TV lacked any form of innovation. It was stuck in endless repetition of "Schlager"-kitsch, or worse.
For aspiring musicians, there were two options, basically.
Bands like Kraftwerk said they drew from the pre-war German era, as nothing was going on after the war anyway. Same could be said about the "Neue Deutsche Welle" in early 80s, with bands like Trio and their hit song "Da Da Da" (The "Dada" art movement began in German speaking countries at the start of the 20th century).
But I guess you had to be 'aristocrats' (like Kraftwerk) or art school intellectuals (like Trio) to even have access to this rich pre-war German cultural capital. It was the pre-internet era after all, so even *knowing* about these things could be hard.
So for the more common people based youth, there was an option that seemed to be more appetizing:
Looking at subcultures in other, "more advanced" countries, and maybe even pulling some of that back - to the homeland?
Besides UK and, at smaller parts, diverse countries like France or Russia even, the big thing here was - America, USA, the yankee nation.
"American" culture was big in the 20th century anyway (who, in the world, did not know Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Marylin Monroe, etc?)
But the youth was of course more interested in the sub culture. First rock and roll, then the hippie stuff, even disco stuff (which led rise to such things as the "Munich sound"). But as we get to the 90s... it was the punk, alt rock, indie, crossover, grunge and alt metal sound that crossed over the atlantic to good ol' germany.
So, to cut it short, a lot of German bands in these genres were around in the early 90s.
And beyond that date, too, but I am looking at this 90 era here, right now (let's talk about the rest at a later date).
Before I list some bands, I want to state a few things that I think that are noteworthy:
Germany, at this point was a kind of "clean", "ordered" and somewhat authoritarian state. It was also - somewhat - rich and had a welfare system.
But it also had a lot of poverty and social misery at the same time.
So even if there was a rugged and rough street punk band, it could be the case that its members were actually sheltered university type people. but they were still tough.
Second, there was a kind of language (and culture) clash. Some bands really tried to rid themselves of anything German and "made-pretend" to be as american as possible (not mainstream american, mind you, but "punk america") and thus had all the lyrics in english too, etc.
And other bands sang in German language, and even tied themselves to German boomer culture in some ways too (like covering old and dreaded "Schlager"-kitsch songs).
And often, all of this got mixed up.
I said there was a fair amount of money around in Germany. So, while some bands decided to stay underground, others got picked up by the big labels - and studios.
Which meant *professional* album and song production.
Some of the punk / hardcore rock songs with the best production values that I know, from the 90s, are actually from German bands!
And last but not least, these bands, and maybe the whole German Gen X youth, were "lost battalions", or stuck between two worlds.
They desired "American" underground culture, but they never got there, so "their" scenes (over the pond) rarely knew they even existed.
But neither were they understood within their homeland, within Germany, as they belonged to another world. To a never world.
They sailed off to a promised land that they saw in the media and images, then somehow got lost while traversing the Atlantic.
But maybe this can be said about the global gen x culture in the 1990s as well, generally, applying to everyone who felt young and "different" back then.
But hey hey, let's not drown this text on a downer note.
Some bands achieved "fame", and some were happy with being local heroes.
Some are forgotten, and some are still remembered fondly (or are still touring and releasing albums).
And here are some of them:
Swoons
Female-fronted pop-punk band that lingered in the underground, and popped up here and then.
Listening suggestions:
My Grandpa Is Joey Ramone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9t4gfzWEzU
Kamikaze Sushi Girl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAverU-qyRU
Wizo
They got signed to Fat Wreck Chords (NOFX label) for one album. Then noted that the American kids likely confused them with Weezer. "Because of the band name", you know.
Überflüssig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vgJuqghEnk
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW7D7VHVa3U
Die Toten Hosen
Notes: best known german "punk" band. and still famous.
the single release Carnival in Rio featured famous British train robber "Ronnie" Biggs on vocals.
Nichts bleibt für die Ewigkeit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V7-nrZaDNU
Carnival in Rio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttm3BIryhFw
The Lost Lyrics
Notes: The singer later became a school teacher. And still played and toured with his punk band.
The Lost Lyrics - Sweet dreams of yesterday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2LR3SjuHck
The Lost Lyrics - Skibbereen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krQmXOsjf8c
The Bates
Punk band with mediocre chart success. Formed by a jazz drummer, punk singer, and a guitarist who was a student of theology. and then left the "love drugs and rock n roll" live to become a legit priest. I wrote more about them here:
Billie Jean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Zn4EGG_78
I'm Still Waiting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLf-wlz_gF4
Throw That Beat In The Garbagecan!
The original German indie darlings! Made the front covers, then disappeared. They took their name from a B-52s song.
Cool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukbETJTvGmo
Thanks For Knockin' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pdVA7rVdgI
Die Ärzte
Best known german punk band (together with die toten hosen). Still kicking it today.
Schunder Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IviYsUdUj6w
Dauerwelle vs. Minipli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpwa1nLiHkE
The Notwist
Interesting band from Bavaria.
Johnny & Mary (Robert Palmer cover) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gifFhyMmXk
No Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FePWiMcXKAE
Best known german punk band (together with die toten hosen). Still kicking it today.
Schunder Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IviYsUdUj6w
Dauerwelle vs. Minipli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpwa1nLiHkE
The Notwist
Interesting band from Bavaria.
Johnny & Mary (Robert Palmer cover) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gifFhyMmXk
No Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FePWiMcXKAE
Atari Teenage Riot
On the fringe of everything I said above, because they were "outside of anything".
But, technically, they were around in the 90s, and somehow belong here, too.
Speed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plAr3adKbyc
Kids are United https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbsDJyFrW0c
Die Goldenen Zitronen
Also on the fringe, as they sort of belong to the earlier Generation of... 80s underground bands. And maybe not so keen on "american music".
But they were around, and listened to by those in the scene.
Das bißchen Totschlag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Hxq-PFOlc
80 Millionen Hooligans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VTPttz2oD0
Tocotronic
Some upper class kids from the merchant city of Hamburg, Germany try to sound like Pavement or Mudhoney. Did they succeed? Their songs are still great, nonetheless.
Die Welt kann mich nicht mehr verstehen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKD-T-IHBl8
Wir sind hier nicht in Seattle, Dirk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVub2aQjJvw
If you have anything to add, or more bands to add, please let me know!
Some upper class kids from the merchant city of Hamburg, Germany try to sound like Pavement or Mudhoney. Did they succeed? Their songs are still great, nonetheless.
Die Welt kann mich nicht mehr verstehen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKD-T-IHBl8
Wir sind hier nicht in Seattle, Dirk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVub2aQjJvw
If you have anything to add, or more bands to add, please let me know!
Donnerstag, 22. Januar 2026
Producer's Diary - Writing a full-length "adult-themed" Hardcore Techno album
The original, 90s Techno / Trance / Rave releases and tracks were strangely devoid of intimacy - I wrote about that elsewhere.
It took the "nasty" minds of the Hardcore and Gabber producers to finally "talk about s.ex" in that era and style of music.
So there were more or less funny, and more or less "highly offensive" tracks being made, that became cult classic, filled the dancefloors, and would make parents and priests scream in terror.
It was all in good fun, though! (check here for these classics).
I feel this tendency withered over the years, and definitely shrunk in size.
But with the early Hardcore revival, it's time to have a revival of this "nasty Gabber" tradition, too!
So I decided to write an album in that style.
In the end it became a kind of "techno opera", a conceptual album, with common threads tying all the tracks together.
Almost like a prog rock album of the 70s! But with Techno and Gabber this time.
so let's talk about the tracks, baby:
1. Prologue 00:13
Just a short shock-mock intro.
2. Gabber S*x (Extended edit) 04:37
Oldschool Hardcore, 1993 / 1994 style. Straight beats running from start to finish.
4. More Cushion for the Pushin (Fast mix) 03:17
This is more acid / techno style actually, but fast enough for hardcore.
5. *ee Fantasy 04:24
Based on a "funny" incident at a rock star concert. Oldschool Hardcore all the way, almost 1991 / 1992 style if it was not so fast.
Bleeps, Klaxons, Acid / Detroit like filters...
6. *ee Fantasy (Expanded) 03:06
Here the basic track of part 1 completely breaks down and erupts into chaos.
7. Plus Size Angel (Fast mix) 03:17
Similar to track 4 - more like "acid hardcore"
8. Intermission 00:03
Just a very short skit.
9. S*x Beat 02:42
I subvert the Hardcore idea a bit, as the straight beat breaks down, and changes into a non-techno, almost tribal (or industrial) drumming - still with 909s though. The percussion feels (intentionally) "out of sync", but it never actually slips away.
10. S*x Beat (Climax) 04:09
like above - but in total overdrive.
11. F**k the P*rn Industry (Vocal Short Cut) 05:00
Once again a "different" kind of Oldschool - slow acid / techno. Almost like an 80s acid feel. If it was not for the distorted 909. I guess this is the track that is the most easy on the dancefloor.
12. Klos*x (Part 1) 04:44
Now things are just fast and frantic. Speedcore overdrive.
13. Klos*x (Part 2) 04:06
Beyond the speed threshold.
14. Epilogue 02:26
A words-only skit again, that ties the entire album together, and more or less loops back to the idea s expressed since track one.
15. (Bonus Track) Gabber *ex (Original mix) 03:33
A shorter, more straight-to-the-point edit of track two.
You can check production videos to these tracks here: (will add later)
I also wrote a "explanatory" text to the album, which tries to create a kind of mythological / media narrative to the entire thing. You can read it here:
Hope you enjoy the album! Stay tuned for more producer's diary entries.
Oh, and lest we forget: you can also check the album here:
https://gabbaretrecords.bandcamp.com/album/gbbr103-low-entropy-hardcore-sex-volume-2
It took the "nasty" minds of the Hardcore and Gabber producers to finally "talk about s.ex" in that era and style of music.
So there were more or less funny, and more or less "highly offensive" tracks being made, that became cult classic, filled the dancefloors, and would make parents and priests scream in terror.
It was all in good fun, though! (check here for these classics).
I feel this tendency withered over the years, and definitely shrunk in size.
But with the early Hardcore revival, it's time to have a revival of this "nasty Gabber" tradition, too!
So I decided to write an album in that style.
In the end it became a kind of "techno opera", a conceptual album, with common threads tying all the tracks together.
Almost like a prog rock album of the 70s! But with Techno and Gabber this time.
so let's talk about the tracks, baby:
1. Prologue 00:13
Just a short shock-mock intro.
2. Gabber S*x (Extended edit) 04:37
Oldschool Hardcore, 1993 / 1994 style. Straight beats running from start to finish.
4. More Cushion for the Pushin (Fast mix) 03:17
This is more acid / techno style actually, but fast enough for hardcore.
5. *ee Fantasy 04:24
Based on a "funny" incident at a rock star concert. Oldschool Hardcore all the way, almost 1991 / 1992 style if it was not so fast.
Bleeps, Klaxons, Acid / Detroit like filters...
6. *ee Fantasy (Expanded) 03:06
Here the basic track of part 1 completely breaks down and erupts into chaos.
7. Plus Size Angel (Fast mix) 03:17
Similar to track 4 - more like "acid hardcore"
8. Intermission 00:03
Just a very short skit.
9. S*x Beat 02:42
I subvert the Hardcore idea a bit, as the straight beat breaks down, and changes into a non-techno, almost tribal (or industrial) drumming - still with 909s though. The percussion feels (intentionally) "out of sync", but it never actually slips away.
10. S*x Beat (Climax) 04:09
like above - but in total overdrive.
11. F**k the P*rn Industry (Vocal Short Cut) 05:00
Once again a "different" kind of Oldschool - slow acid / techno. Almost like an 80s acid feel. If it was not for the distorted 909. I guess this is the track that is the most easy on the dancefloor.
12. Klos*x (Part 1) 04:44
Now things are just fast and frantic. Speedcore overdrive.
13. Klos*x (Part 2) 04:06
Beyond the speed threshold.
14. Epilogue 02:26
A words-only skit again, that ties the entire album together, and more or less loops back to the idea s expressed since track one.
15. (Bonus Track) Gabber *ex (Original mix) 03:33
A shorter, more straight-to-the-point edit of track two.
You can check production videos to these tracks here: (will add later)
I also wrote a "explanatory" text to the album, which tries to create a kind of mythological / media narrative to the entire thing. You can read it here:
Hope you enjoy the album! Stay tuned for more producer's diary entries.
Oh, and lest we forget: you can also check the album here:
https://gabbaretrecords.bandcamp.com/album/gbbr103-low-entropy-hardcore-sex-volume-2
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