FutureClaw Magazine Issue 2

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FUTURECLAW

FC

FU TURECL AW - ISSUE 2 This is FutureClaw Issue #2 In this issue, we expand and explore our elegant universe. Again, we set out to find creative and thoughtful contributors from around the world. There were so many concepts and images presented to us that it became difficult to narrow down a final selection of feature stories. But we edit, and hopefully our selection is something you find agreeable.

Fantasy elements play an important role in this issue. This includes a fashion photo spread inspired by Japanese Anime, a photo story inspired by Showtime’s Dexter, the serial killer, and a fantasy universe comprised of brief glimpses at elusive sea monsters. We then add selections of art and fashion that we believe are of the moment but hopefully timeless, and document the general mood of our society, from subcultures based around hard industry to societies that specifically promote happiness.

We recognize how tough the times are and acknowledge that FutureClaw’s specific role in the journalism universe is possibly the least necessary function of civilization. We believe, however, that regardless of socio-economic conditions, people will continue to inspire art, fashion, and culture, and we will continue to serve a purpose because of that. We are inspired, and we think you should be too.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Bobby Mozumder MANAGING EDITOR Adam DeMartino SENIOR EDITOR Andrew Stock ASSISTANT EDITOR Emma Hazlett COPYEDITOR Julie Epstein ART DIRECTION FutureClaw Studios EDITOR-AT-LARGE Guy Derry

HEADQUARTERS (BURLINGTON) FutureClaw Magazine 113 Church St. Burlington, VT 05401 Ph. +1 802 558 6802 info@futureclaw.com NEW YORK OFFICE FutureClaw Magazine 390 McGuiness Blvd.

Brooklyn, NY 11222 Ph. +1 240 246 4491 info@futureclaw.com SUBSCRIPTIONS subscriptions@futureclaw.com ADVERTISING advertising@futureclaw.com SUBMISSIONS submissions@futureclaw.com

DISTRIBUTION CONSULTANT David Renard

COVER Photography Nicholas Routzen Model Emmi @ Next, wearing necklace from PORTS 1961, and red neck piece from costume designer Kyoko Saito Wardrobe Stylist Naoko Watanabe Makeup Kristin Hilton Hair Gillian Kuhlman Art Direction Bobby Mozumder Stylist Assistant Kyoko Saito Photo Assistant Geordy Pearson

PR CONSULTANT Katherine Plante

BACK COVER Painting by Kadar Brock

INTERNS Sean Beauvais Bri Cohen Kai Ketcham Harvey Megan Wiles

CONTRIBUTORS Michael Pries, Ken Pao, Kinsey Labberton, Alex Littlefield, Julie Epstein, Rasmus Svensson, Kadar Brock, Ana Finel Honigman, Gavin Russom, Alexander Binder, Michelle Epstein, Michael Alan Connelly, Erik Wahlstrom, Michael Preis, Ken Pao, Verena Gralert, Elena Mussa, Julie Bobek, Kristin Costello, Nicholas Routzen, Naoko Watanabe, Gisel Florez, Nick Zantop, Philip Valende, and Opé Majek.

SPECIAL THANKS TO Erin Konchanin and Wendy Levene @ RedNYC, Andrienne Kennedy @ Next, David Kluskiewicz, Ira Yellen, Elena Cahill, Joseph DeMartino, Gorden Holden, Ben Weller, Tommy Wheeler, Lizzy Williams, Jordan @ Create Build Destroy, Tick Tick, Seven Days, Parima, Elias Altman, Justin Monsen, Mike Device, Joachim Ditzen, Ros Edwards, Nicci Cloke, The Sylvia Plath Estate, Nanci Young, Mortimer Rare Book Collection at Smith College, Kathleen Connors and Sally Bayley, DJ Demo, The Microchip, Vfunct, Andrew Lovefingers and Justin Miller, Cleo the Cat with Seven Toes, Kathy Grayson, Liz Lovero @ A.S.S., Greg Hermann, Brooke Black, Tim Barber’s Tiny Vices, Jules C @ Format Mag, and Samir Husni, www. coolinthepool.com, and Sam Partrick. © 2009 FutureClaw LLC & Respective Copyrightholders.

No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission from content holders.

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-Bobby

SHORT ST U F F

A RT STOR I E S

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Philippe Audibert, designer of highfashion jewelry for over 20 years, about to open two new boutiques

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An exclusive series of digitally rendered ‘globes’ from Sweden’s PUSH*THE*BUTTON

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Mysterious dance music producer Moscow won’t reveal his identity

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New paintings by Kadar Brock

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Visual artist and musician Gavin Russom raps about his relationship with Sylvia Plath

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Brooklyn pop all-stars Chairlift stop in for a chat about music and downtime

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Musician Ryan Power asks “Is It Happening?”

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Trip the light fantastic with this photo series by Alexander Binder

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Festival Kinetik is Canada’s premier Industrial music event

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Lewis Rapkin acts as personal tour guide through Tokyo’s underground music scene

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Bhutan measures its national well-being with an index of Gross National Happiness

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FA SH ION STOR I E S SPR I NG 2 0 0 9 6

The style of the modern Electric Disco by Michael Preis

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Red lips make for Rad Lipps by Ken Pao

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Julia Hederus’ hot Spring/Summer 2009 collection

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Discover new Shapes of Future by Nicholas Routzen

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Serial killers: Have they been unfairly maligned? Find out in our Killer, Kill Her story by Kristin Costello

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Are there monsters in the sea? If you find any, what would you do? Start Staring at the Sea Monsters by Gisel Florez

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Hugh Everett created the theory of Parallel Universes, and now Kara Erwin enters it by Philip Valende

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Find a new Magic Position by Nick Zantop

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Some FutureGirls that are black, white, and Red in Negatives by Bobby Mozumder

Originally from Brooklyn, New York, JULIE EPSTEIN is a journalist, artist and educator who studied art history at Columbia University. She currently resides in Burlington, Vermont and is copyeditor for FutureClaw Magazine.

ELENA MUSSA has been styling shoots in New York since she moved from London two years ago. Before living in the UK, Elena resided in Moscow, where she worked as photoeditor and, later, as a stylist for a major men’s magazine. She owns a 1953 Nash Metropolitan, the same tiny car that her hero, Pee Wee Herman used to drive. She currently lives in Manhattan, with her handsome and enormously talented husband, and has a rubber, mechanical gorilla head on the shelf in her living room. It needs batteries. Eight, to be precise.

Fashion photographer NICHOLAS ROUTZEN is based in Brooklyn, NY. He is often spotted at music venues, putting miles on his Chuck Taylors, staring out the window of his Williamsburg loft or yet another coach class seat, or when the stars align, his own bed. Recent editorial clients include WWD, NOI.SE, L’Edito, Highlights, MissBehave, Metro.Pop. Life is good for Mr. Routzen.

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VERENA GRALERT is originally from Germany and worked for several years for German Vogue before moving to New York City where she lives and works as a freelance Fashion Stylist. Her work can be found in several American and international magazines.

GAVIN RUSSOM is a visual artist, musician and an expatriate, living in Berlin, Germany. For this issue of FutureClaw, he examines the role Sylvia Plath’s life and work have played in his own creative and personal development. This spring, Gavin will release a much anticipated series of singles with DFA Records as part of his Black Meteoric Star project.

Documentary film maker LEWIS RAPKIN currently resides in Brooklyn and is finishing up his latest piece, Live From Tokyo. His work has been published in Interval Audio, Big Heav y World and Business Week Online.

A self-taught artist born to Nigerian parents, OPÉ has been drawing since she could hold a pencil. Opé hails from St. Louis, MO. An artist first and foremost, Opé views fashion styling as another medium to extend her artistry to the canvas of real life. Opé currently lives in New York and frequently travels to her adopted hometown, Washington, DC.

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electriC Disco Photography Michael Preis

Wardrobe Stylist Verena Gralert Hair Maki Fukuda for Kerastase

Makeup Yemi Koizumi for MAC , www.emikoizumi.com Photo Assistant Hiro Kobayashi

Location Night Hotel, New York NY 10036 Model Svetlana @ Elite

Black and white skirt with knot in the front worn as dress Matthew Ames Necklace Subversive Jewelry

Black leather pants Guilty Brotherhood Black and white double layered paillettes top Aurelio Costarella Gray leather cap Victor Osborne Orange leather clutch with bow Chia Black plateau sandals vintage Christian Dior

White jacket Rag & Bone Necklace Alexis Bittar Hat vintage Early Halloween Needle Subversive Jewelry

White whited jeans with collar on the bottom G-Star Turquoise snakeskin clutch Kara Ross Black vest Malene Birger Black plateau sandals vintage YSL Necklace Subversive Jewelry

White whited jeans with collar on the bottom G-Star Turquoise snakeskin clutch Kara Ross Black vest Malene Birger black plateau sandals vintage YSL Necklace Subversive Jewelry

Yellow high waisted leather skirt Guilty Brotherhood Black leggings with white stripes Rock & Republic black top with big bow in the front and back Rock & Republic Bracelet Subversive Jewelry

White silk dress with black cuffs and printed face Elise Overland Bracelet Subversive Jewelry

Black and white knitted dress Abaete Black patent leather pumps Ruthie Davis Braclets Alexis Bittar Belt Malene Birger

Black and white knitted dress Abaete Black patent leather pumps Ruthie Davis Bracelets Alexis Bittar Belt Malene Birger

White mini dress with gray pattern Rock & Republic Necklace Subversive Jewelry Black leather gaiters & white belt Malene Birger

Black chiffon tops with pleats Charles Nolan

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Photography Ken Pao for www.kenpao.com Makeup Vincent Oquendo for Artists by Next Hair Ryan Taniguchi using Tresseme Model Tine @ Trump Model Natalia @ Trump

RA D LiPPS - 19 -

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Look 1 (Tine): Complexion Beauty Blender Makeup Sponge Make Up For Ever HD Primer in Blue Tone Make Up For Ever HD Powder Lancome Flash Retouche in Rose Lumerie Cheeks MAC Tracegold Eyes Lancome Color Design eyeshadow in Positive MAC BlackTrack Gel eyeliner Lancome Definicils waterproof mascara in black Lips Nars lipstick in Heatwave

Look 2 (Natalia): Complexion Beauty Blender makeup sponge Make Up For Ever HD Primer in Caramel Tone Make Up For Ever HD Powder Smashbox Tinted moisturizer in Medium Lancome Flash Retouche in Peche Eclat Cheeks MAC Tracegold Eyes Lancome Color Design eyeshadow in Positive MAC BlackTrack Gel eyeliner Lancome Definicils Waterproof Mascara in Black Lips Nars Lipstick in Heatwave

Look 3 (Tine): Complexion Beauty Blender makeup sponge Make Up For Ever HD Primer in Blue Tone Make Up For Ever HD Powder Smashbox Tinted Moisturizer in Fair Lancome Flash Retouche in Rose Lumiere Cheeks MAC Tracegold Eyes Lancome Color Design Eyeshadow in Positive, Pose, and Burnt Sand Lancome Definicils Waterproof Mascara in Black Lips Lancome Color Fever Lipstick in Prune Drama Girl Lancome Juicy Tubes Sparkling Night Collection in Constellation Color

Look 4 (Natalia): Complexion Beauty Blender makeup sponge Make Up For Ever HD Primer in Caramel Tone Make Up For Ever HD Powder Smashbox Tinted Moisturizer in Medium Lancome Flash Retouche in Peche Eclat Cheeks MAC Tracegold Eyes Lancome Color Design eyeshadow in Positive MAC BlackTrack Gel eyeliner MAC Eyeshadow in Club and Carbon Lancome Definicils mascara Lips MAC Lipstick in RubyWo MAC Lipliner in Brick

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FASH I ON

P H I L I P P E AU D I B E RT

TEXT by JULIE BOBEK In March, Philippe Audibert will celebrate 20 years of innovation and luxury in jewelry design. Audibert has created exclusive pieces for specific brands, many of which have been shown on the runway with designers’ collections. Clients include Agnes B, Lagerfeld Gala, Cacharek, and Paco Rabanne. Audibert showcases his own collections four times each year in Paris, during Prêt-à-Porter, 1ère Classe Fashion Show, Porte de Versailles, and 1ère Classe Fashion Fair in the Tuileries.

Today, Philippe Audibert’s jewelry collection includes necklaces, bracelets, cuffs, belts, rings and earrings.

After studying at l’Academie des Beaux Arts in Paris, Audibert debuted his first collection in 1989. The jewelry, handbags, eyeglasses, hats and decorative objects he created ref lect the culture of St. Germain des Prés. “Art is passion,” Audibert declares. “My travels and atmosphere in Paris inspire me.” He began his career designing with resin and enamel, but soon found that he preferred working in metal. “Sculpture is all about materials. Jewelry is playing and dressing with colors,

volumes and natural materials.” He envisions each piece, not as a mere accessory or accent, but as an independent object, a unique artistic creation. Like his favorite sculptor, Botero, Audibert’s designs emphasize shape and form.

Ten years after his first collection debuted, Audibert formed a partnership with the international crystal purveyor, Swarovski. This partnership enabled him to expand his collection and brought a new elegance to his work. Though the relationship is a collaborative one, Audibert owns exclusive rights to the crystals that adorn his pieces. This allows him to maintain the highest quality standards.

As a sign of continuing success over two decades, Audibert and partners will be opening stores in New York and Milan in 2009.

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Plated Silver and Crystal Glove Plated Silver and Crystal Sleeve

“Couture Collection” Crystal Bracelets with Swarovski Crystal

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MUSIC

MOSCOW

INTERVIEW by KINSEY LABBERTON / ILLUSTRATION by SCOTT NEQUEST The world of dance music DJs is rife with curious personalities like Aphex Twin, for example, the gentleman producer known to “scratch” with sandpaper. The latest production wiz to turn the club scene on its ear is Moscow, an anonymous London DJ. Known for his lengthy tracks and celebrated remixes of The Detachments and Panda’s “Ghost Mix,” Moscow has fans wondering hard about who he might be.

Who is Moscow, or moscoW, (as it is also written)? Well, if people want to put a capital ‘w’ they are welcome to but it wasn’t my idea. I’m not exactly sure why that started happening, but either way is fine. The name is more about the way the word looks and its symmetry than the capital of Russia or anything that is happening in the news at the moment. Moscow is an alter ego and an experiment and an opportunity to do whatever I want.

Why do you choose to remain anonymous? Moscow is just an opportunity to try some stuff I wouldn’t normally have got to do before. Under my other guise there are certain expectations and I found myself in a slump where I was listening to and playing one kind of music but making another. It’s an opportunity to show a different side.

Your tracks tend to be epic in length. To what do you attribute this style? Long, drawn out tracks are just one of the things I love about dance music and I love the hypnotic quality of repetitive music. You just don’t seem to get that as much anymore. People have less attention span and expect tracks to be 4 minutes, with no build or anticipation, like pop. Too many dance producers are making songs for the charts and radio and not for the club anymore. Moscow is a chance for me to make 12 minute tracks and if people don’t like it, they can go hear a DJ play a hundred songs in an hour. It doesn’t matter to me because that’s the experiment; I don’t have to follow any rules this time.

You’ve been compared to Detroit producer Carl Craig, incidentally another DJ fond of aliases. Who or what are your biggest inf luences? I definitely don’t think I should be compared to Carl Craig but that’s obviously a big compliment and he is a big inf luence. We are similar in that we are not afraid to do long remixes and let them build and let people anticipate, but if I ever get even close to making music as good as C2’s then I’ll be happy. The DFA is another big inf luence, mainly in their attitude to making music: there are literally no shortcuts taken or laziness to their approach at all. The DFA remixes and Tim Goldsworthy’s Loving Hand stuff are full of ideas, and so different to the last but, on top of that, who else is still recording to tape and not using a single plug-in on a remix? I try to use analog as much as possible, and I’ve even dug out my old Akai sampler, but I’m not yet at a stage where I’m solely using the computer as a sequencer. Their attitude to remixing and production puts them on a whole different level and it shows. I’m also

inspired by great parties going on at the moment in dingy, East London basement clubs like Cocadisco and Disco Bloodbath. These are the clubs where my music should be heard.

How long does it take you to complete a track? Are they always changing? Well, it takes anywhere from a couple of days to a few weeks. Generally the best stuff comes together quickly. If it’s starting to take weeks then you need to think about starting again until something special happens straight away. Otherwise it’ll keep going round in circles and I’ll get sick of hearing the same thing on repeat. It’s also important to try working on something different, then come back to it as you’ll be hearing it with refreshed ears and have a better perspective.

What can the world expect from you in the next year? Will you unveil your identity? I guess the identity will be unveiled eventually but it won’t be deliberate.

I’m not bothered if it does, but I may as well keep it up for as long as I can, as it has been quite fun! I have a single almost ready for Thisisnotanexit Records, which I’m excited about. It’s such a great label and it has so many amazing things in the pipeline. I’ll be taking on some more remixes when the 12” is finished, too.

If your record collection was reduced to just three albums, which would you choose and why? There doesn’t seem to be any sign of me ever getting bored of: New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead Fleetwood Mac - Rumors Power, Corruption and Lies has such an incredible vibe and is easily the best New Order album for me. It was before they went too 80s synth-pop sounding and just after Joy Division, so it has the best of both worlds. Every song is amazing and the whole album is just perfect. The Queen is Dead because it’s my favorite Smiths album and they are my favorite band, and Rumors because it’s amazing pop music that never gets boring. www.myspace.com/moscowdubuk

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MUSIC

CHAIRLIFT

INTERVIEW by ALEX LITTLEFIELD / PHOTOGRAPH by ROSS FRASER Brooklyn electro-poppers Chairlift (Aaron Pfenning, Caroline Polachek, and Patrick Wimberly) joined the Brooklyn indie circuit in late 2006, but these young bloods have already perfected a sound that’s at once fresh and timeless, allusive and yet utterly original. We caught up with the band in New York before they took off for a national tour, and traded a few words with Chairlift’s sparrow-throated songstress.

Listening to your music is a cinematic experience, almost as if these tracks have been written as a soundtrack. A lot of our ideas for songs start out as visuals. If we think of a visual, we can start to think of a place, of something going on, and that helps things come together. Like, on “Planet Health,” I started imagining this world that was a health class world. . . I’m actually really into the idea of a postscarcity society, where no one has to work or do anything all day.

If we weren’t working, what would we be doing? I think the arts would be one thing. You see this on YouTube right now: voluntary creative labor. Also sex, exercise, yoga, athletics. Food, obviously. We always love eating—even if we don’t need to, we still want to do it.

Or watching movies, as I’m guessing you do a lot. So much time goes into making music that it’s all I want to do in my spare time; I want to make it or listen to it. So I don’t watch a lot of movies. We consider time a commodity. It’s like money—the more time you have the more music you can make, the more you can practice, soak up references, go out to shows. That’s why the whole day-job thing really sucks for a musician.

I suppose the dream is to make money off the music. But musicians who do— Band of Horses selling song rights to a Wal-Mart commercial, for instance—take some f lak. It absolutely depends on the company. We would never have our song be in a Wal-Mart commercial, by any means. Companies that we support, though, or products that we support or are ethically in accordance with, we’re into it.

You have a song in an Apple commercial—how did you make that call? We’re all huge fans of Mac. As a company, they’ve changed the way we make music and the way we administrate our lives in the most positive, amazing way.

Every song of yours has a completely different feel to it. There are traces of Kate Bush in “Planet Health,” or of Leonard Cohen in “Earwig Town.” Do you ever take offense to being compared to other musicians? Someone compared us to bands like CocoRosie and Joanna Newsom, and I was like, “Guys, there’s a girl in all three of these bands—that’s it. And we’re all alive right now; that’s the only thing we have in common.” I find it really offensive when we get compared to bands with female singers, because what we’re doing has little to do with femininity and more to do with songwriting. www.chairliftmusic.com

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MUSIC

R YA N P O W E R

INTERVIEW by JULIE EPSTEIN / PHOTOGRAPHY by EMMA HAZLETT & JULIE EPSTEIN The answer to Ryan Power’s new album, Is It Happening? is definitively yes. Ryan Power makes it happen each moment. Recording solo, using richly layered sound samples, Power strives to create the effect of music he first heard at age four. The results are stunning: both nostalgic and evolutionary. Is It Happening? represents a quest of questioning, from the inner frontiers of Ryan’s mind to outer space, where universal love pulses with frenetic rhythm and harnesses an orbiting satellite of some great, sensitive power source.

Power himself is the source, droning with mesmerizing warmth and surging with crystal-throated joy, both haunting and funny, self-deprecating and inspired. I recommend that you listen to four tracks from Is It Happening? available on Ryan’s MySpace while you read this interview. The complete, newly-minted vinyl album is being released by Everyone Records.

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So, I’m curious what did you do so far today? It’s one fifteen. I made oatmeal.

I usually have oatmeal with raisins and walnuts and maple syrup and yogurt or milk. I had some PJ Tips tea. And I read a little bit. David Foster Wallace just died and all my friends are into him. So I started to read this book of short stories. I go to bed really late, usually between 3 and 6. I haven’t been working very much lately and when I don’t have a structure I just kind of stay up later and later and later.

It can get a little weird ‘cause then you’re so out of sync with the rest of society -kind of strange. So I basically got up at 11:30. So, I haven’t done too much today. I walked here, which was really nice. Such a beautiful day; I saw some friends on the way here and said hello.

You said that you haven’t been working very much. How do you define what you do? Well, right now I define work as editing music for friends, or helping them transfer music from analog to digital or things like that. Or giving guitar lessons to children. I don’t consider working on music work, even though it is work. I mean ways to make money.

How has work with your own music been going? Well I’ve been working on music quite a bit. I haven’t had great results lately. But that’s part of the process... is just kind of sometimes slamming your head against the wall over and over until something falls out. And you know sometimes I can get lost in trying to write a song, or come up with some abstract blop of sound on the computer, you know, and I can spend hours... Six hours in a row will go by and I’ll just be fiddling with the computer or guitar.

But it’s been a dry spell lately? Yeah, for sure. For awhile now actually. Yeah, the inspiration kind of comes and goes. And you don’t really know where or what it is. It takes me a while to come up with songs and be happy with them ‘cause I am highly critical of myself.

How does your self-criticism relate to performance? Performance -- that’s a whole other topic. I mean, I don’t -- I’m a performer but I feel more like a recording artist for sure. But, you know, performing -- I get really nervous to perform. But that, basically, that’s you just beginning to channel some sort of energy. I don’t consider myself the greatest performer. I’m in my own world when I’m performing and it’s interesting for some people, you know, watching it. But I’m definitely more into recording. I guess I just like documenting ideas more. But I do enjoy expressing myself in a live performance and I think it’s important for me to do and it can be very rewarding. It gives you fulfillment when people say, “Oh, I like that.” Makes you go, “Oh, this is good.” It gives you energy. Yeah. It goes up and down just like everything else.

What kind of reactions have you gotten? Well, some people, right after I play, they’ll be like, “Are you going to get a band?” And it doesn’t make me mad or anything. But I’ll say, “Probably not.” I used to; it’s a lot of work. The recording process is my priority and performing is secondary. I could get a band, potentially, and teach them all the parts. It’s quite an undertaking though. I mean, right now I’m just doing karaoke, original karaoke. You know, I’m not trying to pretend it’s anything other than what it is. I still feel that it’s a way of performing. Some

people probably feel duped by it. I like keeping it simple. It’s easier to lug this little hard disc recorder than move all this gear, and not get paid any money, trying to schedule everyone to rehearse. I’m just being realistic about it. But if it gets to a certain point where people really want me to have a band and it seems like a possibility financially... I guess.

I’m curious about your recording process. Can you explain how you make a song, like “Mind Parasite”? Well, that song was written on guitar. So, I’ll write the song on guitar basically and try to come up with an arrangement for it, and, you know, form a structure. And then I will start, I’ll come up with a — I’ll program a drumbeat. I program a simple drumbeat using some default settings for sounds, and yeah, you know, you just start layering, basically using different tracks to come up with layers of sound, until you’re happy with the way it turns out. And there’s a fine line; you don’t want it to be totally lopsided. So sometimes you’ll add too much and you take away. It’s basically a layering process just by using multi-track and a computer.

Am I projecting to say that your songs are about consciousness and life’s questions, themes of happiness and the mind? No, it’s definitely spiritual music.

Does that explain why romantic love is not a theme in this album? In the past I’ve definitely written about romantic love and my feelings, diary-like songs. But I wanted to get away from that and be more universal. I mean, it’s hard to get away from being inf luenced by your own thoughts and feelings, but I wanted it to be more universal and less just talking about my life. Mm-hmm. I guess universal love instead of personal love.

So, these are mostly songs of universal love. Is anger also a source of inspiration?

Anger? Well, there’s that song “Translation” I did which talks about the rainforest being burned and spiritual evolution and whatnot, and there’s one part where I’m doing this chant thing along with the f lute. When it’s live, I channel a little bit of anger. I guess live you have to belt. On the recording I don’t know if I did the same thing, but I think anger is being mutated into this other thing that comes out.

Anger’s definitely an inf luence for the songs for sure.

In “Is It Happening?” you sing about “saddling up alone.” I have an image of you going off into the sunset on your horse with no name, like Neil Young. Where would you go? Where would I go? The desert. I’ve never been to the desert, and I have a vision of myself as being alone a lot of the time. I mean we’re all alone in some ways, but I mean isolated. I feel healthiest alone.

And you do your music independently. Is that ideal for your creativity? You know, I feel like it’s what I’m used to. I haven’t collaborated that much and I think it’s basically out of fear of criticism and/or of compromising ideas, but I think it’s healthy and courageous to collaborate and I hope to some day. But I have a system that has worked for me. I think it’s important to be able to go into those places in your mind that you haven’t been, and sometimes you can only do that by yourself.

But I used to play music a lot more with people, and gradually started to just do this recording thing. It’s kind of like being a painter. But I hope to collaborate more in the future.

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What role does making music play in your life? It gives my life some sort of meaning.

I mean there’s definitely meaning in the world, nature, but sometimes it can get confusing, desperate-feeling, and I use music as therapy for sure. I was drawn to it when I was younger. I don’t really know why, but I was. Also it’s something I just do -- don’t know why. I don’t question it. Just fall into a pattern. Follow it through.

You brought up nature as an inspiration. I’m interested in the way you blend nature, in your voice and energy, with technology and its ability to process, distort and record the sounds. How do you feel about these two elements in your work?

Well, um, I think my feelings have been changing since recording Is It Happening?

I feel like using technology to get to a certain place creatively is fine as long as the technology doesn’t start to take over and make it harder to get to what you’re trying to express. ‘Cause you know sometimes the technology can get in the way, quite honestly. In society there are so many accessories and it’s very distracting from nature. And you know it’s a whole philosophical debate whether it’s helping or hindering.

Where are you from originally? I’m from Merrimack, New Hampshire. It’s a town in Southern New Hampshire, between Nashua and Manchester.

So, why have you settled in Burlington, VT? I’ve lived here since 2000, and Burlington because my brother Joe lived here at the time and he had some recording gear. Well, I should back up a little bit. I had visited town before and I thought it was beautiful, the lake and the mountains. I just thought it was beautiful, a little contained city here, walk around, a little village. After college I went to California.

I was writing songs. I was in Oakland, wanted to record them, so I came here.

What music do you enjoy listening to lately? Big fan of Ariel Pink. He’s a song writer from L.A., writes pop songs inf luenced by ‘60s, ‘70s, and his own mind and it’s really good. He records on a little cassette machine. It’s not a four-track though.

It’s an eight-track, a normal-looking set. It ends up sounding foggy, something like AM radio. So it instantly has this nostalgic quality that sucks me in because, you know, the first music I heard was on AM radio, driving around with my mother.

And basically that’s what musicians are trying to do is capture the music they heard when they were four. What else? The Shags. No, not the Shags. They’re good, though. Judee Sill is another song-writer I like a lot. But recently -- Jesualdo is this Renaissance composer Scott Dubie told me about. It’s Renaissance music from the 1500s and it’s basically vocal music and it’s really beautiful. What else? My girlfriend Missy wanted to hear ELO (Electric Light Orchestra), so we bought a record of that.

What does she say about your music? She likes it. She’s very supportive.

Mind if we listen to some of your music? I’m curious to hear your reactions. Sure. (“Mind Parasite” starts playing) Who is this?!

It’s great! What are those last words? “To your white bone.”

Do you have a favorite song that you’ve made? I don’t really have too many favorites of anything. I mean, I do for pockets of time but it always shifts. I do have one that’s a dronish blues song that has lyrics that I like. I think I liked it more a few months ago. It captured a feeling I had pretty accurately.

One of my favorite is “In Need of a Little Love”. That’s the hit. That’s what people said initially.

It really gets stuck in my head. And I love to sing it. Yeah, I like that one too. I remember when I was writing it, there’s always this feeling, ‘cheesy.’ I always say that word which… I wish there was another word. But basically that’s when you’re going into a realm, a unique realm potentially, and you’re not sure if it’s acceptable by others. But I love that whole borderline zone of ‘Is it too cheesey?’ But then, if you present it in a certain way… It’s not supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. It’s supposed to be sincere.

I love to sing that high note, “It’s a good friend..” I feel uplifted from the energy of my voice moving internally. You are skilled, whether it’s the drone, the soaring voice, or the robotic staccato. You really are aware of energy. I wish I were more in tune with my body. I guess I don’t even know what’s happening. I need to do yoga.

You seem to be into chanting. Chanting seems therapeutic. I wrote the majority of that album when I was in Arkansas, and I was reading books about chakras and energy. But the human voice... It’s just amazing. It’s the purest instrument. I always feel like I should incorporate the animal world too, not just humans. I sound like a real new-ager.

In the refrain of “Is It Happening?” you mention a few times that “a fair amount of skill will be required.” What skill did you have in mind and are you acquiring it? I haven’t acquired it. I think, you know, patience and tactics for staying sane.

That’s what the skill is. It can be spiritual things: meditation, patience.

And, sorry to pin this down, but what is happening in Is It Happening? Oh, that could be a million things.

Let’s check.

(The music starts again) (“It’s all around. You will find the light. Happiness and you can share a common ground.” –Ryan Power, sung but unsaid) I don’t know. It’s meant to be an open question, of course, you know. But it could be a spiritual awakening, or basically life around us: everyone getting caught in the chatter instead of just being in the present moment, which is happening. www.ryanpower.org

Oh, I thought it was ‘white womb’. That would be better. I mean, I basically don’t even hear my music anymore ‘cause I’ve worked on it so much. It’s like staring at a white wall.

Really? I get embarrassed when a song comes on at the Radio Bean, a local cafe I hang out at sometimes. A song will come on shuff le and I’ll be like, “Oh gosh, turn that off.” But yeah, I’ve worked on it so much; it’s not really enjoyable for me.

Maybe that’s good, because it allows you to move on to do something that will...

Yeah, you’re always trying to capture something new and it’s basically enjoyable right as you’re writing it. That’s the feeling you’re searching for, the initial creation.

In fact, can we turn it down a little bit?

Sure. I was just interested in your reaction to hearing your songs. I guess it benefits you that they don’t move you anymore because it forces you to grow in a new direction. But I get so much pleasure out of it and it’s so inspiring to me... so I wish that... Well, I had pleasure making it, for sure, a lot of pleasure. That’s the thing. Can we shut it off, is that okay? Music is strange ‘cause you’re supposed to reproduce it all the time with live performance and it’s really like painting, where you paint one picture and you give it away to someone. But with music you’re supposed to re-create that picture. It can get a little strange. It’s still a vehicle for some expression. Oh, there’s my friend Tristan. (walking by the window) With the baby? Well, I really like the idea of just making one painting and then getting rid of it. But with music you duplicate cd’s and it’s not quite the same, not as special as having one-off of a piece of art.

I wonder if that creates a conf lict when you’re performing and your singing is live but there’s also a pre-recorded part. Yeah, completely. Well, this is what I was going to say too. That’s almost the case if anything’s prearranged at all, like if there’s a song structure. The best thing would be to go see freely improvised music.

In a way that’s the most moving -- not that I’ve gone out to see any recently.

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INTERVIEW

by

DREW STOCK

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PUSH*THE*BUTTON MULTIMEDIA is where Swedish artist Rasmus Svensson satisfies his various creative impulses. As an art collective, record label, print production shop, and community hub, PUSH*THE*BUTTON represents an entrepreneurial trend that has become characteristic of young creatives defying career specialization. While conventional wisdom dictates that in order to be really good at something you need to devote all your energy to that one thing, Rasmus and his friends, collaborators, and business partners challenge this notion and create a case for indulging the desire to “dabble” (the lack of a better word highlights the social bias in question). For this issue of FutureClaw, Rasmus put together a series of digital artworks that ref lects his current range of interests. We had the opportunity to talk with him about the series and some of the ideas that inform PUSH*THE*BUTTON.

Where does this desire to diversify your creative pursuits come from? I have always been very interested in people who build their own world and have everything they do relate to that world. When I see someone who is doing lots of different things in music, drawing, computer stuff, clothing, or whatever, that really grips me. I think it’s very important that everything you do fit together in some way, even if you do a lot of different things. One of my idols is Andrew W.K., who plays in the band Wolf Eyes, does lectures, and produces Lee Scratch Perry, among other things. Even though all these activities seem so varied, there’s still some kind of central point that keeps it all together.

And how do your artistic interests relate to your background? Well, I used to hate minimalism when I was younger. Now I don’t. But I most enjoy epic things. Things that are huge in scope. So the epicness, biggness, otherworldliness is important to me. My interests do relate a lot to memories and what not, though. Lately, I’ve been very interested in rocks, stones, smoke, circles, and Guns’N’Roses.

Yes, the circles are clearly prevalent in the body of work you put together for us.

What draws you to the shape? Well, circles (and spheres/globes) are self-contained.

They enclose the chaos and make it look well ordered.

What about the acidy color palette you use? Something about that and the way you do collage seems specific to the digital medium. I guess it’s got to do with trying to break through the digital medium -- pushing it past this ugly point, after which it gains a certain accessibility again. The distorted guitar is a good example of what I’m talking about: those people pushed their medium (the amp) too hard and it broke up and people were shocked. Of course, now people aren’t that shocked by it anymore. I used to be very into the so-called glitch thing, a movement that consisted of exploiting digital errors in music and images, when I was younger. I felt like it was our generation’s version of the distorted guitar. But now that stuff has

been normalized, and I’m not really into it anymore. For me, the interesting place to be is that line between the ugly and the beautiful I guess, exploring whatever feels like it hasn’t gotten boring yet -- whatever makes people react in some way.

Nowadays New Age music offends people’s taste more than a loud guitar.

There’s clearly a psychedelic element to your aesthetic. It’s present in the work of a lot young artists these days, and seems to have evolved beyond a kind of imagery into a creative approach. What do you think has incited this renewed interest in psychedelia? I think it might have something to do with the easy availability of everything that we now have. In my case, I don’t think it’s got much to do with some idea of sixties/hippie culture. It’s more about fitting a lot of things into everything, if that makes sense? I feel like we’re at a point in history where it’s so easy to look back at anything we choose. There’s so much information on whatever you want to know about. So many pictures, sounds, ideas. In a way, that’s pretty psychedelic.

But not in some drugged out way.

I’m a big fan of Fort Thunder and all that contemporary “psychedelic” poster making. I found those things a few years ago. I played a show with Mat Brinkman (another man of many talents) here in Gothenburg and saw some of the work coming out of that scene, so it’s definitely made an impression on me.

Generally speaking, the globes (and everything else I’ve been doing lately) are about looking back at the past by way of something new. Like watching the moon landing on YouTube. Or reading about ancient Greek architecture on Wikipedia.

Or looking at animated GIFs of Native Americans on a homepage from 1998. So the globes are like peepholes into the past or future or whatever. www.pushthebutton.tk

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INTERVIEW

by

ANA FINEL HONIGMAN / PHOTOS

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by

BOBBY MOZUMDER

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KADAR BROCK’S PAINTINGS pulse with bite and bounce. Even when his signature, sunglasseswearing alligator is absent, his canvases are enlivened with humor and whimsy. Bright and punchy, the paintings add levity to the too-often earnest realm of Abstract Expressionism without being light-weight themselves. Brock’s electric-hued canvases pop, but even his comparatively somber monochromatic pieces generate nu-rave-style verve, with loud, joyful lines. When he turns his geometric compositions into three-dimensional objects, the sculptures that emerge are compellingly organic. Although their origin in his construction work is evident, the sculptures appear to be striving and growing on their own and it is easy to root for their aspirations, expanding towards the ceiling. Here we discuss the origins of the twenty-eight-year-old native New Yorker’s particularly festive form of Abstraction.

What attracts you to particular colors? It’s both an instinctual, innate thing and also a referential thing. I see colors I like in other paintings and in the world around me. I also remember colors; they make moments, they relate to moments and flatten moments, and I’m interested in those moments, so I use those colors.

When you combine colors, are you doing that based upon your associations with the colors or upon the colors themselves and how they might look together on the canvas? It’s all simultaneous. I mean color is just color. But how they look together is an aesthetic choice, and that is automatically loaded with content, both personal, historical, and ideological ... you can’t separate it.

Do you think of colors primarily as being expressive of particular ideas or connotations? They simultaneously are and aren’t. Sometimes they are more ideas, other times they are more spaces and feelings, which I guess is just a different type of idea or connotation . . . For instance I got really into day-glow colors because of their relationship to this idea of “new age” that I have, their presence in my youth (think Jams and Zubaz pants, and all that from like ‘90), how they end up being used on highway construction sites and other markings around the city, and how they were also used by some painters as a means towards “bad painting,” towards undoing certain ideologies ... They also function really well in making certain spaces and environs ... This is all simultaneous.

What is the relationship between neon and new age? Bright future glowingness, radiating heart chakras, light!

Then what associations do you have with shapes and the forms you select? I think of form in the same way I think of color, as in there’s a lot there simultaneously. I like forms that intersect a number of points of interest. I’ve done paintings over the last few years that started with this idea of crystals. I got into that because it was this icon for my new age upbringing (Gurdjieff refers to “crystalizations” when talking about emotional/psychological patterns and staleness), and also formally and ideologically related to Ab Ex painting (angular and transcendent). They also then aesthetically related to more contemporary paintings that had antithetical ideological approaches, so it was this convergence. Now I’m just starting to work more repetitive and “primitive” forms (think Newman’s PLASMIC IMAGE essay) that extend and elucidate that line of intersection.

What, or who, is the alligator? The alligator is a dream icon. I had a very poignant dream that ended with this albino alligator, with the sunglasses and all; he was the fun (?) resolution of an otherwise very anxious and stressful situation. It stuck and struck me enough where I wanted to paint him. From what I’ve read, alligators are simultaneously a symbol of subconscious fear and unrest, and of great power ... He’s like this joyous fear. A precipice maybe. The alligator happened in the summer of 2007. I had the aforementioned dream, let it stew for a few weeks to be sure the image was powerful enough for it to enter into my paintings, and then it did. He’s still kind of an occasional participant. He can kind of undo the seriousness that can accompany abstract painting as an endeavor. www.kadarbrock.com

Are you using color as a language to convey emotion or meaning to your viewers?

That too, it’s all the same. I do think of colors as having the ability to create moods, timbres, and spaces. I think of them poetically, and mnemonically. I think of them as creating intersections, interstices and precipices, between feelings, thoughts, history, psychology everything ... It all is simultaneous. In that regard color is important in giving someone the possibility of experiencing meaning and emotion.

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Selbstportr채t in der Sonne, 2007 Oil, flashe, acrylic and spraypaint on canvas 24 x 20 in

Bone Bomb, 2008 oil, flashe, acrylic, and spraypaint on canvas 72 x 60 in

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3

1

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2

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1

Necron 99, 2008 oil, acrylic, flashe, and spray paint on canvas 16 x 12 in

2

And pretend its enough, 2007 oil spray paint flashe and acrylic on canvas 72 x 48 in

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GrIMP, 2008 oil, flashe, acrylic, and spray paint on canvas 72 x 60 in

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Obelisk, 2008 oil, flashe, acrylic, and spray paint on canvas 72 x 60 in

And For A Moment I Lose Myself, 2007. oil, flashe, and spraypaint on canvas. 20 x 24 in. Courtesy Collection of Steve Shane, NYC.

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Reach Through This Light, 2007 oil acrylic flashe and spraypaint on canvas 24 x 20 in

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- 51 Monument to Impermanence, 2007 - 2008. oil, flashe, acrylic, and spraypaint on wood, aluminum, and sheetrock. 114 x 40 x 40 in.

TEXT & ARTWORK

by

GAVIN RUSSOM / PHOTOS

by

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DREW STOCK

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BETWEEN MABON AND SAMHAIN, Berlin can sometimes take on a drawn and powerful cast. Like a dark woman or a forgotten tunnel, the intensity is inexplicably attractive. These moments remind me of Providence, Rhode Island, where I grew up. Nearly all of my memories of my hometown have a tinge of New England Gothic: bats in the coat closet of my Kindergarten, the witch-like cape worn by my first crush, the World War II bridge, Kim’s Oriental Weapons shop, drums and fires in the Train Tunnel, sitting in a warehouse basement in the middle of nowhere listening to Marjan Crash practice ( Fig. 1 )...

This year I’m constantly drawn back to my memories of Providence, particularly those from the fall of 1993. I entered that season with very little. I chose just a few companions. A failed end of summer romance had yielded an incredible breakup tape, one side of which was Opium Den’s “Diary of a Drunken Sun”. Listening to it was like crawling into a cave. It was the perfect antidote to having burned out on punk, hardcore and grunge. The lyrics and sound of mid 80’s Washington DC bands like Rites of Spring also spoke to my disillusionment and I listened to “End on End” constantly. Most importantly, because it was the most volatile of my guides, I had discovered Sylvia Plath’s semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. I had first encountered Plath two years earlier and rejected her completely. The language made me tense, got under my skin. The man hating alienated me. The second time around, I went in deep. Enmeshed, I drowned. The difference between Esther (the novel’s protagonist), Plath and I blurred. We were a sexless love triangle.

I felt one’s pain as the other spoke mine. The wit, the venom, the beauty and the rage were in me as they were on the page.

I had returned to Providence to try to get some ground under my feet after several fantasies hadn’t played out the way I wanted them to. I had made a brief stab at Art School, then ridden a Greyhound bus around the Midwest and hadn’t found what I was looking for in either place. I discovered group improvisation with other Providence musicians, producing astounding tapes of long psychedelic jams in my parents’ basement. I had hoped the project would develop into something but that door slammed shut in a fog of drugs and competing egos. I wasn’t becoming the person I wanted to be fast enough and I wanted out or home and wasn’t sure of the difference anymore. I learned quickly that going back is an illusion, another fantasy. Home was something that I would have to make, not find.

I wandered in my memories, burned each like a votive candle until the cold set in.

I spent hours and days on end recording feedback and drones on an old Sony reel to reel. I wandered downtown and in Swan Point Cemetery. I read everything I could get my hands on but nothing dug in like Plath. As each day passed I felt like I was standing in a train station while people and trains came and went. I would watch and wait but I had nowhere to go or be, and for this reason I called it “The Platform”. What I was waiting for never became clear. In retrospect it was more about giving up ( Fig. 2 ).

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Fig. 1

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Fig. 6

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Fig. 2

Fig. 5

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

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By the spring there was nothing left, not even Plath. I had reached absolute zero and would need to start from scratch ( Fig. 3 ).

I did emerge from the period with one treasure. My failure to find either home or escape had allowed me to make peace with being American. What once seemed like drawbacks, terrible faults of the bizarre sub-culture that inhabits the 50 United States, became assets. This was due to a shift in the way I perceived my own situation. Suddenly, to be without a home, without roots, without a single history or culture was a place of strength, a place of infinite possibility. In fact, as an American, rootlessness was my heritage. I began to trace a personally relevant thread of American history through several figures in different disciplines.

Sherwood Anderson, Thomas Wolfe, Eldridge Cleaver, Doc Watson, George Washington Carver, Mickey Hart, Sam Dinsmoor and Buckminster Fuller, were among them. Sylvia Plath was there too, although at the time I was too close to her to see it. It would be a year or so later before the voices of other women like Ruth Crawford Seeger, Linda Montano, Meredith Monk or Judith Malina would begin to join in.

These creative visionaries had contributed to culture and technology with a radical individualism that could only have come to life in a country with no singular cultural history. My acknowledgement that for me there could be no enthusiastic nationalism, no homeland, and no transcendent unity, became a source of freedom. Until then this freedom had seemed like another of America’s empty promises. Unknowingly I’d gone along with a lie, which I had believed was part of my birthright as an American, that if you work real hard you might just get it all before you die. I recognized that trying to achieve this actually necessitated failure and misery.

What replaced this lie was a view of America’s history as a broad and chaotic gesture. This gesture had at times been brutally destructive. Its path was full across the vast landscape. In its wake it had left a seedbed for constant creative development, evidenced by the singular accomplishments of creative American individuals like Plath. The voices of these individuals had risen as a result of their fight to create something of lasting meaning in an environment of permanent instability. This required vigilance, and the willingness to grow far beyond one’s assumptions. To find my own voice I would have to change the way I looked at the past. Until this point history had existed as an example, to be followed or to be defied. Neither of these actions would produce the results that the individuals I admired had achieved. I realized that I could, and, in fact, must, look at all of history as a sourcebook to learn from. By using what I learned I could craft a reality that made sense to me based on my experiences and spend the rest of my life developing it. I could continually negotiate reality with the people, places and things I encountered. Anyone else could do the same, and as a result make a lasting and unique contribution to something constantly growing, shifting, moving and renegotiating itself. The America that opened the door, even by its mistakes, to something of that volume was certainly the one I belonged to ( Fig. 4 ).

Many of the promises of America have already been exposed as frauds. In my experience freedom has been a lasting one. This is the result of coming to terms with a simple truth: I have to take care of myself, no one else is going to do it for me. On my way to doing so Sylvia Plath’s writing is a constant source of connection and inspiration. I discovered it for a third time during Christmas 2007. Waking up from a deep sleep on the f loor of a relative’s apartment, I was face to face with Ariel, Plath’s second volume of poems. Through it Plath became my companion again, but this time I respected her strength, having been burned twice before. I began to learn how to dance with her unforgiving energy ( Fig. 5 ).

With a bit of perspective I’ve realized that the poems are less about me, and this distance allows me to see what Plath is actually talking about: herself, and how she sees things like nature, men, pain, hope, and depression. The world seen from her perspective alternates between intense, almost overwhelming beauty and nearly unbearable brutality. Plath’s persistent vision allows me to see things clearly, to know my own darkness, as if the fire in her pen burned away the illusion clouding my heart. As I grow in compassion towards these parts of myself, I am more able to see the world around me. I see the current incarnation of her recurring male tormentor in those who, faced with extreme circumstances, use their fear of themselves to domesticate the wild horse America; to use its strength for their own ends. I believe they constantly fail. My rage, which finds its echo in Plath’s “Three Women”, is directed at the damage they cause and the time and energy they waste trying : And then there were other faces. The faces of nations, Governments, parliaments, societies, The faceless faces of important men.

It is these men I mind: They are jealous of anything that is not f lat! They are Jealous gods That would have the world f lat because they are.

Looking back on 1993 I’m also more clear about what happened in my own history.

It was my first big hint that none of the tools I was handed to build a life with were going to work. Finding individuals whose lives or accomplishments I admired in was my first attempt to discover better guides for the kind of life I wanted to live.

Another strategy was learning about the way that witches conceive the world.

Growing up in New England fused my idea of fundamental aloneness and witchcraft at an early age. I continually grow closer to this deep connection. The witch creates a lens that personalizes and synchronizes inner and outer. Moves are tracked and chosen with intent. Working in alignment with nature, she cuts a path to freedom from bondage, for herself and for the earth, with the disciplined will as her tool.

Correct action and cause and effect replace good and evil.

On New Year’s Eve 2007 as I re-read “Lady Lazarus”, one of the long poems in Plath’s Ariel, it was as if I was listening to her alternately channel maid, mother and crone. The poem reads like a spell, or even a curse, but the goal is always transformation and union, even when death is the metaphor of choice. The lines between Plath and the speaker in the poem become blurred as she references her first and second suicide attempts. Speaking of this she makes it clear that the new life that follows the attempt is the challenge of the ritual: It’s easy enough to do it and stay put It’s the theatrical Comeback in broad day To the same place, the same face, the same brute Amused shout ‘A miracle’ That knocks me out The multiple attempts to die and multiple resurrections the poem describes are like the cycles of the wheel of the year. The speaker, like a witch, uses her own body as the field on which the spiritual conf lict is fought. Death, like the fall, is a turning inward to tame and conquer both positive and negative forces, toward healing of the body, of the self, and of the soul. In the last line of the poem she is resurrected and has become a channel for a new power. Like nature this power is beyond her self and is both creative and destructive ( Fig. 6 ).

Sylvia Plath did take her own life and that astounds me. I sense that she saw her environment as very hostile to any form of creative expression and that at some point this simply became too much. In her essay “America! America!” she concludes with a description of looking into a school room and wondering how the teachers there will squelch the young creative minds that are sent there to learn: Lately I peered through the plate-glass side of an American primary school: child-size desks and chairs in clean, light wood, toy stoves and miniscule drinking fountains.

Sunlight everywhere. All the anarchism, discomfort and grit I so tenderly remembered had been, in a quarter century, gentled away… But the children were smiling in their little ring. Did I glimpse, in the First Aid cabinet, a sparkle of bottles--soothers and smootheners for the embryo rebel, the artist, the odd?

This underlying drive towards homogeneity seems to be a persistent and troubling feature of American life. By 2004 my whole country of potential creative individuals had become like the students Plath describes above. I recognized that I too was becoming lulled into passivity by the exhausting effects of living under an oppressive political regime. This led to my decision to relocate to Berlin for a while, knowing the clarity a bit of distance can bring.

Plath placed a great deal of value on public recognition and the status of her publications and often felt like a failure. She was at times obsessed with success and crushed by rejection. It seems to me that this must always lead to a death; to base one’s deepest sense of security on the coins and claps of the “peanut crunching crowd”.

It was my own resistance to this type of death that finally brought me out of the dark tunnel that began in the fall of 1993. The same Rites of Spring album that captured my cyclical holding pattern in its anguished lyrics and repetitive guitar lines also reminded me that “The World it wants you weak.” Embracing a life of constant creative growth is like a declaration of war. As the wheel of the year turns again, passing through darkness and winter, the movement inward is inevitable ( Fig. 7 ). I gather strength from the companions I have chosen. As I continue to dance with Plath’s ghost my path is this: to use her life and work, her inimitable ability to channel dark energy, as the obsidian mirror to my own shadow self and the powers that lie there. I take the time to sift carefully through the ashes of death to find the seeds of new life, and make within the depths of my darkness a womb that will nurture a stronger version of myself through which even more light can f low. * Fig. 5 is Sylvia Plath’s drawing on the front cover of her 8th grade school paper “A War to End Wars”. Image courteousy of the Mortimer Rare Books Room’s Sylvia Plath Collection at Smith College and The Sylvia Plath Estate.

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Fig. 7

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PHOTO ESSAY

by

ALEXANDER BINDER

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TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHY

by

LEWIS RAPKIN

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INFORMATION IS RAINING down from the skies. Giant televisions advertise the latest fashions, products, technology, and music. Visual stimulation is everywhere, from the miniature televisions inside of vending machines advertising the surrounding drinks to the televisions in the subways to the jumbotrons in the streets. I’m talking about a city that refuses to be satisfied with the present. Blink. Lights.

Blink. Colors. Blink. Information. People crave information. They are starving for it. Scroll through 80GB of music and there’s still nothing to listen to. It’s all been listened to. What’s next? What’s new?

In spite of the lightening-pace of information culture, there is a lag time in the transmission of music culture. Most of the famous groups from Japan that have exposure in the States, for example, are from the 90’s. This is probably a result of the heightened importing/exporting power of Japan in the 1990’s but it seems odd that Japan has not continued to export new artists.

When I tell people that I’m making a documentary film about underground music in Tokyo, the general response is something like, “Wow, that sounds great.” I follow up with, “So you like Japanese music? What Japanese artists do you listen to?” The most common answer is, “Absolutely none. I don’t know any, but I want to.” Others can come up with names like The Boredoms, Melt-Banana, Cornelius, Buffalo Daughter, maybe DMBQ or Merzbow. But all of these groups are from the 90’s or even earlier. While still active, these famous artists are probably best described as historical institutions in Tokyo’s music culture. That’s not to say that some of them aren’t still doing new and interesting things, but they’re of the previous generation, having founded and pioneered the modern music culture in Tokyo and

put Japan on the map in terms of having good independent music. However, in a society dominated by what’s new and cutting edge, we have to consider that a new generation of artists has come of age that grew up listening to The Boredoms and Cornelius. The artists of this newer generation didn’t have to rely solely on Western styles to inspire something original because, for the first time, there was already original music happening in Japan. Plus, this generation has also had the Internet at its disposal.

What is new in Tokyo music culture? Difficult to sum up in a city that houses more people than all of Canada, I’ll focus on two venues. The first is O-Nest, located in the consumer-trendy area of Shibuya. Think neon lights, fashionable youth, mass media and the iconic, urban landscape that most know or imagine about Tokyo.

O-Nest is where most of the leading underground acts in Tokyo play on a regular basis and where many independent acts from around the world perform when they are in town. The second venue is a monk’s living room, under the train tracks, that doubles as an insane asylum with a maximum capacity of twenty people.

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MURYOKU MUZENJI: WE’LL BEGIN THERE. Four stops away from the busiest train station in the world, the neon lights of the city dim and the frenetic pace of life of the metropolis slows to a manageable speed.

The strangely sweet female voice of a robot announces, “Sugi wa Koenji. Ko en ji.”

The next station is Koenji. Ko en ji.

hit by a tornado and the debris was scattered on the walls: streamers, lights, f lags, photographs, magazine clippings, drawings, colorful plastic trinkets, and enough Hello Kitty paraphernalia to define an obsession. The wallpaper of the bathroom is a collage of newspaper articles about the club and its owner.

Tired commuters returning from work exit the Chuo-Sobu local train, funnel through the station, to the aged-hip neighborhood of Koenji. Next to a coffee vending machine endorsed by Tommy Lee Jones, Pirako stands in all black: black boots, black pants, black shirt, black hair. It’s eight at night. The sun has set. We’re indoors and she’s wearing sunglasses. She bows and smiles at me as I pass through the turnstiles.

The Muzenji Monk. A Christian and a Buddhist, he says his club sometimes acts as a mental institution. Adorned with a clump of fake hair duct-taped to his bald head, he wears a Hello Kitty apron, pets the pink, rubber donkey that he sits astride and meows at my camera.

I follow her through the narrow streets of Koenji, into a covered pedestrian arcade.

Most of the stalls are closed except for the occasional restaurant or record store.

Smells of yakitori bars and takoyaki stalls f lood the narrow streets: grilled chicken, beef, vegetables, fried octopus, spices, sweet barbeque soy sauce. Pirako leads me through the expanding branches of Koenji where, with each turn, the streets seem to get narrower.

We reach our destination, a small door between closed stalls where two men stand outside smoking cigarettes, both dressed in black. This was enough of a sign to know that I had arrived at Muryoku Muzenji.

Every time a train passes overhead, the whole place shakes. There is an intimacy between the artists and the audience of 10-15 people. Relaxing on couches, people forget about being trendy and the overwhelming city they live in and just enjoy the night’s entertainment.

I sit back in a worn-out chair with faded f lower upholstery and take a moment to survey the walls of the club. It looks like an obsessive toy collector’s garage sale was

“I love cats in the same way that God loves humans. Cats are selfish and sometimes fight a lot, but humans love them. In the same way, humans are selfish and fight a lot, but God still loves us.”

He meanders between insanity and genius, explaining that his club is a portal to another world of gods. The gods helped create the place and good music is drawn there because of the vibes that these gods send. Meow.

All quirkiness aside, the Muzenji Monk’s dedication to the underground music culture in Tokyo is profound. “I want to see everyone trying to play music and trying to keep music culture alive. Even if they’re not selling lots of CD’s, the effort is important to keep things changing and progressing.”

Muryoku Muzenji is one of the cheapest places to perform in Tokyo and serves as a place for artists to get started and experiment without worrying about selling out a big venue. Ask any underground musician in Tokyo and they will laugh and nod when asked if they’ve played Muryoku Muzenji. The neighborhood of Koenji is the starting place for many musicians in Tokyo and Muryoku Muzenji is a comfortable place for bands to gain the confidence and creativity that will carry them onto the stages of trendy areas like Shibuya.

SHIBUYA O-NEST Exiting Shibuya Station I enter the chaotic “scramble crossing” where 1500 people wade into intersections. I patiently navigate the sidewalks f looded with people, lights, TVs and information raining from the skies and take a left into the district of Dogenzaka, famous for its “love hotels.” Walking uphill on a street packed with warehouse-sized clubs I spot venues on every corner: Club Asia. Vuenos. Duo Music Exchange. O-Crest. O-East. O-West. Just when you get the feeling you shouldn’t continue walking up the street unless you’re ‘looking for a good time,’ tucked away on the 6 th f loor above an AM/PM convenience store is the stage for Tokyo’s leading underground acts. O-Nest.

Sitting on the balcony of O-Nest, overlooking the skyline of club giants and love hotels, Shugo Tokumaru shakes his hair into place as he explains that he’s excited to make his first American tour, but is afraid of f lying. Tokumaru, a highly established musician in the Tokyo scene, is one of the leading artists on his way to a crossover into international audiences. Music and culture critic W. David Marx said, “Shugo Tokumaru is the best. He is probably the most talented musician to come out of Japan in the past ten years.” Playing over 100 instruments on his latest release Exit, Tokumaru has a powerful understanding of how to produce technically complex music with a pop sensibility. With a dreamlike and childish sense of amusement, Tokumaru stirs a carnival of genres that compose the soundtrack to his imaginative wonderland. With a tour in the US, he’s on his way to becoming the next big name to come out of the Tokyo underground.

The last show that I saw at O-Nest before returning to America was d.v.d (drummer, visual, drummer). The electronic art trio coalesces Japanese technology and artistic innovation in a band. Visual artist, Ymg, and drummers, Itoken and Jimanica, blur the borders of music and visual art with their collaboration of vibrant, geometric visuals and playful, electronic compositions. Triggers on each drummer’s kits correspond to projected visuals programmed by Ymg. Picture this: staring up at a projection screen in anticipation, Itoken stomps the kick drum a few times to bring his pong slider down to the proper position. A quick snare hit pushes his slider up and banks the ball over to the opposite side where Jimanica is in a full-on drum roll trying to bring his slider up for return.

The grid squares change brilliant colors as the pong ball f lies across the screen

and what sounds like a Gameboy soundtrack blasts through the PA speakers.

The game seamlessly dissolves into a head-bopping groove with tight rhythmic communication and a multi-colored visual assault as the audience wonders if they are at a concert, video arcade or art installation.

This dedication to electronics and game culture can be seen in a handful of groups in Tokyo. Whether it’s d.v.d using a Wii controller to manipulate visual programs or Sexy-Synthesizer updating the 8-bit sounds of 80’s game centers into funky house music, the inf luence of gaming and technology is undeniable. In a culture dominated by foreign inf luence and criticized for imitating Western music, electronics and game culture are some of the few inf luences that are originally Japanese. Seeing this manifest itself in contemporary art is one of the components that defines originality in Tokyo music culture.

Another interesting element of Tokyo’s music scene is a heavy respect for German Krautrock styles of the 70’s. Many young artists are presenting an updated version of old Krautrock styles, a community of bands I like to call Wasabirock. Playing ten-minute trances of driving, motorik beats and sound experimentation, these bands often have a more hardcore tendency than German Krautrock. Kuruucrew is a good example of this noisy tendency of Japanese artists fused with a driving, rhythmic force reminiscent of the Krautrock motorik. Psychedelic melodies from a saxophone run through effects pedals give Kuruucrew an interesting edge.

Another popular Wasabirock band in Tokyo’s underground scene is the all-girl group Nisennenmondai, which translates to “the Y2K disaster.” Their latest album Destination Tokyo is a good example of Japanese artists importing foreign cultures (Krautrock) and innovating them into something uniquely Japanese (Wasabirock).

Both Kuruucrew and Nisennenmondai shared the bill at O-Nest with New Yorkbased Gang Gang Dance, during its recent Japan tour.

Lewis Rapkin’s documentary on Japan’s underground music scene, Live From Tokyo, will debut in summer 09. For more info on the documentary and some of the bands mentioned in this piece visit www.livefromtokyo.net.

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S/S 2009 “I THINK MY designs represent a vision of what fashion can be.” Coming from 26-year-old designer Julia Hederus, it’s a statement that evokes both her dedication to the evolution of fashion and her belief in the importance of garment-making. A native of Stockholm, Hederus studied fashion in Denmark before moving to London to get an M.A. in menswear. It was there that she contacted iconic shoe company K-Swiss with a collaboration pitch, resulting in three limited edition, Lego-inspired sneakers. Now a rising design star, Hederus has started up a business and works independently in her own studio. She spoke to us about why she makes men’s clothes and what makes Michael Jackson sexy.

How did your interest in fashion start?

I used to play around with my mum’s silk scarves, and sort of drape them around me to create dresses when I was 6 or 7 years old. Then I think I discovered fashion in magazines when I was about 13, and I felt so astonished by Comme des Garcons, Ann Demeulemeester, Helmut Lang, Galliano and Vivienne Westwood.

I could sit for hours and look through those catwalk reports.

Did you have a fashionable family?

My mum was a textile designer, and she always bought lots of clothes and went travelling a lot. I think that she really inspired me. She had a very unconventional, not so feminine, Japanese style with flat cuts and wide trousers. She never wore a bra, and always a lot of menswear, big shirts and workwear and big sweaters, and always had one of her own huge silk scarves in her hair.

She also loved sneakers. Aside from that my family consists of many architects and artists.

Do you have any style icons?

I think that Jean-Michel Basquiat has been very important to me, not for the actual clothes he wore, but rather his mentality. He could wear anything, just like he could write on anything. Lately I have been very inspired by Michael Jackson and his very confident look from the late 80’s, early 90’s: always quite slim trousers and a nice shirt. Or a golden vest! It’s so liberating to see someone who knows exactly what he likes, and what he finds sexy.

Why do you design clothes only for men?

I don’t feel drawn to womenswear though I do see a lot of freedom in fashion for women. It’s more creative--and it really makes me wonder why men can’t feel the same thing. I do think that a lot has changed, but there still are a lot of boundaries to break. And I would be happy if I managed to do that.

shoes to match an outfit. So during my M.A. I contacted K-Swiss and they were interested, so then I just started to design for them.

Behind the shoe designs there’s also a Lego concept, a brick system. You get the shoebox with the trainers and a whole kit of velcro bits that you can put anywhere on the shoe! Just start piling and placing. It’s really fun.

What is the look of your designs?

My look is very hard and casual at the same time, often inspired by sports--motorcycling, sailing, surfing, skateboarding, biking--and then I often mix it with a precise shape that I like to work with, often symmetric.

Who is the ideal man you are designing for?

He’s very free and spiritual, and creative. He’s like Basquiat!

How do you think men feel in your clothes?

They should feel different from the crowd, as if they lived 10 years ahead.

Is there a certain look on men you find sexy?

Loose-fitting clothes, and nice denims and more skin than usual.

When a man’s not afraid of mixing styles and wearing unexpected combos, that’s really nice. I also like men in jeans with bare chests!

If you could no longer design clothes, what would you do with your life?

I can’t imagine a life without being creative. I would end up as a graphic designer, illustrator, or furniture designer. I think that my brain is programmed to come up with ideas for how things should look.

Are you ever going to expand beyond menswear?

I hope so, but there’s still so much undone in menswear and I guess that my view on fashion will need some time to sink in.

Does being Swedish influence your garments?

I often prefer simplicity and that’s maybe because I’m Swedish. But my designs aren’t that good for cold weather, which is necessary in Sweden. They are better for boys on the street on a sunny day.

How did the K-Swiss collaboration happen?

I always dreamt of doing cubic clothes! It’s something with the simplicity and raw cut-out shape that thrills me. It makes your mind spin! I always made shoe sketches on the side for my collections, because I just found it very important to have the right

INTERVIEW by MICHAEL ALAN CONNELLY PHOTOGRAPHY by ERIK WÅHLSTRÖM STYLING by PIERRE CAMILO MAKEUP by IGNA ALONSO MODELS ROBIN P (MIKAS) & OSSIAN (KID OF TOMORROW)

The SHAPe OF FUTURe Photography Nicholas Routzen

Wardrobe Stylist Naoko Watanabe

Stylist Assistant Kyoko Saito

Hair Gillian Kuhlmann

Makeup Kristin Hilton

Art Direction Bobby Mozumder

Graphics Brandon Savoy

Photo Assistant Geordy Pearson

Model Emmi @ Next

Model Jessica @ Muse

White coat Yeohlee Boots Walter Steiger

Blue vest Peter Som Gold belt Isabela Capeto Pants Sans Leggings and Shoes Manish Arora

Jacket Manish Arora

Head piece Ports 1961 Dress Thrive

Head piece Ports 1961 Skirt Koi Suwannagate

Jessica wears: Blue Top Manish Arora White dress stylist’s own Emmi wears: Vest Sans Pink top Manish Arora

Vest Sans Skirt Manish Arora

Necklace Ports 1961 All Sans

Hat Sans Military vest Donassy Tank top Helmut Lang Tank top Manish Arora

Hat Sans Vest Helmut Lang Pants Peter Som Shoes Manish Arora

Head dress OMO Norma Kamali Collection Dress Thrive

Killer, Kill HeR Photography Kristin Brynn Costello for www.kbcphoto.com Hair Christian Sanchez Makeup Georgi Sandev using MAC Cosmetics Model Marija @ Major Model Hannah @ Muse Model Helena @ Muse

Styling Harold Jay Malvin for haroldjaymelvin.com Digital Post Production Bobby Mozumder Styling Assistant Tara Denman and Andrew Bocchio Model George @ RedNYC

This image: Dress Jose Duran Shoes AF Vandervorst

Hanna wears: Top Foley and Corinna Necklace Betsey Johnson Shorts Guilty Brotherhood

Marija wears: Top Skaparinn Gloves La Crasia

Dress Lia Keys Bangles KEP Gloves LaCrasia

Helena wears: Top and Skirt Guilty Brotherhood Shoes REPORT Signature , Obe Belt Carla Dawn Behrle

Red Dress Eden Blake Bangles KEP

Hannah wears: Dress Jose Dran Bangles KEP Jewelry Helena wears: Strapless bikini bottom Form Silver top Harlan Bell Bangles KEP Jewelry

Goerge wears: Suit and Shirt Avelon by Blueblood

Dress Jose Duran Necklace alldressedup

Shirt Avelon by Blueblood Vest General Idea Gloves La Crasia

George wears: Shirt Avelon by Blueblood Vest General Idea Gloves La Crasia Marija wears: Jacket Nolita Top and Pant Jose Duran Gloves La Crasia

Boxers on Goerge Bjorn Borg

Shoes Report Signature Strapless Bikini Bottom FORM

Giant cuff with Jet Crystal, Long Chain Necklace with Jet Crystall and Five Side Dome Mawi

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StariNG At the sea Monster Photography Gisel Florez Jewelry Stylist Ingrid Ammann Set Stylist Brad Wilson Assistant Digital Nelson Figallo

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Chrome Bangles and Resin Necklace Dinosaur Designs

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Resin Bangles Dinosaur Designs Rigid Chain Cuff in Brass with crystals Giles and Brother by Philip Crangi Rigid Twist Bangles in Brass and in Matte Hematite Giles and Brother by Philip Crangi

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Eugenia Necklace in 18k gold plated woven chain with amethyst stone Flutter by Jill Ogden

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18k Gold and Diamond Chain Necklace Dana David 18k Bangles in white, gold and rose gold Dana David Resin and Leather Necklace Dinosaur Designs

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Square Rings in Gold Plate and Sterling Silver Adeline Cacheux Sterling Silver Ball Ring Adeline Cacheux _Resin, Wood Veneer and Sterling Silver Necklace Dinosaur Designs

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Bronze Cuff with Crystal Gara Danielle Black Gold, and Brown Sparkle Rings Gara Danielle Resin “Coral� Necklace Dinosaur Designs Gold filled and wood petal necklace Zoe Chicco

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Gold flame ruffle dress Nektar De Stagni Gold sparkle tights Calvin Klein Black Satin Booties Max Studios

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Magic POSiTiON Photography Nick Zantop Creative Direction Diana Minocci Wardrobe Stylist Stephanie Del Papa Stylist’s Assistant Mia Fernandez Hair & Makeup Yenz Von Tilberg & Reinout Von Tilberg Model Natalia S. @ 301 Model Management Model Danny M. @ Republica Management

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Vintage dress

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Sequin sweater vintage Saks Fifth Avenue

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Black heart dress vintage Anna Molinari Sterling Silver cuffs Josephine Wiseheart Silver Cube rings Furla Mask stylist’s own

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Black jumpsuit Betsey Johnson Black Leather and Pearl neckerchief Josephine Wiseheart vintage 1980’s black leather fingerless studded gloves

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Black asymmetrical dress Sharagano Silver cube ring Furla

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Sequin sweater vintage Saks Fifth Avenue Silver hot shorts KRELwear Tiger tights Last Look Brooklyn NY Patent leather oxford flats Stuart Weitzman

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Vintage 1980’s black sequin dress

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White Bustier Cosabella Black Girdle Wacoal Fogal Black Sheer Tights

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Parallel UNiVE RSE Photography Philip Valende Styling OpĂŠ Majek Hair El Leo Makeup Virginia Bradley Assistant Tat Leong Model Kara Erwin @ Elite

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Shirt and Pants Douglas Hammant Sash J. Crew

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Top A La Disposition Gloves La Crasia Feather Pants Narcisse Designs

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Dress Rubin Singer Shoes Baby Phat

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Jacket Rubin Singer Neck Sock VPL Gloves LaCrasia Leggings H&M Shoes Baby Phat

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Jacket Kitchen Orange Corset Meschantes Bra Top VPL Gloves JonnyCouture

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Dress Betsey Johnson Bra Urban Outfitters Gloves LaCrasia Shoes John Ashford Stockings VPL

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Ostrich Collar JonnyCouture Tulle Jacket MichaelB Belt A LaDisposition

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Top and Pants Lola Faturoti Shoes John Ashford Belt A LaDisposition Gloves LaCrasia

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Top and Shorts Narcisse Designs Shoes John Ashford

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Dress Tiki Glam Shoes John Ashford

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Shirt and Gloves A LaDisposition

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Shirt Douglas Hammant

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Photography Bobby Mozumder Styling Elena Mussa Model Sarah Tyer @ Red NYC Makeup Arnee Cusano Hair Daniele Marino Photo Assistant Chris Russel Sarah wears on this page: Dress Michael Kors Belt Orciani, Shoes Versace

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Dress Abaete Pants Alice + Olivia Shoes LAMB Necklace Tuleste

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Dress Jean Paul Gaultier, Shoes Stylist’s own

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Dress Marc By Marc Jacobs, Waspie Agent Provocateur, Pants Alice + Olivia, Shoes Chanel, Cuff Bracelets D&G

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Dress Roberto Cavalli, Shoes Versace

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Dress Alice + Olivia Belt Stlylist’s own Shoes Chanel

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Photography Bobby Mozumder Styling Julie Bobek Makeup Yiekov Bermudez using Make Up For Ever Hair Ernesto Acquino for Chudo Haircare Set Stylist Shana Sherwood Wardrobe Styling Assistant Andrea Azeuge Model Agnesa Foygel @ Red NYC

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Black “Iman” pants Lydia Park Pleated Chiffon Blouse Thrive Bracelet, Ring Philippe Audibert Heels Chinese Laundry

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Fur collar Katia K Necklace Isaac Manevitz for Ben-Amun Baroque Cuff Karina Kelly

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Petal Sleeve Vent Dress Thrive Black Heels Michael Antonio Bracelet and Ring Phillipe Audibert

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Black “Irina� dress Lydia Park Heels Chinese Laundry Necklace, Jeweled Bracelet Isaac Manevitz for Ben-Amun Bracelet Philippe Audibert

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Photography Bobby Mozumder Styling Julie Bobek Makeup Yiekov Bermudez using Make Up For Ever Hair Ernesto Acquino for Chudo Haircare Set Stylist Shana Sherwood Wardrobe Styling Assistant Andrea Azeuge Model Emma Vasille @ Red NYC

Fur collar Katia K

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Crème Knit Top FORM Jeweled Bracelets Isaac Manevitz for Ben-Amun Cuff, Tights, Shoes Stylist’s own

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Black Knit Dress FORM

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F E S T I VA L K I N E T I K INTERVIEW & PHOTOGRAPHS by BOBBY MOZUMDER

Montreal again sets the stage for a stunning musical event, a multi-day festival dedicated to Industrial, Noise, EBM, and Electro music. Festival Kinetik first appeared in May 2008 with 30+ acts, from 80’s industrial bands such as Nitzer Ebb to newer bands like Memmaker, and is ready to launch the 2009 edition with an even bigger lineup. FutureClaw caught up with Festival Kinetik creator Jean-Francois Gadoury to discuss the event.

What is industrial music? What characteristics identify a band or track as industrial? Industrial music is a very generic name, like how alternative music includes a lot of stuff now. Industrial music started in Europe in the late 70’s with bands like Kraftwerk that began using electronic instruments to compose music. With the years, industrial music grew in popularity and branched further from the original sound. From EBM (Electronic Body music) with a band like Front 242 in the 80’s, to old-school industrial, with bands like Skinny Puppy & Nitzer Ebb, to more recent styles of futurepop/synthpop, VNV Nation and Covenant, to the new sound of Harsh industrial (or Aggrotech, or TBM, depending on how people decide to call it) with bands like Hocico, Combichrist, and Grendel, to the Noise music, more aggressive, raw sound, with bands like Noisex, Converter and others.

Industrial music can be identified for sure by its dark, electronic sound, often taking samples of classic sci-fi and horror movies and by the “dark” aesthetic attached to it (not meaning that all people listening to industrial music are goth).

Who are the important bands to know? In its history? Now? Industrial music would not be what it is today without the pioneers like Kraftwerk, Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly and Front 242. But if we are talking in terms of sales numbers, today, Hocico, Combichrist, Suicide Commando, VNV Nation and Skinny Puppy are more well-known bands.

These days there are a lot of new bands coming from the Harsh industrial side, following the steps of the big names, with bands like Memmaker, Reaper, Tactical Sekt, and others.

Is it an alternative scene? Yes, for sure industrial music always was and probably always will stay an alternative scene, mainly because mainstream media doesn’t really care about it. Industrial music was more commercial in the late 80’s with bands like Nitzer Ebb playing with Depeche Mode, and other big names getting some media attention.

Where have you seen its inf luence in mainstream music? Many commercial names such as Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Prodigy and others were heavily inf luenced by the early industrial bands. Also a lot of mainstream acts like Madonna like to take some of the industrial look and sound and give it a commercial twist.

Is industrial music tied to the theatrical elements of the scene (dark imagery, punk, militancy, electronics)? Are there happy-fun industrial bands or are all the bands largely satirical anyways? For the general public industrial music may appear to be a depressing, Goth genre. But industrial music has a lot of different substyles attached to it. The basic style came from 70’s punk and Goth, with an industrial twist to it. With inf luence from sci-fi movies like Blade Runner, Metropolis and others, the style took more of a techno turn. Each sub-style of industrial music

has its own “look” from the colorful raver, to cyber, to the rivet-head, to retro.

Arts was always a big part of the industrial look, from industrial architecture to cyberpunk art (like HR Giger). Some bands push on the gory side, others keep it simple, and some go for the happy look, like Ayria. Most people from outside the scene stick to the easy stereotype and don’t see the real meaning of the industrial look.

The industrial fans are some of the easiest crowds to work with. They may look strange from the outside, but it’s a really respectful culture and most of the people in it are against violence and war. Bands with a military look are often protesting again the power.

Besides Canada, where else is there a strong industrial music base? The base in the States is for sure bigger than Canada, mostly around New York in the East and around Los Angeles in the West. But industrial came from Europe and it will forever be bigger there. A big fest ival here can get 3,000 people versus 20,000 there.

Because most industrial bands are still from Europe they get more shows there, so the fan base is easier to develop than here in North America. You can even catch some industrial music on TV there, but here the style is still really underground.

How large of an audience is Kinetik prepared to handle? The festival will be held at the same venue as last year, at Usine C in Montreal, so we are looking at the same numbers of people. Now that the festival is more known we get more media and audience attention. The first edition of the festival got around 2,400 total entries in four days, the second edition should get around 3,000 entries. Getting more people will never be a problem.

Do you expect Kinetik to be more mainstream or do you expect to keep an audience focused on the core industrial music scene? Kinetik Festival was always intended for the industrial scene from all around North America (and even from South America and Europe now), so for a more non-mainstream audience. But with some of the big names of the 08 edition and the upcoming 09 edition, we get more and more media interest, so more and more general public interest, and that’s also one of the reasons for the festival to exist: to help promote the industrial scene and change some wrong stereotypes people might have about this music style.

Festival Kinetik 2.0 runs May 14-17 in Montreal, Canada.

Visit www.festival-kinetik.net

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BHUTAN & GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS TEXT by JULIE EPSTEIN ILLUSTRATION by MICHELLE EPSTEIN

THE HAPPY KINGDOM of Druk Yul, land of the thunder dragon, is nestled in the snow-capped Himalayan mountains, wreathed in clouds. In its green valleys, with glacier-fed lakes, are giant rhododendrons, forests of sandalwood, evergreen, oak and maple, and a primeval array of wild animals: leopards, rhinos, monkeys, musk deer, elephants, owls, ravens, eagles and hawks. Both the mountains and the monarchy have served to isolate and protect the country and its cultural traditions from the outside world; the majority of the small population cultivates its own land, raises chickens, pigs, cows and yaks, subsisting in a largely barter economy. Buddhist monks meditate together, cultivating wisdom and compassion, or contemplate the causes of suffering in solitary, high-mountain retreats. They boom and drone on ceremonial instruments that resound over remote valleys, where paved roads and electric lines have yet to reach.

Since the early 1970s when this nation, commonly known as Bhutan, first entered the global stage, joining the United Nations and welcoming its first tourists, it has strived to modernize without compromising its traditional values. In 1972, sixteen year-old King Jigme Sangye Wangchuk first articulated the idea of Gross National Happiness, an evolving philosophy that continues to guide the nation’s development. GNH transcends the conventional measure of growth, Gross National Product, by assessing the nation’s overall well-being, not merely its production and consumption.

Bhutan, whose economy is small but whose happiness is great, (ranked 8th happiest nation in the world in 2007 by one global survey), aims to develop infrastructure and boost GNP in sustainable ways. The four pillars of Gross National Happiness, which have been refined over the past decades, are sustainable and equitable development, conservation of natural resources, preservation of culture, and good governance. Bhutan is modernizing with mindfulness, working to expand free health care and education, exporting hydroelectric power, extending roads and electrifying rural areas. The nation also ratified a new constitution, which includes a democratically elected parliament and which preserves over 60% of its land as forest. Perhaps Bhutan’s most drastic step towards modernization was lifting a ban on television and internet in 1999.

The “DrukNet” inauguration ceremony was attended by chanting monks and a bevy of queens who hailed the king as “Light of the Cyber Age.” The King said that television was a significant step towards the modernization of Bhutan as well as a major contributor to the country’s Gross National Happiness but warned that the “misuse” of television could erode traditional Bhutanese values.

Since the country introduced television, Bhutanese society has been in the throes of cultural upheaval that threatens to undermine GNH. In 2002, Bhutan experienced its first modern crime wave. “Dear Editor,” one concerned citizen wrote, “TV is very bad for our country... it controls our minds... and makes us crazy. The enemy is right here with us in our own living room. People behave like the actors, and are now anxious, greedy and discontent.” Adrie Kusserow, Professor of Anthropology at St. Michael’s College, reacts to the recent advent of television and internet in Bhutanese society, “I fear that…in seeing all sorts of other global images, the youth will suddenly see their own culture as not cool enough, as lacking somehow, and they will buy into it wholesale.”

Bhutan is a fascinating case study in the effects of modernity on traditional culture, as well as an experiment in transition. The 4 th International Conference on GNH, which recently took place in Bhutan, was an opportunity for researchers and organization leaders from all parts of the globe to offer their recommendations. With presentation topics ranging from waste management to collective management of natural resources, from nature-deficit disorder to “sufficiency economy,” these scholars aim to help Bhutan navigate its pursuit of Gross National Happiness.

Jon Hall, from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, discussed the notion of progress at the conference. While, in the 20 th century, we equated economic growth with progress, (“an assumption that a growing GDP meant life must be getting better”), Hall says that the world now recognizes that the issue is more complex. “Despite high levels of economic growth in many countries many experts believe we are no more satisfied (or happier) with our life than we were 50 years ago; that people trust one another - and their governments - less than they used to; and that increased income has come at the expense of increased insecurity, longer working hours and greater complexity in our lives.”

Another conference presenter adds weight to the notion of dubious progress with a quality of life study which found satisfaction levels in Bhutan decreasing between 2001 and 2005, despite improvements in electricity, water, sanitation, transport, public utilities, etc. Were people disappointed with these “improvements”? Is television causing social break-down, and breeding discontentment with its consumption-driven commercials? Or is Bhutan simply showing us, what the Buddha taught, that people find happiness by wanting less, not by acquiring more.

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