Introduction to my very own charta of musical integrity

INTRODUCTION TO MY VERY OWN CHARTA FOR ARTISTIC VALUE

^{When
I was younger, I used to think, that everything was about extremes, especially
in regards to music. So I searched for the most extreme
music there was. A road which took me long ways, with short
excursions into all kinds of metal, rap, power electronics, noise and finally
onto Merzbow. Nothing is more extreme than Merzbow. And not a lot is more boring
than your 15th Merzbow-CD. At one point I realised, that I was searching for the
very small variations between various Merzbow CDs, or Merzbow and
Aube and Masonna – and then a thought struck me! Maybe true artistic progress
is not to be found in extremism but in the refinement
of a style. True, what Masami Akita does with Merzbow is of course a
form of refinement of a special style, but I clearly remember what Al Johnson of
US Maple once told me: „Most people are easily cought with something that is
obvious, heavy and upfront. But the real challenge lies
in the small cracks, in the tiny bits that make something outwardly
correct become something strange and intriguing.“ Of course, US Maple are far
from being „outwardly correct“ because their weirdness shines through on all
levels (which is what attracted me to that nice bunch of freaks in the first
place) but overall Al was right. Ą Millions of people listen to Slipknot, because
their music is heavy and their masks make them distinctive on first visual
contact. A few hundred people, if ever, listened to Ulcerous Phlegm years ago,
who did an even more extreme, yet funny and multi-layered thing and were nice
people on top of it. Millions of people go and see „American Pie“ and nobody
ever heard of a great movie called „Donnie Darko“. There is more to that
than the marketing-budget. Actually the marketing budget is just another symptom
of the whole evil circle of „more people – more
revenue“. Point is, if you start looking for things with real
meaning, artistic endevaours which are aside the mainstream, everything will get
a point of view critical of materialistic / capitalistic as well, and of course this
is a political viewpoint. Putting yourself outside the
„if most people like it, then it is gotta be good“-theorem makes
you an outsider and a freak. If you start to believe, that „if
most people like it, then it can only be washed out sissy-bullshit designed to
adhere to the lowest common denominator so that as many people as possible spend
their money on it“ you will also realise people looking at you
strangely. But since I always enjoyed being looked at strangely, that was the
way for me. Ą In fact, for most people in their puberty – just like me back then
– music is more than just a bunch of songs,
it is a form of identification. What does that tell us about a young boy, who,
instead of growing up into the socially acceptable norm, starts to look for the
stuff that is around the bend? Well, good education, I’d say. But enough of
that. Musically, I started to look for records that somehow epitomized a certain
style, formed their very own subgenre or took a style so high over the top, that
the whole thing turned around and ate itself up. I found stuff from
euthanasia-disco to 80ies-christian-popmusic. I found my love for way old
country-singers. For new country. Records that Maximum Rock’n’roll would
have reviewed with „Punkrock“. And any kind of Noise-rock there is. And I do
mean any kind. I remember that to have been a great time full of discoveries and
adventures. Ą And where did that journey take me to? Well, for one, I
don’t think my travel is at its end yet. For instance, I feel that
my interest in classical music is gaining new sparks, so there are many new
roads to explore for me. But one thing I learned is, that „extreme“ is also
a very subjective term. My mother, for instance, always used to tell me to turn
my stereo down. She didn’t mind if I played slow and soft music or harsh and
loud stuff. She just wanted silence. (So I got headphones.) Another thing is,
that „style“ can’t be taken out of context
and is all encompassing. Artists who really embody one certain style are very
few. Especially in Europe. But the most important thing was: if one artist
follows his very own vision and is able to touch me with it, then this is the
best thing that could ever happen. To me, that happened with Nick Cave, Johnny
Cash and some other artists / bands. That is, what I am looking for right now,
and can’t find it, but these are relationships that need to develop over some
time y’see, so that is no tragedy. Okay, so maybe that is all just a kind of
coming-of-age or maturing-thing, since in my age people also look for
long-lasting relationships in their private life. But comparing phases of
musical exploration with phases of private relationships is an alltogether
different, albeit very interesting issue. Maybe next time. Ą
To sum all this up, I
just want to add one more thing: if
you like a song, then listen to it. But please, do make sure that you like it
because you do yourself, not because someone else told you so or because
everyone else likes it as well.}

(Georg Cracked)