Spectrum Compendium by Headpress

by Richard Stevenson

HEADPRESS

SPECTRUM COMPENDIUM

archival documentation of the post-industrial underground

Spectrum Magazine Archive: 1998â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2002

SPECTRUM COMPENDIUM archival documentation of the post-industrial underground

This is a short extract from a Headpress book Headpress. Pop and Unpop Culture. headpress.com

SPECTRUM compendium archival documentation of the post-industâ&#x20AC;&#x160;rial underground

Spectrum Magazine Archive 1998â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2002 by Richard Stevenson A Headpress Book

CONTENTS Acknowledgements by Richard Stevenson

4 FOREWORD

Eye and Ear by Justin Mitchell Editor and Critic by Klaus Hilger First-hand information by Mikko Aspa

6 REFLECTIONS OF A BYGONE ERA

A Pillar In Time by Rene Lehmann Age Of Dissent by Jason Mantis The Past Is Alive by Henrik Nordvargr Björkk The Times Without Pitchfork: Trend-Free Underground Journalism by Stephen Petrus Tyranny Of Distance by David Tonkin

10 INTRODUCTION

Influence & Inspiration: The Spectrum Magazine Story by Richard Stevenson

14 SPECTRUM MAGAZINE ARCHIVE ISSUES No. 1–5

Spectrum Magazine — Historic Chronology Issue no.1: Hazard, Malignant Records, Megaptera, MZ.412, The Protagonist, Sanctum Issue no.2: Endvra, Iron Halo Device, Raison D’etre, Shinjuku Thief, Stone Glass Steel, Stratvm Terror Issue no.3: Caul, C17H19No3, Deutsch Nepal, I-Burn, Imminent Starvation, Kerovnian, Tertium Non Data, Ordo Equilibrio, Slaughter Productions, Schloss Tegal Issue no.4: Bad Sector, Black Lung, Cold Spring, Der Blutharsch, Desiderii Marginis, Dream into Dust, Gruntsplatter, Ildfrost, Inade, Law, StateArt, Warren Mead, Yen Pox Issue no.5: Brighter Death Now, Crowd Control Activities, Death in June, Folkstorm, House of Low Culture, IRM, Middle Pillar, Nový Svĕt, Tribe of Circle, Skincage, Spectre, Vox Barbara

311 SPECTRUM MAGAZINE ISSUE No.6

Overview and cancellation statement Interviews: Genocide Organ (profile), Isomer, Militia, John Murphy (Knifeladder/Shining Vril), Navicon Torture Technologies, Terra Sancta, Toroidh Reviews: 2001-2002

368 ARCHIVAL MATERIAL

Richard Stevenson Interview: October 2001 Spectrum Magazine Promotional Flyers Live Performance Photo Archive Personal Correspondence Archives

A note on the archive section: The original print files for most back issues have been lost, and so this section is comprised of page-scans for the most part. Also note that some of the contact information in these pages may no longer be in service.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is dedicated to my wife Melenie Stevenson for support and encouragement. Thanks and respect to the artists/projects/labels featured in Spectrum over the years, and, for their reflections on Spectrum and the era in which it was created: Klaus Hilger, Mikko Aspa, Jason Mantis, Henrik Nordvargr Björkk, Justin Mitchell, Stephen Petrus, David Tonkin and René Lehmann. Thank you to Jennifer Wallis for her initial encouragement in pitching this book to Headpress, as well as invaluable input with proofreading and editing suggestions. And to David Kerekes/Headpress for his support and enthusiasm in making this book a reality. Thank you to Gaya Donadio for providing Hinoeuma the Malediction show flyers from her archives, and to Marco Deplano for confirming details of select performances. Gratitude to Scott Van Dort for his part in generating the initial creative spark that spawned Spectrum, and for the ceaselessly entertaining music-related conversations over Richard Stevenson portrait by Melenie Stevenson. At Ron Mueck’s ‘MASS’ the past twenty or more years — long may they continue! sculpture (2017), National Galley of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Thanks to those who provided assistance during Spectrum’s activity, including: James Leslie (for the use of his PC on issues 1, 2 and 3); Michael Stevenson (building the PC that helped to create issues 4 and 5, and ongoing computer support); Joseph Aquino (proofreading issues 4 and 5 and running the mail order between 2001–2002 when I was overseas); Chris Forth (proofreading issues 4 and 5); JC Smith (contributing reviews, plus the Inade profile in issue 4). Thanks to the labels and distributors for their support in getting Spectrum out to a global audience: Jason Mantis/ Malignant Records, Klaus Hilger/Tesco Organisation, Justin Mitchell/Cold Spring Records, Knut Enderlein and René Lehmann/Loki Foundation, Mikko Aspa/Freak Animal, Stefan Knappe/Drone Records. Not forgeting smaller labels and distros who stocked copies! A final thanks to all contributing artists, as well as those who supported Spectrum, purchasing copies and providing words of support and encouragement. Greetings also to those I have met along the way (online or in person). By naming none, no one is forgotten.

A HEADPRESS BOOK First published by Headpress in 2019 headoffice@headpress.com SPECTRUM COMPENDIUM Archival documentation of the post-industrial underground Spectrum Magazine Archive 1998−2002 Text © RICHARD STEVENSON & respective contributors This volume © HEADPRESS 2019 Cover image : Warren Mead : design : Mark Critchell Layout & design : Ganymede Foley & Richard Stevenson 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The moral rights of the author have been asserted. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Publisher. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-909394-62-9 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-909394-63-6 (ebook) NO-ISBN (hardback) HEADPRESS. POP AND UNPOP CULTURE. Other items of interest are available at HEADPRESS.COM

FOREWORD Eye and Ear

First-hand Information

Spectrum was a rarity, even in 1998, ten years after the start of Cold Spring, it was invaluable. Through the established underground networks, it brought information of releases to a public eye that, to my mind, only the genius of Donna Klemm’s (RIP) ARTWARE catalogues ever did. A feast of treats for ear and eye, a little ‘where do I start?’ for the neophyte and a gap-filler tome for the established. It was heavy and it was expensive to fly in bulk halfway around the world, but we did it anyway. So thorough, there was stuff in there I hadn`t heard of (I now get forty demos a week — I got four last Xmas day alone!). Before the internet it was genuinely word of mouth, mail-art, and postcards, but Spectrum bridged that gap, if you were IN it, you were seen — that made the difference between selling just fifty tapes or 1,000 CDs or vinyl. The ‘industrial’ world, for labels at least, is tenuous at best — a sliver of the marketplace, hanging by the hopeful consideration that someone, someplace, buys that record and secures your future. Spectrum did that, so this book is more than justified.

It is clear that many people have abandoned the idea of fanzines. Why bother spending months on writing something, if it will be seen by mere hundreds of people, when in another context you can casually reach thousands of them online! Nevertheless, in the last decade, not only have we seen a new wave of magazine culture in various fields and topics, but also the rising popularity of printed industrial and noise fanzines. Despite the abundance of possibilities to post content online, it simply doesn’t fulfil the craving for getting something completed. Something that is not just one fragment in a stream of endless information which never ends. Nothing is ever completed. Eventually your daily information feed is filled with more possibilities than hundreds of people could fully digest.

Justin Mitchell (Cold Spring Records)

Mikko Aspa (Freak Animal Records)

Fanzines return to the idea of slow digested reading. Longer features. Something to return to. Making an impact that results in perhaps a lasting landmark and even a reference point in the history of the genre. Allowing artists or editors to speak. To introduce ideas behind their work. Not merely firing another promotional campaign towards jaded Editor and Critic consumers. So what if thousands of people flipped through Klaus Hilger (Tesco Organisation Germany) a recent social media one-liner and audio link? How many of them remember it tomorrow? And how could they re-visit Spectrum was one of the publications that completely fulfilled the long-gone content? In recent times it has become a more the demand for a magazine in its time. Richard Stevenson frequently asked question: What is the point of popularity if was an editor and critic in one person, but was well disposed it happens at the expense of substance? towards the subject of his work. This makes him very close to the ideal critic, someone who manages to assess and This is the question more people should ask themselves. describe facts, based on generally accepted standards. At What if one forgets the plain number values and focuses on the same time, he has created a tool that counteracts the experience, its quality and meaning? The conclusion we may zeitgeist, that being fast-paced internet journalism. The effect form, is that despite the fact that magazines or books are and the information content of Spectrum in its diversity is still seemingly a medium of the past, and their validity may have present today, and these carefully prepared publications are been tested, but it not only survived, it triumphed. While still worth reading. With Noise Receptor, however, a worthy industrial music seems to have an intrinsic connection to successor was also created. technology and multimedia, these are most of all a means to an end. However, the things that may result are at risk of being trapped in the same potential shallowness and meaninglessness of technology, material that artists may have originally opposed.

SPECTRUM COMPENDIUM

To refer to the years 1998-2001, when Spectrum Magazine existed, it was a time when the internet also existed, but didn’t yet dominate everything completely. At the time a magazine was not the product of nostalgia, therefore my assumption is, the editor did not need to consider options at length, as a printed magazine at the time was a very natural format. The choice of Spectrum’s core coverage was the flourishing post-industrial movement that was at the time conquering vast numbers of new listeners. It was also a time that was not only a peak within the genre itself, but it was a moment of new things happening. Also a time that witnessed material being pushed further toward crowds in metal, gothic and other subcultures. While there may not be an abundance of magazines focusing on this particular field, at the time it felt very much expected that there be a magazine that covers it. Now looking back to this era, if longing for the first-hand documents, what can we find? It is not much! We have books and widely circulated articles covering many of the biggest names of original industrial music. We have detailed memoirs of some of the early days of industrial culture. Academic experimental music may be the matter of studies and documentation. But what happened to various email groups, discussion forums and websites dealing with the post-industrial underground? Decades-worth of information has disappeared into the void of cyberspace. Some interviews and reviews scattered in the pages of fanzines that focus on other styles of music. Only a very few genre fanzines that are remembered by the fanatics. At the time one could not predict the future importance of a magazine like Spectrum fifteen years later. Efforts of what may have been merely an attempt to introduce interesting artists and recent noteworthy releases, have contextually now mutated into rare pieces of preserved history of an entire genre and era. Thanks to the work of a relatively young Richard Stevenson, almost two decades later we have a rare opportunity to read first-hand information about many dark

FOREWORD

ambient, death industrial and related projects — without the clouding perspective of nostalgia. We find interviews with artists that have disappeared or become something else. Artists who were in the shadow of bigger names, but nevertheless created noteworthy albums. Artists who were taking their first steps and later became household names in the worldwide post-industrial genre. A rare opportunity to be able to either return to or discover late-nineties albums and read what the artists said about their work back then. A handful of established names barely create a whole genre of music, and with the handful who may have reached to the pages of the bigger press, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Besides a handful of individual creators, the overall atmosphere of musical style, as well as infrastructure of the entire genre, demands more. Individual bands or artists barely make the same impact as phenomena. Many times, the underground flourishes in its collective spirit, where personalities can flourish when the atmosphere enables it. Some may remember the headliner of a festival, but the fact remains that there could not be a festival without a greater number of bands. Some can name noteworthy record labels, not based on a couple of great artists they had released but their ability to create a phenomenal roster. Some can even remember distributors who didn’t merely sell the safe top ten, but were able to cover unheard artists and those bubbling just under the surface. Most people may simply come to easy conclusions, that these were artists that stood out as most crucial in certain eras. It is more difficult to fully analyse to what extent it was purely their own achievement instead of the zeitgeist of the time! While focusing on already established classics has its positive sides, so has the rejection of popular opinions of what artists are noteworthy. To throw oneself into the actual experience. Look at the unknown and for the unheard. Connect, commit, listen, read and observe. And perhaps, like Richard Stevenson, find a way to passionately introduce discoveries to other people who could potentially be interested.

REFLECTIONS OF A BYGONE ERA A Pillar in Time

Rene Lehmann (Loki Foundation)  If one has to write about something that is already twenty years old, then it can be determined that a lot has changed. This however does not inevitably mean the changes went from good (back then) to bad (the present), but the larger point is we are now one generation further on. During the end of the nineties labels like Cold Meat Industry, Tesco Organisation or Staalplaat functioned as the consistent ‘alpha’ labels, while many other smaller labels started to release CDs or vinyl more regularly. With our own label Loki Foundation we were on the threshold of becoming much more recognised, while we played many concerts with Inade during this time as well. From these activities a large network was built up for our projects and the label. Many listeners of our music became friends and long-standing companions, yet equally some of our friends (in both labels and music projects) were lost over the years and did not return to the same path. Some of the minor details may now be fading in our memory, but the reality of the bigger picture is consistently with us. We travelled through England, France, Belgium and Russia and played our first North American tour in 1999. These were personal milestones for us, and the scene we were operating within was already well covered by Spectrum.

At the time the activity of various key labels was flanked by a vital concert culture which includes the now legendary festivals in Lille, Erlangen or Rostock (MS Stubnitz) — just to name a few. Who of us still remembers when Roland Freisler of Genocide Organ ran through the audience with a burning hand; or Bad Sector setting up his impressive gear on a large stage and playing his Ampos album for the first time with full force to our ears; or Anenzephalia and Con-Dom/The Grey Wolves setting new standards in noise-electronics at Deadly Actions Festival in Lille (which was held in a dark brick walled and oppressively claustrophobic old stable building). We also drove 300 miles to see Whitehouse (again), playing in a small fucked-up venue, but with a good PA where Peter Sotos sprayed beer over just twenty people. This was absolutely worth all the effort to witness.

To then ask, has there been much pathos during noise concerts? The answer is there most certainly there was, but its rougher and unpolished effect also did not seem too pretentious at the time. This may then be a quite subjective point of view, but everything acted exactly at a point where it caused positive and influential friction within the postindustrial underground. It is amazing how many remarkable things have come from the post-industrial movement of those years. A lot has changed and the influence of noise and ambient music reached into the mainstream as well. The In reflecting on the whole scene of yesteryear, it some ways aesthetics of sound has changed massively, and what could it was like today, where lots of projects came and many of be found in the last hidden corners of underground music, has them disappeared with time. But the functional operation partially made it into chart productions as well as film scores. of the underground then was totally different to today, where it was much more difficult to obtain information for Spectrum’s vital role was in its ability to distill and process new releases. Thus a new printed catalogue in the mailbox much of this activity in its coverage, while being presented caused much more excitement and interest than a Facebook with outstanding design for its time. It was much less a post that promises the next ‘genre-defining album’ can today fanzine based on standard or repeated questions; Richard — when the same sort of statement is made again the next went much deeper and related information and background week. Likewise before online web-stores you had to call in on project’s activities that could not be read elsewhere. In the mail orders by phone to be among the lucky ones to obtain years following Spectrum’s demise, nearly no publications an in-demand release. Now the number of ‘likes’ for a release have followed in those established footsteps, and it is difficult post on Facebook can be disproportionate to the number of to find something similar now. Today Spectrum seems to be actual orders made. Yet around the millennium the ability to like the content of a time capsule, reminding us that many release a CD or vinyl was much less of a financial risk, where releases of this time were personally as impressive as the this made it easier for labels to support and release new and original classics from the first industrial era. Yet in today’s unknown artists, while the ‘half-life’ of outstanding releases context just a few releases with the same background could was much longer than it is today. generate similar effect. But you cannot turn back time and, in reflecting on the past today, it is perhaps a bit like having seen the other side of the moon. The time span covered by 6

SPECTRUM COMPENDIUM

Spectrum was maybe the most important for us as artists and as a label. We set many important contacts, found our footing and conquered the world with a kind of trial and error tactic and in the process helped shape a subculture that no longer exists in the way it once did. But there is no reason to mourn, the world turns on again and Spectrum stands as a pillar of its time. Chapeau and Salut!

Age of Dissent

Jason Mantis (Malignant Records)

photos in the Cold Meat Industry catalogue caught your attention, and helped build something that in hindsight, perhaps never really should have existed. A symbol of the time, though. Conversely, much of it DID justify the hype, and releases like IRM’s Red Album, Brighter Death Now’s May All Be Dead, Con-Dom’s Colour of A Man’s Skin, the War Against Society 3LP (among many others) are now tried and true classics, and symbolize an underground movement that comes around once in a decade. Count me among the jaded and cynical now, my ears hardened and calloused over the years, and while not entirely immune to enthusiasm, now distracted by life’s mundane rituals and shiny things that catch my attention on the internet. Let’s face it, I’m getting fucking old and it gets harder to impress me every year, but what remains, and what will always remain, is a gratitude for living through several musical movements that will never exist again, but live on through audio relics and in the case of Spectrum, print. Never forget.

Faced with the task of contributing to a foreword drove me to dredge up not only past issues of Spectrum, but also issues of the magazine I published from 1992–1996, Audio Drudge. Spectrum came about a few years after Audio Drudge ceased publication, and Richard has stated that that was an early template and inspiration. As much as I’m honoured by that, there was always a small part of me that was resentful, just because he did it so much better than I ever did, from the layout, to the writing, to the coverage and printing. That high quality certainly continues to this day with his work via Noise Receptor Journal, but that’s the present. Spectrum is The Past is Alive Henrik Nordvargr Björkk (Mz.412/Folkstorm) the time capsule. In the age of the cynical, jaded, and easily distracted listener, it’s perhaps easy to forget the fervent enthusiasm and appetite that existed for underground electronic music in the late-nineties, and even harder to remember a time when everything seemed so fresh and utterly compelling, unfettered by trends and a sound re-treaded. Devoid of social media and with primitive websites to work with (if you were lucky, and if they loaded within twenty minutes), information wasn’t always easy to come by, and magazines like Spectrum were paramount for discovering new releases, new acts, or just news in general. Richard deftly managed to capture the spirit of the time and it’s reflected in the pages of Spectrum. It’s fascinating to leaf through them now and reflect on a scene that had reached or was just reaching its pinnacle. I was active in the early- to mid-eighties tape trading metal scene, and as that dwindled and I moved on to what I then perceived as more fertile and untilled ground, the industrial scene was able to capture some of that dark magic and allure. It became imperative that every release on Cold Meat Industry, Loki Foundation, Praxis Dr Bearmann, Tesco Organisation, or Slaughter Productions, HAD to be in the collection, and once it was, it was devoured with clawing fingers, my mind desperate for scraps of information about a swathe of artists that remained cloaked in mystique and mystery. For shit’s sake, how else can anyone ever explain the hype and popularity of Mortiis? But, those grey hued REFLECTIONS OF A BYGONE ERA

Having been involved in the ‘industrial’ scene since the eighties, experiencing the migration from printed zines to today’s digital counterparts has been a depressing experience. Nothing can quite match the feel of the printed medium, and if there is one specific zine that stood out for me it was Spectrum Magazine. I can’t remember how I initially got in touch with Richard, but I would think that he asked me for an interview and that way got my attention. I do remember the first time the zine was sent to me as it stood out from many other zines of that time, at least to me. I will go deeper into this topic, but let me give you a little flashback to the late-nineties first. The years that this particular zine was active were personally maybe the slowest and most boring period of my musical career. We had been recording a lot with Mz.412 up until 1997 or so, but after that things slowed down and I found myself restless, full of ideas, but not having any proper outlet for it all. This eventually ended up with me starting Folkstorm, which to this day is still going strong. At about the same time I also lost interest in the scene in general as not much was happening that inspired me; the reason for this could have been personal issues or that there just was a little gap in general creativity, I don’t know, but there were not many things that piqued my interest. I could also go on and tell you all about the whole mythical Swedish industrial 7

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PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE ARCHIVE  Before the internet and email, there was the ‘old school’ This page: Mortiis letters, 1994 & 1995. method of physical letters. Emails lack personality and the personal touch, while letters are the opposite: the means by which a person presents themselves, including chosen stationery, are a window on the person behind the words. Below is a small selection from my personal correspondence archives, specifically relevant to Spectrum Compendium.

Mortiis/Dark Dungeon Music

This correspondence is circa 1994, predating the formation of Spectrum Magazine, but it illustrates the methods employed by the underground before the internet: primarily sending physical cash in the mail. Intriguingly the second letter highlights a rather frustrating situation of the slow speed of international parcels to reach Australia, while then provided to me in 2000 at the time of the Slaughter actual letters were making it back and forth in the interim. Productions interview, but went unused at the time.

Marco Corbelli/Atrax Morgue/Morder Machine/Slaughter Productions

Given the untimely passing of Marco Corbelli (1970–2007), the scan of a handwritten letter is instrumental in illustrating how the underground scene operated back in the late 1990s. With the first issue of Spectrum I sent out promotional copies to various labels I respected, with Slaughter Productions high on that list. Given that Marco’s return letter is dated 16 September, 1998, he must have received the promo copy of issue 1 in early to mid-September and immediately written this reply letter, which ultimately led to the feature of an interview with Slaughter Productions in issue 3. The reproduction of the original photo of Marco Corbelli was 388

Douglas P/Death In June

I have included some archive scans relating to my first introduction to Douglas P of Death In June as well as the interview which was eventually completed and included in issue no.5. These scans are included to illustrate the attention to detail some artists take, and particularly in the example of Douglas, this extends to both handwriting and personalized stationery. The handwritten postcards along with half of the interview being physically typed on a manual typewriter by Douglas (and later transcribed onto a computer by myself), are both a tangible and important part of my personal archive which I felt worthwhile to share as part of Spectrum Compendium. SPECTRUM COMPENDIUM

Above: Marco Corbelli letter, 1998. Above right: Marco Corbelli (who supplied the photo, 2000). Right and following page, top left: Death In June postcard, 2000, front and back. Following page, top right: Death In June postcard, 2001, front and back. Following page, bottom: Death In June typed interview 2001.

Postcards/flyers

In the underground, promotional flyers and postcards had a dual purpose: promoting releases and a handy means to write a quick note to the recipient. A couple of scans of such examples are provided herein. SPECTRUM MAGAZINE ARCHIVE

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This is a short extract from a Headpress book Headpress. Pop and Unpop Culture. headpress.com