You could call this post, the inaugural post (before we even decide on the layout!) the first stab in a series of puncture wounds that will become a manifesto.
Why does the world need an extreme music blog, and why does extreme music require such dedication? In my own lifetime I’ve heard individuals decry extreme music of all kinds, from metal to electronica to decommercialized hip hop music. Arguments against it include such bits of closed-minded blasphemy as ‘violence is not an appropriate subject for music,’ ‘electronic sound is not real music,’ and, incredibly enough, ‘if it’s not on the radio or MTV it’s not worth hearing.’
My fellow writers and I are here to call bullshit. There is a diverse and wondrous (dare I say magical?) universe’s worth of challenging music from all over the world out there flying under the censor-eye of capitalist pop culture, and if you’re reading this on the internet like I hope you will be, it is at your fingertips. We’re here to show it to you, as well as offer up news, reviews, and commentary on behalf of the music we love.
As for me, at the risk of making this sound like a personal ad, I’d like to start by sharing a little of what I mean when I say extreme, and why I love it. My name is Joseph Schafer, and extreme music to me is any music that requires active thought and dedication to listen to. But when you ask me what extreme music I love, I’d have to say everything from At The Gates to Zao. I love all forms of extreme metal with few exceptions, post rock, progressive rock, and oddly enough underground hip-hop and dance music. don't think this is all metal though, some of my friends are going to help me keep this affair pretty non-denominational, which is in its own way more extreme!
Why do I choose to scour indie record stores, Ebay, and obscure european torrent portals for music to feed my addiction instead of settling for the steady saline drip of American pop culture? I guess you could say I like it rough. Ever since I was a child I’ve thought that we as a race can learn a lot from confrontation, and I like to do things the hard way. It shows in my career: I’m a music critic, I live to dissect and confront, to do battle with art and my own ideas of what art is in order to learn more. Which is really why I love extreme music: I don’t know what anybody ever learned about art, life, or mankind from Britney Spears, but I’ve learned volumes by sitting on a bus with Neurosis in my CD player.
I like my art to challenge me, to test me, to DARE me to understand more about life, which is what all great art is meant to do. In return I have dedicated my life to challenging art back to be better and more insightful than it was before, not to mention sound better!
And now I’m challenging you to challenge your own taste, and take a drink from the well of extremity. It’s tastier than you think.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Joseph Schafer
