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March 25, 2016
weatnu_dm

#WEATNU – the next Punk scene

‘punk-wave’ is a term that’s been on my mind for a good while now. “It’s a movement of punk, whereby a group of DIY electronic artists are taking the scene back and presenting their music to a flood of fans and causing the next punk scene, not one that comes from guitar but from synthesizers and the sheer human willpower to be heard. It is against, not for the current music industry. It is empowering artists and allowing them to be creative in all realms. Without hindrance, and without bias."

When artists come together across the world naturally, then you know something grand is happening. This change is occurring on a virtual global level, and building each day. WEATNU took part in creating this change in August 2014. Without someone opening a door to the creativity of the future artist, a scene could not have been created. Without hindrances or corp rules, you find a beautiful thing happening. WEATNU being a new millennial punk movement, makes it tied to the Internet, but the first wave of punk came from the late 70s, fueled by rebellion toward your parents, anarchy and disregard to rules, including a protest against the music your parents pushed on you, anti-government, anti-propaganda and political issues. Punk was an aesthetic of its time, soon to be adopted by pop culture. Before the decade had ended, that culture became the norm for the music industry in a whole. Punk gave way to Post-punk, batcave, synthpop, New Wave,  Goth, Darkwave, and so on. I did not have the pleasure of taking part of that scene as I was too young in 1983 “though I remember the music well at 6 years of age." But being the last of Gen-X I can say I’m proud that my mid 90s teenage years were some of the best the world of music has ever encountered. As punk started to fade by the late 90s so did the music that fueled it and another era was born. We are the New Underground screams of punk, with its anti-corp attitude. The idea of #WEATNU was born from the unfairness that every solo electronic and experimental artist faces everyday. It’s a statement, one that is filling the internet slowly with its idea. It came out of a time of big media and major music fads of 2014. Fighting against the very system that pushes down creativity but instead rolls out the next cookie cutter single or album that makes millions. During that time, independent musicians were silently screaming to be heard. It takes only one idea to create a fire in others.

Where do musicians go when they want to be heard? The Internet so #WEATNU being born from social media came to its fruition by 2016. Culture cannot flourish when ideas are hindered, where the socialist attitude in the music industry takes away the spirit of music itself. Punk being the attitude of WEATNU, certainly embraces its past history. Punk is not something that is created for a whim but for the sake of change. WEATNU was that change, it was that idea that had to be created or the DIY / Electronic artist may have been lost to a sea of noise. (This was no accident) Musicians have a vision, they form the next culture, commerical norms come from the Underground. This underground we have created, we have formed and developed comes only from the human spirit and need to be heard, to have their music for once noticed by a sea of like-minded music lovers, not people fed by the machine that feeds the many their endless major chord and assembly-line wonders. Pirate radio and college radio played the underground for many years, void of rules, and ridicule. The music lover is tired of hearing top 40, they are tired of hearing about the next fly-by-night pop facade; which includes poser electronic music. WEATNU appeared suddenly overnight to fight this problem we were all facing, a future of uncertainty for the DIY musician. Music lovers and artists need to belong to a culture, just like each genre of music must have its scene, the next punk movement is born, the next scene is here. It will not go away, it will only get larger everyday, because people want change and they want the music to live forever. Artists are tired of the need to find a greater outlet to be noticed, to be appreciated. The modern electronic and even solo artist does not live off of money, money is the old term for record labels from the 80s, that time is far gone. WEATNU is freedom itself and a chance once again to be part of something that matters, something that is anarchy. Burn your corp flags, break down the walls, bring down the house and pile in with your second-hand gear and synthesizers, this new culture is coming soon to your side of the Internet. The prediction is WEATNU will not only be the symbol it stands for but a staple of life for musicians in the years to come. We all needed this, We.. are the New Underground. We are all one!

Almark – #WEATNU Digital Magazine

March 2016

 

 

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December 24, 2015
almark

DIY / Electronic culture

Culture is an important part to music, as it dictates the direction of future music generations. Groups of people form together to make micro-scenes, one side you have Vaporwave, the other you have experimental / avant-garde, Synthwave, Synthpop and Dreampop. We’re living in a time where we no longer need to be fed music to find what we like; instead we search on the net. Indie music has always been the entrance to the underground. But the underground is far larger than the mainstream. Punk, Electronica, Techno, DnB, IDM. Have all come from the underground scene. There is a paradigm shift happening now, the Internet, social media and musicians can now form as one to share, over-share and saturate the virtual music scene. A flood of musicians pour into groups, forums, facebook, twitter and of course Tumblr at every moment. WEATNU is part of that culture, instead of filling it with confusing noise, it is filling the music world with an identity and culture #WEATNU culture. After nearly two decades we are seeing what Electronic music is becoming. The DIY scene + Electronic, is bringing to our ears, for the first time soloists in droves. Many of us who are in our 30s grew up listening to Grunge music and then later we broke away to find something different, thus the Electronic / DIY community began in our homes, apt’s, bedrooms and garages. Artists have to find ways to share their art, and WEATNU took that opportunity in doing so. Solo Electronic music is the future of music itself. The idea of the band is now a guy/girl on stage with a monome, ableton live, laptop and a small MIDI Controller.

But culture also encompasses the vibe itself, the DIY musician or band is elevated off the ground through their own promotion. Twitter becomes the manager, Facebook becomes the way to show others what you do and the list goes on. DIY culture is important because it tells another side of music history. What was born from the Internet after the year 2000 was this culture and it’s here to stay. WEATNU continues to discover and bring forth the greatest of these artists, their voices are heard from a great distance through the talent they display; whereas other publications and radio might dismiss their existence.  WEATNU is a culture all its own. An audience of fans waiting to hear something new and unique. The community of listeners become the culture and WEATNU is slowly becoming a hidden part of pop culture itself. In time it will be noticed by more and the artists who are both band and solo alike will have a platform to stand on and show their music to the world.

But there is more to the world of Electronic than DIY solo artists. WEATNU progresses through its search of the hidden artist, now pushing its way into the dance community. Holding together the experimentalist, producer, composer and finally DJ. Such a movement of avid artists creates avid fans. With the likes of labels such-as WARP Records and Ninja Tune, WEATNU is just as important as not only a movement but a record label as well. Net-radio continues to play the artists 24/7. For every new act that the DIY scene discovers, the music world continues to progress. And unlike the world of the mainstream, underground culture is always changing, always trying new ideas. Never holding to one thing for too long. It’s a raw, uncharted world that a person could never completely wade through and find every piece of music ever created. The Internet has become that world, now with endless artists doing something somewhere in any part of the world. Culture itself through the pop craze, or pop culture has always shaped a generation. The 80’s generation was shaped by MTV and British Pop, which later became more corp driven and started to lose its way well into the 2000’s. Experimental culture is once again showing up in the world of music. But the artists of tomorrow, the pioneers who are the next Gary Numan will come through the doors of WEATNU, or have already, and one more important part of underground culture will be noted in the history of music.  These DIY artists are important to music and the scene itself. We are seeing a new punk era forming right before our eyes. Thanks to the greatness of modern technology, and the Internet’s social media. Pop culture creates itself, naturally and WEATNU takes in the acts that are unnoticed and talented.

Almark – #WEATNU Digital Magazine – Dec 2015

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July 24, 2015
almark

Sea Mountains – Lilith

This month Sea Mountains brings us Lilith, a preview to her up in coming LP ‘Zeitgeist’

Sea Mountains’ ‘Lilith’ shares our love for the experimental/bassline + wobbles and also compliments her own style of Seapunk/Synthpop. This is cutting edge DIY/synthesis. With deep bass, mysterious melded melodies in a short 2 min single. Release of ‘Zeitgest’ coming Oct, 2015.

Follow Sea Mountains on Twitter. 

Almark – #WEATNU Digital Magazine

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July 17, 2015
weatnu_dm

The Internet: A modern record store

I can remember a time sifting through a stack of vinyl in a local music store while being able to look outside and watch the cars go by. Some unknown indie rock song would play on the speaker system, hand picked by the owner of the store. The feeling of holding a new artist’s CD in my hands or looking through an assortment of tapes in their plastic packages, you know, “they were white colored hard plastic that the front desk had to open.” Asking the girl at the front of the store if they had a certain artist, and being led to a bin to dig for that album, usually on tape. These were the 90’s, a time where the independent record store was floating happily above water, and all the while the major labels were booming. There was balance, there was a want for a physical medium. The feeling of ownership was burning in your heart when you entered through the door and heard the bell ringing above your head. A time in the States that I remember well…

The small record store was truly independent. Over time this commodity we all took for granted started to fade by the change of the millennium. The Digital age: where a store no longer meant a place where you walked in and spoke to a warm human but where large corporations fed you what they wanted you to buy instead of a select hand-picked assortment of punk albums or local indie bands. Tower Records and other traditional record stores began to fade and the major retailers became the place to buy your favorite music. But the music store, was it dead yet? The Internet is now being noticed more by non-tech savvy music lovers, than just your average nerdy stereotype. Or kids who use to play MUD on their college terminals, instead of studying for their mid-terms. Napster appears three years later and changes all the rules, and a demand for quick download-able ‘free’ media was born.

Over time companies started to appear, websites would join in this moving trend and apple iTunes became the leader in the digital market. The rule of the album was no longer valid, as now a song equals a dollar. Then something happens, a company called Bandcamp joins the world of digital music by 2007 and brings forth that old warm feeling of the record store. You are now able to create your own storefront digitally, set your prices and make a profit, with 0 overhead. “Something of a dream to most in the 90s who might have needed a second mortgage to afford a small store to sell indie music.” DIY musicians flooded the online indie scene by the first decade of the 2000s. Then one by one other digital websites appear and thus begins the streaming war. But today people still love that feeling of ownership,  and that warm crackling sound of your favourite vinyl album. Even tapes never lost their mystery to the new listener.

By 2012 and onward the craze to ‘buy’ music starts up again. What use to feel like a dying thing is now a demand to own ‘something.’ Record Store Day opens in 2015 and the entire world is faced with a demand for vinyl production but years after this need ended. While all this was happening, WEATNU appears and starts to come to the surface to join the indie scene. Ignored and greatly talented electronic artists become selected like soldiers in an army to join the ranks with the best musicians in the world. Then their music is presented directly into the light for a niche world to meet a niche musician and history is made. The indie scene comes in different forms and everyone is talking DIY. The artist and fan meet on social media and finally once again, thanks to the Internet and the love of music, the record store returns. And it might not be a place where you can go and pick up the band you love or ask to have your white tape seal removed. But since the online record store is here, we can have that warm feeling again when we buy music from a new indie artist. But something big is happening around the world, people once again want to own a part of the artist, and thats a good thing.

Almark – #WEATNU Digital Magazine

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