IDM Mailing Archive

quoted 1 line and has anyone heard of lotus?

>and has anyone heard of lotus?

Yeah, I've heard of lotus.. but never read it Lotus is probably the worst or the free publications out there. Most of the music articles are much more geared to the rave scene, and every issue has article after article after article on the "state of the rave scene" (i.e. 1. the police are bastards for shutting us down every weekend. 2. the promoters are bastards for charging such a high cover and/or not paying the performers/djs. 3. here's the latest laws proposed by those bastard polititions which will effect our weekly neo-hippie freak-outs). And I always questioned any publication who writes nothing but positive reveiws of every recording it reviews. Have they no criteria? No standards? No critical listening skills? Why is every cd the best one they ever heard? You would do yourself a HUGE favor by finding a copy of Vice magazine which is not only the most genius mag I've ever read concerning both music and culture, but it's also free. In fact, the latest issue has an interview with Bogdan.

on 1/12/02 10:13 AM, Albers, Brian at BAlbers@PremiereRadio.com scrawled:

quoted 6 lines You would do yourself a HUGE favor by finding a copy of Vice magazine which

> > You would do yourself a HUGE favor by finding a copy of Vice magazine which > is not only the most genius mag I've ever read concerning both music and > culture, but it's also free. In fact, the latest issue has an interview with > Bogdan. >

Bah! You knock Lotus for giving everything props.. vice crushes everything. Half the time their reviews have more to do with what the reviewer thinks about the genre or artist (or even cover art) than an actual critical response to the album being reviewed. ie. "Don't you wish you had been one of those nerds in high school who played role playing games and was a hacker and had lots of acne and now is laptop toting techno star on <insert label of the week here> gettting lots of art school girl pussy? Artist X is like that and their new album is <insert shoddy one sentence summary of album here> Also.. their interviews. Vice interviews and feature always go out of their way to be snarky and with the interviews most of the questions don't have much to do with anything. Vice is on point as to who they interview.. to bad they can't be bothered to ask intelligent questions. I guess that interferes with being irreverent. I remember they did a feature on artists in Detroit and went on about Mike Banks souped up car. WTF? That magazine went downhill when Andrew Duke left, at least for electronic music content. I think they peaked with the let's put shit and meat in a jar and see what happens after 90 days piece. I must admit I haven't read an issue for about 6 months but kept tabs on it for about 3 years beforehand. That rag simply exists to house bad adds for bad clothing and as for their attitude - nihilism sucks. The one trump card Vice ever played was featuring the story of some artists who pulled a big scam on the Toronto art community and 'invented' an outsider artist (played by a young skate brat), tricked the media into thinking he had tonnes of European interest and sat back and watched everyone clamor to grab on to his 15 minutes of fame. Kungol Nate (sp?) was the alleged outsider artists name. ~g -- Greg Smith http://www.technowest.org http://www.laiad.com http://www.mediawhore.cc <-- coming soon to a theatre near you --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org

</bitter rant begins> Having read several issues of Lotus it seems to cater to the "Trance community" or "new-age Traveller" community, who are in essence wealthy folks who travel around the world to the most beautiful places, have massive fuckoff sound systems that are programmed to play psy-trance dats all night long. The goal of this travel & trancing is, seemingly, to meet people who look and think exactly the same as oneself and to co-opt & dilute as many cultures as possible along the way. It helps if you have a poor understanding of the culture you're co-opting / violating, especially when they arrest you for parading naked up and down their beaches or if you act really surprised when they tell you the various drugs you're in possession of are also (surprisingly!) illegal in their country too! Upon your return to the vacant culture you call home (of which you are also ignorant) you can prefix every sentence with.. "when i was in _insert country name_" while complaining about the luxury of your first world life. Think mid 30's well tanned german gentlemen with bleached white hair, or the classic Orange County "Trustafarian or Waspafarian" look. </bitter rant ends> -i --- "Albers, Brian" <BAlbers@PremiereRadio.com> wrote:

quoted 22 lines and has anyone heard of lotus?

> > > >and has anyone heard of lotus? > Yeah, I've heard of lotus.. but never read it > > Lotus is probably the worst or the free publications out there. Most of the > music articles are much more geared to the rave scene, and every issue has > article after article after article on the "state of the rave scene" (i.e. > 1. the police are bastards for shutting us down every weekend. 2. the > promoters are bastards for charging such a high cover and/or not paying the > performers/djs. 3. here's the latest laws proposed by those bastard > polititions which will effect our weekly neo-hippie freak-outs). > > And I always questioned any publication who writes nothing but positive > reveiws of every recording it reviews. Have they no criteria? No standards? > No critical listening skills? Why is every cd the best one they ever heard? > > You would do yourself a HUGE favor by finding a copy of Vice magazine which > is not only the most genius mag I've ever read concerning both music and > culture, but it's also free. In fact, the latest issue has an interview with > Bogdan. >

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I worked for Lotus several summers ago... a lot of your criticisms are quite applicable, though I'd like to point out a few things.

quoted 1 line Having read several issues of Lotus it seems to cater to the "Trance

> Having read several issues of Lotus it seems to cater to the "Trance

community"

quoted 1 line or "new-age Traveller" community, who are in essence wealthy folks who

> or "new-age Traveller" community, who are in essence wealthy folks who

travel

quoted 2 lines around the world to the most beautiful places, have massive fuckoff sound

> around the world to the most beautiful places, have massive fuckoff sound > systems that are programmed to play psy-trance dats all night long.

Musically, Lotus caters most to house-fans, or at least it did when I was reading it/working for it. However, the rich, raver jet-set (psy-trancers, anyone?) you mention is definitely included in their target audience. I think most of their articles about health and spirituality are aimed at this crowd.

quoted 1 line The goal of this travel & trancing is, seemingly, to meet people who look

> The goal of this travel & trancing is, seemingly, to meet people who look

and

quoted 1 line think exactly the same as oneself and to co-opt & dilute as many cultures

> think exactly the same as oneself and to co-opt & dilute as many cultures

as

quoted 1 line possible along the way.

> possible along the way.

I agree that this is an outcome of the travel n' trance lifestyle, but I wouldn't call it an outright goal. Most of the people I've met seem to truly believe that they are bettering themselves and helping others by throwing huge massives in impoverished countries. They're learning, you see (in between puffs of DMT and e-tabs, of course!), and they're promoting tourism (which they assume is always entirely beneficial to the country in question... if you can solve economic problems, you can solve all problems, right?). The fact that they are going to participate in their own sub-cultural event that just happens to be in a foreign country doesn't seem to enter the conversation.

quoted 1 line Upon your return to the vacant culture you call home (of which you are

> Upon your return to the vacant culture you call home (of which you are

also

quoted 1 line ignorant) you can prefix every sentence with.. "when i was in _insert

> ignorant) you can prefix every sentence with.. "when i was in _insert

country

quoted 1 line name_" while complaining about the luxury of your first world life.

> name_" while complaining about the luxury of your first world life.

There are cultural dimensions to every country, place, group, etc. US culture or modern European culture isn't vacant... it may change rapidly on the face of things, but if you step back and look, I think you'll find much evidence of cultural patterns. Take conceptions of time and space, for example, or gender roles, the acceptability of various relationships and rituals, faith in modern concepts like reason, progress, objectivity, history, etc. Most (if not all) people are ignorant of their own cultural moorings... no matter how hard we study to understand how we are situated, there will always be a limit to how much we can perceive about the very position we occupy! Aherm, back from the tangent. Lotus is for wankers... they're just not intentional wankers. As A3 put it, "There ain't nothin' worse than some fool lyin' on some Third World beach in spandex, psychedelic trousers, smokin' damn dope, thinkin' he gettin' consciousness expansion." (Ain't Goin' to Goa) Ariana --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org