German webzine Lichttaufe has ended its activities, but a new initiative has arisen: Nonpop. This ‘Musik- und Kulturmagazin’ can be reached at nonpop.de, starting January 1, 2007. To celebrate this occasion, a free sampler with 26 interesting artists can be downloaded from this date.

At a record fair I found two cheap LP’s from The Essence: Purity (1985) and A Monument of Trust (1987).
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You want to hear something different than Last Christmas this year? Then stuff your stocking with the Zaftig Research Christmas Compilation.
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German webzine/community Neo-Form presents its second free sampler with neo-folk, industrial & avantgarde sounds. You can download 17 tracks and fitting artwork from sampler2.neo-form.de. Among the artists are Allerseelen, Der Feuerkreiner, Tribe Of Circle, Decadence and Of The Wand And The Moon.

Blender.com has compiled a list of The 50 Worst Artists in Music History. According to me, Japan and Skinny Puppy should not be included in there. It must be possible to think of worse acts!

Zwielicht is the name of a new German magazine for ‘Musik, Kultur, Untergrund’, published by Eislicht Verlag. The content of the first issue looks promising with articles about Martin Hannett, Woven Hand, Michael Cashmore, Alex Fergusson, Bad Sector, Forseti and more. Single issues and subscriptions can be ordered from neofolk.de.

Some new photos were added to the Gallery, of DAAU, Faun, Novy Svet, White Rose Transmission and Woven Hand.

Now this is what I call a lucrative auction. A unique acetate record of the first Velvet Underground album, with alternate versions and mixes, was found by a student at a New York street sale for 75 cents! Now it’s up on eBay and with four days to go it has already passed the hundred thousand dollar mark…

An interesting book appeared last year: Vaughan Oliver and V23 Poster Designs. Oliver is of course best known for his wonderful artwork for various $AD releases, by the likes of Cocteau Twins and Modern English.

Two new books about punk are available through Cherry Red. First Alex Ogg’s No More Heroes: A Complete History Of Uk Punk From 1976 To 1980. The book is based on over 200 interviews with the participants and is promoted as ‘the most detailed definite book on the subject to date’. Second there is The Day The Country Died - A History Of Anarcho Punk 1980 To 1984 by Ian Glasper. It sees the author ‘exploring in minute detail the obscure, esoteric, UK anarcho-punk scene of the early Eighties’.

Back in 2004, Dusted Magazine featured the favourite albums of Woven Hand’s David Eugene Edwards. Neubauten, In Gowan Ring, Arvo Part and Motorhead fight for the top spot. Browse the dusty archives for more list mania…

This Sunday (November 19) Faun will offer an afternoon of ‘pagan medieval renaissance folk’ at Tivoli de Helling in Utrecht. Doors open at 15:00 hrs, the fitting music before and after the concert is taken care of by dj Eöl and my alter ego dj Cabal.

A massive collection of historical promo photos of Dutch bands has been gathered online at Het Geheugen van Nederland. Besides many forgotten or uninteresting names, you can find photos of Clan of Xymox, The Essence, Gotterdammerung, Mekanik Kommando, Nasmak, Spasmodique, Voltage Control and The Actor, to name but a few.

Los Iniciados was a side-project of Spain’s legendary minimal electronic project El Aviador Dro. Compared to their bigger brother, Los Iniciados has a darker and less disco-oriented sound. You can watch a nice videoclip of Marca de Anubise. A 7″ single with this track and 3 other pieces taken from old cassettes has been released on Minimal Wave. Dutch mailorder Enfant Terrible has it in stock.

This month I can temporarily receive the ‘digital’ history channel /Geschiedenis on my tv. Most of the programs they offer are quite interesting, but especially two music shows originally broadcasted by the VPRO in the early 80’s were interesting to me.
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