Synopses & Reviews
“I came to realize that sitting in bars and talking to people in Slovenia or Italy was not so different from sitting in bars and talking to people in Lee County, Iowa. People have problems with their governments, problems with their jobs. But they still wake up every day, go about their work, and knock back a couple of beers at night. You begin to realize that these things are global realities, and they've been happening since the beginning of time. And at the end of the day, we're all just people going about our business."
- William Elliot Whitmore, songwriter, Lee County, Iowa
Good music often comes from the most unlikely places…
ALARM 35 presents a plethora of unique voices from today’s thriving musical underground, whether they come from a faraway land or just up the street.
A group of disabled musicians from the Congo empowers the underdogs of its community. On the peninsula of Portland, Maine, a folk collective concocts warm creations around the kitchen table while a neighboring metal band looks to the surrounding ocean for the depths and caverns of its colossal sound. A helmet-clad, guitar-slinging Arizona ex-pat discusses his world travels from his current home in Australia. A number of equally heavy but distinctly different bands rise out of small towns across the American south.
Music can come from places so deep within that the songs and the emotions they provoke seem to appear out of thin air. A talented rock band from the sprawling metropolis of New York City is so insular that it is genuinely surprised that people like its records. A Swedish songstress’ dark mystique conceals gentle musings about her children, while in a desert across the globe, a lonely songwriter channels his sense of isolation into electronic pop.
In the information age, the floodgates known to previous generations have been blown up, bridging music and art across time, place, and genre like never before, giving music lovers new sounds such as British dub fused with ancient Chinese instrumentation, San Francisco post-punk with Indonesian percussion, and a cross-hemispherical dance collaboration that defies definition.
Founded in 1995 by independent publisher Chris Force, ALARM has stood for 15 years as a bastion of freethinking music and art, unconstrained by the mainstream marketplace.
From our headquarters in a small Chicago office, along with a cast of contributing writers spread across the country, we listen to thousands of CDs, view hundreds of gallery openings, and attend lectures and live concerts in order to present inspirational artists who are fueled by an honest and contagious obsession with their art.
ALARM’s pages are filled with an eclectic range of musicians (Brooklyn rappers, heavy-metal Japanese-American shamisen masters, Norwegian jazz-prog experimentalists, Nigerian Afrobeat dissidents), visual artists (California graffiti artists, train-hopping hobo craftsmen, concert poster printmakers), and underground books (urban art and culture, anti-war quotes, Russian propaganda posters). Inside, you will discover artists that you won’t find anywhere else—and that is because you also won’t find any investors, corporate influences, or boundaries.
In this age of media deregulation and conglomeration, independently owned magazines are ever more important in maintaining a vibrant and stimulating culture and a free society. They’re also increasingly threatened. With airwaves awash in pop princesses, focus-grouped songs, vapid DJs, and computer-selected tunes, independent music is reliant upon college radio stations, friendly venues, small record stores, and publications like ALARM to connect with listeners. Independent music and arts journalism gives emerging artists the coverage that they need to provide the public with innovative, exciting, and challenging work that is the lifeblood of a healthy society.
ALARM’s continued success depends on its readers—you.
Review
“ALARM succeeds over the online portals—and the coffee-table mags fronting for event planners—because they eschew elitism for inclusion. Everything from the writing to the art to the physical design is inviting. The participants genuinely want to share their discoveries with enthusiasm, as opposed to keeping them buried under a veneer of smug hipster fronting. I hope when I’m 65 and desperate to augment my Social Security income, they’ll hire me to run their mailroom, or at the very least, empty the wastebaskets.” --JASON PETTIGREW, ALTERNATIVE PRESS
Synopsis
ALARM 39 presents the vivid crossroads of music and color over 200+ pages. In this issue, readers will find sections on polychromatic cover art, homogenous stage attire, race and complexion, the symbolism of hue-based album themes, colorful band names and styles, audible color, and synesthesia.
Synopsis
ALARM 35 presents a plethora of unique voices from today’s thriving musical underground, whether they come from a faraway land or just up the street.
Synopsis
The relationship between music and art has become so intertwined that it can be hard to imagine one outside the context of the other. And of their countless unions, we often are ironically drawn to both the most colorful and the most dreadful—the most radiant and luminous and the most dark and fear inspiring, whether those characteristics stem from audio, visuals, or personality.
Chromatic presents the vivid crossroads of music and color over 200+ pages. In this issue, readers will find sections on:
· vibrant stage attire and set design, including monochromatic uniforms, body paint, and light shows as employed by Ratatat, Chrome Hoof, and Blue Man Group;
· musicians with dazzling polychromatic cover art, including Lightning Bolt, Squarepusher, and John Zorn’s exotica sextet;
· the symbolism of hue-based album themes, featuring works by Chicago Underground Duo, Michael Torke, and Nathan Bell;
· legendary composers with synesthesia, the involuntary intersection of senses, examining the work of Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, and György Ligeti as well as modern musicians with the condition;
· audible color, representing timbre, “blue notes,” the chromatic scale, and the Pythagorean Theory.
The combined result is our most exciting and aesthetically versatile effort. No matter one’s tastes, Chromatic is sure to stimulate and inspire—while introducing readers to the best and most daring musicians and artists of our time.
Synopsis
Good music often comes from the most unlikely places…
ALARM 35 presents a plethora of unique voices from today’s thriving musical underground, whether they come from a faraway land or just up the street.
A group of disabled musicians from the Congo empowers the underdogs of its community. On the peninsula of Portland, Maine, a folk collective concocts warm creations around the kitchen table while a neighboring metal band looks to the surrounding ocean for the depths and caverns of its colossal sound. A helmet-clad, guitar-slinging Arizona ex-pat discusses his world travels from his current home in Australia. A number of equally heavy but distinctly different bands rise out of small towns across the American south.
Music can come from places so deep within that the songs and the emotions they provoke seem to appear out of thin air. A talented rock band from the sprawling metropolis of New York City is so insular that it is genuinely surprised that people like its records. A Swedish songstress’ dark mystique conceals gentle musings about her children, while in a desert across the globe, a lonely songwriter channels his sense of isolation into electronic pop.
In the information age, the floodgates known to previous generations have been blown up, bridging music and art across time, place, and genre like never before, giving music lovers new sounds such as British dub fused with ancient Chinese instrumentation, San Francisco post-punk with Indonesian percussion, and a cross-hemispherical dance collaboration that defies definition.
About the Author
Chris Force
With glue sticks and X-acto knives, Chris Force made his first music magazine in 1995 to support young, contemporary, and independent bands. Originally sold out of his backpack in front of rock concerts, Force's books and magazines on music and underground art can now be found around the world. He is now onto his third storage locker and sixth iPod, all crammed with great music.
Scott Morrow
Scott Morrow is the music editor at ALARM Press and author of the popular "This Week's Best Albums column on AlarmPress.com. A champion of independent, genre-bending musicians, he enjoys metal, classical, electronica, jazz and hip hop. Ask him about his long-procrastinated IDM/rock project called It Came from the Skies!
Table of Contents
Columns
Shortcuts
Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound
Dalek
Staff Benda Bilili
Obits
Dan Deacon
Locrian
Justin Townes Earle
N.A.S.A.
Digital Leather
Fever Ray
P.O.S
Ocean
Fire on Fire
William Elliot Whitmore
Sonnenzimmer
True Widow
Kylesa
A. Armada
Chinese Dub Orchestra
Mi Ami
Independent Publishing Resource Center
The Drones
Richard Pinhas & Merzbow
French Miami
Wino
Bob Log III
Zu
Ripo
Jerseyband
Tombs
Anavan
Music reviews