The Wave of Things
I don’t know why, but the last night I dreamed about Viva Zwei. 13 years ago the era of the TV-channel faced its closure. With its focus on alternative music and idiosyncratic concepts, Viva Zwei was unique for German – and, supposedly, even international – television. This is a lament to a
‘Hipster’ has become the ultimate sensibility in popular culture in the first decade of the 2000’s. Searching for a real definition of what a ‘hipster’ is, I soon hit the borders of the Internet. It seems that no subculture before had so many haters as the hipster culture. Why is
Paranormal phenomena connected with extraterrestrial life-forms are spreading for more than a century now. The first writers of science fiction in the late 19th century, like Jules Verne and Herbert George Wells, triggered a wave of memeplexes dealing with life ‘out there’. Memes about aliens manifested themselves strongly in popular
Stories about crimes always succeeded by fascination. At the latest since Cain and Abel the topic of crime and punishment and the becoming of “good” and “evil” evolved to elementary questions. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841) is considered the first modern detective story. But 40
After an endless car ride we eventually arrived in Wrocław, the capital of Lower Silesia, Poland. Uncountable times I have spent here, made some dear friends and it appears that behind every street corner, below every tree I can find pieces of memories and stories of my personal history with
There can never be enough Polish coldwave. Recenty, I came across some coldwave bands from Poland, which I am going to introduce to you in another chapter on Zimna Fala: The Shipyard, Schröttersburg, Manta Birostris and Liście. If you missed my other articles on Polish coldwave, or you don’t know
Christmas is approaching and also some snow fell today. I appreciate neither nor. The most annoying thing on Christmas is not its superficiality, let alone the mindless consuming. No, you somehow can escape that – somehow. What bugs me even more is ‘Christmas music’. Fortunately, I am sitting now in
The evolution of steampunk-themed music was a very important prompt towards its becoming of a movement. While the whole idea of steampunk was very much an Anglo-American phenomenon through its evolution in the beginning of the new millennium, it was only a question of time that it eventually reached the
The articles about Polish coldwave seem to be the most popular on my site. During the last few months I got lots of comments and e-mails from you with recommendations of Polish coldwave bands. Also some bands contacted me to spread their music. This is motivation enough to continue with
For a long time now I didn’t touch steampunk, although it is one of my favourite topics in contemporary popular culture. In case you don’t know yet, what steampunk is, have a look here. The question, whether steampunk is an own genre of music, or not, is still widely discussed.