![]() I hope to demonstrate that apoliteic music and White Noise are cultural reflections of the two different political strategies that fascism was forced to follow in the ‘hostile’ conditions of the post-war period.īefore I proceed, it must be noted that neither Neo-Folk nor Martial Industrial can be considered ‘fascist musical genres’. I refer to this music as ‘apoliteic’ (a term explained below), and this article will analyze its nature and significance by considering two musical genres, namely Neo-Folk and Martial Industrial, that are most often used by bands and artists for disseminating an apoliteic message. Therefore, I take Folkstorm’s ‘No politics’ statement seriously, although I hope to reconceptualize it in a way that avoids any futile attempt to drain the clearly right-wing message of its essence. If the message is not the White Noise broadcast of racial hatred, 5 or the ‘spit in the face of bourgeois society’, then what is it? In this article, I argue that there exists a particular kind of radical right-wing music that does not promote outright violence, is not related to the activities of political organizations or parties, and is not a means of recruitment to any political tendency. ![]() If the band disclaims any reference to politics while these signs suggest the opposite, what type of ‘propaganda’ is it? Folkstorm’s message has little to do with that of some of its compatriots like Totenkopf, whose track ‘Can’t Be Beaten’ unreservedly proclaims: ‘Show them where you stand and feel no remorse, my Aryan brother, it’s time for race war.’ 4 Neither is Folkstorm’s message a provocation similar to the late Punk Rocker Sid Vicious’s notorious posing in a t-shirt with a swastika on it. No standard’, a prudent statement written on the disc itself. Surprisingly, the band promised ‘No politics. The words of the songs were inaudible, due to the highly distorted vocals, but everything else vaguely suggested the radical right-wing nature of Folkstorm’s ‘ideology’. 3 The back cover was ornamented with runes and listed the tracks ‘Feldgeschrei’ (Field Turmoil), ‘Harsh Discipline’, ‘Propaganda’, ‘We Are the Resistance’, ‘Social Surgery’, to name but a few. 2 The CD contained ten tracks of harsh Industrial music and the disc was decorated with a Nazi-style Reichsadler atop an empty oak wreath. In 2000, when I was the editor of a small self-published musical magazine, I received a CD entitled Victory or Death by the Swedish band Folkstorm. We would also like to highlight that Eric Roger of Gae Bolg, who we recently profiled, gave support in the creation of this essay. There is no neutrality in art, it is contested ground. ![]() ![]() This explains why many of these bands can be considered the same as fascist activists, and also opens a window for how the left can address these issues from a metapolitical and aesthetic standpoint. ![]() This essay looks at the use of metapolitics and aesthetics to create a far-right cultural influence, all while taking a public “apolitical” stance. To understand the phenomenon of fascist neofolk, we are republishing a now classic essay by Russian academic Anton Shekhovtsov. ![]()
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