Commandant Fascinet, 26th Tactical Torture Chamber Group
2007-01-16 15:33:36 UTC
Last night, I watched "The Divided States of America," a documentary
about and set around Laibach's 2004 tour, starting just after the
election in Southeast DC, at Nation, where I saw them. There were
plenty of clips of the concerts, which didn't show the power and
charisma of the performance at all. Since I misinterpreted the show
time as being figurative instead of literal, I'd missed the opening
band (or was it just one girl?), Bonfire Madigan. I usually hate to
miss the warm-up acts, and the clip made me regret my tardiness even
more.
The cute gothic bimbos were a great addition. The music and the drunken
chicks, together, are enough to recommend seeing this.
Taken at face value, the documentary about "the Divided States of
America" was banal. Of course, you can never take anything produced by
the NSK at face value.
["The Civil War is being foretold." Some of their apologists claim
Laibach's 1997 imagery was precognitive, esp. regarding the twin
towers. I've got a grand stating that there will be no civil war in the
U.S. by 2020. Any takers?]
"Americans in general are not too intelligent," said Peter Mlakar of
the Department of Pure and Applied Philosophy, and just to prove it,
Podgoršek, the documentary's director, interviews several Laibach
fans: satanists, skinheads, and taxi drivers; paranoid, delusional, and
superciliously confident in their ostracism from American culture. Or,
from the Republican cocktail parties, anyway. These are all qualities
associated by Ellul to those most susceptible to indoctrination by
modern propaganda, as is the tendency to ascribe others' attitudes, and
especially that of the "enemy," e.g., George Bush, to propaganda and
emotion while one's own are ascribed to intellect and logic.
"They just don't get it."
Laibach's schtick has always been propaganda. With the NSK at its side,
Laibach and Mute and so on create Ellul's Total Propaganda: video,
music, print, speech. "Pop music is for sheep, and we are the shepherds
disguised as wolves." Theirs is a musical and artistic campaign set to
fascist, anti-fascist and communist imagery from previous eras,
including that of their own formation. Their original work was a
lampoon of the Yugoslavian "third way" in an overtly banal (but
subtilely sublime) manner:
"That is to say that we have our own way, we always bravely say what is
right on this side and what is not, and what is right on the other side
and what is not. It should be clear to everyone that we cannot be no
ones appendage of nobodys politics, that we have our own point of view
and that we know the worth of what is right and what is not."
They took the government's propaganda more seriously than the Tito,
himself. They attacked the state by taking it seriously. In this
documentary, they play to the prejudices of their fans.
What does that say?
The essential ambiguities disguised as certainties incorporated into
Laibach's music and the NSK philosophy are why, despite the dissonance
between their overt statements and my beliefs and my general change in
musical taste ten years ago, Laibach remains my favorite band.
about and set around Laibach's 2004 tour, starting just after the
election in Southeast DC, at Nation, where I saw them. There were
plenty of clips of the concerts, which didn't show the power and
charisma of the performance at all. Since I misinterpreted the show
time as being figurative instead of literal, I'd missed the opening
band (or was it just one girl?), Bonfire Madigan. I usually hate to
miss the warm-up acts, and the clip made me regret my tardiness even
more.
The cute gothic bimbos were a great addition. The music and the drunken
chicks, together, are enough to recommend seeing this.
Taken at face value, the documentary about "the Divided States of
America" was banal. Of course, you can never take anything produced by
the NSK at face value.
["The Civil War is being foretold." Some of their apologists claim
Laibach's 1997 imagery was precognitive, esp. regarding the twin
towers. I've got a grand stating that there will be no civil war in the
U.S. by 2020. Any takers?]
"Americans in general are not too intelligent," said Peter Mlakar of
the Department of Pure and Applied Philosophy, and just to prove it,
Podgoršek, the documentary's director, interviews several Laibach
fans: satanists, skinheads, and taxi drivers; paranoid, delusional, and
superciliously confident in their ostracism from American culture. Or,
from the Republican cocktail parties, anyway. These are all qualities
associated by Ellul to those most susceptible to indoctrination by
modern propaganda, as is the tendency to ascribe others' attitudes, and
especially that of the "enemy," e.g., George Bush, to propaganda and
emotion while one's own are ascribed to intellect and logic.
"They just don't get it."
Laibach's schtick has always been propaganda. With the NSK at its side,
Laibach and Mute and so on create Ellul's Total Propaganda: video,
music, print, speech. "Pop music is for sheep, and we are the shepherds
disguised as wolves." Theirs is a musical and artistic campaign set to
fascist, anti-fascist and communist imagery from previous eras,
including that of their own formation. Their original work was a
lampoon of the Yugoslavian "third way" in an overtly banal (but
subtilely sublime) manner:
"That is to say that we have our own way, we always bravely say what is
right on this side and what is not, and what is right on the other side
and what is not. It should be clear to everyone that we cannot be no
ones appendage of nobodys politics, that we have our own point of view
and that we know the worth of what is right and what is not."
They took the government's propaganda more seriously than the Tito,
himself. They attacked the state by taking it seriously. In this
documentary, they play to the prejudices of their fans.
What does that say?
The essential ambiguities disguised as certainties incorporated into
Laibach's music and the NSK philosophy are why, despite the dissonance
between their overt statements and my beliefs and my general change in
musical taste ten years ago, Laibach remains my favorite band.