You've Been Brainwashed, and You Don't Even Know It

The best statement ever made regarding genre subdivisions in popular music comes from the Beatles' film "A Hard Day's Night," in which a reporter asks Ringo whether he is a Mod or a Rocker. Without the slightest bit of irony, Ringo responds, "I'm a mocker."

Such divisions in musical styles or listeners become more and more ridiculous with every passing second. If all of the progression made by musical innovators of the 20th Century has yielded anything, it is, at very least, that there are no more Mods, nor no more Rockers. There is only sound. Music may be good, or it may be bad, but, beyond that, it should not be categorized.

This begs two questions. First, what is good, and, second, how can I find out all about that good stuff? Which I will not even begin to address the first question, I will give you a strong shove towards a substantial answer to the second. Brainwashed.

Brainwashed is not merely a music website, it is the Holy Roman Catholic Church of music sites. Began in 1996 by Jon Whitney as a place to host a Meat Beat Manifesto website, Brainwashed has grown over the past six years into a massive collection of resources for the devoted listener of underground, experimental, electric, visceral, post-everything music. In the beginning, in addition to MBM, Whitney and his co-creators also designed a Greater Than One website, and mirrored a Coil website. As Whitney describes it, eventually "the original site became obsolete so we developed a new one. Web space for the Cabaret Voltaire, Nurse with Wound, Current 93 and Legendary Pink Dots expired and those webmasters felt it would be nice to be alongside similar musicians."

And thus it grew. Today, with a roster of over 30 site designers, Brainwashed is home to comprehensive and authoritative websites for (deep breath): !!!, Little Annie Anxiety, Aranos, Jessica Bailiff, Bedhead, Bomb the Bass, Bower Electric, Cabaret Voltaire, Cex, Andrew Chalk/Mirror, Coil (and related projects), Current 93, Cyclobe, Death in June, Fridge, Diamanda Galas, Girono Poetry Systems, godspeed you black emperor! (and A Silver Mt. Zion and Fly Pam Am and etc. and etc.), Greater than One, Halfer Trio, Christoph Heeman/HNAS/Mirror, Ryoji Ikeda, Isotope 217, Kid 606, Labradford/Pan American/Aix Em Klemm, Legendary Pink Dots/Edward Ka-Spel, Matmos, Meat Beat Manifeso/Jack Dangers, Gordon Mumma, The New Year, Nurse With Wound and related projects, Panacea, Stars of the Lid, Thighpaulsandra, Throbbing Gristle, Tortoise, Trans Am, Wagon Christ/Luke Vibert/Plug, Volcano the Bear, V/VM, and Windy & Carl. Additionally, Brainwashed also hosts websites for numerous labels, including Durtro, English Muffin Records, Happy Go Lucky, Killer Pimp, Kranky, Terminal Kaleidescope, Tiger Beat 6, Tino Corp., Turbo Pimp, United Dairies, and World Serpent Distribution.

What is it that ties all of these artists and labels together? There is too much variety to generalize. There is no common set of influences. If there is anything at all concrete, it is difficult to pinpoint. The only constants seem to be nebulous qualities such as being extraordinarily unique, ranging from compellingly innovative on the easy end of the spectrum to confrontational and difficult on the other. There is a strict dedication to independence (reflected in Brainwashed's ethos: no advertisers and absolutely no content related to major labels). It may be unlikely that one would be in love with every single Brainwashed artist, however, it is certain that each will challenge the listener. They are musicians for the 21st Century, where there are no borders and no bounds.

As if providing the websites were not enough, since August of 1998, Mr. Whitney and company have been providing a weekly newsletter, The Brain, that provides updates for all of their hosted artists and labels, along with a slew of new music reviews, live concert reports, upcoming release lists and assorted crazy shit that they finds around the web. Perhaps best of all, however, is the decision to republish the completely retarded email that the asswipes of the world see fit to punish Brainwashed with because, according to Whitney, "it's entertainment. Music is entertainment, music digests should be entertaining too." Included with the emails are Whitney's hilariously merciless responses, in hopes that "maybe, just maybe, people will stop asking the same goddamned questions over and over again."

The best indication of what a force Brainwashed has become comes in the form of an impending release by the sporadic Brainwashed Recordings entity, a record label extension of the website. On April 16, 2002, Brainwashed will release a 3-disc set entitled Brain in the Wire, featuring exclusive tracks from many Brainwashed artists. Like all Brainwashed releases, quantities are strictly limited (1500, to be exact--pre-orders are being taken now through the Brainwashed website, and the set is expected to sell out well in advance of the release date). The set includes the cd compilation of the same name distributed to subscribers to The Wire in October 2000, which featured tracks by Legendary Pink Dots, V/Vm, Greater Than One, Twilight Circus Dub Soundsystem, Fridge, Ruby Falls, Panacea, m2, Jessica Bailiff, Cyclobe, Windy & Carl, Christoph Heemann & Andreas Martin, Little Annie, Aranos & Nurse With Wound, and Current 93 & Pantaleimon. The second disc contains tracks by Matmos, Bedhead, Meat Beat Manifesto, Stars of the Lid, Diamanda Galas, Gordon Mumma, Volcano the Bear, Tino, Thighpaulsandra, Cex, and !!!. The third disc is a big secret that you will have to order to find out. It all comes packaged in a metal box, wrapped with wire, with a thick booklet and other surprises. Like Brainwashed's other releases, the purpose was to "make a special thing for brainwashed band fans... to make something really special to own in your collection."

Brainwashed is a valuable resource to any serious music fan. It has come to represent the open expanse of possibilities in music. Where flaccid terms like post-rock or electronic or crazy beep-beep (or fakejazz, for that matter) are essentially empty and meaningless, to intone Brainwashed is to invoke a complex set of ideas and ideals in an instant. It is more of a symbol (or, a rune, for WSD fans) than a category. Where categories boil down their subject to a basic element, often reducing beyond accurate recognition, symbols (or runes) are a rich, gnostic shorthand for believers and those in the know. Brainwashed is successful in this function because it was not preconceived, contrived or forced, but grew organically out of a community of like-minded (though not necessarily similar sounding) artists and audiences. As long as it can be kept out of music reviews ("brainwashed-esque"), it will remain a potent symbol (or rune).