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‘Holland is a land of wooden shoes, windmills, and tulips. Famous paintings and music have come from this land and it played a role in the field of World War II. If you think of the Netherlands at all you likely never express fear of the land, people or symbols of this European nation. But for some the fear known as Dutchphobia is a real and present worry.
‘What Causes Dutchphobia? The question itself seems almost strange. Why does anyone fear someone from another culture? The feelings can be personal. For example they might have experienced issues with someone of Dutch descent that caused them to fear. I suppose the fear could be related to World War II, but in most cases the fear of any culture is lodged in a lack of understanding about the culture.
‘This may include language barriers, regional customs, music, history or even location. The fear can be derived from the input (intentional or otherwise) of someone in your past. A family member may have routinely said they mistrusted a neighbor of Dutch descent. While you never knew why they weren’t trusted you may have concluded they weren’t to be trusted. That mindset can lead to a lifetime of fear. As with most phobias the easiest ‘out’ is to simply avoid that which you fear. In the case of all things Dutch they can be somewhat easier to avoid than more common fears such as spiders, mice or dogs.
‘When phobic individuals can take the time to rationally explore the potential of understanding the object of their fears they may be able to see a phobic response isn’t really required. Knowledge is powerful in turning fear, but there may need to be a therapist who can help turn the fear. This is true because the brain of a phobic is wired to always respond emotionally to the object of their fear. If it can be retrained to consider the object rationally then at the very least the intensity of the fear may be greatly reduced.’ — Fear of Stuff
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Cinderella
‘Cinderella was a Dutch psychedelic band who only released one single “From town to town” during their brief existence. The mostly female members came from different places in Holland like Zaandam, Oegstgeest and the Hague. On this single, they were backed up by the boys of the band Blue Planet. A tape of other Cinderella recordings were discovered in the late 90s, and bootleg editions of these recordings have gained the group a cult following among connoisseurs of psychedelic rock’. — psychedelicfolk.com
‘From Town to Town’ (1973)
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Group 1850
‘Group 1850 is an interesting, if sometimes exasperating, late-’60s Dutch band who ranks among the most accomplished and original Continental rock acts of the era, though they made little impression in English-speaking territories. Starting as a more or less conventional beat band in the mid-’60s, they had taken a turn for the more psychedelic and bizarre by 1967. Determined to drive into the heart of the psychedelic beast, their songs (performed in English) are quite eclectic for the era, shifting from doom-laden tempos with growling vocals to sunny, utopian passages with breezy harmonies. Agemo’s Trip to Mother Earth was one of the most ambitious psychedelic albums to emerge from continental Europe in the late ’60s. The LP’s nominal concept was, like many early such endeavors, obscure, involving something like the journey of Agemo from a paradise-like planet to the more chaotic imperfection of Earth.’ — Mesmirization
‘live’ on TV (1975)
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Luv’
‘In 1976, record producers, Hans van Hemert and Piet Souer, and manager Han Meijer, twenty years before the Spice Girls phenomenon, decided to form a girl group, inspired by the German disco trio Silver Convention. They had already recorded the music of a self-penned track (“My Man”) and were looking for singers. They recruited three women: José Hoebee, Marga Scheide, and Patty Brard. They scored a string of hit records in Continental Europe (Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Denmark) as well as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada
and Mexico in the late 1970s and early 1980s.’ — Wiki
‘My Man’ (1978)
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Tedje en de Flikkers
‘Tedje en de Flikkers, a group of homosexuals (“flikkers” is Dutch for “faggots”) from Nijmegen, was one of the most infamous punk formation of the Netherlands. They sprang from the left wing and gay movements that thrived in Nijmegen during the 70s and 80s. Their provocative performances (politically more than musically) often literally resulted in orgies of sex, drugs and noise. They existed only for three years (1977–1980).’ — Wiki
‘Van Agt’ (1979)
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The Ex
‘The Ex are an anarchist band from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. They formed in 1979 at the height of the original punk explosion and have released nearly twenty full-length albums since, making them one of the longest-lived and most influential punk bands (along with The Fall) still in existence. They are known and respected worldwide for their longevity, their explosive, energetic live shows and their political edge.’ — lastfm
‘Money’ (1980)
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Golden Strings
‘Golden Strings are an obscure Dutch band from the early 80’s from the city of Maastricht.’ — Wiki
‘Everybody Else’ (1982)
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Clan of Xymox
‘Clan of Xymox have been in the unfortunate position of always being compared to other bands since their inception. Whether it’s the Cure or Joy Division, Clan of Xymox have never been able to shake off the similarities to their influences. Nevertheless, the group has produced an impressive body of work that consistently absorbed new sounds while remaining faithful to the ’80s goth rock menu. The band’s presence on Dead Can Dance’s U.K. tour caught the interest of 4AD Records, and the label eventually signed them. Since the late 1980s, the band has changed labels, line-ups and names many times.’ — 4ad
‘A Day’ (1985)
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Psychick Warriors ov Gaia
‘Just as lighthearted ambient house began to hit the mainstream in the early ’90s, Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia foreshadowed a move to sinister downtempo music, more influenced by Coil and Psychic TV than the Orb. The Dutch group’s shadowy nature and lack of connection to the close-knit dance community mystified some (their live shows were often performed behind large screens), but the band’s sound — organic tribal-trance with an understated use of samples — became quite influential, as many groups mirrored the move to darker rhythms later in the decade.’ — fusionanomaly.net
‘Exit 23’ (1991)
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Bettie Serveert
‘Although they didn’t cross over into the mainstream the way some of their peers did, Holland’s Bettie Serveert became significant college radio stars during the ’90s with their jangly, sweetly melodic, at times surprisingly muscular guitar pop. The band’s sound was familiar, even archetypal, yet with its own distinct flavor that suggested any number of reference points and made exact comparisons elusive. Much of Bettie Serveert’s reputation rested on their 1992 debut, Palomine, and even though critical opinion of their subsequent work was divided, they continued to maintain a cult audience through the decade.’ — allmusic
‘Tom Boy’ (1992)
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Speedy J
‘Speedy J (real name Jochem Paap) is a Dutch techno producer based in the city of Rotterdam. Speedy J is unanimously considered to be one of the first techno producers to come from the Benelux. Together with people like Laurent Garnier, Aphex Twin and Richie Hawtin he helped raising the genre just after it had escaped the Detroit delivery room. Since the early nineties, Speedy J releases on labels like Plus 8, Warp and Novamute. The sound wizard exchanges flowing, harmonious techno for a much more complex sound, filled with colliding samples, crackling rhythms and tremendously thrilling turns.’ — lastfm
‘Ping Pong’ (1995)
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Altar
‘With the release of their demo-tape And God Created Satan To Blame For His Mistakes back in 1992, the band started to become well-known in the death metal underground scene. It sold worldwide very well and soon every insider had heard of the brutal music and message ALTAR tried to spread. Five young guys with the same musical interest and all grown up in a small-town christian society, they wanted to destroy the laws of their boring surroundings with the loudest statements ever! Dutch label Displeased Records dared to come closer and signed the band. The first real ALTAR-album Youth Against Christ released in 1994 hit the scene with a shock. The intense brutality on this album got great reviews everywhere; it even went into the Dutch alternative charts. ALTAR built up an infamous live reputation and in several cities their shows got cancelled because christian politicians were afraid to burn their asses.’ — Tartarean Desire
‘God Damn You’ (1999)
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Rotterdam Terror Corps
‘Rotterdam Terror Corps is
a Dutch gabber group formed in 1993 that is known for its very hard beats and is considered by many to be a pioneer of the genre. Rotterdam Terror Corps was the dark answer to a shiny, happy rave scene. Their white skull logo has a 99,5 % recognition factor in the harder dance scene worldwide and through the years hundreds of thousands enjoyed the music, the live act and everything RTC stands for…. Real hardcore no bullshit and still kicking ass around the globe.’ — The Pirate Bay
‘Unleash Hell’ (2002)
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Deinonychus
‘Deinonychus (pronounced die-NON-ee-kus) is Greek for “terrible claw”, and is a dinosaur. Deinonychus were rumored to be a nazi band after the release of their Warfare Machines album, which deals heavily with themes of World War II. However, the band members have denounced such claims. Deinonychus is not connected to NS ideologies in any case. Deinonychus started off as a black metal band in the autumn of 1992 in Brunssum, Netherlands. Over the years, Deinonychus established themselves as a doom metal/dark metal band with as main ingredient; melancholy. The lyrics mainly deal with pain, sorrow, stress, misery, and death. Deinonychus split up in 2008 but reformed to record another album in 2011.’ — Encyclopaedia Metallum
‘To Diagnose The Fortunes Of Paranoia Consuming Consciousness And Sanity’ (2004)
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Adept
‘Holy shit, these guys were awesome. While I’m at pains to describe what five minutes of hyper-low end bass saw-toothing along to two bars of industrial drum machine beats looped indefinitely can do for your sinuses, what I really loved about this band was the temper tantrums they threw to end each song. People can throw the terms “primal” and “rabid” around, but these breakdowns were more “short bus retarded,” and that was what made Adept one of the funniest bands I’ve ever seen.’ — Impose Magazine
‘live’ (2007)
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zZz
‘zZz is a Dutch band from Amsterdam, founded in 2001, formed by Björn Ottenheim and Daan Schinkel. On their first album, the instruments of the band only consisted of an organ and a drumkit. They have since incorporated other electronic and live elements into their sound. In 2007, they opened the exhibition Nederclips in Stedelijk Museum ‘s-Hertogenbosch SM’s by recording a video for the track “Grip”, with producer Roel Wouters, for a live Audience. “zZz is playing: Grip” has been screened at festivals all over the world.’ — Excelsior Recordings
‘zZz is playing: Grip’ (2007)
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Yuri Landman
‘Yuri Landman started as a comic book artist. In 2000 he formed the noise band Avec Aisance (aka Avec-A) with drummer/producer Valentijn Höllander and released a CD, Vivre dans l’aisance in 2004. Since quitting Avec-A in 2006, he has focused mainly on instrument building. Landman is musically untrained and cannot play chords. While with Avec-A, Landman began creating and building several experimental string instruments, including electric zithers, electric Cymbalum, and electric Koto. Most of them are not regular instruments, but look more like multi-string crossbows and their sounds derive from string resonance, microtonality and overtoning spectra based on the no wave aesthetics of Glenn Branca and the microtonal consonant theory developed by Harry Partch. He has made experimental electric string instruments for many artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japanese and Liam Finn.’ — Consequence of Sound
Yuri Landman & Le KRRGHH live at the Gideon Festival (2010)
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p.s. Hey. Oh, if anyone is reading this in Paris, I want to give an alert about a recommended reading event happening here tomorrow, the 5th, at the great literary event space Storie in Montparnasse. Specifically, the author Gerry Hadden will be doing a reading and presentation re: his memoir ‘Never the Hope Itself’, which details his time as NPR’s correspondent for Latin America and Haiti over five years. It’s a pretty terrific book, and the event itself should be very good. Here’s the info you need. ** David Ehrenstein, Hey. Yeah, I figured you knew Boy Culture well. I think I had a brain scramble. ** Kyler, Hi there! How are you doing? I don’t know that Richard Mason book, no, but it does look very interesting, and I’ll investigate it further thank you! ** Cobalt91, Hi. That new piece you’re working sounds really interesting. ‘Experiment with obsessive structure’ are magic words to my ears. And the novel you’re working on sounds extremely up my alley too. Very cool. The third person is really tricky, or I think so. I mean, it’s the go-to voice for the great majority of fiction writers, but I’ve always felt like it needed to be bombarded by the first person and other stuff to keep it awake or something. I’ve ended up working exclusively if really variously with the first person ever since I finished the Cycle. For some reason, it seems to have so much more room within it in which to work, and I feel like you can shift and fluctuate tone and distance so much more easily and maybe effectively there. I’m curious to see what you do with that third person voice. I’m trying to mess around with one right now re: something new, and it still feels like I’m playing with a rock or something. I love hearing about your work and how you work. Thanks! ** Bernard Welt, Hi, B. We’re only in Strasbourg for two full days, and I think we’re going to use one day up by taking a shuttle tour of the villages and castles and wineries and stuff in the surrounding area, so I figure we’ll just do the medieval area — the hotel we’re staying in was built in 1560, and is pretty amazing looking in photos at least — see the famous cathedral, blah blah. Thanks for the tips, man. ** Paul Curran, Thank you, Paul. All great about you novel. Yeah, of course, I’ve been aching to read that thing for what feels like forever. ** Alan, Hey. You think it’s sad? I guess I think of the apartment not really as a tomb but more as a personalized perfect eternal space for himself, and I find that idea kind of really dreamy. And, with the photos, since he shot them himself, I have this idea that they’re probably layered wi
th private levels of fetishization and obsession and consequent meaning that no one else but him could see. ** Sypha, I like how you’re very loyal to your favorite bands. I think I’m more of a hard ass with mine. Shape up or ship out, and that sort of thing. ** MVdA, I’m glad you thought the post was okay. Oh, right, you haven’t been there, I remember that now. Anyway, thank you again for the turn-on. I hope your project and book are going really well. ** L@rstonovich, Thanks a bunch, man. Aw, for some reason it does my heart good to hear that you returned to the airwaves, even as a guest-pilot. Well, I guess the reason isn’t so mystifying. Naturally, I’ll be listening to that podcast imminently. And your cheery tone when talking your writing and painting makes me very happy. Yes! Everyone, d.l. L@rstonovich is a d.l./artist of many talents, as I believe you know. One of them used to be DJ back when he did the late, lamented radio show Skullcrushing Hummingbird, and now he has briefly returned to the airwaves to guest spin on DJ Sonik Attack’s show, and you can hear the result sans any problem whatsoever, and I suggest you do that, and here’s where. ** Popzeus, Hi Pz! Yeah, that’s totally right and great: ‘ … kind of shrugging their shoulders in a really complicated and stylish way.’ I think that’s really the key right there. I think you cracked it. Nice. And I don’t think a shruggy tone is anywhere near as easy as it sounds like it would be. I mean, there’s a kind of lackadaisical tone that’s very popular right now among some younger writers that could be mistaken for a shrug, but it’s very different. It’s still full of attitude, and its self-deprecation is very self-conscious and is even about that very self-consciousness, and it’s kind of a sponge, whereas Brainard’s and Pym’s shrugginess kind of floats wittily and shyly but very attentively over content or something. I don’t know. I’m rambling. Like you said, it’s a hard thing to articulate, like most great things tend to be. But, yeah, good eye, Zeus, good eye. I bow. ** Steevee, I haven’t seen that Minaj vid, but I’ll check it out today. Pizzazz sounds good. That’s all I really want from her. Cool about the Alex Ross Perry interview, and I’m most curious to hear your thoughts on ‘Bully’ ‘cos, yeah, the hype, whoa. ** Ian Tuttle, Ha ha, right. As a self-imposed Proust virgin, I like Mollino’s angle. I got your email. I’ll send you my phone # today. Great! Mm, I don’t think I’ve read that Seymour Krim piece, no. I’ll see if it’s online somewhere. That kind of ‘day ruining’ sounds refreshing at the moment. Thanks for the tip, man. ** JoeM, It wasn’t actually so dark where you were stabbing. I think maybe you found the right mood lighting. Anyway, I’m grateful, and I’ve been running through what you wrote in my head in a kind of reverie. Do you know that band Luv’ who’s in the gig post today? I didn’t before I made the post, but I thought you might. ** _Black_Acrylic, Thanks, Ben. MdVA gets a lot of credit. ** Chris Cochrane, I had this momentary brain freeze where I thought you were referring to Mark McGuire the baseball player, and I thought, Now that’s an interesting turn. But of course, the MM of whom you speak, *heart*. I hope your weird ass week has pivoted. ** Bill, Too long, that’s my Bill! It did look awfully long when I picked up a copy in S&Co.; the other day though, yeah. ** Zack, Would be awesome if you did a post for your blog about those Detroit happenings and your current reading. I would be serious traffic there. I don’t know that Sherl book. Duly noted. I loved ’80s jangle pop a whole lot too, and, well, I still do, but I haven’t made an appropriate playlist yet, which your comment yesterday has already put on my agenda. Oh, a question: what’s your opinion on The La’s? I like them, but I’ve never quite gotten what the mega-reverence re: them is about. Same goes with Stone Roses for me, to mention a different kind of beast, other than those two great singles. Yeah, I think surrendering is often the way to ‘get it’. I think (and talk) a lot about charisma, and how creating charisma is a really important tool/power to try to use in writing, and charisma is all about ‘how the fuck did he/she/it do that?’ and ‘what the fuck am I feeling?’, etc. ** Misanthrope, Oh, that’s why you freaked. I didn’t think you’d freaked. Maybe I’m too freaky to notice when other people have their freak on. I haven’t seen that Lynch video yet. I had the option yesterday, but I wasn’t in the mood for some reason. Surely by the time I see you tomorrow. So, do you think the WWE pays the wrestlers more when they’re assigned to a match where bruises and blood and stuff is required? I think they must be given bonuses or something in those cases, no? This is the choice of the all time #1 WWE match by that guy I mentioned. ** Okay. Off you go into the sound of the Netherlands as hand-picked by your truly, and I hope there’ll be some toe-tapping and fist pumping around here today. Would be cool. See you tomorrow.
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