Mental Hardcore Health Newsletter #2

Mental Hardcore Health Newsletter #2

Today's topic: "There is no sex in Hardcore, or: Hardcore on the streets, zero action in the sheets"

Part 1

It's time to tackle one of the biggest taboos in the "Hardcore scene".

Which is: there is no sex in Hardcore. Or rather: there is very little sex in Hardcore. Or rather:

Many, many people in the Hardcore scene only rarely have sex, or no sex at all.

There might be various reasons for this:

1. Many people in the "scene" live socially isolated lives, alone, or "in their parents' basement", or in a similar situation, with few or zero friends, don't go out, don't go to parties, so it's hard to meet someone.

2. Many people in the scene have heavy mental health problems such as agoraphobia or social phobias, which makes it difficult, too, or they might even have mental health issues that makes it 100% impossible for them to be in a relationship, or to have sex.

3. When you listen to extreme Hardcore Techno, "normal society" usually assumes you're a evil twisted psychopath, sick and deranged. Which does not really "attract" people. If you live in a big urban modern metropolis, maybe you can get by, but if you are outside "western civilization" or in a rural area, being a hardcore head might make you a social outcast (and loner) forever.

4. Asexuality. I don't really like these terms, but obviously a lot of people in the scene are on the so-called asexual spectrum.

Asexuality is a bit more complicated than other "identities". For example, there are asexuals who are crazy for pornography and *fantasize* about 'sexual intercourse' but would never be interested to do 'the act' in reality.

These terms and "sex theories" aside, there are simply lots of people in the scene that are just "not that interested" in sex.

5. Which brings us to this part. Some people just have different or higher priorities than sex.

They might be interested in sex, and would do it, but it's just not very high on their priority list.

Just as some inventors or business-people in the past refrained from having sex in order to be able to fully focus on their tasks and goals, people might want to focus on hardcore and music first - instead of romancing, dating etc.

6. Hardcore appears to incorporate some anti-sex elements. I know some people that are into a promiscuous, fetish, kink lifestyle, with "lots of sex", who told me they rarely had "encounters" or "opportunities" within the hardcore scene or with hardcore people.

It seems that hardcore itself is blocking out sex.

7. And this leads to the final point. Hardcore music itself can be a kind of orgasmic experience that releases sexual energy. And that can be enough for some people.

At least that's been hinted at by a few individuals.

There are of course many more possible explanations, or a combination of these. I just wanted to list some of them.

Part 2

Now let's get more into the "mental health aspect".

Society is kind of torn right now, between some people who are very sex crazy on the one hand (no problem with that) and "incels" and other type of people who "lack" sex, are full of hate, blame women, "minorities", and so on (lots of problems with that!).

This often generates very heated debates (pun intended) and blots out a meaningful discourse.

So let's sober up a bit and talk more sensible about it.

Part 3

And here is the good message (and the message is clear).

It's okay if you don't have a lot of sex. It's okay if you're asexual. It's okay if you are not very much interested in having sex. It's also okay if you would like to have sex but are prevented from it for whatever reason (for example by mental health issues).

You are not a loser because of this, and should not feel like one.

"Sex is nice" but it doesn't define a complete person.

You are just like you are, and this is okay, and you should live like you want to, regardless of what other people think.

All these things mentioned here are still very big societal taboos, and it's time people talk about it more openly.

---End of newsletter

Archive:

Mental Hardcore Health Newsletter #1

lAibyrinth - new project regarding AI, music, techno, and more

Announcing the start of a new project.

https://laibyrinth.blogspot.com/

Researching and exploring the world of AI, and it's limitless possibilities, especially relating to music, fiction, poetry, and other forms of media.

For example, you can find AI-generated Cyberpunk short stories here, Hardcore Techno poetry, prompts to run a Twin Peaks inspired interactive fiction game, and much, much more.

Associated with the The Hardcore Overdogs e-zine and Omnicore Records.

Maybe don't hate me (part 2 - missed parties)

Sooo... a while ago I made a post out of curiousity, inquiring whether anyone liked my music, becsuse I did not think so, and about some other issues (you can read it here).

I had some very positive replies and lots of support in response (which you can read here).

I want to thank everyone for that.

Times have been weird for me, because all of that is hard to sink in, and it takes time for it to sink in.

For example, there is one thing:

In the last 19 years, I had around 300-400 booking offers. By small parties, medium sized parties, even big parties! Parties in Germany, parties in Europe, parties North America (they would've even bought me a plane ticket to New York!), and other places in the world.

I declined all of these.

Partly because of my mental health problems, but partly (or mostly) because I could not imagine that anyone *really* would be interested in coming to a party or hearing my music.

I thought there must be surely some misunderstanding going on there. Maybe they had a lineup completed, then one of the DJs dropped out, and they were looking for a replacement, and a quick google search led them to me and they thought: "who is that guy?" and then "ah well, we have no choice, the line-up needs to be complete, let's just book him". Or they wanted to do a Doomcore party, and not many people do Doomcore, so google led them to me again, and they thought "ah, damn, well, let's just book him".

Or another possibility, there was a time when I posted a lot on social media, and maybe someone saw this, and didn't realize that I made these posts myself, and thought "hey, people talk a lot about him on social media, let's book him".

In all three cases without knowing me or my music.

I had other thoughts how such "confusion" , that led to people trying to book me, happened.

But anyway, I assumed that once I was there, and got on stage, after 10-15 minutes they would realize they made a mistake, grind their teeth, and be happy when I'm gone.

While they crowd would disappear once I started playing. 

And similar things.

I never assumed that people would *really* want to book me, or that anyone at any party would be interested in my music, or even enjoy it! No use to take the ticket to New York then.

Okay, once again, I am pondering too much on my own music situation, and on my own music.

But to think that I might have missed 300 parties, some of which might have been really, really good, just because I was misinterpreting what was going on - would be a major bummer.

Sonic Anarchy

I never was interested in "just" creating tracks.

The 20th century was the era of sonic exploration, even at the beginning of the century.

Old ideas were challenged or thrown overboard. Composers and musician tried new methods and concepts, and they tried to get away from the old. Almost every "accepted theory" in music was questioned - and rejected.

I was inspired by that "avantgarde tradition". And I tried to experiment with, and explore, music as much as I could. To check out other artists who did the same. To read as much on it as I could find.

But there was also something. Not just rebellion and drift.

I wanted to get to the bottom of music. Try to find out if there is some hidden, important truth, that can be found deep within my favorite tracks and the sonic avantgarde.

I sometimes strayed from that path - but I always got back on it for some reason.

I'm also an anarchist. I often had the idea there is much, much more to anarchism than those who are against it realize. That it's not "just" about ultimate freedom, liberty, uprising, self-organisation and so on (even if these are already very high goals!). Something that is *felt* by most actual anarchists.

Was there a hidden, pure truth - hidden inside anarchy, too?

Over the years, over the decades, something began to dawn on me. I'm not saying that what I communicate is the "ultimate truth" - not even for me. Yet, for me, maybe not for you, it is something that comes very, very close.

So here is what I want to say:

Think about it: What is anarchism? What does anarchy mean?

A lot of people would say anarchism ultimately leads to the concept of "do what you want, as long as it harms no other" - or a similar wording.

I agree. But I think this concept goes beyond, transcends, the mere political, economic, social realm. It extends to the cultural, philosophical, epistemological, "cosmic" realm - and even far beyond that.

"Do what you want, as long as it harms no other"

But not only on a social level. Treat *philosophical truths* in the same way, for example. Discard Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, if you want to. Create your own truth, and walk along with it. As long as you mean no harm.

And this holds true for the sonic realm, too.

Do whatever you want in music. Play the notes you want, use the rhythms you want, sequence everything like you want to. You decide what's right or wrong, what sounds good or bad. You are free, you make the "rules" and "laws" in music, and should free feel to shape them in any way you see fit.

And, I think only if an artist starts this ultimate rebellion and revolution - against any "rule" in music that comes from someone else - something truly epic and important can be created.

Do not let anyone tell you how music *should* sound, how your music should sound, what "rules" there are regarding music production, and which concepts to follow.

This is my little message to you. Become a sonic anarchist. It will be rewarding.

Note: The ideas here are very condensed and may even sound a bit "harmless". But if I had to, and could, write down every thought connected to them, that are not expressed here right now, this would be a massive output. In my opinion, this notion here goes way deeper than it first appears.

I don't claim ownership, of course, or pride - I just wanted to share it.

All the wisdom in one sentence

Over time, I've read various stories and accounts of people (in various cultures, at various points of history) who set upon themselves the task to compress "all the wisdom in the universe (and beyond)" into a single page of text, sentence, a letter, or even just a colon.

I liked this idea, and over time, I 'collected' some short sentences (or a small number of short sentences) that I found at various places, that, to me, explain everything, the universe, the meaning of life, and so on (or at least most of it).

This doesn't imply *I* know everything, or even the meaning of life - just that, to me, these collected sentences represent the things I mentioned.

This list will probably be amended over time.

But here we go:

"Well… There’s a vast network, right? An ocean of possibilities. I like dogs. I used to raise rabbits. I’ve always loved animals. Their nature. How they think. I have seen dogs reason their way out of problems. Watched them think through the trickiest situations." - Freddie Howard, Inland Empire (actually by David Lynch)

"Purity died with the angels of passion" - Gary Numan, Prophecy

"One cold damp evening, the world stood still" - The Chameleons, Second Skin

"You can heal yourself by embracing your own sickness" - Low Entropy

"You can be anything you want to be

Just turn yourself into anything you think that you could ever be

Be free with your tempo, be free, be free

Surrender your ego, be free, be free to yourself" - Queen, Innuendo

"Like every city needs a distance, every sky demands a moon

Every winter needs a snowfall, every summer wants a June

Money's just a piece of paper, gold is blinding, don't you see?

Fame is just our own illusion of what life is meant to be

But I don't need a perfect mirror, I don't care for queens and kings

We are free and we are perfect when Lady Stardust sings" - Lisa Miskovsky, Lady Stardust

"The sky is still blue

The clouds come and go

Yet something is different

Are we falling in love?" - Julee Cruise, Falling

"It's strange what love does" - David Lynch, Ghost of Love

"No better you than the you that you are

No better life than the life we're living" - Alessia Cara, Scars to Your Beautiful