Well, it has been more than 3 days now since I started gathering some info about this project...Lady Luck is not sharing her room with me lately. So, here's what I've got: Dagda Mor is a german based project. This album was released on cassette in 1994 on the Loki Foundation label(which is coordinated by Dagda Mor and Inade). The first edition was released as LOKI 08 with approximately 100 copies released. 200 copies were released of the second edition, which was released as C 90, with additional material from "Heriot" (LOKI 05)and three tracks less from the original release.
The sound revolves around what is called power electronics, although besides the PE dimension of Dagda Mor's soundscapes, there is a strong scent of dark ambient that gives a certain atmosphere to this album. I don't know if I would go so far as to name it their best, but it's certainly one of my favorites. I hope you'll enjoy it as well!
Year of Release: 1994
Label: Loki Foundation
Catalog #: LOKI 08
Bitrate: 224kbps
Label: Loki Foundation
Catalog #: LOKI 08
Bitrate: 224kbps
Tracklist:
A1. Erwachet! (4:56)
A2. Feuer Des Himmels (4:47)
A3. Nordwind (12:55)
A4. Fackel Des Blutes (2:37)
A5. Svalinn (5:58)
B1. Hjadningawig (6:08)
B2. Sturmzauber (5:02)
B3. Mimir (6:01)
B4. Kari (8:09)
B5. Seidwerk (5:22)
A1. Erwachet! (4:56)
A2. Feuer Des Himmels (4:47)
A3. Nordwind (12:55)
A4. Fackel Des Blutes (2:37)
A5. Svalinn (5:58)
B1. Hjadningawig (6:08)
B2. Sturmzauber (5:02)
B3. Mimir (6:01)
B4. Kari (8:09)
B5. Seidwerk (5:22)
19 comments:
I speak German and googled the band because the song titles are, well, a bit peculiar. The band and label are not openly neofashist, but they definitely flirt with the neofashist-pagan wing of the darwave scene. E.g. they advertise in extreme right-wing magazines and used samples/ texts from the third reich. Even if they call themselves apolitical, such things trivialise the crimes of the Nazis - and are just downright stupid if you ask me.
As a frequent reader and fan of your blog, I thought I let you know what you are about to spread.
I'm really surprised to find stuff like this here. Are you aware of the nationalistic background of this "project"? Just interested.
@dispo & Anonymous: I understand your concerns. I know nothing about this group, although to be fair, I wasn't the one who posted the album. Unfortunately I don't have time to respond at length, since I'm about to leave for work, but I certainly plan to as soon as I have time.
I almost forgot.. I wasn't able to dig up very much information about the band. If anyone could provide some links that could shed some light on them I would be very grateful.
Hi guys
Since i posted this album, i should say a few things. as i mentioned in the post, i found very little information about this project (any links are very much welcome, as Zer0_ll sais as well). what i was aiming for was strictly the musical dimension of this project. i apologise if any of you find this offesive in any way. i had, recently a discussion with a friend on Der Blutharsch. on a few albums in their discography there are some very strong links with the nazy principles and all that, but that shouldn't make us ignore the quality of their music. am i wrong?
i do agree with what you say and you have a very good point there. still, as music, this album is something worth listening. nevertheless, i will follow the advises i receive from you guys.
Hi guys
Since i posted this album, i should say a few things. as i mentioned in the post, i found very little information about this project (any links are very much welcome, as Zer0_ll sais as well). what i was aiming for was strictly the musical dimension of this project. i apologise if any of you find this offesive in any way. i had, recently a discussion with a friend on Der Blutharsch. on a few albums in their discography there are some very strong links with the nazy principles and all that, but that shouldn't make us ignore the quality of their music. am i wrong?
i do agree with what you say and you have a very good point there. still, as music, this album is something worth listening. nevertheless, i will follow the advises i receive from you guys.
My web sources are all in German, sorry, but they pop up immediately if you google the name. As I said, they might not be openly neofashist, but they used material from the third reich, advertised in fashists magazines and call themselves apolitical. Well, there's nothing apolitical in flirting with third reich stuff.
The exploration of the aesthetics of the totalitarian is difficult and imho, there's no need to do it after Laibach. At least not in a naive "but I'm not political and just interested in the nordic/germanic/pagan myth stuff" way it's done in this case.
One source: http://www.diss-duisburg.de/Internetbibliothek/Artikel/Wirrkoepfe.htm
Sab, just saw your comment now. I'm aware of the fact that you didn't know the context, but, sorry, you can't ignore it. Otherwise, we're on the level of admiring the nazis for their beautiful volkswagens.
I'll go ahead and warn you that this is probably going to be a very long comment. I feel that I should be as thorough as possible in order to make my point, without giving anyone the wrong impression about where I stand on the issue of fascism. First of all I want to say I appreciate you posting your opinion dispo, and I understand your concern. I haven't forgotten how you so promptly ripped and posted 7 Drums Concerto for me recently, and the last thing I want to do is alienate visitors such as yourself. However, I have to say that I disagree with some of your viewpoints. While I am vehemently against nazism, neo-nazism, white supremacy, and racism of any type, I am a very strong advocate of freedom of speech. When I first invited Sab and the rest the contributors to Digital Meltd0wn I informed them that they were free to post whatever they like, as long as they strictly post material that is out of print. While I understand that Sab didn't know very much about this band before she posted the album, and to her credit there isn't much information to be found, I wouldn't ask her to remove it regardless. With that in mind, I welcome this type of discourse and I wish that such discussions took place more often on the blog.
I find this situation rather coincidental considering I was just discussing a similar topic with Strange Ranger a few weeks ago. I was discussing the possibility of featuring a theme contrasting the"degenerate art" (primarily created by jewish artists and those accused of politcal dissent), which was banned by the Third Reich, with art created by artists affiliated with the Nazi party, whose work was subsequently banned from public display following the war. I find it extremely ironic that the Nazi artists were censored after having associated with a party that censored so many works of art themselves. I know that if I went forward with such a theme it would be controversial. However, I still consider it to be historically relevant and intriguing, nor do I find anything inherently wrong with such a theme.
World War II is a subject that I find endlessly fascinating, and I have ceaselessly studied it throughout my adult life. I honestly believe that too many people today are incapable of viewing Hitler or Nazism from a historical standpoint. The Roman Empire, Christian crusaders and many other groups throughout history have been directly responsible for genocide and ethnic cleansing, and yet they do not carry the same stigma associated with Nazism. If the Catholic Church had committed their crimes in the 1940s rather than hundreds of years ago, the cross would most likely be considered a symbol of hatred and banned in many places just as the swastika is now.
The atrocities commited by the Nazi regime were no doubt deplorable, and I feel the same way about those who attempt to perpetuate that ideology. However, I see a big difference between "flirting" with Nazism, and unrepentently promoting the genocide of a race. If the lyrics contained on this album openly called for such action, then I would want it removed. While I support free speech, I do not support speech which is designed to encite hatred, which is where I believe the line must be drawn. However, even if they have advertised in a right-wing magazine, that makes them guilty by association at best. If they supported Nazism, why wouldn't they just do so openly? I don't find simply using samples from Hitler to necessarily constitute supporting Nazism either. I can name off countless groups which have sampled Hitler, and none of them are considered neo-fascist or anti-semitic. Unless this group expliciately announces their support for Nazism or displays a willingness to encite hate crimes, I find it rather rash to ask others to boycott their work. (Continued...)
(...Continued from previous comment) You mention that it isn't necessary to attempt to explore the aesthetics of the totalitarian after Laibach. Why do you consider Laibach the be-all to end-all for such artistic exploration, and why is it acceptable for them to tread such ground when others are not? To be perfectly honest, I deplore Christianity, as I believe it is directly responsible for some of the most heinous crimes committed throughout history. However, that hasn't stopped me from posting gospel albums on my blog. I admire the engineering and artwork that came out of the Roman Empire despite the fact that they were also responsible for countless atrocities. There are countless groups which espouse beliefs and lifestyles that I stand firmly against, yet I still appreciate their musical output. I am capable of separating my political and religious beliefs from my appreciation for artistic expression, and I do not believe that enjoying someone's artistic output necessarily equates to you supporting their personal beliefs or actions.
I want to reiterate the fact that I do not wish to offend anyone with my statements. I value those who visit this blog more than you can possibly imagine. Standing up for free speech isn't always an easy thing, especially when it comes to controversial matters such as this. I just want to make it clear that I am defending free speech and artistic expression, rather than what I consider to be an ignorant and hateful ideology in the form of fascism.
Zer0, I get your point and I'm not offended. Sab, I appreciate your volunteer work spreading interesting out of print records. I just wanted to give you some information that was only available in German.
We could have an endless discussion here...and there are endless discussions about connections between certain parts of the industrial/darkwave scene and neofascism (they definitely exist). I am in no way an expert of this scene.
Let me just say that certain things should not be forbidden, but rather be ignored. Like in this case, I think the use of nazi-aesthetics is just not very sophisticated and interesting (which, in the result, tends to trivialize a crime against humanity) - compared to the much more complex case of Laibach/NSK for example (that's why I mentioned them).
And I strongly think that certain things should not be put on the same level, e.g. the art banned by the nazis and nazi-art. We certainly should be able to see and discuss nazi-art, but never without considering the context and purpose in which it was made (and in most cases it's bad art anyway...).
To conclude: Yes, we should be able to handle/discuss anything, but certain topics need more care/caution. And we should consider the context in which art was made. It makes things more interesting...
I just finished reading the recent comments. Dispo, thank you for the nice words and for your opinion about the post. Regarding that, it's true, a discussion on a theme such as this one here could go on and on. i would just like to mention only a few things more.
Atrocities and genocides have been made centuries after centuries, just as Zer0_ll mentioned as well, based on many different ideologies. one of them, whose number of victims surpassed by far the ones of the nazy regime, was based on the differences between the so called human races. entire cultures were completely wiped out. the difference, within the public opinion, could be the timing. the nazy regime was built on an entire system of mass manipulation, in a time when promoting an ideology world wide was not that hard, while other genocides were made, let's say, much more discreetly, with the excuse of "serving the high purpose of science and human knowledge".
Coming back to the music, i agree with Zer0_ll on the fact that sound / music explorations are (or should be) endless.
as for their statement of being apolitical, i have no right of judging that. but i can give a similar example (from a completely different sphere, though): somewhere around the 60s, artist Robert Rauschenbeg sent a telegram, to a friend, containing this: "This is art because i say so". evaluating such a "piece of art" is another long discussion i had not long ago, but in the end, it's the artist that sets up the concept on which he builds his art, right? in the end, it's a matter of perception.
"If they supported Nazism, why wouldn't they just do so openly?"
Because it would be considered as a crime in germany. Rightwing bands and writers in germany have to fear rather strong consequences when they express their political views openly. The artwork to this album and the titles of the songs are umistakeble signs of a fashist attitude, believe me. In an interview the artist behind this openly complains that "money is given to the jews, to stop them from crying" meaning the reparations.
I'm in favour to your liberal attitude, though. Censorship is useless against totalitarian views for obvious reasons. And an artist with inhuman views is still an artist. We would have to ignore a lot of black metal acts if this weren't the case. And honestly - who would want that?
Nevertheless i was a little shocked that this appeared on your fine site without any further explanation. To my eyes it's like a piece of crap on precious canvas. But don't wipe it away! It should stay there in it's miserable glory.
@Korla: I couldn't help but laugh at the "miserable glory" comment. To be fair this appeared on the blog without further explanation because we were not aware of any neo-fascist connection. After dispo posted his first comment I attempted to dig up some information about the band. I noticed that their albums had been posted on several blogs, with each post receiving a handful of comments, yet no one mentioned the fascist connection.
Would you care to provide me with a link to that interview you mentioned? Also, would you be willing to translate the titles? I wouldn't mind trying to do it, but I know how translation services can often muddle the translation and intended meaning behind certain words.
As I mentioned before, there are countless artists who I think are horrible people, and yet they make some of the most beautiful artwork imaginable. This isn't a fair comparison, but Salvador Dali happens to be one of my favorite artists, yet I thought he had a rather disgusting personality and world view at times.
Again, I want to make it clear that we do not support fascism, nazism, or any other hateful ideology here at Digital Meltd0wn. If this album contained lyrics which I thought might entice people to commit hate crimes then I would most likely pull the post. I do believe that we must draw the line with freedom of speech somewhere. I would be interested to hear from everyone who has commented so far if they agree with that decision. Where would you personally draw the line as far as freedom of speech is concerned? Considering there aren't any lyrics I have come to the conclusion that this is a work of artistic expression from a human being who simply has deplorable moral values.
If this album contained lyrics which I thought might entice people to commit hate crimes then I would most likely pull the post. I do believe that we must draw the line with freedom of speech somewhere. I would be interested to hear from everyone who has commented so far if they agree with that decision. Where would you personally draw the line as far as freedom of speech is concerned?
(I posted this in the previous comment, but just wanted to make it easier for everyone to see)
I also like the "miserable glory" suggestion. Maybe update the main post and add some information/suggest to read the comments or give a summary?
If it was my own blog, I'd delete it after getting this information from Korla and me. What Korla quotes from the interview is just too much. Concerning the translation of titles and lyrics: Frankly, I don't want to waste my time for this crap. I'm willing to translate anything *interesting* from German for you, maybe library-related ;-). These titles mainly refer to nordic mythology and use other mumbo-jumbo teenagers might find totally mysterious (while using certain key words of nazism): "torch of blood", "magic of the storm". On another album, he had a track called "verrecke!", which is unmistakably directly refering to the nazi slogan "Juda verrecke" ("perish Juda").
"...a theme contrasting the"degenerate art" (primarily created by jewish artists and those accused of politcal dissent), which was banned by the Third Reich, with art created by artists affiliated with the Nazi party, whose work was subsequently banned from public display following the war. I find it extremely ironic that the Nazi artists were censored after having associated with a party that censored so many works of art themselves."
This is a brilliant idea! It also addresses all the points in these comments.
The question isn't are they fascists/racists/monsters/mommies...it's not that I think it's any of it's untrue, it just isn't of any consequence. I guarantee you that not one racist who has seen "stop racism" graffiti has done as instructed! PLEASE don't make the nice people of this blog censor what they have to share! i want it all...i'll decide myself if I'm gonna kill any races...
HEY!!!! I just noticed something! This tape is great! Thanks! Is there more by them we can have?
A series of intriguing discussion. Are you sure this is the internets? :)
Folder of three additional Dagda Mor albums:
http://www.mediafire.com/?dmd8gtmn6fuus
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