POSTRmagazine http://www.postrmagazine.com Are you thinking yet? Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:51:18 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Dancing On The Edge http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/26/dancing-on-the-edge/ http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/26/dancing-on-the-edge/#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:09:56 +0000 Robbert http://www.postrmagazine.com/?p=745 We can safely say that once again, we had a Good Time at Dour. After our return to civilized life, I found myself in need of a few days of both mental and physical recovery, seemingly more so than with previous editions of Dour Festival; it makes me wonder if the drugs are getting stronger every year or if maybe we’re just getting older and increasingly incapable of sleeping in the front seat of a van or on a garbage-strewn patch of grass for three days straight with nothing but sweaty sandwiches, straight rum and unidentified pills and powders for sustenance. And maybe that is exactly the inescapable fate of the journalist who sets out to document what it’s like to partake in the modern version of the pagan ritual of beating drums and intoxicating substances. So we set out again, because no matter how many times you go to Hell and back, it’s never quite the same.

Yes, Dour Festival may have lost some of its intimacy and inner circle allure over the years, but it’s still by far the awesomest festival to go to in Belgium if you’re looking for both good music and a break from society’s oppressive need for that often overrated pipedream called Civilized Behaviour. There is just something inexplicably liberating about snapping out of your buzz for a second and finding yourself bare chested at some random stage, having no idea how you got there, then glancing around and realizing you’ve lost contact with everyone you know, only to catch the eye of some complete stranger standing next to you, share a grin and then jointly howl at the moon like a werewolf on acid. True freedom may not exist in this world or in this life, but I guess a few nights per year at Dour will allow you all the freedom you can handle by proxy. We say a few nights, because this is not the kind of Freedom anyone can bare to enjoy all year around.

Balance for this year: apart from the inevitable physical and neurological damage sustained in the line of duty, we managed to cut our losses to a bare minimum this edition. I guess after so many years in the field, you develop a sense of professionalism, a front-line instinct that kicks in when all other norms and standards go flying out the proverbial window. So apart from the obligatory lost pair of sunglasses, we left the festival with our bodies and dignity relatively intact when compared to other, more outlandish visits. No tourniquets, stitches, emergency compression bandages or blood transfusions were needed, which is saying a lot because all of us bare the scars of previous editions where things didn’t go quite so smooth. Memorable moments were spent with total strangers from all corners of this side of the globe, many improvised cocktails of unknown origin were consumed and after 3PM of day two, not one single bite of solid food was ingested. But hey, you know you’ve been dancing on the edge when it takes you 4 hours to down a raspberry smoothie, and tiptoeing that Frontier is what Dour Festival is all about, at least to a non-negligible percentage of its visitors.

So here’s to all of you, we hope your detox is over. Ours still isn’t, because just like every year, we returned from a warzone to a battlefield (Gentse Feesten) raging right outside our doorstep. Feels more or less like chasing a shot of tequila with a swig of that Vodka/Skittles abomination we had the displeasure of tasting last week. What a job.

]]> http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/26/dancing-on-the-edge/feed/ 0 Dour of Duty – GET TO THE CHOPPER! http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/17/dour-of-duty-get-to-the-chopper/ http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/17/dour-of-duty-get-to-the-chopper/#comments Sat, 17 Jul 2010 13:57:54 +0000 admin http://www.postrmagazine.com/?p=737 So we’ve been here about 16 hours and already, things are steadily deteriorating. Torn ligaments, unexplained bruises and a variety of lost items, the damage report for night one is increasing with every minute of conscious thought. Three bottles of rum depleted in the depths of night one – along with whatever other sedatives got passed our way – we were shocked and appalled at our own utter lack of inhibition. Shame upon us and every other semi-sentient soul shadily strolling these murky meadows at 5 in the morning, guzzling down the last piss-warm drops of whatever drink they’d been holding in zombie-esque manner, snapping out of chemical highs and drunken stupors to flip off a security guard and then somehow finding their way back to the garbage-strewn patch of grass they call home for these 4 days of madness.

In other words, nothing new compared to last year. The festival ground is still the same awesome congregation of fucked up people breaking loose from the chains of everyday life, letting out the rage of an entire year of 9 to 5 or high school or college or whatever it is you don’t want to be thinking about right now. So what has changed? Well, it seems that Dour is finally catching up with the bigger festivals when it comes to professionalism. And by increased professionalism, we mean a markedly heightened dickheadedness of security guards and the implementation of stupid, bureaucratic rules that make Dour (which was once like the Altamont of festivals, fast, free and deadly) into GitMoFest 2010 with the only difference being that the music here is played live. Indicator: our press wristbands now come with barcodes, campsite numbers and wirelessly detonated explosives that go of when you try to take a piss on the wrong side of a fence.

Yes dear friends, once again we are risking our lives to relay to you the unedited, uncensored and unrelenting display of human decay that is Dour Festival. And yes, we partake actively in this Mahlström of bpm’s and dangerously high heart rates, because after all, we are professionals. So right now, we’re sitting in the press area, sweating out last night’s toxins and pouring down the next batch of sedatives in order to reach a mindstate that allows us to fully appreciate the ambience here.

Oh by the way, we did interview someone last night. Who, you ask? Only the baddest, noisiest hardcore motherfuckers at this festival: we sat down for a pow-wow with the legendary Atari Teenage Riot and got a sneak preview of CX KiDTRONiK’s new album Krak Attack 2 which will be released on L.A.’s Stones Throw Records because contrary to popular belief, Myspace is totally alive and kicking, man.

]]> http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/17/dour-of-duty-get-to-the-chopper/feed/ 1 POSTRmagazine Is Heading For Dour http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/09/postrmagazine-is-heading-for-dour/ http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/09/postrmagazine-is-heading-for-dour/#comments Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:17:14 +0000 Robbert http://www.postrmagazine.com/?p=729 If you weren’t sure about going to Dour this year because it’s a festival that attracts not only cutting edge artists but also a crowd that balances that very same edge and sometimes goes way beyond it, you might as well unpack your camping gear and inflatable pillow right now; the POSTRboys for contemporary journalism will be returning this year as well, which means increased carnage and chance of bodily harm for everybody there.

In one week, you’ll be able to find the staff of your favorite free magazine slamming back shots of assorted liquor (sorted by sheer availability) and testing out whatever sedative that gets handed to us by random passers-by. Yes friends, we are going deep undercover once again, blending in with the crowd until there is no longer any way for the untrained eye to tell the difference between three perfectly lucid journalists (if you know us personally, then you’ll know that we are purely and permanently bound by professionalism) and three random party participants, wildly screaming at the night sky and jumping around in a maniacal stupor fueled by God knows what psycho-active components and chemicals.

To set the record straight beforehand: we’re not heading down South to write witty reviews on bands that you’ve never heard of and are not really that interested in hearing about. We’re also not going to give you the scoop on what songs you need to have in your iPod to be hip with the in-crowd this summer. And we’re not going there to be the gazillionth reporters to interview Gwar and Atari Teenage Riot, since those stories have about zero added value, what with the hordes of ‘professional music journalists’ who will be sharing their enlightened views in page-long articles that serve mainly to display their ability to make cultured references to obscure bands and squeeze out metaphors that have been fetched further than mescalin at a Walloon festival.

Well then, what the hell are we going to do in exchange for those free press passes that get us all-area access, reasonably clean showers and a sleeping spot far away from the humanitarian disaster called Dour Camping? Simple. We’re going to document what it’s like to be at Dour Festival. We will provide detailed reports on  what it feels like to be raving your nuts off during the last minutes of the last dj-set of the day, utterly dazed by an entire day of chemicals and music, dripping with your own sweat and that of others, surrounded by strangers that look more and more like family as the night passes, and then drumming your hands raw and bloody on metal pillars when the beat finally comes to an end. Because to us, that is the essence of Dour. Waking up the next day, knowing that you partied like you never partied before but not being able to name even one of the acts you saw after 5PM. Frankly, when we were discussing our tactics & strategies for the upcoming edition, one of our reporters shamedfacedly admitted having lost an entire 24 hours of memory from last year, recalling only a state of perpetual euphoria and a stage that wasn’t there until suddenly it was. To which he boldly added: “Let’s make it 72 hours this year.”

See you in a week.

]]> http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/09/postrmagazine-is-heading-for-dour/feed/ 1 POSTRmagazine ♥ NY http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/08/postrmagazine-%e2%99%a5-ny/ http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/08/postrmagazine-%e2%99%a5-ny/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:31:26 +0000 admin http://www.postrmagazine.com/?p=721 De Invasie went to the great NYC and were happy to take POSTRmagazine with them.]]> The people from De Invasie went to the great NYC and were happy to take POSTRmagazine with them.
So if you’re in the Brooklyn area in the next few days, here’s where you can find us:

Powerhouse Bookstore New York – Brooklyn

111 Front Street Galleries, Brooklyn – New York

218 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn (Williamsburg)

]]> http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/07/08/postrmagazine-%e2%99%a5-ny/feed/ 1 Message from POSTRmagazine HQ http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/06/21/message-from-postrmagazine-hq/ http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/06/21/message-from-postrmagazine-hq/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 07:24:00 +0000 admin http://www.postrmagazine.com/?p=709 Message from POSTRmagazine HQ to Monkeys With Typewriters – stop –
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY!! – All information highly classified – stop-
Dour Festival HQ contacted and informed – stop –
Prepare for embedded mission – stop –
Establish field HQ and real-time information uplink to POSTRmagazine HQ – stop –
Send word of confirmation a.s.a.p. – stop –
Infiltrate Interzone Battlefield and maintain a required minimum of journalistic professionalism – stop –
DIP! – full stop

Dour Festival 2010

]]> http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/06/21/message-from-postrmagazine-hq/feed/ 0 POSTRmagazine #6: Funds & Ammo issue – Out Now http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/06/17/postrmagazine-6-funds-ammo-issue-out-now/ http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/06/17/postrmagazine-6-funds-ammo-issue-out-now/#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:27:50 +0000 admin http://www.postrmagazine.com/?p=701 One would be inclined to forget, what with all the giant catastrophic oil spills polluting half the planet, our country’s Little League political elections and of course the World Cup footy taking place in South Africa, but the world is at war. Even as we speak, blood is seeping into shell-strewn sandy pavements and missile-blasted cave formations worldwide. Now if war is a product then a president is a corporate spokesperson; he delivers a well-prepared piece of PR-prose designed to fit the political equivalent of the commercial break’s 30″ format, preferably from a badass location like the Briefing Room for optimal impact. But delivering that speech is only the last step in marketing a war.
We’re not savages, meaning we don’t start wars overnight over a kidnapped princess or a deflowered maiden anymore. We calculate. We’ve learned that with war come the spoils, so in our modern world of economania, war comes with a budget. A budget that gets spent on armor-piercing bullets and warheads that can make the entire west coast of Europe evaporate with the push of a button and the twist of a missile key. Oh well, boys will be boys and the bigger they get, the bigger their toys. Which is something we were able to witness firsthand as we brushed sides with a few members of a SWAT-team who were just walking out of the shooting range we were visiting, hugging 9.mm Glocks and UZI submachine guns and showing off bulls-eye shots on cardboard cutouts of bad guys (them, not us).
We want to know what the game costs; who’s charging who how much money for all this freedom? Who is paying the bill and what’s the standard tipping percentage for liberating an oppressed people from a dictator you sort of slightly helped come to power when you thought you might be able to do business later? And when are we going to finally see some of that worldpeace we’ve been hearing so much about for decades?

Pick up ‘POSTRmagazine#6: Funds & Ammo’ and find out for yourself.

]]> http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/06/17/postrmagazine-6-funds-ammo-issue-out-now/feed/ 4 Grill The Vote Edition II: Fry All Beef http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/06/06/grill-the-vote-edition-ii-fry-all-beef/ http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/06/06/grill-the-vote-edition-ii-fry-all-beef/#comments Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:24:41 +0000 Robbert http://www.postrmagazine.com/?p=633 ]]> This might not be the right time to be gloating, considering the umpteenth fallen government and the complete lack of competent governance in this laughable excuse for a nation, but we’re still going to say we love saying we told you so. So to everybody who is suddenly claiming that they have a well-funded and relevant opinion about this next National Crisis, we have a simple question: where were you last time, when we were incinerating our voting letters at the first edition of Grill The Vote? If you weren’t in Gent, frying ribs and flipping burgers, you better make sure you are present this time so all your intellectual friends won’t think you’re a complete fraud after Election Day.

That’s right, we at POSTRmagazine are continuing our crusade for an administration that does not turn a stale, half-century-old point of pissing & moaning into a festering tumour of political inertia. BHV has become a cancer, a rotting old fungus-stain that has spread to every party and devoured any chance of a productive debate. Just for the sake of hypothesis; maybe this nauseating merry-go-round could have been slightly justified if it was caused by an actual tangible problem, something crucial to the state of our country. But alass, it does not. It’s hot air, passed through a million vents and blown out a million holes. In truth, it’s a pathetic excuse for a political crisis. Throughout the years, BHV has turned more and more into a career-maker, a topic that any politician can use as a means of gaining attention in order to enter the big leagues. Like making a statement about abortion, or stem cell research, only without the actual need for a decent view since the subject at hand is utterly overdebated and also of no actual importance. You just need to say that the whole thing needs to be solved immediately and accuse everybody in charge of doing a terrible job, even if your own party is equally responsible (which it is, because after 50 years of bitching and whining, no party in Belgium is free of blame in this matter, except maybe the Treehuggers). Just tell the people you won’t be the one to back down, and then fail consecutively at achieving any sort of progress while doing fuck-all in any other field and then walk out of office with a smile, confident that you are to blame for none of this.

To make matters worse, BHV covers up the fact that our governments are doing a whole lot of well-paid nothing in the meanwhile. We are hitting a new low here, and nobody is even taking notice because we’re all too busy complaining about how our government still hasn’t solved this one little thing. Well here’s newsflash people; this one little thing is the cheese-gourmet of politics: it is constipating every other piece of shit problem that our governments have failed to solve and our country has stomached about as much as it can take. We are a crap-filled colon, a nation of crusty old political poop that is just screaming to be passed and when that finally happens, something just might get torn in two, both painfully and bloodily. One thing is certain: the smell is going to be unbearable.

Want to be able to tell everybody you saw the continued political decay of our country coming as well next time? Join POSTRmagazine for Grill The Vote II, the cook-out for New Politics which will take place on Election Day 2010 at a location in Gent that will be confirmed later for legal reasons.


Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 book written by Hunter S. Thompson.
Original cover illustration by Ralph Steadman.

]]> http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/06/06/grill-the-vote-edition-ii-fry-all-beef/feed/ 4 To Vote or Not To Vote http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/05/21/to-vote-or-not-to-vote/ http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/05/21/to-vote-or-not-to-vote/#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 10:50:19 +0000 admin http://www.postrmagazine.com/?p=689 On June 13 we, citizens of Belgium, are all expected to step inside a voting booth and colour a dot, preferably in red. Many of us however don’t really feel like doing this, others do but don’t really believe in the power behind this gesture anymore.
That’s why we and the people from Ladda are organizing a Political Debate on May 25 at Sirena Contemporary Pop in Ghent.
We’ll try to answer all of your questions so you will be well informed when you decide to color that dot or not.

Our panel of experts will be there to guide us through the foggy maze of Belgian Politics but the public will get their chance to vent some thoughts as well of course.
We’ll talk about the pro’s and con’s of our voting system, search for alternatives and see if it’s still all worth while.

PANEL
• Nico Carpentier (Phd) Teacher connected to the Departement of Communication of the VUB.
• Vincent Van Petegem (Joung CD&V)
• Björn Rzoska (Vice chairman of Groen! party)

MUSIC
By Dj’s MikiGold & Fatoosan (SupaFly)

PARTNERS
Ladda
Sirena Contemporary Pop

]]> http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/05/21/to-vote-or-not-to-vote/feed/ 0 POSTRmagazine in May delivery of Stack http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/05/10/postrmagazine-in-may-delivery-of-stack/ http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/05/10/postrmagazine-in-may-delivery-of-stack/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 09:07:23 +0000 admin http://www.postrmagazine.com/?p=677 The great Stack Magazines have included POSTRmagazine #5: The Art Issue in their May delivery.
Here’s a nice picture we’ve received from Steven at Stack showing our magazine photographed against a few of the less dirty mail sacks he uses to send his choice of great magazines to subscribers every month.
We say thank you to that and hope to be in there again next year!

]]> http://www.postrmagazine.com/2010/05/10/postrmagazine-in-may-delivery-of-stack/feed/ 0