FEEDBACK
Love Resonance, hate Resonance ... we don't care but we'll take your comments either way. Give us a shout below, or email to info@resonancemag.com.
HALL OF FAME COMMENTS
PERFECT PACKAGE
Here is my one-stop magazine shopping trip. Somehow, Resonance manages to capture emerging artists I'm interested in without descending into the California-based cesspool of incestuous-ness that many of my old favorite low-brow art mags have done, music I love and care about without all the tiresome Johnny-more-indie-than-you attitude present in so many other periodicals. Perfection in around 100 glossy pages.
Phoebe Nelson (Cleveland, OH)
ALL HAIL
I was psyched to see the redesign of Resonance. It reminded me of awesome UK-designed mags who have a brain and eclectic content (hello, Miranda July rocks every house, UK and U.S.) and don't cater to the lowest common denominator assfucks of America who need to hear chart-toppers to feel part of the flock. All hail Resonance.
Amber Lutz
BETTER AND BETTER
Keep up the incredible work, I just love the new redesign and the content just keeps getting better and better. I don't really like magazines, and yours is the only one I read and look forward to.
Evan Sornstein, Dynamophone Records
LEAPS AND BOUNDS
I'm a sucker for simple design, so you got me there. The circled R looks good. Not to sound like a jerk, but it's leaps and bounds above that font you used previously. I hate it when magazines have a really nice photo and they crop it or cover it with tons of text. I like how your new design moved the majority of that to the bottom of the cover. The Dan Deacon photo is awesome. Also, I'm a fan of hand-drawn type. It might have been cool to have some written type flowing out of Dan's mouth. Maybe in the future you can have whoever is on your cover throwing up an "R" like a gang sign for Resonance. At least do it once.
Matt Stilt
FAN OF DRUMS MUSIC
Deer [sic] Resonance Letter Reader(s),
The reason that I love Jens Hannemann's drumming is because I am smarter than everyone else... and this I knew it since that time in fourth grade. Even now when I listen to Jens I can almost smell the whales that he plays. Thank you for speaking to me of him and the drums music.
Where once your magazine sat by my toilet there now must sit a laptop. How convenient. Thank you. My naked lap is warm from the hot battery.
Beauty is good.
Anonymous via website
(sounding a lot like one Fred Armisen ... we appreciate the note regardless!)
FINE, FIT & HAPPY
Thank you for employing (or exploiting) interns such as the fine, fit, and
happy smiling young woman that was giving out free copies of your magazine
at the recent KEXP 2nd annual BBQ. I am in Seattle for the first time ever
this summer working on at a temporary job, and I came across both KEXP and
then your magazine by pure serendipitous luck. Your magazine is a nice
adjunct to the soundtrack that has become my wonderful life right now. I am
just sorry I didn't go up to that woman/girl with the amazing smile and tell
her, "thank you, I like your vibe." PS: It was nice reading about how Lali Puna was influenced by Aphex Twin.
Love has found a new place to play, Daniel
A-POLITICAL BIG GUYS
Easy on the politics. Due to popular belief, there are a lot of young,
hip
conservatives out there that read your mag. Keeping your magazine
as
"bi-partisan" (neutral) as possible will help you stay on top
of your game
and retain readers. =) This is how the big guys get ahead!
~River
MY BOOK!
Hey, you Resonance guys are going to laugh. My daughter, Kaya, loves
your
magazine. She drags Resonance are the house with her flipping through
the
pages and if I try to grab it she says, "my book!" She seems
particularly
fond of the add with the rocket and seems scared of the one on the
back
pages with the pighead guys. Kudos on the ad to get kids to vote.
We need to
get that utter moron out of the white house.
Brad Shire
Reno, NV
SUSPICIOUS HOUSE GUESTS
Please stop putting lame-ass, glam-rock posers on your cover.
It takes time to deface them so my houseguests don’t think I’m
an idiot.
Sincerely, Rebecca Niederlander
QUIET UPHOLDERS
I just received my first issue of Resonance and was looking
forward to reading the reviews, etc. As I browsed through
the magazine, I came across a tagline to issue 39 which
concerned me a bit—so I thought I’d inquire
further before I decide what to make of it. I noticed that you note that
you are “Quietly upholding the agenda of the Far Right.” Is
this a joke? I’m not one to pontificate and won’t do that here
(I firmly believe everyone is entitled to their beliefs)—but
I would like to know if your magazine endorses positions held
by the far right so that I can decide for myself if I wish to
continue my subscription or not.
Thank you in advance for your reply.
Manuel Ramirez
GRACE OF THE OMNI-PRESENT
I am very happy to write you this letter. Please how are you?
I hope by the grace of the Omnipresent you are fine as I am.
Please the reason why I am written you this letter is that, I
am a boy of thirteen years old, and I attend Sunday School. But
still I can’t repent. So
I want a preaching cassette or a bible so that I will learn or
hear it to repent me. Thank you, may God richly bless you. Goodbye.
Yours friend, Gordon Damptey
Gliksten Preparatory School
Sefwi Wiawso, Ghana, West Africa
P.S. Please don’t forget to reply me. 1st John 3:8: He
who does what is sinful is of the devil.
PERIPHERAL SIGNIFICANCE
Smashing work on the last issue. I’d like to comment/extend upon some
implicit themes in Fred Beldin’s “Frugal Fright” article.
It was informative and relatively thorough, but in his final lines he only
weakly implied the social signifiers that make readers of Resonance give
a shit about horror in the first place. What about pointing out the artistic
relevance of the horror genre to the lowbrow art movement? The true draw
for fans of horror is its socially rebellious aspect. Watching something
that defies common taste, as these kitschy gore-fests genuinely do, creates
a shift in the viewer’s aesthetic parameters. Isn’t this the
same rebelliousness against homogenization that brings so many people to
independent music? Nowadays so much experimentation (cinematically, musically,
and otherwise) is less about what the art is doing and more about viewer
perception. When we as viewers shift our perception to enjoy something that
is in direct opposition to a socially construed concept of originality and
value, we rebel against pre-conceived notions of worth and stretch our ability
to perceive. This dynamic stretch of perceptions is what horror flicks can
be about. The role of the genre is more along the lines of the cinematic
work of Bunel and Warhol in the sense that horror is a force for change
in the MINDS of the viewers as opposed to simply conveying rebellious subject
matter. The expanding web of genre, form, and aesthetic expectations in
music and movies will always have its periphery. The periphery’s significance,
however, does not have to wait thirty years as Beldin implies—it
will be revving up its chainsaw or sneaking up on you with a
cleaver with every passing moment.
Brendan David Hendrick, Chicago, IL
Fred Beldin (film editor) response:
It’s true that standards of taste and quality are irrelevant, and
the celebration of lowbrow art like the films in question is an important
tool in smashing the glass ceiling that keeps our culture bland and soapy.
Certainly my perceptions have been altered by masterpieces like Blood Freak
and Monsters Crash the Pajama Party, and for the better, I might add. Still,
a lot of the weaker straight-to-video horror numbers that I was referring
to are not merely outside the established boundaries of taste and aesthetics,
they’re downright boring, and I think Warhol already cornered the
market on exploring tedium on camera. Some of these cinematic crimes are
best left to future audiences who will be able to enjoy their archival value.
But you’re right; there is no reason not to embrace the
crass and the pulpy of today, in order to rearrange our minds
for wider thinking and deeper understanding.