Blackvector Magazine is a Swedish blog specializing in electro, EBM, futurepop, synthpop, harsh electro, and “clubby industrial” music. They’ve recently started adding Spotify links to their reviews, so I thought this would be the perfect time to find out a bit more about the blog. Björn Andersson is the man in charge; I got in touch and asked him to tell us a little about his site, how and why he blogs, and his thoughts on the current and future electro music scene. Read on for the interview!
How did your site get its name?
Black Vector is actually the model name of some speakers from the Scandinavian quality brand Audio Pro, and is one of their most successful series. The name was something that captured my attention and I thought it sounded pretty good. So I put the two words together.
How long has your site been running for?
Previously I wrote for the now-closed e-zine Neurozine. It was pretty big on the scene. After a couple of years in hiatus, I decided to start my own zine and thoughts started to grow in Spring of 2009. The site was officially launched on May 18th, 2009, so I guess we have a 2-year anniversary in a week. 🙂
What styles of music do you cover?
There are so many different styles out there and new ones show up all the time. But on a big scale everything is more or less some kind of crossover or mix between the different styles that I grew up with. I try to cover as much as possible in the Electro/Industrial genre like EBM, Futurepop, Synthpop, Industrial, and Electropop.
Why do you blog?
My passion for music is very big. I love it. But in a way I don’t see it as blogging, even though that is pretty much what everything is nowadays. I think I’m stuck with the old mentality of running a website.
Do you have other blog contributors?
No, not at the moment. I do everything myself.
How do you decide what to write about? Do you plan out your posts in advance?
A lot of the news and such I get through email, but I also use Twitter and Facebook to get updates from bands and labels. I try to get out as much as I can that I feel is of importance and that the readers want to know.
How do you approach reviewing an album?
The feeling you get of listening to an album is different every time. Some are very easy to understand and others can be very difficult. Some albums require you to listen to them a couple of extra times compared with others. I guess it’s a matter of what you like and what you don’t. But only because you don’t like an album you can’t give it a bad rating, or write that you don’t like it. You have to dig in deeper and really listen to what the sounds are telling you.
What do you think of the current synthpop and electro scene?
It’s a mixed combination. I’ve been listening to this kind of music since 1999 and in some areas a lot of things have happened. Some albums released back then still sound the same with a modern sound. Then you evolve in what kind of music you like all the time. There are some bands and music styles I couldn’t listen to back then but that I have grown into and really like today. But I think that some bands seem to have stopped evolving and still sound the same as they were ten years ago. They kind of repeat what they have been doing from the beginning. Even if they keep their die-hard fans that want them to sound like they always have, it tends to get pretty boring for the music scene.
Nowadays, in the time of computers, anyone can create music and the internet is a great way to show what you have done. Something that just wasn’t possible 15 years ago. Now you can get it out to the public in seconds.
What changes have you seen in recent synth music and where do you see it going?
The main changes I think is in the quality of the music. I can listen to music that was created 5-10 years ago and really hear the difference from the same bands and artists releasing an album today.
Who are some of your favourite bands and artists?
There are so many great bands and artists out there and the styles I listen to differs. One day I feel like listening to soft synthpop and another day I want some harsher stuff. The list would be very long if I were to write them all down! I just want to give good cred to all artists and bands who keep creating great music.
Name a band you love that no-one else seems to have heard of.
Actually I got to hear a new exciting band a couple of weeks ago: UK duo cYbEr.dYnE. They recently released a great free track.
Which review, interview or feature are you most proud of?
I must say my interview with Ronan Harris of VNV Nation. It was the first ever interview I made face to face and I think it turned out great. Ronan is a great guy and we had a great talk.
Which other music websites and blogs do you rate?
I check out Brutal Resonance frequently as one of the founding members is a good friend and was also the founding member of Neurozine. So we have some history together and it’s great to read each other’s reviews of the same records as I think we have similar taste in music.
Thanks very much for your time Björn!