Brainwashed (website)

Brainwashed

Type of site	Music publication
Owner	Jon Whitney
Website	brainwashed.com
Commercial	No
Launched	16 April 1996 (1996-04-16)
Current status	Active

Brainwashed is a not-for-profit music website supporting eclectic music. Brainwashed features news, reviews, a podcast, hosts websites for many musical artists and record labels, and has organized two music festivals, Brainwaves. Over fifty people contribute to the archives of Brainwashed. Brainwashed also releases music as Brainwashed Recordings.

History

Brainwashed.com was launched on April 16, 1996 for the purpose of hosting Web sites for various musical artists. The sites contained news, discography, press releases, interviews, photos, merchandise, sound files, lyrics, tour dates when available. The original sites included Meat Beat Manifesto, Greater Than One, Coil, Throbbing Gristle, The Legendary Pink Dots, Nurse With Wound, Current 93, and Cabaret Voltaire. Sites like Meat Beat Manifesto, Coil, and the Legendary Pink Dots were recognized by the artists as official at the time and the URLs were printed in numerous releases, others like Throbbing Gristle, Nurse With Wound, Current 93, and Cabaret Voltaire weren't regarded as official, however were, at the time, the most comprehensive sources for those acts and were often referenced in books (such as Wreckers of Civilisation: The Story of COUM Transmissions & Throbbing Gristle by Simon Ford and England's Hidden Reverse by David Keenan) and magazine articles (such as ones from The Wire). The list of artists and archives hosted by brainwashed.com can be found here.

In 1997, Brainwashed began hosting web sites for record labels including Kranky, RRRecords, Thrill Jockey, and Happy Go Lucky Records, and later hosted sites for Tigerbeat6, Important Records, and World Serpent Distribution. In 1998, Brainwashed launched The Brain, a weekly digest of music news, reviews, new releases, tour dates, and other information about some of the artists and labels hosted on Brainwashed. The Brain was folded into Brainwashed.com in 2005.

Annual readers' poll

In 1998, Brainwashed conducted its first online poll where the readers were allowed to both nominate and vote for music choices of the year. The readers poll continues to conduct rounds of nominations and votes for the readers to decide. Past polls can be seen here.

Brainwashed Recordings

In 1999, Brainwashed began a small recording label as an extension of the Web site to issue short run releases of acts who had web sites on brainwashed.com. The full site is here.

Brainwashed Radio and Podcast

In 2000, brainwashed launched a 24-hour streaming radio station which featured music from the artists and labels that were hosted at brainwashed.com. The stream was discontinued in 2004.

The first episode of Brainwashed Radio: The Podcast Edition was published on December 13, 2004. It primarily features music reviewed and promoted on Brainwashed.com. New episodes are produced and published on average on a weekly basis. In 2016 the podcast has incorporated interviews from musical artists on nearly every episode. More information can be found here.

The Eye

The Eye was a video segment that was launched first on May 4, 2003, featuring miniature documentaries on musical acts containing interviews and live footage. Nearly 150 segments were produced and are now available to be streamed on YouTube.

Brainwaves Festival

The Brainwaves Festival took place on November 17, 18, and 19, 2006, at the Regent Theater in Arlington, Massachusetts, to celebrate the first 10 years of Brainwashed.com. Performing artists were Z'EV, Nadja (band), Troum, The Dresden Dolls, Edward Ka-Spel and The Silverman of The Legendary Pink Dots, Cock ESP, Howard Stelzer, V/Vm, Goodiepal, Greg Davis, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Landing (band), Aranos, Steven Stapleton (as DJ) of Nurse With Wound, Colin Potter, Irr.App.(Ext.), Volcano the Bear, Charles Atlas (band), Jessica Bailiff, Christoph Heemann, Andreas Martin (guitarist), Windy & Carl, and Thighpaulsandra.

A second Brainwaves Festival took place on November 21, 22, and 23, 2008, at the Regent Theater again. Performing artists were Marissa Nadler, JG Thirlwell's Manorexia Orchestra, Silver Apples, Meat Beat Manifesto, Glenn Jones, Nmperign feat. Jason Lescalleet, Major Stars, Rivulets, Gary Wilson, His Name Is Alive, Andrew Liles & Jonathan Coleclough, Reformed Faction, Little Annie, The Threshold HouseBoys Choir, Matmos, Windy Weber and Benoit Pioulard, Strategy (band), Nudge (band), Lichens (band), Boduf Songs, To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie, and Stars of the Lid. For a video montage and more information see brainwavesfest.org.

See also

• Songs of the Week by Coil
• List of record labels

References

• Bolle, Susanna (19 November 2008). "A fest for the brain: The triumphant second coming of Brainwaves". Boston Phoenix. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
• Feely, Nick (18 November 2008). "Brainwaves". DigBoston. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
• "Brainwashing Pop Montreal". Pop Montreal. 2006. Archived from the original on 2009-10-09. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
• Christensen, David (14 December 2001). "You've Been Brainwashed, and You Don't Even Know It". Archived from the original on 2011-05-27. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
• "Tuneful Web Sites We Can't Live Without". Baltimore City Paper. 7 December 2000. Retrieved 6 October 2012.

External links

• Official website
• Brainwaves Festival
• Brainwashed Radio - The Podcast Edition