We interviewed Ivo Dimchev, the creator of an online magazine, Stereofox. We discovered that he is not alone in his quest to get back the human emotional power of music. He has this feeling that industry has sucked directly the essence of this artistic expression.
It was long ago when this idea first appeared. I remember the day that my teacher told me that I wasn’t good enough to play the flute (thank God I change to the drums, way more cool, no offense). I discovered that instead of being the guy who is on the cover of the album or a magazine, I was more interested in understanding, feeling and even trying to be part of the creator’s experience. It was a long trip; there were many pieces of a life story that transform an abstract and inanimate element into a simple, personal and definitely emotional concept.
The road would be full of obstacles. There is always someone who will treat your dreams like an industrial product trying to bring you down with every question, like in a job interview, rather than to show admiration for your true passion about music. Every challenge that I experienced by myself and every step I took, was more encouraging. I started to realize that there are so many people that will never discover the importance of immersing themselves in the music, not just see it behind a screen or through speakers. Suddenly I discovered that the simple idea that had been going through my mind for a long time could be shared by the people of Plodvid, Costa Rica, Berlin or Granada. Thus, Stereofox was born.
Thanks to the hard work and selfless support of people around the entire world, we started trying to go further, not being another one of the millions websites flooding cyberspace nowadays. The objective is to disclose every single note which is out of the spotlight but is worthy to be discovered, focusing on the quality of their content and not on the precast continents of the industry. We seek to recover the idea of interconnection between the bands shown in our page and reach the world with the strength of our collective. The concept of being an active part of the international experience, working hand in hand with the amazing people that you can find in every place in the world makes us special. We’re planting the seed; you just need to let it grow.
During the past decade we have seen a massive unstoppable revolution, where sometimes it becomes even more difficult to find a way to escape and explore your individualism. We need to find the way to get back to the spirit of Memphis during the 20’s, California in the 50s, or the latest 80’s in “Madchester”. We need to re-humanize the music, put aside the pro-tools and feel the sweat on the forehead of those who are at the front of the stage. We need to let ourselves be touched by this sound that can establish such strong connections with our own life.
We must have an open mind. We cannot be fundamentalists in defense of our favorite music genre or style. We must go deeper. Perhaps you will discover a guy from India who is able to do amazing electronic music with few resources or a wealthy citizen of United Kingdom who only speaks through her voice and guitar. Each band that you find, add something to your soul. Idols become just people and this kind of things increases your desire, your hunger to go beyond, to know if these people feel on the same emotional level. We need to bring the world together to pursuit the goal of inspiration.
It doesn’t make sense to start a war against other media. There will be always some Pitchfork or FasterLouder who are bigger and more powerful than you. So what is the point of all this? The reward is to find other websites like Blueberry Beats or Musicstache who present a similar sense of brotherhood or camaraderie that is supposed to exist within every artistic movement. We can find a similar situation on the other side of the music world; those who are trying to make of their lifestyle their way of living. We have always heard about “how complicated the life of a rock star is because of the burden of fame.” Now we are starting to realize the brutal truth, given the economic situation we live in and all those behaviors that have been rising up in the music industry for decades closer to the evilness inherent to every human being. Nowadays it seem to be just a crazy idea to live by your music but we should start thinking less about being a rock star in order to become musicians. Do not expect anyone to listen to you, give them a reason to do it.
If you lose your perspective and you get corrupt by money you have nothing left. You will probably try to build a new monument to greed, those who are called record labels or music media. Sooner or later you will wake up seeing how the calluses caused by hard work on your guitar are now due to typing on a keyboard to get money. Your tattoos, your hair, your clothes and individual style will become your work uniform. We need to show to the world that music is no longer on MTV (if it ever was). It is inside the guy who’s playing in the subway. If we show this to the rest, the effort will be worth it. If we only keep on trying to fix the look of this guy who is playing on the street or in a pub, packaging himself to sell to the market, we are killing the whole concept Stereofox fights.
It may seem impossible to achieve if we think about this technological and social uprooting world we live in, but you just need to be positive, take advantage of the tools you could find just with a click. Knowledge is power though sometimes it is overwhelming because of the amount of information available, but in the end it is exactly what it is. Power. Imagine Joshep Hayden chatting with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the quality of their work could have been better if that was possible. Facebook groups back in the eighteenth century called “crazy motherfuckers doing modern music” or back in the 50’s of the last century blogs named like “Long haired dangerous guys playing music from the devil” could have discovered so many talented musicians that nobody knows nowadays. It’s time to stop this obsession we seem to have with the dangers of internet and start using it to change things, because revolution does not only mean to be social or political, it can also be musical and we can change the world through that. Stereofox may not change your life, but it is not a crazy idea that you can discover in it this sound that you didn’t even know existed or find the perfect lyrics that you were looking for decades to change your life.
Forget the word music. It’s just a word. The communal experience generated by each and every member of the planet, is finally composing the masterpiece every artist hopes to write. The time to wait at the exit of the backstage to get an autograph is over, now it’s time to start looking into our eyes, face to face and discover that this feeling is not written in staves or newspaper articles. We have the people and the resources, the heart and the soul. Perhaps now at last, like a crazy small guy with a trembling voice said 50 years ago, is when finally “Times They Are A-Changing”.
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