All of us who grew up with MTV and the techno era of the nineties have a few strands of Ben Watkins in our DNA. We spent an hour on the phone with one of the forefathers of all that’s goa and psy with the saw leads and the bubbling basslines and the samples that cut knowledge in our forebrains and we know – he loves working with new people, he thinks dubstep is the new shit and he’s just a master chef… or so he says.
(Originally published in THE DOSE #2, 2007.)
(more…)

We hooked up with Alec Empire not too long after Election Day. The mastermind behind Atari Teenage Riot and now his new project, The Hellish Vortex redbulled into a chilly evening and talked about his apparent optimism into 2009, his movie projects, how MySpace fame can turn into a worst nightmare and also, what you need to tweak to acquire the urban stage legend we call “riot frequency”. All this in the bowels of a Ukrainian stone-carrier ship turned into a venue on the Danube.
(Photos by Akos Stiller.)
(more…)

Cyberpunk or not, The Dose HQ is all about 80s vectors revisited (think Darwinia!), abstract geometrical forms and intense finger-flicking action, when it comes to handheld games. Until the i-platforms receive their well-deserved share of Flash, here’s a brief rundown of all the apps – mostly games – we came to love in the past few months. They sometimes look like Rez, cover you like Music for Airports and they often frustrate you into an inhuman piece of shrieking Neanderthal who’s been just defied by the complexity of a cube. Grab some demonic wisdom here!
(more…)

MySpace without cleavages, Facebook without apps, last.fm without networking. This is how you’d look at Twitter if you’d live in a tunnel with acute hard-on syndrome for eyecandy, ADHD and honest love for click frenzy. That’s alright, some of us still do. We’d take a different approach, though, and follow the footsteps of Violet Blue who made a wonderful job drawing up a master list of sex tweeters – we’d do the same for industrial, gothic, fetish, steampunk and cyberpunk, perhaps alternative. Let us know if we’re missing someone!

Amanda Palmer of Dresden Dolls
Amelia Arsenic of Angelspit
Björk
Chris Cornell
Das Bunker (the venue)
Dillinger Escape Plan
Dir en Grey
DJ Xian
Dresden Dolls
EBM Radio
Ego Likeness
Erasure
Experiment Haywire
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
The Horrorist (Oliver Chesler)
I:Scintilla
kiEw
Liam Howlett (of The Prodigy)
MERA LUNA FESTIVAL
Mr. Joe Black
Muse
Sigur Rós
The Birthday Massacre
The Genitorturers
The Last Dance
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails
Tyske Ludder
Zoog of Angelspit

[fetish and model photography]

Adrianne Anderson
Alecia Anathema
Amelia G
Ancilla Tilia
Angela Ryan
Apnea
Athena Fatale
Bianca Beauchamp
Captive Culture
Chad Michael Ward
Christine Kessler
Courtney Crave
Darenzia
Deanna Deadly
Dita Von Teese
Donna Ricci
Emily Marilyn
Evelyn Rose
Fetish Jade
Ivy Blue
January Seraph
Josie Nutter
Kumi
Lenora Claire
Lexie Molotoff
Lexmachine
Libby Bulloff
Lithium Picnic
Miss Amarantha
Miss Duveaux
Natalie Addams
Nicotine
Noir Halo
Ropemarks
Rope Marks Muse
Rubberdoll
Rubber Dollemma
Saryn Christina
Satine Phoenix
Steve Diet Goedde
Sofia Valentine
Twisted Mermaid
Ugly Shyla

[they write, draw and design, gloriously]

Aunia Kahn
Ben Templesmith
Billy Antiseptic (of Antiseptic Fashion)
Bizarre magazine
Bruce Sterling
Coilhouse (the magazine)
Cory Doctorow
Douglas Rushkoff
Ectomo (the site)
Ego Assassin (they make printed latex clothing)
Haute Macabre (the site)
Iron Fist Clothing
Jhonen Vasquez
John Perry Barlow
Mer of Coilhouse
Molly Crabapple
Nadya Lev of Coilhouse
Neil Gaiman
Richard Kadrey
Side-Line (the site)
Stephen Levy
Tank Girl
Warren Ellis
Zoetica Ebb of Coilhouse

[list last updated: 2009 apr 23, photo is used by kind permission of @dawe_)

Headscan has always been a definitve milestone in intelligent dance electro, industrial techno, cyberpunk, call it what you will, in a pantheon of names like Haujobb, Clock DVA or Forma Tadre. Cool, blue and sombre across the soundscape of the real, they slapped Gibson and Sterling into the mix of hyperclear electronics under the TV skies of Canada. Taking a break, they shared their opinions on cyberpunk, bizarro, techno-fetishism, Dune and many more.
(Originally published in THE DOSE #2, 2006.)
(more…)