Where once there was music, now let there be noise...

Welcome to Freq.

The main focus of Freq for the last decade has been on the bastardized forms of music which are polluting Millennial culture so nicely - the forms which offer innovation, eccentricity and unashamed noise. Resistance to the pervading pop culture may not be original, easy or successful in the long term - after all, how long does it take before any 'underground' musical form is assimilated into the service of advertising cars? - but it just feels like the right thing to do in the circumstances.

As the .org part of Freq's URL indicates, we're not in it for the money, and no advertising will appear on this site, despite the fact that this means no free Google search engines or message boards. For as long as possible we intend to keep those sufficiently interested entertained and informed about the grey and even greying areas of music (let's not forget the apparently dim and distant past - a Freq favourite re-release in the last decade was The Holy Modal Rounders' first two albums [on one CD] which drew on American Folk music from the Twenties and earlier), and let's not forget that Modern music can be traced back at least as far as Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring. It's not what label it's on that counts, nor even if it's on a major, a division of a multinational multimedia giant, or the home-produced work of one person and their CD burner (or even cassette recorder). If it's interesting, unusual, excellent or subversive, Freq aims to cover it - and sometimes if it's very bad or just plain average we'll try to provide a warning or a commentary. Maybe even the mediocre will be considered. Just weep when a favourite slab of noise crops up in a glisteningly slick ad for the latest in semi-disposable motoring or in the incidental music for otherwise bland TV. Don't say you weren't warned; or that it can't happen, or that the wishes of an artist can't be wholly ignored in the pursuit of commodity sales.

Reader feedback and contributions are always welcome via "feedback AT freq DOT org DOT uk".

Freq is dedicated to the memories of artists who have inspired us collectively and individually, and who have died during our own ten years on the web:

• Bryn Jones of Muslimgauze;
• Drum & Bass stalwart DJ Kemistry;
• Dub maestro Augustus Pablo;
• Teenage Rioter Carl Crack;
• elliptical poet Andy Fairley;
• arch-Loon Screaming Lord Sutch;
• the not-quite-absent Septimus 7;
• faddest of gadgets Frank Tovey;
• intrepid voyager Gareth Williams of This Heat;
• beloved Can guitar genius Michael Karoli;
• harmonious Stereolab assistant Mary Hansen;
• electronic pioneer Oskar Sala;
• the very spirit of Popul Vuh himself, Florian Fricke;
• outsider supreme Wesley Willis;
• punkest of Punk Rockers Joey Ramone;
• the greatest Man in Black yet, Johnny Cash;
• Studio One founder Coxsone Dodd;
• original Silver Apples drummer Danny Taylor;
• Kaddish composer Richard Wolfson;
• interstellar explorer Alice Coltrane;
• Amon Düül II drummer Peter Leopold
• Faustian instigator Uwe Nettelbeck;
• freakout tonsured banjo Monk, Dave Day;
• NEU! man and boiler-suited hero, Klaus Dinger;
• and activist, DJ, bon viveur and friend, Gilly X.

Three special dedications are made; to the late Robert Calvert; whose Freq album provided an inspiration for the name of the site; to the sadly missed alchemical spirit of Jhonn Balance of Coil; and to John Peel; who for so many of the artists featured on this site and those of us who write it was a guiding spark into the furthest reaches of new and undiscovered music. Rest peacefully; but not in silence. The future has also been brightened considerably by Alice Andromeda; Frankie Harmonia; Augie Leon and Duncan Bennett; who are showing signs of transcending noise in their own different ways.

Finally; Freq could not have happened without the following contributors: Anton Allen; Andrew Clegg; David Cotner; Deuteronemu 90210; Paul Donnelly; Freq1C; Grufty Jim; Gyrus; Ben Haggar; Olly Hewitt; Iotar; Dag Luterek; Mahalia; Antron S. Meister; Lilly Novak; Jason Oliver; Mink Pelican; Alaric Pether; Manfred Scholido; Linus Tossio; Tango-Mango and others. All opinions are theirs; entirely subjective; and not necessarily reflecting those of anyone else. If you would like to write for Freq; send an email to "writing AT freq DOT org DOT uk" along with an example review or article for consideration.

Richard Fontenoy; Editor.

Introduction updated 4 September 2008

Visitor number since 11 February 1999 - reset from the long-departed original Angelfire site which started on 1 April 1998.
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