Hey everybody,
Been a while, but I certainly haven’t forgotten my favorite social media wasteland, nor the incredibly talented folks who still inhabit it :)
FANE has been chugging along. We got over 2100 followers on our Instagram (META… yuck… I know) and are trying to build the same audience over on Bluesky (@FANEmag.bsky.social). When the Instagram alternative Flashes launches, we’ll be on there too.
Issue 4 is almost done (hooray!) and should be out this month. Here’s a sneak preview of what’s to come!
Continuing our unintentional British theme, we have Foxtrot Echo of the infamous, and highly influential, COUM Transmissions on the cover. Matthew Levi Stevens, who has been around these creative artists since the 70s, wrote up an interview/article on Foxtrot, where we learn a little bit about how COUM kicked off, some of it’s less visible players, and the Queerness that was there right from the start. Yea, there’s mentions of everyone’s favorites: Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, and Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson. A fun anecdote talks about how Gen & Sleazy used to play a game where one would try to say things more offensively gross than the other (I think we all know who would win most of the time there).
For art this issue, we have contributions from the collective art project Hot Rat Summer (god I love that name). HRS comprised of a group of anonymous creatives in or around the Seattle area who, during the summer, installed Rat related art pieces throughout the city, all in support of Trans visibility and acceptance. Among the works is a truly phenomenal mosaic reminiscent of a religious stained glass work.
David Müller of VERFÜHRERVERGELTER shares with us some of his Osteological Photography. The works focus primarily on bones, and catching them at the right angles and lighting to give them the impression of being something they’re not. The playfulness with the “memento mori” nature of the materials is a nice juxtaposition. David also shared with us some lyrics from new VERFÜHRERVERGELTER material which will be making their debut in various ways later this year.
Supermasochist Rae C., known online as That One Pain Pup, wrote a heartfelt, and disheartening piece for us about their struggle with VEDS. VEDS, or Vascular Ehler-Danlos Syndrome, is a horrific condition that slowly, and painfully, destroys the body. Rae’s battle with this monstrosity is nearing its end, and they want to spread awareness about the condition as far and wide as they can, while they still can.
There’s plenty more, of course. Interviews with artists Snowbeasts, Iman Essiet, and Klovis Gaynor & The Urinal Cakes. Reviews of books from Briar Moth of Vexagon and Thomas Boettner of Straight Panic/JonBenét Bataille. There’s plenty of music reviews, too: SKRATZ, Bison Squad, Cicatrice/Pain Chain, Elka Bong, UNSUB, Pageant, Adeline Wilhel, Machine God, Somnia Vera, iffin, Štarr W., and more. Our cartoon friend Mr. Disembodied Eye makes a comeback, and this time he’s got some new friends.
And last but not least, Issue 4 will bring with it a brand new volume of Frequency Filter featuring music from some of the artists featured or reviewed within the issue.
While you wait for Issue 4 to drop (maybe on a special day for lovers?), you can always check out FANE’s previous 3 issues, Frequency Filter Vol. 3, and Queer Noise Terror Vol. 1, all available digitally for FREE at FANEmag.com
