Pop in a red robe
The German music magazine "Melodie & Rhythmus" has given itself a new look. A critical look shows that the promises made are hardly being kept.
"Melody and rhythm provides many unconventional and unusual perspectives on popular music," says Susann Witt-Stahl. The editor-in-chief of the music magazine, which was founded in the GDR in 1957, explains in the daily newspaper young world the latest M&R relaunch. "M&R is becoming more critical, more political, is moving closer to current events and is getting involved in cultural debates," can be read elsewhere.
However, these promises do not stand up to a differentiated examination: neither the selection of artists - from Bono successor Rea Garvey to the indie casting judges from the Kaiser Chiefs - nor the analyses presented (one exception is Marcus Staiger's text on the you-can-create-it-if-you-want-it rhetoric in German rap) are particularly critical or innovative. Linguistically, the magazine hardly sets any accents: The level of the texts is too varied, too many commonplaces are used. However, this is not least a reflection of the long-lasting and far beyond M&R The crisis in record criticism that is also rampant. Why are voices always "crystal clear" and what the hell is meant by "musical seriousness"?
The magazine cover, designed by the left-wing designer collective Rabotnik from Copenhagen in a "contemporary Marxist aesthetic" (Susann Witt-Stahl), is striking. The Danes have also given the layout a subtle red coat of paint. However, this is just as little of a revolution as the in-depth content perspectives: They are simply too short for that. This shortcoming is particularly noticeable in the thematic focus on "Pop music and class struggle". The grandly announced "conference" with the British music critic Simon Reynolds is nothing more than a compilation of nine short statements and the M&R-The questionnaire to Jan Delay barely gets beyond clichéd questions, which become irrelevant in their brevity and are anything but "existential", as claimed in the introduction.
The strength and potential of the new M&R The slightly more critical Viewpoints section, where the thesis "Pop culture is not possible without capitalism" is discussed from two perspectives or the Greek music scene - here at last in more detail - is scrutinized. Also promising is the pop song analysis by Israeli art theorist Moshe Zuckermann, which will appear in every issue in future and which takes a closer look at Miley Cyrus in this issue. Last but not least, it is exciting to see how the theme of class struggle runs through the entire issue, right up to the live concerts section. Whether this is due to the magazine's left-wing positioning or a new thematic concept will become clear in the next issue with its focus on "Brazil".
M&R Melodie und Rhythmus, May/June 2014 issue; published bimonthly, single issue € 4.90, annual subscription abroad € 36.90, Verlag 8. Mai, Berlin, www.melodieundrhythmus.com
