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We exist as a website for information on a small number of bands and record companies. Brainwashed is owned by one person, Jon Whitney and is operated by a wonderful staff of volunteers all over the world who love the music. Since we don't get paid, we don't have time or staff to search out new bands or labels. Since we don't advertise nor care for traffic, we don't do link exchanges.
When we opened our doors in April of 1996, we wanted to honor some of our favorite bands with websites. These bands either had a lousy idol worshipping fan site, a corporate site which ignored a band's career outside of the label or no web site at all. Over the years, brainwashed has grown to house sites for a few record companies as well as many more bands and archives. The name itself was borrowed from a reference of Meat Beat Manifesto, the first band to have a web site here. Brainwashed, however, is not necessarily bands/groups affiliated with MBM by any means (if there's any confusion).
We're very proud of our music sites, since we focus on bringing the fans the most comprehensive and current sites on the net. We are information-oriented and make visually appealing, quick loading, never overloaded web sites. We have often been deemed to have some of the best music web sites on the net [The Wire, UK; CMJ, USA; Billboard, USA; Creme Brulee, FR)]. But why believe just them? Our most recent traffic reports (December 1998) showed an average of 100,000 hits per day with around 2500 unique visitors to the site. Since then we have stopped logging users.
It's music that matters to us (we're not for sale) and we're glad to be here to help — we are on the musicians' side, the fans side and the record companies' side and serve no other purpose than to exchange music and information without ulterior motives. We don't sell advertising because we don't sell out our friends. You can't afford to advertise on us.
If you're a band or a label and you want your music listened to, turn your attention to The Brain, a weekly webzine compiled by the staff of Brainwashed. Other than that we're honestly too busy to adopt new websites for new bands or labels, we're a staff of volunteers. So please don't ask us as the answer is no.
"the gourmet supermarket of new music fans around the world, no matter how discerning their tastes." - the BBC
"Every record-label website should be as simple and efficient as this." - Entertainment Weekly
"They kind of remind me of The Wire, that is, another magazine I would never bother reading, covering music I would never listen to." - The National Organization to Shoot Bill O'Reilly Into the Sun.
"a direct product of refreshing kind of fan love borne by music obsessed reader and contributora who only awnser to themselves" - the Urb
"An aesthetically pleasing design umbrella for the Web sites of hot underground rock and experimental artists and labels." - Billboard Magazine
"many of the sites have become all but official. A slick black intro page leads you straight into the artist list, which centres on the post-Industrial Diaspora as it bleeds in with US post-rock and downtempo beat junk." - The Wire Magazine
"the only website that is well-known and well-trusted by underground addicts. This site is well done, easy-reading, and full of information updated every week." - Creme Brulee Magazine
"Extensive roster of well-kept fountains of info,..." - Baltimore City Paper, July 12, 2000
"echoing thousands of webmasters all over the globe,..." - CMJ, August, 2000
"Elite group of information-oriented sites,..." - About.com
"Il sito in questione è il meglio che possiate trovare in rete se siete interessati a musiche indie di confine, qui ci sono le homepages ufficiali di molti gruppi, tra i quali Bedhead, Stars Of The Lid, Labradford, Current 93, Meat Beat Manifesto, nonchè il sito della Kranky e altre cose interessanti; notevole è il fatto che il tutto è curato con molto gusto e con un'estetica semplice ma molto efficace. L'indirizzo è" - Sodapop
"your source for great european electronic art" - musiq.com
"Ogni settimana su questa interessante Web Zine troverete articoli, recensioni e interviste sul mondo musicale indipendente. Oltre alla musica è possibile visitare le sezioni dedicate alla vendita del merchandising ed altro ancora. Il sito è in lingua inglese. " - Palermo in Musica
"The quick, error-free sound samples are a refreshing break from disastrous links on other sites,..." - Entertainment Weekly
"The online home to a wide array of cool bands: Coil, Matmos, V/vm, Luke Vibert and many more. Brainwashed is the portal to a shitload of amazing artists you want to know about. . ." - XLR8OR Magazine
"Un site-label-webzine multi-cartes qui centralise quelques-uns des noms les plus importants des musiques actuelles : God Speed You Black Emperor !, Tortoise, Bowery Electric, Coil, Throbbing Gristle, Trans Am, Legendary Pink Dots, Ikeda Ryoji, pour ne citer qu'eux." - Chronic'Art
"an excellent weekly e-zine" - The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
"contains info, discographies, audio samples, and vends some limited albums from bands such as coil, legendary pink dots(or just edward ka'spel not sure), current 93, labradford, ... i don't want to list too many for fear i'll accidently list one that isn't there. they maintain sites for some 15-25 bands. check it out" - Red Pets
"Home to the pages of Nurse With Wound, Coil, Legendary Pink Dots, and dozens of other important experimental artists. " - DMOZ
"One of the coolest music sites you'll find." - Christian Perry
"Music company hosts dozens of new and experimental artists. Read the weekly zine, visit the store or check out the featured bands. " - Excite
"A great site for the indie and electronic crowd. "- Free Williamsburg
"Shedding light on the most underrated bands of our time." - Monster Mo
"web design and hosting for many of your favorites. great weekly zine as well. " - Star Star Stereo
"Brainwashed, your one-stop shop for "music which deserves better recognition on the net and the rest of the world". Experimental, apocalyptic, and industrial bands all have official homepages here, in addition to other features such as a Weekly Digest and MP3 Jukebox." - Memepool
"the source for the uninhibited" - Vamp.org
"a massive umbrella for electronic/experimental music" - The Trout Cave
"By far the best site on the web for the real alternative scene and not this mamby-pamby dullness they continue to churn out is Brainwashed. Here you'll find links to all manner of interesting sound- makers including Nurse with Wound, Coil , Current 93, Labradford, Godspeed you Black Emperor and many many more... " - Michael Rodham Heaps
"excellent site and label now too" - Mystery Hearsay
Brainwashed.com and The Brain boycott Major Label music for many reasons.
- There's so much exciting music happening from the enormous number of indie labels, our small volunteer staff doesn't want to waste our spare resources.
- There's enough reviews, support and coverage from places like Rolling Stone or Spin or NME.
- We don't agree with practices that include in-house publishing clauses, high-budget awards shows, radio station payola, million-dollar music video expenses, retailer price-fixing or conglomeration of smaller labels that result in deletion of catalogue and employees (ie: profit-minded as opposed to artistically-minded).
Due to this boycott we will actively ignore major product at all opportunities, since even bad publicity is still publicity. We also openly encourage every individual to spread the word. We also wish the media outlets ignore major label product, even try going for an issue being completely major-label free. For those confused, the major labels are: AOL Time Warner (Warner Bros., Sire, Maverick, Atlantic, Elektra); Universal (Mercury, DefJam, Interscope); Sony Music (Columbia, Epic, Work); BMG (Jive, Arista, RCA); and EMI (Capitol, Virgin).
For a more detailed statement, please look at our Terms and Conditions statement.
Brainwashed
PO Box 7
Arlington, MA 02476
USA
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