''Sonic Seducer'' is a German music magazine that covers

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

, new wave, EBM and other kinds of electronic music and culture. The magazine is noted for organizing the annual

M'era Luna Festival The M'era Luna is a rock festival that encompasses a number of different styles such as metal, future pop, aggrotech, synthpop, gothic rock, dark wave, and ebm. It is held annually on the second weekend of every August, in Hildesheim, Ge ...

. Since its inception in 1994, the ''Sonic Seducer'' has become one of the major publications of the

dark culture Dark culture ( German ''Schwarze Szene''; Portuguese ''cultura obscura''; Spanish ''escena oscura''; Italian ''scena Dark'' or ''scena gotica''), also called dark alternative scene or Darkly-Inclined, includes goth and dark wave culture, most o ...

in Germany.

Content

The magazine focuses on a variety of musical genres like

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

, heavy metal, mittelalter rock,

Neue Deutsche Härte Neue Deutsche Härte (; "new German hardness"), sometimes abbreviated as NDH, is a subgenre of rock music that developed in Germany and Austria during the early-to-mid 1990s and during the early 2000s. Alluding to the style of Neue Deutsche Well ...

electronic rock Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrume ...

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

futurepop Futurepop is an electronic music genre that has been characterized as a blend of synthpop, EBM and dance beats, based on trance and techno.Peter Matzke, Tobias Seeliger: ''Das Gothic- und Dark-Wave-Lexikon.'' Schwarzkopf und Schwarzkopf, Berlin ...

, aggrotech,

power noise Power noise (also known as rhythmic noise and occasionally as distorted beat music) is a form of industrial music and a fusion of noise music and various styles of electronic dance music. It should not be confused with "power electronics", w ...

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

as well as

dark wave Dark wave (also typeset as darkwave) is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as be ...

, gothic music and

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

. Each issue contains interviews with bands and stories about bands and projects, reviews of concerts, record releases, books and games but also schedules of upcoming band tours and a news section. Moreover, there are frequent special editions on topics like Mittelalter rock, record labels, films or studio reports. Since 1999, each issue comes with ''Cold Hands Seduction'', a compilation CD and sometimes a DVD which contains music by artists featured in the print issue. It focuses not only on established bands but it also presents upcoming artists.

Upcoming artists contest

''Sonic Seducer'' organises an annual "Battle of the Bands", a competition for upcoming musical artists. Since year 2000, 30 new bands without a record label deal are featured on the CD of the December issue. Together with the magazine's readership a professional jury elects the best acts that will be rewarded a label contract with

Out of Line Out Of Line Music is an independent record label located in Berlin, Germany. Out of Line is distributed by Rough Trade (Believe Digital) and exclusive partner to publishing giant BMG Rights Management, through sister company Edition Layer Cake. ...

Festivals

''Sonic Seducer'' presents the

, a festival of the German alternative music scene that attracts some 20,000 attendants annually. Once a year the board of editors compiles a M'era Luna Festival CD with songs by musical acts that are present at the festival. The subsequent magazine issues feature extensive reports and a DVD documentation.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control 1994 establishments in Germany German-language magazines Music magazines published in Germany Magazines established in 1994 Goth subculture

Content

Upcoming artists contest

Festivals

See also

References

External links