I have unfollowed Atom (TM)

After discovering an article about Uwe Schmidt's participation as headliner of a Russian electronic music festival sporting "Z" vehicles and a military recruitment tent, I felt I had no choice but to unfollow his Atom (TM) Archive on Bandcamp for the sake of my own personal integrity. I will say that this is not the first time there have been what appeared to be some warning signs about Schmidt's "extramusical" activities. The decision was difficult, as I have nothing but the greatest respect for him as an artist and a founding member of the electronic music community, but I feel that this rather cynical gesture on his part, in combination with various other statements he has made in public or online, has simply pushed things too far. His subsequent defense after appearing as a kind of "poster child" with the Consulate General has only confirmed what many of us in the community have likely long suspected, and I only regret that it took me this long to realize that I was essentially enabling a psychopath. So... sorry, everyone. In my own defense I can only offer that I've been pretty busy since moving to Chicago and into my new house last year. I'm also fairly isolated as a musician living in the United States. News of this sort takes a hot minute to percolate into my universe. I'm kind of off doing my own thing here in what is more or less the wilderness of northern Illinois by the standards of "global culture" (whatever that is), to be sure. Nevertheless, it's sad to see someone you formerly respected make sufficiently poor decisions to the point where you just can't stomach supporting them any more. I wish it didn't have to be that way.

We live in troubled times. It's fairly obvious humanity has to get itself straight pretty quickly or none of us realistically have a future worth anything. My basic point is this: You can't claim to be "anti-war" or "anti-political" and then accept a large fee for playing a festival essentially sponsored by the Russian war effort, or indeed any war effort, without being entirely disingenuous. It's totally contrary not just to the values of legions of artists and fans, but I might even argue to the interests of music and art in themselves. Atom (TM)'s very appearance at the festival was a nonmusical, political statement, in addition to the many nonmusical statements he has made in interviews over the years. It all adds up to a fairly clear picture. I just don't happen to agree with his calculus. And yeah, don't artists get to set their own rules anyway? Why do Schmidt and his defenders seem to think some artists should be faulted for sticking to theirs while they flirt with openly authoritarian regimes on the world stage? One certainly shouldn't be faulted for at least posing the question...