Softcover, 244 pages, 21x21 cm What connects 1950s open-reel tape trading to Quebec's pioneering all-female punk band? How does Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac lead to Amon Düül and the Rote Armee Fraktion? Why should you know about Korla Pandit? And what exactly happened at Nijmegen's legendary Diogenes Club? The Third Annual - Korm Plastics' biggest and boldest yearbook yet - doesn't answer the questions you thought you had. It answers the ones you didn't know you were asking.
This third edition expands on the formula that has made the series essential reading for those who believe music history extends far beyond canonical narratives. More pages, more contributors, a wider spectrum of exploration - from ambient pioneers to extreme metal, from cult cinema to magazine freebies, from heartfelt obituaries to candid confessions about crushes. The edition opens with David Elliott's deep exploration of UK ambient legends O Yuki Conjugate - and the first 200 copies include an exclusive DVD previously available only through Vinyl On Demand. Elsewhere, Elodie A. Roy uncovers a forgotten chapter of audio culture through the 1950s networks of open-reel tape traders who anticipated today's file-sharing communities by decades, while Klaus Maeck, director of the cult classic Decoder, reveals how the William S. Burroughs-starring, industrial-soundtrack film came into existence.
The yearbook thrives on unexpected connections. Fred de Vries draws lines - surprising or perhaps inevitable - between Fleetwood Mac's troubled guitar genius, German cosmic communards, and left-wing terrorism. Audrey Golden revisits Blue Oil, Quebec's groundbreaking all-female punk band, restoring them to the history from which they've been too long absent. Michel Faber - yes, that Michel Faber - delves into extreme metal with the same literary precision he brings to everything, and Richard Johnson returns to Cromagnon's singular 1969 masterpiece Orgasm, a record that remains unclassifiable decades after its creation.
Personal histories interweave throughout. Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) shares his admiration for artist Bruce Conner, whose work anticipated music video aesthetics by decades. GW Sok (The Ex) discusses an idea and a habit. Hans Dekker reflects on the short, bright life of Dutch band Das Wesen, while Joy Arpots offers vivid autobiographical notes from the margins of Dutch underground culture and Marthy Coumans recounts making a Dutch-language album with The Comcommers. Truus de Groot writes candidly about crushes.
Frans de Waard interviews Peter Graute of Backstreet Records/Backlash, with Koert Sauer contributing a memorial tribute. Nick Soulsby, fresh from Monochrome Festival 2025, reflects on what the new generation of musicians reveals about where experimental sound is heading. Rob Ovetz explores LPs of music from Islamic traditions - a thoughtful examination of how Western ears have received, packaged, and sometimes misunderstood these recordings.
The pages also welcome Leonor Faber-Jonker interviewing photographer David Arnoff, Scott Bass spotlighting Hozac Records, Richard Foster chronicling Dranklokaal - a Leiden institution - and Freek Kinkelaar revealing the fascinating world of Korla Pandit, organist, mystic, and fabricator of identity. Peter van Vliet explains the mysterious how and why of sound itself, while Erik Quint celebrates the lost art of magazine freebies.
A tribute to Harold Schellinx honors a remarkable creative voice, gone too soon. Regular columns by Freek Kinkelaar and Frits Jonker return alongside visual collages by Miss Printed. And Deb Zuroski offers an unconventional detour away from music entirely - because sometimes the most interesting path is the tangent.
The Third Annual is a celebration of curiosity, obsession, and the conviction that everything connects if you look closely enough. For listeners who read and readers who listen.
First 200 copies include exclusive O Yuki Conjugate DVD.
