Nadagen

LP

2024

Eschatology, a belief in the imminent end of the world, is as old as time itself. Long before our present fear of ecological catastrophe, our coda was advocated by various theologies and philosophies, from early Dharmic religions to the Millerite movement. The Dutch band Nadagen echoes those apocalyptic seers of old, spreading prophecies about our last days in the small number of songs that they recorded. ‘Nadagen’ translates to something like aftermath or twilight years, which reveals the existential disposition of the band. Imbued with a sense of finality, Nadagen denounces the way that life was lived in the early 1980s. Their lyrics are shouted over minimal instrumentation, making the songs sound like a series of literary insults — a call for nihilistic dancing and demolition on the filth that consumerism and so-called decency produced. Fun is nothing but pointless hedonism, romance a commercialized struggle. “Bitter, braak, slijm, kots, gal” the result

When the members of the band met in 1982 they were all in their twenties and had just moved to Amsterdam. They lurked at clubs and squats such as De Koer, Dansen bij Jansen, Mazzo and ’t Okshoofd. It was the time of “no future,” only a couple of years after British post-punk bands such as Joy Division made nihilism appealing again. This attitude was picked up as a call to arms by Dutch post-punk/wave labels like Plurex (Minny Pops, Nasmak) and Plexus (De Div, Kiem). Depression and insecticide hung in the air, and if not exactly mainstream, they were still a part of everyday life. Many young souls felt compelled to put in their two cents and comment on the overall malaise, among them Nadagen

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