Comments, Reviews, Questions
Jahsonic.com was featured on Yahoo! as Pick of the day September 2005, below is a reprint of their article.
JahSonic: NOUN: 1a. Web site montage of articles, pictures, reviews of books and films, and more. 1b. Alias of webmaster Jan Geerinck 2. A map of modern culture.It's difficult to define a site like Jahsonic. If anything, it's a testament to the value of serendipity. Sure, we all expect the Search box to give us exactly what we want, but sometimes the real rewards of knowledge-seeking come from unexpected discoveries. Jahsonic documents one individual's obsessions with high and low culture, running the gamut from Candido to Aristotle, Goya to Frankenstein, Detroit techno to French pomo. What starts as a mild fascination may soon become a lifestyle. Explore Jahsonic and find your own definition. --Yahoo! pick September 2005 via http://picks.yahoo.com/picks/i/20050926.html
Feedback
Questions, comments, feedback, contact Jan Geerinck at jwgeerinck@hotmail.comFrom the BBC website
[Jahsonic's] History of Disco - Does exactly what it says on the tin. --bbc.co.uk, November 2003From Wire magazine
A daily Weblog recommending not only CDs but books and films too. -- Wire Magazine, Feb 2003Cultuurencyclopedie
www.jahsonic.com
Jahsonic, of Jan Geerinck die de grenzen, bruggen en kruispunten van moderne cultuur verkent, is een indrukwekkend werk over kunst, muziek, film, strekkingen en fictie. Op die manier tracht Jan de hedendaagse cultuur in kaart te brengen. Het is erg moeilijk om een site als Jahsonic te definiëren. Wil je een ernstig overzicht over de geschiedenis van de disco, van de vroegste discotheken in Frankrijk in oorlogstijd tot de deejays van vandaag? This is the place to be. Er zijn veel links naar andere sites, boeken en interviews en vooral heel veel referenties. De site bevat nogal wat Wikipedia-inhoud, maar daar maakt de auteur geen geheim van. De stek werd in september niet voor niets tot Yahoo! Pick uitgeroepen. De meer dan 6000 pagina's die Jahsonic rijk is, dwingen dan ook bijzonder veel respect af. --Dirk Schoofs, Clickx magazine 106 [Nov 2005]
Internet Culture Database Browser
Internet Culture Database Browser
History is written by the victors. Jahsonic.com, less so. Consider it an aesthetic history of the twentieth century as seen by an asbergian*, slighly worn DJ, for whom the world changed irrevocably with the Disco Sucks movement of 1979. Sprawling, browsable, and with the endearing lopsidedness of someone with no pretension of authority. --http://wackyneighbor.com/archives/2004/09/index.php [Sept 2004]
*Asbergian is Michael's word and it refers to "aspergers' syndrome", a form of mild autism which characteristically gives people, as DSM IV puts it, an "encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus."
One man's obsessive collection of links and info on culture...
Some of the things you can find at Jan Geerinck's Jahsonic.com: A history of disco, "black music", punk, and other genres; extensive writes-ups on media, erotica, art, history, and cinema (broken down into voyeurism, gay, world, Japanese, postmodern, underground, European, and trash cinema, among others); and of course, a blog. Also interesting are the keyword entries for words such as genre, sex, drugs, fiction, cult, taste, etc.
Pretty SFW [Safe for Work], but there may be a few film stills or paintings that are iffy [doubtful].
posted by dobbs at 4:51 PM, September 23, 2004 via metafilter.com http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/35790 [Sept 2004]
Jahsonic's spectacular site
Jahsonic's spectacular site is part blog, part one-man Wiki, and all about the place where trash, the avant-garde, dreams, and sex come together and do their best to make merry. 2 Blowhards, June 2005Pop culture experience
Jan Geerinck’s site www.jahsonic.com is one of the best pop culture experiences on the net. Invitingly styled and encyclopedic in scope, it comprises film, literature, music, erotica, drugs, and an ongoing blog. --Bill Landis, Sleazoid Express, May 28th, 2004
Context [...]
[...] I find the most expressive blogs constantly creating the context in their own particular fashion - i'm especially thinking of Jahsonic's blog and Eddy's edifying glimpses of news events. with media saturation of the web, what is chosen to be examined expresses as much of the comments regarding it. Nate De Young , Sunday, April 18, 2004, http://outsidebowie.blogspot.comFabulous Hybrid Academic/Popular
Part online encyclopedia, part music criticism, part blog, JahSonic.com is a fabulous example of hybrid academic/popular discussion of music, culture, subculture, cultural studies, art...you name it. I particularly like the page on subculture. Definitely the kind of writing style (if not the format) to aim for in your own weblogs. --Jean Burgess via http://mstu2000.blogspot.com, MSTU2000 Music Subcultures and the Media, The University of Queensland, Wednesday, March 17, 2004
"Fairly Impeccable Taste"
"Belgian Jan Geerinck runs the website Jahsonic. He has fairly impeccable taste, and his website is a guide to, well, what appears to be the best of everything - from films to the history of dance music to S&M. So overwhelming, my head hurts, but in a good way. Get thee there posthaste!" --Thomas Inskeep for oh, manchester, so much to answer forLe site d'un passionné
L'histoire contemporaine de la musique, de l'art, de la culture, du design, des moeurs, des modes...Le site d'un passionné : à vous d'en juger...--LES BOCOGNEWS [Oct 2003]
PS: en anglais !
Blog + wiki = bliki
One of the [bliki] pioneers was apparently the incredibly extensive www.jahsonic.com: basically a huge Wiki-like site. Its author, Jan Geerinck, also has a blog page (however without RSS or Atom feed). The blog was started back in 2001. --Peter http://www.forret.com/blog/2004/08/blogs-and-wikis-how-about-bliki.html [Aug 2004]
JahSonic: "Un Sito Incredibile"
Jan, un appassionato di musica nera olandese [belgo], ha creato un sito incredibile, con mille diramazioni, che è una vera e propria fonte di informazione sulla musica da ballare dagli anni Sessanta ad oggi. Ma è soprattutto il frutto della passione e della devozione al groove. --http://congregation.blogspot.com/,Oct 2003Like a Conversation with a Good Friend
Your site is like a conversation with a good friend... one may embark on a number of tangents from any particular subject, and return to where it all started a couple hours later. It's rare that I venture the web space beyond my email server---i am given to impulsive learning exploits, and i felt a late night urge to get the story on Guy Debord; a google search led me to your site... I'm impressed with the coverage of electronic music---i'm only 20, but i've long been a fan of Juan Atkins, Carl Craig, The Black Dog, et al---I have the internet to thank for this exposure, namely www.allmusic.com... we must circulate in same orbit. what is at the center of it all?Dialectics of Underground and Mainstream Culture
A massive website by Jan Geerinck, guiding you through the maze of contemporary culture and music styles. Though not exclusively — in fact nothing is excluded on this site — the topics center on the 1990s with timelines and discussions of house music, hip hop and garage. Theoretical reflections concern the dialectics of underground and mainstream culture. Just take a walk through this amazing labyrinth. --Ger Tillekens for Soundscapes, Sept 2003Kudos from Belgium
[...] what can I say.. Ik ben een boekenverslinder, notoire nachtvogel, verslaafde platenverzamelaar, dj en sufsurfer, en een tijdje geleden in die hoedanigheid op uw site terechtgekomen. Ik moet zeggen, weinig sites getuigen van zoveel smaak en overzicht. Wat ik ook intik op google, altijd zit jahsonic er wel eens tussen. Very nice idd.. --Esteban MorientesLabyrinthine Resource
Meta Soul: The history of disco and House. Good labyrinthine resource with lots of links. [...] thewire.co.uk, [April 2003]A huge site dedicated to genres of black music
If reading about Mutant Disco leaves you all dressed up with nowhere to boogie, go straight to Metasoul (www.jahsonic.com). A huge site dedicated to genres of 'black music' (soul, disco, house, reggae, funk, hip hop, garage, electro, rare groove, acid Jazz and afrobeat), Metasoul contains descriptions and histories of each genre, complete with choice CDs, links, timelines, pictures and features. Lovingly created by Jan Geerinck - who describes himself as "a Belgian native interested in information gathering" - but also posts a daily Weblog recommending not only CDs but books and films too. --Anne Hilde Neset [Feb 2003]Modern Music Archive/Resource
Jan Geerinck has been developing this online modern music archive/resource since 1996 and for anyone interested in disco, electro, house, garage and other genres related to soul, it's well worth a visit. There's historical info on key players including Larry Levan and Todd Terry as well as details of the first disco clubs and records. -- http://www.fuk.co.ukA Labor of Love [...]
Meta Soul:Very comprehensive and well researched site compiling some important and difficult-to-get facts about dance music and its creators. Also has a ton of useful music links. This is definitely a 'Labor of Love' site!! Francois K., http://www.wavemusic.com [April 2003]
Phenomenally Detailed
Jahsonic: a labyrinthine, phenomenally detailed site which analyses and catalogues the history of dance music, with particular reference to the golden period of the late 70s and early-mid 80s. For anoraks such as myself, this is an essential resource. Want to know more about Larry Levan and the Paradise Garage? Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa? Leroy Burgess and Vince Montana Junior? The history of electro, with a full discography? It's all here.
Although almost impossible to navigate in any structured way, the exhaustively cross-referenced internal links allow you to surf endlessly from topic to topic - which is, in any case, much more fun. (Alternatively, you could try using the "Next" links at the top of each page.) --Troubled Diva, April 22nd, 2003 http://www.troubleddiva.co.uk
Hypertext Odyssey
Jahsonic's hypertext odyssey into history of dance music. Very nice! --http://www.mixoftheweek.com [April 2003]One of the Coolest Sites
(...) Yes, I was really enthralled by your site. It put together a lot of information about underground dance music with particular focus on people whose music I love. In your description of Francis Grasso you mention my piece, "Behind The Groove: New York City's Dance Underground" from Collusion #5 back in the early 80's. I guess you know that David Toop and Sue Steward published Collusion in London back in the 80's. This piece featured interviews with Walter Gibbons, Jellybean, David Mancuso, Shep Pettibone, Francois K. and Larry Levan. Unfortunately it is pre-computer so I only have a hard copy of it and so cannot attach it as a document.(...) It was also published in the Face in a shorter version with more photo's. Anyway, congrats Meta Vibes has to be one of the coolest sites I've ever stumbled across. --Steven Harvey, Jan 9th, 1999