Legowelt's Cyberpunk E-Zine Is a Throwback to When the Internet Was Cool

With his wire-frame glasses, thin facial hair, and unkempt shoulder-length coiffe, Danny Wolfers looks like he just emerged from a marathon coding session in an unlit bedroom—but the Dutch producer is not so easy to pin down. Over the last 15 or so years, he has cycled through about 20 aliases and probably ten times as many side projects; Legowelt may be his most famous persona, but my favorite is his Afro-funk project Nacho Patrol, which he recently admitted began as an attempt to troll pompous record collectors into thinking they'd discovered a super obscure band from Africa. (This pretty much perfectly captures the blend of mischeivous weirdoness that he's all about.)

His music runs the gamut from early electro to Italo disco, usually made on outdated, half-broken machines, but the one thing that underlies Danny's profusive output is a captivation with the obscure and the freaky. Even his discography sounds kind of like the ramblings of a horny madman. The titles of some of his releases: Reports From The Backseat Pimp. Tower Of The Gipsies. Under The Panda Moon. Don't Exercise The Bird. "Total Pussy Control." OK, that last one was actually a hit song off his first vinyl album, Pimpshifter, released on The Hague's nerd-punk label Bunker Records. But you get the idea. Danny is great. But also kind of insane.

In addition making electronic music that is defiantly anti-mainstream, Danny's latest project, which he debuted last week according to his usual method of "just putting shit on the internet and seeing what happens," is a cyberpunk zine called Order of the Shadow Wolf. Infused with a nostalgia for 80s and 90s cyberculture—"a time when your mom and retarded jock cousin weren't on the Internet," as he puts it—the zine is effectively a response to the Internet's rapid corporatization. His editor's note reads, "Cyberspace is not Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or your Google+ prison which scans every fart you make to sell you more useless stuff." To that effect, the zine includes articles on how to capture ancient demonic creatures in audio recordings, a random list of fancy words "to make you look smart," and a 6th grader's school report about Memphis rap.

It's pretty much amazing, so we asked Danny to tell us how he put it all together (and who the hell that 6th grader is).

Danny Wolfers back in the day

THUMP: What prompted you to start this e-zine? Why do you think there's been so much nostalgia over of the early internet, now that the internet has sort of passed its awkward adolescent phase?

Legowelt: I always wanted to make one and well a few weeks ago I just thought now is the time. I guess its refreshing to have a monthly text file with some mystic unknowable information instead of an online music magazine that is updated every minute about who is prepping their new release.

Your editor's note in the introduction says that the zine is a throwback to the "mystique of hacker romanticism and being a cyberpunk pioneer." What do you find appealing about these two concepts?

When computers and modem networks started to appear, it was so mysterious almost wizard-like. Before that, there was nothing. We lived in a world without computers. It was probably like in that movie WarGames, where you'd just sit in the middle of the night trying to hack local computer networks or calling random BBS numbers. You felt like doing something secret and had some arcane knowledge. Everyone else was watching TV but you were exploring cyberspace.

How did you come up with the name Order of the Shadow Wolf?

I am known as Shadow Wolf in certain circles, and my last name has something to do with it too.

Danny Wolfers in the library where he made his cyberzine

Were you a part of any music-related BBSs or forums back in the day? I know there was one called Hollertronix that Feadz and Uffie and that whole crew were part of…

I never was part of a BBS and never ran one, just roaming from board to board late at night to see what was going on. But I visited a lot of local music-related ones and met some cyberfriends who were into the same kind of music. I can still remember downloading a text file with the discography of Underground Resistance… you can't imagine how impressive that was, just looking at the titles on your green monochrome screen and fantasizing about how those records would sound! I would also swap cassette tapes with these cyberfriends. I'd have to wait a week to finally listen to the tracks everyone was talking about.

The subjects you've included in the intro to the first issue include "music and production, obsolete computers, occult sciences, movies, [and] xenology." Is there an ideological or thematic thread that connects these topics, or is it kind of just… anything that you find interesting?

I just want to write about freaky subjects, I guess. But there is probably a thematic thread connecting these subjects somewhere. The occult sciences and music production are closely-tied subjects. Then its just a small jump to Ufology, lost mysterious islands, and the like.

Are all of the contributors friends of yours? How did you convince them to get on board? 

All the contributors are part of an international network—an underground society of mind crime. There was not really a working process; I just said, "Hey, write me something. I want to do this cyberzine." Simple as that. I pretty much gave everyone a carte blanche.

One of my favorite stories in the zine was about how to do your own electronic voice phenomena experiments. Have you ever tried to conjure spirits with the method described? Has it worked?

Yeah, Xosar and I do this all the time. It's lots of fun. Once we got the voice of a grumpy entity that just said no to everything. And in Poland, we did some recordings at the grave of Frederic Chopin and when we played it back I could hear all these very soft ethereal tones in the background. This of course had to be him sending music from the other side! I don't know what to do with it though. Should I use it in my music? Write down the notes and put it in my cyberzine? Who knows? You will hear it in the future somehow.

An article about EVP in Order of the Shadow Wolf's first issue

Who is Clendon Toblerone and is he really 13 years old? If so, he writes better than most 20-something writers I know.

Yes… that is a sad fact of today's 20-somethings, isn't it ? But Clendon is a smart kid. In addition to from writing, his hobbies include topography, anything Star Trek-related, Fruity Loops production, and the bassoon.

Where do you hope to take this zine in the future?

I actually didn't expect this much interest. I thought most people wouldn't understand this concept, but once more I have underestimated humankind. So I hope to make a second issue for February. I already have some articles and from new writers—including one from Japan!

Michelle is a ghost in the shell - @MichelleLHOOQ