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The Soft Moon's Luis Vasquez Passed Away
According to the artist's Instagram, Luis Vasquez, the mastermind behind The Soft Moon, has passed away. His body was found alongside two others.
«It is with great sadness that we announce our dear friend, Luis Vasquez, has passed away,» the statement uploaded on January 19 to The Soft Moon's Instagram page reads. As of publications, the details about Vasquez's death are not known.
3 Bodies Were Found
According to a report by CBS News, Vasquez was found in a Los Angeles residence alongside two other dead people. The individuals were identified by the LA County coroner as 46-year-old John «Juan» Mendez, techno DJ and recording artist known as Silent Servant and 43-year-old Simone Ling, who was reportedly Mendez's partner.
Heartbroken Reactions
The message of Vasquez's passing at 44 was met with heartfelt and disbelieving statements by both fans and fellow musicians.
«I'm so extremely sad about this !!! […] This is not fair, it's meaningless… really no words…,» Trentemøller commented. The KVB wrote: «Please no, we can't believe this.» And the LA-based industrial band Health said: «Goddamn it. I'm glad we were lucky enough to make some music with you. This is heartbreaking.»
Luis Vasquez, the child of a Cuban immigrant mother and an absent Mexican father, grew up in Los Angeles, California.
He was the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and sole official member of The Soft Moon, the post-punk and dark wave project he founded in 2009.
With each release, the band gained traction and fans, supporting acts like Interpol and Depeche Mode on their tours. The 2015 album Deeper was especially well-received. T. Cole Rachel wrote for Pitchfork: «Few contemporary artists have managed such a clever reimagining of post-punk and spooky new wave in a way that sounds both familiar and somehow fresh.»
In a review of The Soft Moon's concert at the One Of A Million Festival in 2018, Janosch Troehler wrote for Negative White:
The longer this madness continues, the smaller the chances of rescue. The air glows. Beads of sweat shimmer in the strobe lightning. Bodies synchronise under the mercilessly pounding sound. Words do not do justice to this crazy spectacle; they are a mere shadow of this physical experience. They fade with every blow from Luis Vasquez on the empty oil drum.
Luis Vasquez passed away shortly before The Soft Moon was scheduled to embark on their «Feb 2024 Tour», which would have had them play in several European cities as well as at the Grauzone Festival in The Hague, Netherlands.
The festival's account commented on the post:
Rest In Peace Luis, our dear friend. We are crying writing this, as we knew him almost 15 years. He is one of the reasons why we started Grauzone Festival as he was one of the first to put postpunk back on the map.
His lyrics, his music, his art perfectly fitted us, and that's why we became friends, hung out, and organised many of his shows. Such a kind, funny, talented person.
Only 3 months ago we visited him in LA, and everything seemed well, and he was very very looking forward to his show at Grauzone which would be in a few weeks... we are in total shock. Farewell our dear friend.
«Take me far away. To escape myself. Cos I was born to suffer. It kills my mind. It kills me inside. Take me far away to escape myself»
2023 Report
With our comprehensive 2023 report, we provide transparency and accountability for our activities during the last year.
As an independent platform, we believe transparency is crucial to good reporting and building trust. It is our obligation to share our successes and failures with you and provide details so you can hold us accountable.
2023 has been a year of transition for this platform, as previously stated in our «letter from the editor». The standalone Weekly5 service was re-integrated into a revamped version of Negative White, the online magazine where the playlist originated.
The transformation was followed by a variety of changes, adjustments, and experiments. However, the goals remained the same: To provide excellent music journalism in harmony with our values and reach financial sustainability.
Weekly5: 47% Female Artists
Setting the ambitious goal of financial sustainability at the end of 2022, Weekly5 started as a paid service in 2023. However, when Negative White relaunched, it returned to a free offer again, providing a platform for upcoming artists.
In 2023, we curated 30 editions featuring 150 songs from 137 artists. While trying to provide as many different artists a platform as possible, one band was featured three times: Swiss indie pop upstart Soft Loft.
Of the 137 artists, 65 were female or female-fronted bands, which amounts to almost a 50:50 ratio or 47% of featured artists.
As Negative White is based in Switzerland, we also try to highlight Swiss artists. 38 artists have their origins in the country.
Using a playlist analysing tool, Weekly5's 2023 playlist shows a moderately diverse genre distribution:
- 28% Rock
- 20% Electronic
- 18% Pop
- 17% Folk/Acoustic
- 6% Metal
- 11% Others like R&B, Hip-Hop, Jazz, or Blues
The analysis also shows that the playlist mainly features so-called «obscure» songs. It means that the curated tracks are not very popular on Spotify. Therefore, we fulfil the promise of featuring new and upcoming as well as underground artists.
Furthermore, our editor, Janosch Troehler, pledged to buy every featured song if it is available on Bandcamp. The count shows that out of the 150 songs, 72 have been purchased and were directly financially supported.
Participate In Our 2023 Survey And Win Great Prizes
As 2023 is coming to an end, we appreciate your feedback. You also have the chance to win great prizes by filling out our survey.
The year is almost over, and it's been roughly seven months since Negative White rose from its grave. We would like to hear your opinion: What do you like? What would you like to see less from us?
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The New Negative White Archive
Between 2010 and 2020, Negative White's staff published hundreds of articles and thousands of photos. We're preserving them on a new site.
From its innocent and naïve beginnings in 2010, Negative White became a significant, independent online magazine covering cultural events at home and abroad.
For a decade, volunteers reported and photographed hundreds of concerts, wrote reviews, interviewed artists, and researched background stories. It generated a vast archive of photos and articles written in German.
Now, we will migrate the archive onto a new platform to keep the content alive and well. You can already find the archive here.
In the coming weeks, or probably months, considering the amount of content, we will carefully select archived material and publish it to the new website. It is a considerable effort as we are looking at a pool of around 2500 articles and roughly 10'000 photos.
However, we think the challenge is worth it as we preserve pearls like our report from Lewis Capaldi's first headline show in Switzerland or the gallery from The Libertines gig in 2018.
Currently, just under 100 articles are produced and published, but more will follow as we migrate more content. We will follow up on the progress at appropriate points in time.
If you also think our effort is worth it, please consider supporting us with a paid membership and help us finance the archive.
Community Essentials #4: The 80s
The 4th Community Essentials brings you five member-recommended songs from the 80s.
The 1980s: Neon lights, synthesizers, blowdry hairstyles. The decade came a long way—from a perception of bad taste to a new-found love in its retrofuturistic vintage aesthetics.
Musically, the decade has much to offer: From the progression of post-punk into new and dark wave, synthesizer-driven sounds, the establishment of gothic rock to the rise of electronic music and early hip-hop.
Our esteemed members have sent in their favourite songs of the era so that we can compile a short list of classics. Here are their recommendations.
