All right, so you might have noticed that recently there’s been kind of an upswing in interest in the noisier side of indie music, with bands like No Age, Times New Viking, Crystal Antlers etc. all being heralded as the Next Big Things (some magazines are even saying those bands are part of one big new movement, called ‘shitgaze’ or ‘no-fi’ depending on who you ask). Anyway, I figured this would be a good opportunity to make a kind of very basic ‘introduction to noise’ type topic, a short overview of the more abstract side of noise music for anyone interested. So yeah, I should point out that this isn’t all-inclusive by any means and I’ve left a lot of bands out: I’ve also skipped some of the shittier subgenres, like harsh noise and doom metal. But anyway, have a listen and maybe you’ll like some of it. I guess it makes sense to start off with…
John Cage - Imaginary Landscape No.1Yeah, okay, most of the early experimental composer guys weren’t noise in the way we usually use the term but they’re still pretty important/interesting and besides you can draw a pretty clear line between dudes like La Monte Young and noise-rock bands like the Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth, so. And besides, even if the sound isn’t strictly noise, the motivations behind the two styles are pretty similar, with a kind of shared fascination in exploring new sounds and a desire to test the boundaries of what constitutes music.
So anyway, the track above is one of John Cage’s early works, which was pretty influential in that is was one of the first works to be preformed with both electronic and traditional instruments, the electronic ones in this case being a pair of variable-speed turntables. Anyway, while you’d probably need some university-level music theory to actually understand and fully appreciate everything that’s going on in this song, it’s still pretty incredible and interesting even from a layman’s perspective: I kind of feel a bit guilty for finding stuff like this to be so evocative since I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the composer’s intention, but whatever, listen and you’ll see what I mean: just the fact that it sounds so strange and off makes it a lot more affecting than most of the more traditional classical stuff I’ve heard.
Oh yeah, another really great and important experimental music piece is La Monte Young’s ‘The Well-Tuned Piano’. However, the full recording is six hours long so fuck that shit, if you can actually sit down and listen to a six-hour experimental piano piece then you’re a better man than me. Anyway, here’s a brief sample on Youtube, and you can always download one of the five discs if you want more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn2CJmFrUmU Other stuff:Karlheinz Stockhausen -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RkdO_qBGvM Christian Wolff -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSJWuHtZvkc (also Christian Wolff would make a pretty good name for an eighties hair-metal band)
Recommended album:Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano - John Cage
Karlheinz Stockhausen, man of ACTION!Peter Brotzmann - Machine Gun (Second Take)The next important stage in the development of noise music, free jazz basically came about in the fifties when guys like Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra wanted to break away from the restrictions of bop and traditional jazz to do something new: to that extent, they ditched most of the usual structures and tempos associated with jazz at the time and started making music that was a lot more aggressive and inaccessible, heavily improvised, weirder and wilder than most of what had gone before.
Anyway, the song above is ‘Machine Gun (second take)’ by European free-jazz saxophonist dude Peter Brotzmann. It’s pretty great, and since today jazz music is mostly thought of as just easy-listening elevator muzak shit it comes as a shock to hear just how raw and crazy this sounds. So yeah, you can definitely hear the impact stuff like this had in everyone from the Stooges to Lightning Bolt.
Also try:Albert Ayler -
http://www.myspace.com/albertayler (listen to 'prophet')
Ornette Coleman -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWkHG2sKavg Recommended album:Machine Gun - Peter Brotzmann
Einsturzende Neubauten - HeadcleanerIndustrial music was probably the earliest ‘true’ noise in that it was one of the first genres to work in the traditional noise conventions like harsh feedback, queasy tape looping, extended improvisational songs, heavy use of found sounds and unconventional instruments, etc. Like the experimental composers and free jazz musicians before them, industrial bands set out to push the boundaries of what was considered to be music, attempting to chart new waters both sonically, lyrically, and, um, concertally.
To be honest I find a lot of industrial stuff quite boring, especially the later groups who either played just unlistenable feedback shit (Whitehouse) or gay gothic techno stuff (Ministry). Also, the whole preoccupation with death and mutilation gets old pretty quickly. However, there were still some really good industrial groups, and one good thing was that most of the early bands concentrated more on creating atmosphere than they did on just being harsh and even had some almost catchy tunes sometimes so it can be a good introduction to that side of noise music. Have a listen, anyway.
Also see:Throbbing Gristle -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsXKwCpHId8 SPK -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAwO_ySJCf4# Nurse With Wound -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET5iWahdCr4 Recommended album: Strategies Against Architecture II - Einsturzende Neubauten (best-of compilation)
Einsturzende Neubauten: they look tough but I think I could take themKeiji Haino - Untitled Improvisation I’m gonna be honest and say that the Japanese noise scene is pretty much a closed book to me: I don’t know the history, the philosophy, the motivations behind it, nothing. What I do know it that it’s incredibly diverse and pretty extreme, from insane psychedelic tribal stuff like the Boredoms and Space Streakings to really harsh and abstract ‘power electronics’ bands like Masonna or the insanely prolific Merzbow. Anyway, I say ‘extreme’ because I haven’t heard much in the way of middle-ground between those bands, or between them and conventional rock: you’re pretty much plunged in at the deep end, as it were. So yeah, while I wouldn’t particularly recommend most of these guys if you’re just getting into noise music but it’s still a pretty interesting and vibrant scene. Keiji Haino is probably one of the best guys to start off with, though, since he has a pretty diverse sound that ranges from ambient-type noise pieces to acoustic stuff like the one in the video to full-on psychedelic attacks, and they’re generally not as harsh as some of the other noise guys I mentioned.
Also see:Merzbow -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neLKgSdrch8&feature=related Masonna -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmktv963m3kIncapacitants -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSG3m5ujegA&feature=related (this is a really good video, I think more noise concerts should take place on volcanoes)
Recommended album: Black Blues - Keiji Haino (there are two versions of this album, ‘Violent’ and ‘Soft’, so I guess you should choose the one you want based on your own preference)
Incapacitants: rockin’ the AV club since 1998Harry Pussy - Ice Cream ManI think the reason I like the curent crop of American noise bands so much is because it feels like they have this whole punk element to their sound: not as cold or artsy as a lot of the British stuff and more stripped-down and emotionally rawer than most of the Japanese noise guys… Almost more like a really mutated, vicious form of hardcore punk more than anything else. Anyway, the reason why I bring it up is because Harry Pussy was one of the first groups to take that kind of hardcore approach to noise music, with shorter and more direct songs, less focus on improvisation, and a black humour that set them apart from a lot of their peers. Anyway, they had a huge impact on the American noise scene and you can hear their influence in contemporary bands like the Hospitals, early Sightings, Kites, and Arab On Radar. Soundwise, they’re pretty harsh and abrasive but still actually pretty listenable: like I said, they preferred short, tight songs to improvised jams, so a lot of their stuff does have some kind of structure to it, just a really weird and unconventional kind. Also they have an album called ’Fuck You’ which is pretty much the best and most descriptive title I’ve ever heard.
Also try:Coughs -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDuap1romPQ&feature=related Cocks E.S.P. -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwMwQFOCa4M White Mice -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPVWCPyR7hQ&feature=related (watch this video it rules)
Recommended album: What Was Music? - Harry Pussy
White Mice: they got their costumes from the aborted David Lynch production of ‘Pinky and the Brain’.SIghtings - Reduction I namecheck Sightings a lot but it’s because they’re a really good band! Anyway, the reason why they’re up here is because I’ve kind of noticed a few noise bands that are kind of dabbling in rock music and I really like that, it irritates the noise purist guys but they’re pretty dumb anyway, so. Anyway, this song isn’t really their most accessible as it’s still pretty harsh but the thing is that it still has a beat to it and kind of sounds at least like a vague approximation of rock music and that’s why I like the band so much in the first place: they’re able to make noise that’s kind of accessible without actually giving up any of its power or rawness. So yeah, Sightings, Wolf Eyes and especially the Dead C would probably be the easiest noise bands to get into for that very reason, give them a shot.
Also try:Wolf Eyes -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoFDd3xFEQ0 Dead C -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbyYzyUPGs8Also the Dead C video is pretty bitchin’, it doesn’t have their best music on it but it’s worth watching for the slightly shellshocked New Zealand TV presenters after the song finishes.
Recommended album: Arrived in Gold - Sightings
Also just to drive it home but the Dead C are probably one of the best ways to get into noise music since they’re a pretty direct link between Sonic Youth and the more out-there drone guys, there’s a three-CD best-of floating around the net that you should definitely track down.
Heather Leigh Murray - Untitled ImprovisationI know I said earlier that most American noise acts are of the short-and-brutal type, but there are exceptions: some bands go for a more drone-oriented approach, avoiding a sonic assault in favor of atmosphere and texture while still remaining comparatively stripped-down. It’s basically like ambient music for people who have testicles: the songs kind of float there rather than really develop or say anything but they usually have enough of an edge that they aren’t just easy-listening. Anyway, it can be a pretty potent mixture in the right hands, as shown by the Heather Leigh Murray video above: waves of noise that’re really beautiful and really unsettling at the same time, all from just slide guitar and vocals. So yeah, this shit is pretty great, check it out.
Also see:Yellow Swans -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHkjXWofy-8&feature=related Burning Star Core -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7N3-ENXC9Q Recommended album: Devil If You Can Hear Me - Heather Leigh Murray
Also the Burning Star Core album Blood Lightning 2007 is pretty amazing and contains some of the best noise songs ever so pick that up too if you get a chance.
So yeah, that's it. Like I said, I left a lot of stuff out but I think that's the main stuff covered anyway. Also use this topic to discuss noise and experimental music in general: Is noise dumb? Is it possible to break any new boundaries in music? Was John Cage a genius or a pretentious hack? How much money would it take for you to listen to the entire Merzbox in a single sitting?
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[totw] Noise 101