Noise music 87595 225431048 2008-07-13T17:37:53Z IL7Soulhunter 3628265 {{Original research|date=September 2007}} {{References|date=August 2007}} {{Infobox Music genre <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music_genres --> | name = Noise music |bgcolor = silver |color = black | stylistic_origins = [[Electronic art music]]<br/>[[Musique concrète]]<br/>[[Performance art]]<br>[[Free improvisation]] | cultural_origins = Early 1900s [[Europe]] | instruments = Varies widely | popularity = Very underground in early- to mid-1900s, with popularity increasing in the 1970s and 1980s | derivatives = | subgenrelist = | subgenres = [[Harsh noise]] | fusiongenres = [[Noise rock]] — [[Power noise]] — [[Grindcore]] (especially [[Noisegrind]]) — [[Noise pop]] — [[Onkyokei]] | regional_scenes = [[Japanoise|Japan]] | local_scenes = [[Providence]] | other_topics = }} '''Noise music''' is one of several genres of [[music]] that feature nontraditional musical instruments. Noise music may incorporate, for example: manipulated recordings, [[Noise (radio)|static]], [[Audio feedback|feedback]], live machine sound, [[circuit bending|circuit bent]] instruments, non-musical vocal elements, or any other noise source. Practitioners and aficionados of the genre themselves do not generally refer to it as "noise music", preferring the term "noise". ==History== ===Luigi Russolo=== [[Luigi Russolo]], a [[Futurism (art)|Futurist]] painter of the very early 20th century, was perhaps the first noise artist. His 1913 manifesto ''L'Arte de Rumori'', translated as ''[[The Art of Noises]]'', stated that the industrial revolution had given modern men a greater capacity to appreciate more complex sounds. Russolo found traditional melodic music confining and envisioned noise music as its future replacement. He designed and constructed a number of noise-generating devices called ''Intonarumori'' and assembled a noise orchestra to perform with them. A performance of his ''Gran Concerto Futuristico'' (1917) was met with strong disapproval and violence from the audience, as Russolo himself had predicted. None of his intoning devices have survived, though recently some have been reconstructed and used in performances. Although Russolo's works bear little resemblance to modern noise music, his pioneering creations cannot be overlooked as an essential stage in the evolution of this genre, and many artists are now familiar with his manifesto. ===Other early composers=== Composer [[Arnold Schoenberg]]'s proclaimed "[[Emancipation of the dissonance]]" (the idea that music could just as well be based upon dissonance as consonance) in the early 20th century is an important early signpost for music that is against the tradition, regardless of Schoenberg's stance toward prior composers. By the 1920s, composers (in particular [[Edgard Varèse]] and [[George Antheil]]) began to use early mechanical musical instruments—such as the [[player piano]] and the siren—to create music that referenced the noise of the modern world. In the 1930s, under the influence of [[Henry Cowell]] in San Francisco, [[Lou Harrison]] and [[John Cage]] began composing music for "junk" percussion ensembles, scouring junkyards and Chinatown antique shops for appropriately tuned brake drums, flower pots, gongs, and more. Cage started his ''Imaginary Landscape'' series in 1939, which combined elements like recorded sound, percussion, and (in the case of ''Imaginary Landscape #4'') twelve radios. After the second world war, other composers (including [[G.M. Koenig]], [[Iannis Xenakis]], and [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]]) started to experiment with sound synthesis, tape machines and radio equipment to produce [[electronic music]], often with very noisy sounds. Much of this music has proven influential on the creators of noise music. With the advent of the radio, [[Pierre Schaeffer]] coined the term ''[[musique concrète]]'' to refer to the peculiar nature of sounds on tape, separated from the source that generated them initially. His ideas about non-referential sounds take their most extreme form in noise music, which often blurs or obscures the actions which produced the sounds while also suggesting the physicality of sound itself. The sudden affordability of home recording technology in the 1970s, combined with the simultaneous influence of [[punk rock]], established a new aesthetic and instigated what is commonly referred to as noise music today. When anyone could produce noise, and anyone could record and distribute it, then noise music provided a way for any person (artist or non-artist) to experiment with sound as a painter might with visual material. ===Boyd Rice=== [[United States|American]] [[archivist]] and [[writer]] [[Boyd Rice]] has been a seminal influence on noise music. Starting in 1975, Rice began experimenting with the possibilities of pure sound. In his live performances, he attached an [[electric fan]] to an [[electric guitar]] and also used an electric shoe polisher as an instrument. He created extremely loud, cascading walls of noise and played pieces of recorded conversations, news reports, and music just beneath the threshold of comprehensibility. Rice has created works that combine brutal soundscapes with various poetics. He has also structured noise elements into harmonious, rhythmic pieces that defy easy categorization. ===Japan=== Originally influenced by the sounds of European bands like [[Whitehouse (band)|Whitehouse]] and the Italian non-musician [[Maurizio Bianchi]], Japanese noise artists pushed this approach to an extreme of loudness and density, which in turn became a major influence on western noise bands. Sometimes known as "[[Japanoise]]" (a pun not just in English, but even in Japanese: {{nihongo2|ジャパノイズ}}), it is usually associated with "harsh" characteristics including walls of [[white noise]], non-linear pulses, arrhythmic beats, distorted sound loops, unintelligible dialogue, and sirens. Since the late 1980s this Japanese style has been probably the most prolific and noticeable part of the noise music scene. Likewise the popularity and prolific output of musicians such as the aforementioned noise music figurehead/posterboy [[Merzbow]], [[C.C.C.C.]] and other names like [[KK Null]], [[Masonna]], [[The Gerogerigegege]], and [[Hanatarash]] (founded by [[Boredoms]] frontman [[Yamatsuka Eye]]) have made Japan something of a Mecca for many noise fans. In terms of sales, noise music is not particularly more popular in Japan than in Europe or America. However, there is perhaps a higher level of recognition from crossover with mainstream genres and events, such as fashion shows or dance performances with music by noise artists, and a comparatively large number of live noise performances are held in Tokyo. Recently the noise scene has given birth to a form of freely improvised electronic music known by the press as [[onkyo-kei]], with leading figures including the aforementioned Sachiko M. ==Style== In much the same way the early modernists were inspired by primitive art, some contemporary noise musicians are excited by the archaic audio technologies, such as wire-recorders, the 8-track cartridge, and vinyl records. For instance, some still choose to release their work on vinyl. Many artists not only build their own noise-generating devices, but even their own specialized recording equipment. ===Albums and non-noise influences=== [[Lou Reed]]'s double-LP album ''[[Metal Machine Music]]'', released in 1975, is an early, well-known example of noise music. It is very likely that Reed was aware of the electronic drone music produced in the mid-60s by his [[The Velvet Underground|Velvet Underground]] cohort [[John Cale]] with artists such as [[Tony Conrad]] and [[LaMonte Young]] (see the CD release of ''Inside the Dream Syndicate Volume 1: Day of Niagara''). In 1988, [[RRRecords]] released a series of [[anti-record]]s in which ordinary vinyl LPs and, in some cases, [[flexidiscs]] were physically transformed into noise records. ===Mixing of forms=== In [[Canada]], the [[Nihilist Spasm Band]] has been performing [[Acoustic music|acoustic-based]] noise music since 1965. The aptly-named [[noise rock]] fuses [[Rock and roll|rock]] to noise, usually with recognisable "rock" instrumentation, but with greater use of distortion and electronic effects, varying degrees of atonalism, improvisation, and [[white noise]]. One of the best-known bands of this genre is [[Boredoms]]. This style is more like a "traditional" band compared to abstract or electronic noise and sometimes bears a similarity to [[grindcore]]. The name [[noisecore]] is also used to refer to noise-influenced [[hardcore techno]] or rock. Fans of the genre sometimes distinguish between "[[harsh noise]]", the more well-known super-dense and abrasive sounds of [[Merzbow]], [[Masonna]] and similar artists, and other loose sub-genres like "rhythmic noise", "power electronics", "free noise", and so on. Confusingly, some industrial techno sub-genres have very similar names, i.e. [[power noise]]. Power noise is comparatively conventionally musical, and is not to be confused with [[List of post-industrial music genres and related fusion genres#Power electronics|power electronics]], the synthesizer based subgenre of abstract and experimental noise performed by [[Whitehouse (band)|Whitehouse]]. Free noise came equally out of the [[free jazz]] traditions, or at least its outer boundaries such as Albert Ayler and John Zorn, as its harsh noise influences and closely aligns itself with similar methods of long, interactive improvisations between players; examples include [[Borbetomagus]] and WRONG. ==Lists of noise musicians== in Wikipedia: *[[List of noise musicians]] *[[List of Japanoise artists]] ==See also== * [[Noise]] * [[Sonic artifact]] ==External links== * [http://noise.alphamanbeast.com/ alphamanbeast's noise directory] An information base with links to artists and labels of the broader noise music genre, as well as miscellaneous related resources. * [http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=314 Full With Noise: Theory and Japanese Noise Music] Essay about Japanese noise and the theory behind noise. * [http://www.ubu.com/papers/noise.html Torben Sangild: "The Aesthetics of Noise"] * [http://noiseweb.com/ Noiseweb] * [http://noisewiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Noise_Bands List of noise bands in the Noise Wiki] created by noise artists for noise artists * [http://www.thereminvox.com/article/articleview/116 Russolo's Intonarumori] {{Electronic_art_music-footer}} [[Category:Industrial music]] [[Category:Japanese music]] [[Category:Noise music|*]] [[af:Noise musiek]] [[bs:Noise muzika]] [[cs:Noise]] [[de:Noise (Musik)]] [[es:Noise]] [[fr:Musique bruitiste]] [[it:Noise]] [[nl:Noise]] [[ja:ノイズミュージック]] [[nn:Noise]] [[pl:Noise]] [[pt:Noise]] [[ru:Нойз]] [[fi:Noise]] [[sv:Noise]]