'Noise is resistance, or at least it causes resistance, so can never be the mainstream. We should not have the idea that noise is subjective - it is something that happens to the individual, but it is not solely driven by that, however directly painful the moment might be when you encounter a concert that is too loud, or the relentless thrum of TV-derived hit songs. It's more interesting than that: if that's your reaction, you are noise, you are the bit that doesn't fit.
'But noise is a judgment, a social one, based on unacceptability, the breaking of norms and a fear of violence. So what do we seek if we are drawn to noise music? How and why would anyone want to be assaulted by it?
'There is something ecstatic about extreme volume that undoes controlled listening, and creates a moment where you are just hearing, and not just through your ears. That moment is a moment of noise music - ideally a long moment with no obvious end or markers in it, like the assault of My Bloody Valentine's You Made Me Realise, where their music was stripped of all instrumentation until the effects played themselves. Disturbance, disruption, distortion, these all make up noise music. But if all you're doing is combining these elements, you will have a simulation of noise music, a generic version.
'What I like noise music to have is a deeper sense of being overdriven, of being near to collapse, of courting failure, or using failure of machinery pushed too far (this includes human machinery).
'At its strangest it should create a sense of liberation from thought, from trying to find structure, it should be made of material that just shouldn't be there ("there" being in a concert, on a recording, or anywhere at all if you're really lucky). But this is not an easy liberation. Instead of the ecstasy of the repetitions and crescendos of dance music, this is the joy of loss through the inflicting of sound (is this the time to say that noise music can be quiet, full of the threat and promise of silence, of sensory deprivation?).' -- Paul Hegarty
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PortalKilter
'Parsing Portal's Vexovoid should take you the better part of this calendar year. Initially forceful and ultimately complex, Vexovoid redirects the image of death metal through a dervish funhouse, where the expected shapes have been mutated and multiplied into orders so strange they seem surreal. Rhythms stay the course where you expect them to shift before finally switching without warning. Sharp-barbed riffs emerge from and climb above dins that once seemed irreparably unordered. Songs that, for the first minute, appeared to have but one aim and direction find a half-dozen new missions and vectors in a five-minute span. Hearing it all go by-- the forms flux, the pieces connect, the momentum volley-- provides an exhilarating, bewildering sort of audio whiplash. Vexovoid is a gauntlet that, to run again and again, is every bit as exhilarating as it is exhausting.'-- Grayson Currin, Pitchfork
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TsemblaIn B (excerpt, live)
'Tsembla-- Finland-based artist Marja Johansson-- creates and inhabits melodic landscapes that are as decieving as they are addictive. Like fellow Finnish outré-experimental musician, Jan Anderzen-- the brain behind projects Tomutonttu and Kemialliset Ystävät-- Johansson creates recordings that feel equal parts childish, psychedelic, and tribal. Her craft may sound like alien transmissions sent from the past, but her style is inherently home-grown and of this world. On "Aivojen Pimeydessä," Johansson weaves strangely melodic rhythms on top of each other before introducing pulsing, spaced-out bass hits. It's not until halfway through, however, that Johansson restrains individual layers to show the true complexity of an effortless-seeming sound.'-- The Wire
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Fuck ButtonsBrainfreeze
'Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power have always been masters at dynamics and building momentum, only now they seem to have found a way to augment their strengths without having it derail the song. Unlike the constant building (which might be more accurately described as throbbing) that made much of "Street Horrsing" and "Tarot Sport," on Slow Focus the songs actually build towards something. The band removes drums and synth parts for sections at a time, which gives the songs a feeling of pace they never had (and in my opinion always seemed to lack) before. "Brainfreeze" is the perfect example of this. It also is a track that tries to sonically recreate the feeling of an actual brain freeze, which is a pretty sweet thing to do.'-- Bitcandy
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Toshimaru Nakamuranimb #37
'Toshimaru Nakamura began his career playing rock and roll guitar, but gradually explored other types of music, even abandoning guitar and started working on circuit bending. He uses a mixing console as a live, interactive musical instrument: "Nakamura plays the 'no-input mixing board', connecting the input of the board to the output, then manipulating the resultant audio feedback."Nakamura's music has been described as "sounds ranging from piercing high tones and shimmering whistles to galumphing, crackle-spattered bass patterns."'-- collaged
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VårPictures of Today / Victorial
'Vår is the project of four best friends from Copenhagen. Each member of the band is involved in several other Danish bands and all four members are also accomplished visual artists. What began as the extremely lo-fi two-piece of Elias Rønnenfelt and Loke Rahbek recording on 4-track has evolved into an experimental noise/industrial/techno pop quartet. On this album Vår utilize everything from acoustic guitar, power electronics, bass, trumpet, multi-tracked vocals, and various percussive instruments, to broken glass & sheet metal samples. No One Dances Quite Like My Brothers is a remarkable debut, an emotional roller coaster of sorts which at times is profoundly uplifting, at times decidedly morose but remains unfailingly moving throughout.'-- Sacred Bones
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Bill Orcutt & Chris Corsanolive @ Industry Lab
'You know Bill Orcutt from dozens of releases with now-defunct Miami noise legends Harry Pussy (including the recent One Plus One 2xLP comp on his own Palilalia Records, and the reissue of Let’s Build a Pussy via Editions Mego) or from his skull-obliterating solo acoustic guitar work. If you’ve seen him live, I bet you know him as one of the most memorable guitarists you’ve encountered. You know Chris Corsano from dozens of releases with collaborators in the avant/free-jazz/improvised music scenes, as one third of Rangda, or as improviser-in-residence at Hopscotch 2012. If you’ve seen him live, I bet you know him as one of the most memorable drummers you’ve encountered. Together, nothing is softened: strikes of the E-string correspond with cymbal crashes; both players reach the end of a winding phrase and stop on a dime before swinging into a new barrage; shouts rise up into the room mic; a guitar is picked with such speed and savagery that it seems to both diverge into too many discrete voices and spiral into itself as if it could chew into the vinyl (the MP3 will probably be fine); a snare drum is struck hard enough, you think, to split it. This is the sound of two minds and four hands striking in every direction and covering the mix in treble shrapnel.'-- Tiny Mix Tapes
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Egyptian Sports NetworkNecropolis Highlights
'Egyptian Sports Network is the new collaborative project between Matt ‘Ducktails’ Mondanile and Spencer Clark, also known as one half of The Skaters (with James Ferraro), one half of Inner Tubes (with ex-Emeralds member Mark McGuire) and label boss of Pacific City Sound Visions. Taken from their debut five-track suite called ‘Interstitial Luxor’ for Mondanile’s New Images label, the track is written by Mondanile and Clark and beautifully executed by Mark McGuire. It’s as fresh as you’d imagine and expect, combining weird and wonderful textures in a thick vein of metallic, futuristic abstraction and undulating riffs.'-- collaged
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Laundry Room Squelcherslive @ International Noise Conference, Miami
'Laundry Room Squelchers is one of the most unpredictable outfits in all of noise's underbelly. A founding member of the despicable To Live and Shave in LA, Mr. Rat Bastard (Frank Falestra to Mom) has been cracking heads, bursting eardrums, and causing structural damage in shitty clubs for decades, most recently with his sprawling International Noise Conference, which touts: "No droning, no mixing boards, no laptops." I had the opportunity to see the Squelchers at last year's No Future Fest in Chapel Hill, NC, where a burly man with black-rimmed glasses and beanie (Rat Bastard) hurled his static-spewing amplifier into the faces and chests of audience members.'-- Washington City Paper
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μ-ZiqPulsar
'Mike Paradinas, the man behind µ-Ziq and peerless electronic label Planet Mu, has been a central figure in progressive and inventive electronic music for over 20 years. His work both as a label boss and as an artist has been very much founded on the principles of exploring sound and all the possibilities it possesses. Just as important as the sound itself is its relationship with the body and the mind. This relationship is at the forefront of all his work and Chewed Corners, the first µ-Ziq album for six years, is an album that is the product of all those years of exploration. he music collected here flows and glides. It sounds like the work of a man who understands perfectly the music he wants to make and the feelings he wants to convey.'-- music OMH
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Unicorn Hard-Onlive @ Raw Meet 10
'Valerie Martino's Unicorn Hard-On project has been a long running staple in the American underground since it's inception in 2003. Through her own Tangled Hares imprint, as well as many others, she's built a strong, constantly evolving catalog of singular works that serves to many as a prototype of the current beat-oriented phenomena currently sweeping the nation. Martino's vision, however, remains unphased and flourishes accordingly to her own unique vision; standing outside of any trends and remaining loyal to the Unicorn Hard-On sound.'-- Spectrum Spools
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Interplanetary ProphetsZero Hour
'The American producers Ital and Hieroglyphic Being, both known for their idiosyncratic and experimental approaches to house and techno, first teamed up for a performance at Unsound in Krakow last year under the Interplanetary Prophets moniker. The duo reconvened in the studio earlier this year, and this EP, Zero Hour, is the fruit of that session. They've boiled it down into three tracks, and from the sound of it, they're covering a lot of stylistic ground. Expect everything from electronic post-punk textures a la Ike Yard to what the press materials describe as "deep space voyaging."'-- Resident Advisor
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Eric CopelandMasterbater
'While the sonic crush of Brooklyn noise trio Black Dice consistently aims for the gloomiest part of the brain, its principal vocalist, Eric Copeland, aimed for the body in his 2012 solo effort, Limbo. Made up of plundered VHS tape breaks stitched together by an amateur seamstress, it was rough around the edges, and the songs lurched in their color and arrangement. Limbo was unquestionably tied to dance-floor rhythms in a way only foreshadowed by the kick-drum pipe bombs on Black Dice’s Mr. Impossible. Copeland’s first solo effort for DFA, Joke In The Hole, largely carries on that tradition: whimsical beat-driven cuts, indebted more to Copeland’s ADD crate-digging than to the noise conventions that populate both his Black Dice material and his earliest solo work.'-- A.V. Club
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MoonfaceMarimbas and Shit-drums
'For those familiar with Spencer Krug, you know the drill when one of his many projects emerges with some new music. Acquire it, listen to it, and, in most cases, love it. For the newcomers… where have you been? Over the last decade, Krug has proven to be one of indie rock’s more intriguing contributors. The guy doesn’t sleep much, what with being a key member of every band you like (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake, Frog Eyes, etc.). However, when he does take a few minutes to lay down, he dreams of riding around on leopards, exploring confetti-filled wastelands, getting lost in folds of dresses, and slaying dragons. But he’s always dreaming up something new. This time around, either somebody slipped something strong into his cactus juice, or he dozed off to a Discovery Channel special on Zimbabwean rituals. Who knows, maybe it was a combination of both. Either way, with the newest manifestation of the Krug Empire, a little project called Moonface, shit just got a little tribal.'-- Consequence of Sound
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p.s. Hey. ** Bill, Hi, B. First! Yeah, I'm not so into his non-fireworks pieces. He can get kind of precious or overdetermined or something when he works with solids maybe. How's the hacking going as of whatever time you see this? ** Allesfliesst, Hi, Kai. That cover's not so ideal, yeah. But those black fireworks pieces are such great eye-quicksand that it works anyway. My interest? Sure, the ephemeral sculptural aspect totally gets to me. And I'm a sucker for fireworks in a wide-eyed kid sort of way. And it's pretty cool to watch fireworks and not spend most of the time thinking how unadventurous the practitioner is being, to be given such a new image that it stalls the imagination or something. So, I like his explosions the way I like the words and sentences in experimental fiction, and I like his stuff the way I love an innovative roller coaster. The black fireworks are the best, yeah, the real monsters. And the Xmas tree one made my head spin. ** Wolf, Hi. You made the blog's very slow loading process exciting. It makes me wish I could control the speed with which the posts load in every browser. I could maybe work wonders with that or try to. Wow, nice meditation on his jumper. See, there you go. At my end of things, the post loads so fast I don't have the time to notice things like that. No, I didn't know that about the Shiva figure at the entrance of CERN. I'm going to CERN next year. I booked a private tour as a b'day present for my friend Zac. Did you know you can do that? You can, but it's booked up in massive advance. Both Guo-Qing and Fujiko are doing pieces in this year's Nuit Blanche. They're happening way far apart (Fujiko on Republique, and G-Q over the Seine nearish the Eiffel Tower), but maybe there'll be a very strong breeze that'll make them touch or something. I knew you weren't dissing them. I just meant that they both use wit in their work kind of architecturally, so the wit in the interview had this nice instructive quality. Or scary and pretty cool at the same time. That's totally the best, no? ** David Ehrenstein, Thanks, D! ** Tosh Berman, Hi, Tosh. As I was just telling Wolf, he's doing a piece in Nuit Blanche this year, so I'm very exciting to see his stuff in person. Word is that he's figured out a way to spell words with fireworks and that the NB piece might be his first attempt to do that. I love fireworks, yeah. When I'm in LA for the 4th, I usually go up to Griffith Observatory where you can watch all the fireworks displays going off around the city simultaneously. I recommend doing that. ** Steevee, Hi. Obviously, I hope the blood test will end with a simple explanation and mild treatment if any. ** Heliotrope, Hi, Mark! My pleasure, buddy boy. That's weird that people think of the Dodgers as winners. Maybe thirty years ago. They're the collapsers to me. Like fucking clockwork. Wow, you've made me schedule a re-listening of 'Electric Music For The Mind And Body'. It's been decades, I think. All I can remember is that crazy drifting organ sound. Interesting. Why are the Hitchcock fan group people nonplussed by his new one? What isn't there for them? Can you say? I don't miss those never ending LA summers, that's for sure. Paris summers always end about three weeks too early, yum. I felt the more maxi-personal touch. How did you do that? How can I respond to both of you in kind? I'll think of something. Love upon love, me. ** œ, Hi. I got here late and missed the previous comment's explosion. I just saw the dull gray, cinder-like standard Blogger sentence announcing that said explosion had taken place at some point. I like the black ones the best. They freak me out very pleasantly. Ashbery rules. His humor is incredible if you end up entering it, but the work works whether or not. I won't do a Lady Gaga Day, I assure you. If someone else here does, it'll likely happen. I think in the whole history of this blog, I've only rejected one guest-post, and that was eight years ago now or something. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, B. Yes, I caught the selling price. Crazy yet understandable. Awesome about your djing tonight, and the Crawl sounds like a lot of fun and even more than fun maybe. ** Alan, Hi, Alan! I'm so glad that you're doing well. By the end of the year?! That's fantastic! This novel has come together kind of swiftly, no? Or, I'm forgetting, is the tempo at which this new novel is completing itself the way such things work for you generally? I love the title. ** Misanthrope, Hi, G. Interesting. I guess I feel like plagiarism has become a more slippery thing post- the post-modern. What that person did to Florian's drawing is robbery. I don't see any gray area there. And I've never even heard 'Blurred Lines', as far as as I know, other than kind of hearing it while watching the notorious Miley clip, so I don't know about that, but it seemed a bit more transformative re: the Marvin Gaye track than the 'Try' alteration example, but I don't know, like I said. I guess for me it's an example by example thing. Theoretically, taking something pre-existing and putting a slight personal spin on it, and that slight spin being the point or art or whatever, could be okay. That's different than just stealing Florian's art and putting it on a shirt that you only made in order to earn money. 'Blurred Lines' didn't sound interesting to me in my half-listen, but it seems to have made millions happy, and that means something that's worth thinking about and studying, I think. I don't know. It's slippery to me, I guess, and I have this heavy anti-generalizing thing. ** S., I'm just whatever about Google +. It doesn't seem either worth investigating or opting out of. I don't think I know those paintings. I don't know ... you know, I get kind of skin crawly about objectification, so I can't think of whether any boys I know are hot or not. For me, their visuals are too intersected with who they are to me to coagulate and simplify like that. Scott McClanahan's books are very worth reading, I think. You leave near him? Weird. Or not weird, I guess. I've never quite figured out where you live. Or where he lives, for that matter. You get a slaves post tomorrow, so good timing on that. Wow, your place is white. That's interesting. I like it. It does some kind of crystalizing, hands-off thing with the stacks or something. I'll go scroll through the new stack pronto. Everyone, new Emo stack from that stacker among stacker S., now with a shiny white background. You've got to see it It's called 'Arcade Boys'. Here. ** Will Decker, Hi there, Will. Well, thank you very, very much. I hope all is going very well with you. ** Statictick, Hi, big N. High five on the American football thing. We are not legion and must stick together. Thanks, of course, for your kindness re: the recent posts. I'm glad that, if it has to be mysterious, your latest court appearance was mundane. That's one of the few contexts wherein the mundane and the sublime bear a certain resemblance. ** Rewritedept, There's a super-great huge fireworks store on the outskirts of Las Vegas. I used to drive all the way there from LA sometimes just to buy fireworks since California only allows the wussiest kind. Interesting, wise thoughts there about art making and writing. Kudos. Word count ... mine? Mostly up but with a constant whittling back at the same time. Today I'm going to work on some stuff, mine and collaborative, and help a friend move, and we'll see what else comes up. Hope your Friday pays off. ** So. There's a gig of mostly new stuff that I've been into lately for you today. Take it or leave it or something in between, please. See you tomorrow.