Noise Music: Art or Junk?

Not many people have listened to noise music. The genre doesn’t get played on any radio station, you won’t hear it in any major movies, and even fans of more obscure music more often likely won’t seek it out. Noise music is basically what it sounds like, making music utilizing non traditional noise from instruments, to create abrasive and obscure sounds. This can be achieved by destroying and dismantling an instrument while playing, or playing notes extremely out of key, or making sounds that aren’t notes at all, utilizing amplifier feedback or bending the circuits of an instrument. Often noise artists will add hundreds of layers of distortion or echo and scream into a microphone. The music doesn’t require a lot of talent so many people see the music as lazy, and consider it to be garbage because it sounds terrible (which of course is fair). On the other hand, there are people like me that see it as a innovative and creative performance art.

Although the music is unpopular, it is one of the oldest genres in existence. According to last.fm the first actual recording of the genre was in 1913 by Italian composer Luigi Russolo, his piece “Veglio di una città” shocked audiences.(last.fm) The next notable composer was John Cage, an avant garde classical musician who played piano medleys on the inner machinery instead of the keys, and was one of the first musicians to work with digital instruments in the 1960s. (johncage.org) These musicians were definitely different, but they bear little resemblance to the most common forms of noise music that we see today, Noise Rock. According to author Bryan Duguid in his article “Prehistory of Industrial Music,” Noise Rock stemmed out of the late 70s NYC punk scene. Bands like Throbbing Gristle and Whitehouse experimented with new techniques to create a more dissonant and extreme sound of music. They would often use jackhammers during live performances and make the guitars as loud as possible for the performance art. (Duguid) These niche artists inspired a noise rock movement in japan dubbed “Japanoise.” In his article, “Full With Noise: Theory and Japanese Noise Music,” Paul Hegarty explains Japanoise artists like Merzbow took the extreme New York industrial music and dialed it up about 7 notches creating a harsh wall of sound. They played instruments fashioned out of household objects, ran it through an amplifier and would use dozens of distortion or reverb pedals to create what was dubbed “harsh noise.” They also upped the danger levels, playing at extremely high volumes and sometimes would use light explosives and one time, even drove a bulldozer into the venue they were playing.

Music like this is guaranteed to invoke a lot of different opinions from people. For example Henry Rollins, the vocalist of hardcore punk band Black Flag, is a fan. He wrote a column in LA Weekly “Noise Music is the Real Thing” praising the musicians. “Often blown off or belittled by critics, the form for the most part goes unheard and unnoticed. I find it much to my liking, and it comprises a large fraction of my listening. I found this extremely underground, almost secretive scene fascinating. The more I hear, the more I wanted to hear. I am several years and countless hours into it now.” (Rollins) The music plays to his punk sensibilities and his experience within the underground music scene. He goes on to say that “The fact that there is not a chance of radio play or even more than the briefest amount of recognition says to me that this is the real thing. This is more punk rock than punk rock ever was past its first year, and in that, it’s bebop strong.” (Rollins)

Critics of the genre raise up a lot of good points. A lot of people dismiss it, for fairly good reason. In a piece about Japanese Harsh Noise, Leonard Pierce of The AV Club writes

“Noise-rock, by its very nature, isn’t very popular; it consists of screeching, howling, searing blares of vocals, drums, guitars, and electronics, and few people can stand to listen to it. So its audience is pretty limited, no less so in Japan than in the English-speaking world. Many ‘Japanoise’ albums are only available as imports, making them expensive and hard to find; the language barrier also ensures that it can be confusing to sort out one release from another. Music as alienating as this also has a built-in snob appeal, making it difficult to get good recommendations from fans who want to keep their club exclusive.” (Pierce)

The music is extremely niche and recordings are hard to find, and like with any niche art, a lot of the fans can be extremely pretentious. Those involved with the music want to keep it as underground as possible and can tend to look down on outsiders.

Other major criticisms have to do with the music itself. A lot of people would argue that some of it isn’t music. Often times the songs don’t have melody or rhythm, just a wall of harsh sound. The fact that noise doesn’t require a lot of effort is another reason why some people consider it to be bad music. Artists don’t really need any practice or experience to make noise.

But if you ask me, the fact that it doesn’t require much practice is what makes the genre so great in the first place. The screaming and pounding and loud extreme sounds are a manifestation of raw primal energy, channeled into music. I would also argue that to be a respected artist it takes a lot of effort and creative energy to push the boundaries of the music and find new ways to create it. Henry Rollins says “This is not just a bunch of maniacs making an awful racket. There is structure, texture and even, at times, an almost Iannis Xenakis constructionist discipline to the work.” (Rollins) The art is never finished. Artists re-record their songs for years and often never consider their music to be complete.

One of my friends showed me this kind of music about a year ago and at first I was ready to dismiss it but it wasn’t until learning more about it that I began to really appreciate it as an art. I started performing in a harsh noise project about 6 months ago with him and another friend where I play a saxophone run through distortion and reverb. The music is interestingly therapeutic and it’s a lot of fun to see where we can take it. I recommend that people give it a chance, although it can be off-putting.

Works Cited

Rollins, Henry. “Henry Rollins: The Column! Noise Music Is the Real Thing.” L.A. Weekly, L.A. Weekly, 24 May 2016, http://www.laweekly.com/music/henry-rollins-the-column-noise-music-is-the-real-thing-2407400

Pierce, Leonard. “Japanese Noise-Rock.” Avclub, Music.avclub.com, 14 Jan. 2010, https://music.avclub.com/japanese-noise-rock-1798218808

“Noise Tag — Music at Last.fm.” Last.fm, https://www.last.fm/tag/noise/wiki

“John Cage :: Official Website.” John Cage :: Official Website, http://johncage.org/

Duguid, Bryan. “A Prehistory of Industrial Music.” Hyperreal.org, 1995, http://media.hyperreal.org/zines/est/articles/preindex.html

Hegarty, Paul. “Full With Noise: Theory and Japanese Noise Music.” CTheory.net, http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=314