Noise From The Blackstuff (The Ultimate Underground Scene?)
Last year I started to get MySpace friends requests from some odd sounding customers (don’t ask me to remember how it started). The bands’ pages (though more commonly individuals’) were none more black and featured pictures of a grimly surgical nature. It was debatable, even, whether it was music – the participants seem happy to call their genre “Noise”. I should admit I like bands who offend. Although I have no great desire to upset in real life, I take a childish delight in swearing and shocking imagery in my R&R.
I should admit I like bands who offend. Although I have no great desire to upset in real life, I take a childish delight in swearing and shocking imagery in my R&R. Having swum in the waters of Metal for many years of the 80s I can attest that (and I realise it does me no credit) seeing Alice Cooper (left) getting his head cut off, W.A.S.P. produce a nude lady from a cabinet, slit her throat and sling raw meat at the crowd or The Mighty Thor have breeze blocks broken over his chest by a dwarf with a sledgehammer (honest – I saw it twice!) were not without entertainment value. With the advent of Death/Speed/Thrash things got nastier. Although I was never really a gig goer for this area of Metal, I can remember the impact of Reign In Blood by Slayer (the lyric sheet of which is still a very grisly document). That opened the floodgates and any time I dipped a toe in this particular pond necrophilia seemed to be the prime subject.
I have to say even for a fan of Shock Rock the murder and church burning was a bit much, and it took Napalm Death and Electro Hippies to make sense of the Noise strand in Metal again with Hardcore. Not really until Marilyn Manson did anyone go further in upsetting the grown-ups and that was more to do with his high profile. And he also brings us back to Alice Cooper (subversive name, stage act, religious background).
Now, I’ve digressed here.
Noise certainly isn’t Black Metal but as a scene it seems to share components, not least an utter disregard for mainstream trends and tastes. A propensity for tattoos, piercing and dark clothing. Practitioners could be taken, by the untrained eye, for Goths. And again the Industrial end of Goth is a sign post on the road to Noise. But Noise is not about guitars, though (as with ‘Black Mental’ by Chav Stabber ) it uses them, sampled or raw, set to “pain” for rhythmic effect. It is about the manipulation of electronic sound to alter mood (usually in a somewhat distressing way but some Noise can be gentle if not really Ambient – like the dreams of a machine).
It could probably find it’s originators in Dik Mik from Hawkwind (pictured left) (whose apparent ability to use his noise generator to make people spontaneously defecate was VERY Noise), Silver Apples (a bit) and various Electronic pioneers ( Pierre Henry comes to mind). Throbbing Gristle must surely be the Gods of Noise (along with the lesser known Whitehouse), with an amazing and uncompromised back catalogue that defies easy explanation (though much of it is more musical than you expect). The look of much Noise imagery comes from them, Crass/Flux Of Pink Indians and Anarchist fanzines (whether deliberately or not) that feature weapon diagrams, corporate reports, animal testing photos – and Industrial Alt. Rock acts like NIN and Ministry (who regularly showed surgical videos live – I seem to remember a sex change operation projected during the Psalm 69 tour) .
 is an unsettling experience – white noise is pierced by voices supposedly from beyond the grave. This contact with the beyond from radio static was the basis of the film White Noise. Seventies and late Sixties also throw up many Moog and Synth albums that experiment with sound. If you can afford it Radiophonic Workshop and Music Library LPs can be a cauldron of sound, along with FX albums (BBC classics like Death And Horror). </p>
<p>I suppose the first bands I heard recently that could be described as Noise (in the sense of the current genre) were <b>PRE</b> (from the UK) and Canadians <b>AIDS Wolf</b> (pictured), though I came to them about 2 years ago. One of the interesting – and confusing – things about the Noise movement is the bewildering amount of back room labels and the large out-put of the acts (often on many labels – <b>Endometrium Cuntplow</b> has released on several labels, including mine). Mostly releases are small runs, many on wilfully obscure formats like cassette and 3” CD-R. The “big” names like <b>PRE</b> and <b>AIDS Wolf</b> are on the Skin Graft label which seems to be a good starting point. Although not a Noise label (it started in Comix and branched out into Alternative music) it has an aesthetic that is shared with much Noise. The packaging is high spec DIY and design is paramount. Its releases (quite apart from the music) are marvellous <em>objects</em> designed to gratify the senses.</p>
<p>The more gentle Noise can be like magic eye, your brain finds a way in and sees the picture. The more brutal extremes (and <em>brutal</em> is in no way an exaggeration – some sounds are like the maelstrom behind a maniac killers eyes) are so horrifying the mind still tries to make some sense of it. In the same way the brain finds a face of a Saint in foodstuffs, it tries to create reason where none may exist in Noise. The joy of Noise is the possibility of sense from – literally – nonsense. It’s the aural equivalent of Abstract art. Meanings and significance are given by the brain to largely unstructured musics. Though created with care the artists simply do not have to adhere to any conventions previously set down in music. They can express a feeling through the immediate manipulation of sounds without having to bring to bear melody, lyric or rhythm (though it may contain all three). Listening to the 19 minutes of “Beneath The Awareness Of Mother Culture” by <b>Opaque</b> (2003 on the excellent 4 cd set The Cult Of Survivors) is a journey and a test. The pulse that continues may change imperceptibly but it’s difficult to tell. It is both difficult to listen to and hard to turn away from. It has a drone that could be said to be womb like but it isn’t as comfortable and New Age as that suggests. It is at a speed just above heart-rate and so doesn’t quiet let you relax while not being in your face troubling. Rather like the drone of some mechanical system required for continued existence the thing worse than hearing it would be it stopping. </p>
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