List of most popular noise artists/noise history

[FAP]

https://www.noisextra.com/2020/09/16/in ... ck-fernow/
https://www.noisextra.com/2020/09/23/in ... ow-part-2/

Speaking of Dom Fernow, listening to these interviews with him gave me a lot to think about. I've been on a creative hiatus for a few days now because I hit an impasse with material I was working on and I'm dealing with more pressing issues in my personal life. Now I'm starting to rethink my whole approach to making noise, and really why I'm doing it.

I'll say this: I was wrong about Dom. I've taken the piss with Prurient a few times in the past because at the time I just thought he was this greedy phoney, but after listening to these interviews I know that's not true at all.

It also blows my mind that he was active in Madison in the 90's; both of us have even shopped at Earwax! That's another notable entry in Madison's disconnected noise history. Killdozer, Slave State, Prurient, Right Arm Severed... all of these guys were at one time active in a city I live a few miles from, but none of them ever bumped into one another! Small world, I guess?

[Young Hate]

*notice/note/etc.: I'm 22, American and am heavily biased towards the rock-oriented Japanoise scene

I can only speak for myself but I think it'd be fair to say a lot of my generation found noise via hearing about/listening to Merzbow (or You will never be a dancer by Whitehouse) somehow. I listened to that walrus in the zoo album he made and thought it and the artist himself was boring; luckily I found out about Gerogerigegege & Hanatarash (thru Wikipedia)

Eventually started making noise and friends within the online noise scene, as a lot may know, the Russian & Indonesian noise scenes are flourishing rn, they're where the UK & Japan were decades ago IMO.

That's my two boys that doesn't include noise rap and other genres

[NoiseWiki]

I didn't really know of Merzbow till the mid 90s but before that I had heard a collab between Steve Stapleton and William Bennet. Besides that I had a cd by an act called Dr Nerve I think.. technically not noise but really abrasive none the less. Otherwise my path to noise was through industrial music. I had read about sone of Boyd Rice NONs methods but never really took interest in him .. especially in hind sight I can see why.

[¾ dead]

I'd only "heard of" Merzbow from my sister, but only in the most vague and fleeting way. I suspect she read some blurb in a magazine about him and decided to try to sound impressive by name-dropping him once. From what my ~11 year-old brain can recall, she just mentioned him as "the most insane kind of music there is", or something to that effect, but I never heard him mentioned again until way, way later.

Interesting factoid: I can remember listening to what I believe to have been the re-recorded version of Christian Death's "Deathwish" in the late 90's or early 2000 in my sister's bedroom, and I remember thinking for years it was an Agents of Oblivion or other Dax Riggs-related rarity (I think it was from a mix tape. Also, my sister was/probably still is obsessed with Dax Riggs). Either she told me it was, or told me it sounded like that to her, but that's what I remember thinking... I know because it stuck in my head for years after I got into CD. I didn't get into CD/Rozz Williams (my industrial/DA entry point into "noise proper" with Premature Ejaculation as I've mentioned before) until high school, and then remembered hearing the same lyrics several years earlier. But, to this day, I can find no trace of a Dax Riggs-related cover of that song online (I suppose it may exist, I just can't find evidence of it, or else haven't looked hard enough).

I am basically indifferent to Boyd Rice. I wouldn't say I dislike his work/feel put off by his schtick, or """"schtick"""", if you prefer (I like Anal Cunt, after all). But his work never really grabbed me the same way the work of other people associated with him did. Whitehouse were always enough to satisfy my edge cravings. :3

But, then, Whitehouse are also "problematic". And I always thought they were just being ironic.
People will find a problem with anything! I know I do...

[NoiseWiki]

But, then, Whitehouse are also "problematic". And I always thought they were just being ironic.
People will find a problem with anything! I know I do...

Yea I never really got into Whitehouse.. I bought a bunch of releases at some point out of due diligence and decided that it was unlistenable and I suppose that is the point. I do think noise can be enjoyable but I simply don't enjoy that kind of self abuse in my ears. Maybe I'm just not hard-core enough.. myself

Also from what I read in Englands Secret Reverse Stapleton hated working with Bennett because he always redline the mixer by default..

[¾ dead]

But, then, Whitehouse are also "problematic". And I always thought they were just being ironic.
People will find a problem with anything! I know I do...

Yea I never really got into Whitehouse.. I bought a bunch of releases at some point out of due diligence and decided that it was unlistenable and I suppose that is the point. I do think noise can be enjoyable but I simply don't enjoy that kind of self abuse in my ears. Maybe I'm just not hard-core enough.. myself

Also from what I read in Englands Secret Reverse Stapleton hated working with Bennett because he always redline the mixer by default..

It's a weird thing. I do think a lot of the early Whitehouse stuff is, um, frustrating. A "ruined orgasm" of sound, if you get my pornological parlance. But it just sits right with me. There are a few artists like this. I do think it's something about tapping into particular perspectives/states of mind, which are almost more important than the actual "product" where noise is concerned, at least sometimes. I think some of the later, post-millennial shit is actually very sonically exciting, too.

As for due diligence, I went on a spending spree buying lots of Merzbow CD's I never owned physical copies of recently. Even ones I'm not wild about, sonically speaking. My pristine, sealed copy of SCSI Duck arrived! I happen to enjoy that one, though.

I'd probably hate to work w/ WB too... :3 Actually, probably Merzbow, for that matter. A lot of his collabs seem to just be "I'm just going to be Merzbow on top of this. Music is irrelevant ", though I got his CD with "Porn" (Yeah, "some band called 'Porn'"), and I rather dig it.

[NoiseWiki]

Actually, probably Merzbow, for that matter. A lot of his collabs seem to just be "I'm just going to be Merzbow on top of this. Music is irrelevant ", though I got his CD with "Porn" (Yeah, "some band called 'Porn'"), and I rather dig it.

That release with porn came out in 2008 so maybe his embarrassment of being associated with "pornography" is fairly recent .. based on his ire towards the interview with GX where it was revealed he was really into fetish mags and knew people in Japanese porn scene

[¾ dead]

Typical noisedude story: Finally, a girl started paying attention to him, now he's a polite vegan. Ask BRR!

[Fire of the Mind]

https://www.noisextra.com/2020/09/16/in ... ck-fernow/
https://www.noisextra.com/2020/09/23/in ... ow-part-2/

Speaking of Dom Fernow, listening to these interviews with him gave me a lot to think about. I've been on a creative hiatus for a few days now because I hit an impasse with material I was working on and I'm dealing with more pressing issues in my personal life. Now I'm starting to rethink my whole approach to making noise, and really why I'm doing it.

I'll say this: I was wrong about Dom. I've taken the piss with Prurient a few times in the past because at the time I just thought he was this greedy phoney, but after listening to these interviews I know that's not true at all.

It also blows my mind that he was active in Madison in the 90's; both of us have even shopped at Earwax! That's another notable entry in Madison's disconnected noise history. Killdozer, Slave State, Prurient, Right Arm Severed... all of these guys were at one time active in a city I live a few miles from, but none of them ever bumped into one another! Small world, I guess?

What struck me most about these interviews is how clear it becomes that his early pursuit of noise and darker music in general was fuelled by awe and love of the alien. Hearing him talk about the menace of anonymous white-label techno releases, the joy of creating feedback with primitive tape recorders and the strange coziness of DIY extreme metal and recording your incompetent high school band at your house just hit home really hard, as did that assertion that noise may be open to anyone, but it's also not for everyone. That stuff is all just super important to me.

As for Masami Akita, ironically, it feels like the reverse of what you're saying, as a lot of the stuff he's most embarrassed by is stuff he did with his ex-wifexe2x80xa6

[banned]

I first heard of merbow from a friend when I was 17-18. he told me it was "really weird" and he was gonna buy a cd. anyway, I think the guy in the store thought he said "merz. bo!" cos he returned not with a dada cd, but some slightly offbeat alt folk music more seriously: at 22-23 after I could gone insane and could no longer beat match (on-line stuff).