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Pif Magazine
ISSN: 1094-2726
Published by:
Pif, LLC
PMB 248
4820 Yelm Hwy SE
Suite B
Lacey, WA 98503-4903
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| PAST MUSIC REVIEWS | MORE REVIEWS |
Noise Music Beach
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"People talking without speaking |
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— Mr. Simon |
Forget the sound of one hand clapping. What is the sound of noise? What is the sound of music? And what is the difference? Well, every defined area has boundaries. Outside the boundary of music lies random noise, and within the boundary of music random noise is excluded. But envisioning music as a geographical area bounded by a prescribed geometric circle isn't very accurate or helpful. Noise is random, whereas music is ordered. Ay, therein lies ye olde rub. Where is the line between order and randomness? At what point does a random series of numbers cease to be random? Surely all numbers are related to each other in some way. A truly random series of numbers is actually a pretty rare thing. One of the early computer programming challenges was to write a true random number generator. So you've got your order, you've got your randomness, and in between you've got your chaos which contains streams of order amidst swirling oceans of randomness. (And I've got my first paragraph.)
Rather than approach the music/noise dilemma from the geometric "bounded circle" standpoint, lets approach it from a gradual linear standpoint.
To the extreme left of the spectrum is pure 100% random noise; to the extreme right is pure 100% ordered music. Your father probably draws his music/noise line somewhere between John Cougar Mellencamp and Metallica, whereas you probably draw your music/noise line somewhere between late John Coltrane and an industrial strength dryer. But everybody draws the line somewhere.
Most musicians want their music to be perceived as, well, music. To call someone's music noise is usually a great insult. But some musicians set out to intentionally make noise. No, not just noisy music, but actual noise music. And why on earth would someone want to perform and record noise? Well, at the boundary of the ocean and the land lies the beach, and everybody likes to go to the beach! Maybe these musicians got tired of growing grain on the farm (making ordered music), and maybe they got tired of deep sea fishing (the random noises of life), so they packed up their cane poles and metal detectors and headed on down to Noise Music Beach.
Let's take a look at a few CD's broadcasting from way left on the noise/music spectrum. To return to my original, flawed, bounded-circle metaphor, some of these CD's have climbed right on over the music fence and are simply wallowing in sheer noise. Others are leaning right up against the music fence, longingly peering over into Noiseland. How you perceive these recordings will depend on where you build your fence. One could also say: If you're brutally honest, these CD's will sound a lot like noise. If you're pretentious, artsy, and filled with an abiding need to seem profound, these CD's will sound like a string quartet. (You are so deep!)
If you think these CD's themselves are noisy, wait till you hear them via lo-fi Internet streaming audio. Doh! Climb aboard then. You see the signpost up ahead. Your next stop... Noise Music Beach.
1. Sonic Youth/Jim O'Rourke – SYR3 (Invito Al Cielo)
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If the Beach Boys are the Beach Boys of the real beach, then Sonic Youth are the Beach Boys of Noise Music Beach. Sonic Youth have become the darlings of the noise rock crowd, with ties to modern minimalist composers, beat generation poets, and even Neil Young. Sonic Youth currently cranks out rock CD's on a major label, but they haven't always been such pop heads. Here's a scene from a Sonic Youth show in Atlanta circa 1990: Singer/Bassist Kim Gordon is mumbling into her microphone and banging the body of her instrument with her right fist while her left hand frets nothing at all; guitarist Lee Ranaldo has one drum stick wedged between his strings and is yanking it up and down his fretboard while banging his guitar pick-up furiously with another drumstick; second guitarist Thurston Moore is mystically waving his guitar in front of the monitor speakers, causing the entire PA system to feed back; and drummer Steve Shelley is methodically working over a loose upside-down pile of different-sized cymbals with a pair of timpani mallets. |
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Sonic Youth semi-recently formed their own record label and have returned to churning out experimental noise side-projects at an alarming rate. (It doesn't take much time to make noise, I guess.) SYR3 is the best of the lot so far. Featuring master experimental guitarist/composer Jim O'Rourke, this CD is fairly listenable, easing from total feedback noise to some nice lolling drum break/spoken word sections. Kim Gordon is mumbling again, saying stuff like "don't forget the one who gave you the engine of your memory" (over a sampled loop of two Australians arguing in fast-forward?), and SYR3 has elements of beat poetry, William Burroughs-esque tape cut-up experiments, and beatnik horns and rhythms. There are even some pleasant Japanese-sounding passages. But mostly this CD sounds like a weird guitar band freaking out with their equipment, which is what it is. Yep, I kind of like it. I'm so deep.
