the noise…..

surely, if you follow your local indie music scene, or happen around a downtown metropolitan area, or a rural, or suburban artistically aware community, youve come across a group, troupe, or groups.. or a maverick… who fashions themselves a noise or performance artist de resistance.

maybe im talking to you?
one who has diverged with cobbled circuitry, pots, pans, or laptop in hand.
one seemingly (or maybe not coz its punk rock dont-cha-kno)
steeped thoroughly, like a fine cup of tea, in avant gardes’ deep tradition of social commentary through public expression and (re)capture of public space.

or ….to quote..
“a loner Dottie…. a rebel”

not to poke fun as i would definitely camp with the avant garde-ists any day, any where..
but something strange happens, at least for me.

pin one of these purveyors, these provocateurs, these audio conspirators down
and ask them, simply, why…
why all that noise?

why why why?

but then..
Perhaps its all right there, explained in the simple act of doing…
perhaps no words can encapsulate the angst, alienation, hatred, love, pain, joy, loneliness, or sublimity of it all..

i am barking at the wrong dog… maybe…..

when witnessing a “noise” performance, am i responsible to read between AND(!?) fill in the lines? am i capable of this?
to fill in the blanks… to unlearn and re-learn what i have learned/unlearned..
from moment to (piercing/droning) moment
to formulate a personal devil’s fifth?

am i simply not participating enough, not close enough to the ground with my ear..
i missed the train to the knowable unknown..
where more questions propagate more questions into the infinity…
like unraveling a big cable knit sweater which someone keeps knitting
ah-and knitting…ah-and knitting…ah-and knitting…ah-and knitting…

but the act of being a noise artist seems at a glance so simple, so pleasurable, almost a breeze of fresh air in a crowded basement….. it seems that most cities or suburbs who have a “scene” consisting of what we will call more traditionally focused “bands” also contain the reciprocal, or ANTI-reciprocal, noise scene….

its almost a new language or a new (gasp) sex…
seemingly without the guilt and more accessible.

forgive the voyeurism but
i want to know why, what, who, where, from whence, and when

what exactly are we saying to each other?
::: there is something to this noise… .or maybe not.. :::

first a quick trip to Wikipedia for a little precedent.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_(music)]

the noise “scene” as i find it today has roots dating to early 20th century, deriving itself via artists who were challenging the notion of what music “was” to them. there seems to be an embracing of technology during the industrial revolution, which presented new possibilities in terms of the creation of music. as the movement evolved, anti-bourgeois and anarchistic sensibilities became intertwined within the “noise” thing…
all things that i can relate to in some way more or less.

but here is where i stick in the fly paper… or get bug zapped a bit…

the current noise scene seems to be spreading like virus (digital) from system to system (cities, towns, communes, suburbs) via new and quickly evolving technology and networking… challenging what music “is” and equally challenging how one obtains that music… but what is the message, if any, of the NEW noise artist (anyone who has fashioned themselves such say since 2000)

what language and messages are we telling to one another, and are they similar to those artists in the early to mid 20th century.

or, are “noise artists” of the 21st century just making a bunch of noise…

::lets examine::

perhaps my first really shockingly good experience
in the “noise” thing was a performance of this:

which was given within The Lab’s art.tech festival in San Francisco during 2010.
prior to witnessing a performance of this… i really thought the noise scene
as MORE pretentious than say, the synth-pop 1980′s emulating thing because
i had serious doubts that either “scene” had any real idea of the cultural context
(from an american perspective) regarding the underpinning of their aesthetic.
Future Sausage to me, was an inspection of american ideals.. told from (to me)
a hackers perspective (a relatable perspective for me).
a comment on that latent duality that is (at times) the american ideal..

i remember exclaiming to my friend whom i had attended the performance with..
“this is a hack!” in a great, if not disturbing way..
at this point, to me, the noise scene had something to it

next i became aware of this:

The DPG (Discord Proving Ground) based in Tokyo, Japan. According to their manifesto:
“DPG” started in Tokyo in the summer of 2007 is an audiovisual sound
experiment organization whose concept is an electron & electric wave & electricity.
Engineers gathered basing this concept announce the experiment in this project.
The experiment purpose of this project is for the testee to
experience the electrochemical reaction and the influence on the magnetic field, and to prove oneself.

Comparatively to Future Sausage, and no less compelling, the DPG seems to encourage advanced usage of technology in expressing an anti-bourgeois and anarchistic attitude. however, there seems to be a paradox in this… being, the “price” of “ownership” of the public space. to rage against the haves, in the DPG’s case, you seem to have to have alot of gear to throw a stone, or more, an electron or two, which may betray the original “noise” ideal, that of creating with found, or even industrial elements.

…BUT BUT BUT…
for me, I always find myself watching the DPG’s youtube videos with amazement and astonishment… at the elegance and discordance of all that electromagnetism.
the DPG is compelling..

next… a detour..
recently, i was sitting in a downtown Los Angeles sports-ish/punk rock bar with good friends Carolina, Eric, and Danny watching a Stanley Cup Final hockey game. It was the mid-afternoon and the pub was quite comfortable with general pubery going on. Most were watching the game on a giant movie screen which took up a large part of the east facing wall.
In mid-conversation we were invaded by this:

the Itchy-O Marching Band who were touring from Denver CO

frankly at first, me (and im sure everyone else in the pub who wasnt in the know)
were completely shocked upon the arrival of these folks. Some ran, others ran to the
back of the room, as the troupe quickly converged on a small rising that preceded the
giant movie screen showing the hockey game. One diligent hockey fan kept his position in front of the screen, bending and bowing, in the midst of this 20 person strong band, refusing to lose his focus on the game (!lol).

Unique (to me) to this troupe, the noise-makers were completely self sufficient. they contained small samplers and various noisy things that were powered by batteries that were worn on each respective band members back. meaning, the person playing the sampler was wearing a power source on their back that powered their sampler etc.. etc..
think Ghostbusters proton packs..

the troupe had in tow very alluring dancers, folks dressed in various costumes (a giant chinese dragon, another dressed as a post-apocalyptic pimp..), and still other androgynous characters dressed as newsies.
all dancing wildly within the pub to the bands percussive noisiness…
all part of the situation

for what its worth ::: theres something happening here …

the performance then spilled outside onto a busy downtown street…

where i caught up with one lad who followed the troupe filming their take over…
a conversation happened:

me – you know these guys?
dude – uhhh
me – are you at liberty to say?
dude – sure sure…. just ..(looks off towards troupe marching away from him down street)
me – so where are they from?
dude – uh, all over.
me – i heard they were from Denver (i had asked the “pimp”)
dude – uh, yeah. well… sorta from Denver by way of Oakland and some other places.
me – i live in Oakland!
(we talk a bit about Lake Merritt and SF, and schools)
me – i get the SI (situation international) vibe from these folks for sure, like retaking the public space…
dude – yeah, yeah… (glances off as if we’re being watched)
me – uh, okay well take it easy man. this was great… good luck to y’all…

but something was achieved here,
a peaceful and enjoyable domination of public space by art.

:::: or even in other cases, a domination of private space by art (aside from my blog hahah) ::::

this is what the “noise” scene is aiming to achieve.. a domination of space, be it public or private, given that our space is being further dominated by forces whose relentless desire is to market (see latent duality) us. While the same argument could be made for any type of performance art, the noise genre has a special nuance, in that ANYONE seemingly with access to a thing, or things, to make a sound can participate, and collaborate, or experience it.. if they choose.

the possibilities here are endless…

Originally, and admittedly, i dismissed the whole noise “thing” as just a bunch of noise from folks who wanted to dominate a space in any way possible.
(you see this alot if you have grown up in Los Angeles like i have)

but the noise scene is not this.
it is almost a folk genre, its roots perhaps not so deep, but we may be experiencing its cultivation into another artistic form, or genre…given time and conditions to develop..
i truly hope the noise artists of the 21st century take heed to those who came before them, in exploring, and supporting their creative desire with warm dense matter..

otherwise the resultant scene may just be a noise, a whimper….
instead of a wave..