>>> The art of noise - Sound is ubiquitous, unstoppable, immersive, the agency through which spoken language is understood and music is absorbed. Sound works quietly with other senses to scan an environment, to define orientation within a place, to register the feeling that we describe as atmosphere. Without sound, the world can be an indecipherable, remote and dangerous place, yet sound is the sense that we take for granted – the sense that comes to the forefront of our attention when a restaurant is too loud, when a neighbour’s television penetrates the walls, when a car alarm shatters the peace of a Sunday morning.
>>> The beginner's guide to: noise (MusicRadar) - Unlike most genres, the name ‘noise’ alone probably conjures a good mental image of what we’re talking about. The name has retrospectively been applied to more than half a century’s worth of experimental music which was known by different names at the time, but the common threads are exactly what you’re probably thinking: distortion, non-musical sounds, atonality and dissonance.
>>> A Beginner’s Guide to Noise Music - If you agree with David Novak, the author of "Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation", then you probably believe that writing a history of noise music is inherently impossible. According to Novak, noise comes from the circulation of cultural ideas and artifacts, emerging from the accumulated meaningless debris that accompanies all forms of communication. Vinyl pops and scratches, for example, become noisy if what you want to hear is the recordings on that record. Noise music, therefore, comes from artists purposefully activating that noise. And since that noise comes from an infinite number of contexts, it’s impossible to map the history of noise music, or even to document the entire contemporary noise scene. Both, by definition, are constantly and unendingly regenerating.
>>> Distortion & Destruction: A Deep Dive Into Japanese Noise Music - Noise music is an aptly named genre that consists of loud, distorted, compressed and often unrhythmic percussion, stabs, and static created with unorthodox vocals, random objects, and electronic instruments or software. "Noise" is much more than purely a genre, however, with a vast subculture that exists in Japan and around the world known for its deeply rooted anarchist image, rebellious attitude toward societal normality, and a brand of political progressivism influenced by psychedelic usage and the modern punk scene.
>>> Review: NoInputMixer for iOS and macOS Opens New Frontiers in Synthesis (TabMuse) - No input mixing is a boutique synthesis technique used by sound designers usually armed with only a mixer and some cables. It offers an exploratory approach focused on the creative control of noise and feedback. If interested in new frontiers of sonic exploration, this is a sound design area worthy of your notice.
>>> Why Noise Music is the Only Genre that Sounds Better Online - Most musicians struggled to adapt to the technological constraints of online musical performance, and some whole genres fell to the wayside— the impossibility of large ensembles meant that most performance styles were hideously impractical, if not impossible. Orchestras, choirs, and bands haphazardly cobbled together stripped-back reimaginations of their work, compatible with the stifling environment of high-latency, low-quality Zoom conference calls. But meanwhile, there was another style of musical performance that better managed the move to cyberspace, due in part to its curious relationship with digital technology itself. That genre is noise music.
>>> Semiotics in Noise Music (Prof. Anneleen Masschelein) [PDF] - Noise music is a musical genre that features a fusion of traditional instruments and electronic sounds, recordings and machines. It is sometimes described as soundscape, for rhythm and structure are of minor importance. In this paper, I will discuss noise music as a problematic sign in a semiotic approach, given the ambiguity of the concepts of "noise" and "music". As noise music is usually less known to the public, following introduction should provide a general overview. Firstly, I will point out how the differences between "noise" and "music" are perceived by scholars. Secondly, I will give a short historical introduction on noise music and its current state as a music genre. Thirdly, I will discuss the importance of indeterminacy in performance for the long-standing success of noise music.
>>> What is Noise Music? A Psychometric Approach - Can noise music fans tell us about benignly masochistic art and how sound becomes music? Noise music often includes "non-musical" sounds (electronic static/ feedback/screaming), while both exaggerating features of musicality (excessive monotony/surprise) and/or stripping them away (melody/harmony). Noise enthusiasts (N=395) preferences and attitudes about sound and music were recorded. We tested a five factor model using diagonally weighted least squares. Results suggest a good fit of data to the hypothesized model (CFI=0.967; RMSEA=0.043).
