Noise Nutters

john eden

male pale and stale
I think that's all true to a certain extent @padraig (u.s.) - and the shock and outrage wore thin for me some time ago.

A lot of it is comfortable people playing at threat. But there are also people who use this stuff as a kind of working through of horrible incidents in their lives - certainly acts like Richard Ramirez (Black Leather Jesus etc) and Cremation Lilly have been pretty open about their work stemming from some past trauma. Like all these things there is a huge "long tail" of earnest copycats who imitate the most surface elements of it all.

Either way the first (and only?) time I saw Whitehouse was at their early 90s comeback gig and there were some proper psychopathic-looking people in the crowd and some guy received head injuries from a monitor.

These days I am much much more interested in the playful, joyful noise for noise's sake of The Haters than all the nazi/pedo/rape/serial killer accoutrements.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
Also I have a lot of time for Smell & Quim as they are clearly coming at it from a very very black humoured and very northern English angle that is impossible to take seriously if you understand that part of UK culture.

David Keenan's take on power electronics is that the whole point is for it to be stupid and adolescent and indefensible. Which as you say is a mark of privilege. But he'd have no time for most of the current noise acts just because they aren't very good.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
1/7/1994 Livermore
By skydiving with a large drill-bit in hand, GX Jupitter-Larsen drilled a hole through the sky. Staged near the Byron Airport, the jump was made from about 3,000 metres. About 40 seconds of freefall was followed by a descent under canopy for about 4 minutes. A small audience on ground applauded. Entitled "Building An Empty Hole". (#201)
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
A lot of it is comfortable people playing at threat. But there are also people who use this stuff as a kind of working through of horrible incidents in their lives - certainly acts like Richard Ramirez (Black Leather Jesus etc) and Cremation Lilly have been pretty open about their work stemming from some past trauma. Like all these things there is a huge "long tail" of earnest copycats who imitate the most surface elements of it all.
that seems like a pretty fair take. I definitely wasn't talking about harsh noise etc per se, just the dumb edginess.

I assume it made more sense in the context of early industrial culture, but it's aged terribly, especially in the light of edginess as alt-right calling card

at least they were original. their successors in edgelord noise, from the intellectual (Dominick Fernow etc) to the extremely dumb are even worse.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
black metal is the same, Euronymous with his fantasies of totalitarianism and Varg the literal Nazi, from placid high-living standard Norway
 

chava

Well-known member
Also I have a lot of time for Smell & Quim as they are clearly coming at it from a very very black humoured and very northern English angle that is impossible to take seriously if you understand that part of UK culture.

I find Whitehouse kinda amusing as well. Amusing and horrifying perhaps because of their creepy office worker looks:

 

john eden

male pale and stale
Yeah tough times at the sharp end of it Norway. Good tie in with Luka "resistance is futile" thread.
 
black metal is the same, Euronymous with his fantasies of totalitarianism and Varg the literal Nazi, from placid high-living standard Norway

I think in metal and goth there’s something about invoking other worlds where the hierarchies favour the nerd, the wizard. And the jock is the orc or whatever. Fantasy worlds where they’re on top, and all these ornate expressions of retribution and glory through technology and magic
 

luka

Well-known member
maybe it's unfair in retrospect, but all this stuff seems just impossibly edgy

or like, only for people who (no offense to anyone) don't/have never experienced violence in their daily lives

im a bit wary of this kind of critque where we make assumptions about the 'privelege' (cursed word) of the performer.
 

luka

Well-known member
it's hilarious to do it in a piss taking way but when it gets moralisitc it feels a bit off to me.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
we make assumptions
"we" aren't making assumptions. you're making assumptions that I'm making assumptions.

it's not a moral critique. this bullshit thrives on moral critique. it's trying to offend people.

it is an artistic critique. edgy provocation makes lame, tiresome art. boring and tedious.

it's also a fact. power electronics was/is overwhelmingly white dudes, and I would be shocked if most of them don't have (relatively) comfortable lives.

I'm not saying they can't make whatever art they want to. I'm saying their art is trash (the bad kind, not the good kind).
 

luka

Well-known member
i've never been into wrong 'un music in my life! but as John pointed out it's typically the preserve of those who were badly bullied at school and being bullied is an experience of violence and not a privelege
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
it's typically the preserve of those who were badly bullied at school
that's not what john said, first off

he said that some people use harsh noise etc as a way to work through traumatic experiences

you don't need to be edgy to do that

I said and I quote "I definitely wasn't talking about harsh noise per se, just the dumb edginess"
 
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