This reminds me of a time I went to see a musician friend of mine perform. I showed up before his performance and sat at the bar to watch the others go on before him.
A younger gentleman sat down on stage, plugged in a bass guitar and sat with it. He strummed it a couple times and then put it on his lap. He then jammed a butter knife into it. I thought it was a weird weird tool to use to tune a guitar, but whatever.
Then he pulled out a bow and began fiddling that butter knife. It was the most wretched sound I've ever heard intentionally amplified.
It was horrible, and he wouldn't stop. I finished my drink and looked around the room. Everyone was locked in, some even nodding their heads as though there were some rhythm to nod to. There was not. There was no discernable difference in pitch or tone no matter where on the knife he played. If he could predict the sound being made before he made it, it wasn't obvious.
I had a great seat in the middle of the bar and didn't want to lose it for my friend's show, so ordered another drink. But the guy was relentless, and the crowd was relentless in their appreciation. I slammed the drink and gave up the best seat in the house to smoke outside until it was over.
My friend's performance was excellent (which I watched later from the back of the room). Later I was with him and a couple other patrons and tried to describe how awful the knife guy was. The others who saw it said I was being closed-minded. I worry they cannot hear well.
The only art in that room was watching that crowd accept that wretched noise as performance, simply because the person making it happened to be on stage.
It is indeed a thing. Some people are really into it. Some friends of mine probably would have been riveted by that butter knife show. I recommend reading the RYM reviews for Merzbow, which contain both yours and fans' takes: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/merzbow/pulse-demon/
> The movement is spearheaded by French musician Vomir, who described his aesthetic as "no ideas, no change, no development, no entertainment, no remorse"
I've heard Merzbow before; I think it was the Pulse Demon album, actually. While I won't comment on whether it's art or not, I don't think it meets any of the criteria for "music" other than being audible sound. No rhythm, no notes, no harmony, and barely any discernible structure.
And the noise genre is even more easily classed as "music" than other outliers, like musique concrète. Are ambient recordings music? Some would say yes!
It is surely an interesting conversation to find where each person's limit for "music" (or art!) resides.
i'm a musician, i enjoy and also sometimes play noise music. your comment is exactly correct. noise as music is totally preposterous.
a large part of what i enjoy about noise are thoughtful, hilarious critiques like yours.
here are some plausible entry points to this bizarre non-genre. any number of these could be interesting to consider:
- the opposite of a thing is often part of the thing. think about of how a good illustrator is super conscious of negative space. is noise the opposite of music?
- every musical note contains a series of overtones. ask a string player to demonstrate "harmonics" if you're unfamiliar with the concept. i couldn't really hear them until i learned how to listen for them. it's possible the knife-guitar player was doing something with overtones. it's also possible that the people nodding along spend a lot of time playing amplified music, and have suffered hearing loss that changes the threshold at which they can comfortably perceive the overtone series. (or they could've just been entirely deaf)
- some people are interested in asking the question "what even IS 'music,' anyway?"
noise music is a flippant answer to this question. But it's an answer nonetheless.
- "what even IS 'a performance,' anyway?"
- if you're a driver, it could be important to get a feel for your vehicle by doing things like flooring it and slamming on the breaks. if you're a painter, it could be beneficial to get to know your paint by making a big goopy pile of it somewhere. if you're a musician?
- knife guy almost certainly didn't start out immediately loving unlistenable noise. he probably was exposed via a gateway drug like ambient music, and built up a tolerance over time. same way i learned to love "spicy mustard."
- it's all just a big scam, but if you want in on it you have to pretend to be into it. maybe it's a scam we can live with. musicians don't really make much money anymore.
- human beings are fucking weird. we tend to like things just because we're familiar with them. the fact that people enjoy noise is a hilarious example. you might enjoy learning a couple of the big noise names (merzbow is a good one, lou reed metal machine music is a classic) and continuing to dunk on noise fans because it's funny and we deserve it.
> The only art in that room was watching that crowd accept that wretched noise as performance, simply because the person making it happened to be on stage.
You cannot fathom that other people might have different responses to it?
I like noise. Not everyday, but I do go to concerts of it. Next you will reveal to me that the sensations and feelings I get to experience are just a construct and I am inflicting this only because it's on stage?
> You cannot fathom that other people might have different responses to it?
You can stare at a blank wall for hours, convince thousands of others to do so, start a movement behind it, write, talk, sing, do what the masses need to do in regards to that blank wall.
I still won't call the blank wall "art". I will absolutely call your ability to get everyone else to do so "art".
A younger gentleman sat down on stage, plugged in a bass guitar and sat with it. He strummed it a couple times and then put it on his lap. He then jammed a butter knife into it. I thought it was a weird weird tool to use to tune a guitar, but whatever.
Then he pulled out a bow and began fiddling that butter knife. It was the most wretched sound I've ever heard intentionally amplified.
It was horrible, and he wouldn't stop. I finished my drink and looked around the room. Everyone was locked in, some even nodding their heads as though there were some rhythm to nod to. There was not. There was no discernable difference in pitch or tone no matter where on the knife he played. If he could predict the sound being made before he made it, it wasn't obvious.
I had a great seat in the middle of the bar and didn't want to lose it for my friend's show, so ordered another drink. But the guy was relentless, and the crowd was relentless in their appreciation. I slammed the drink and gave up the best seat in the house to smoke outside until it was over.
My friend's performance was excellent (which I watched later from the back of the room). Later I was with him and a couple other patrons and tried to describe how awful the knife guy was. The others who saw it said I was being closed-minded. I worry they cannot hear well.
The only art in that room was watching that crowd accept that wretched noise as performance, simply because the person making it happened to be on stage.