Music/Noise

Over the past couple of years I have found my musical tastes shifting dramatically towards less and less musical compositions and diving headfirst into the realms of noise. Whilst I still can appreciate and do enjoy a lot of other styles and predominately listen to them, I just don’t find them as engaging as noise.

I suppose at this point, I am wondering at what point does music become noise (obviously noise has at its roots musique concrete), and why does my brain find aesthetic pleasure in seemingly random frequencies. Sure, if I analyse the sounds enough, it is possible to (sometimes) descern some form of structure and repetition much like music, but the complete lack of harmony or notes, marks a severe difference that clearly can’t be overlooked.

S.

A very good question.

I have noticed in my own experiences that when I introduce a new type of music to a friend who hasn’t yet heard it, but has an already established taste for music, the pleasure I find in it is unfounded and essentially no judgement is made about the music.

I’m tempted to believe that a large percent of our standards by which we measure good music are sort of conditioned, which is to say, we don’t decide to like what we like…we are subtlely over-come by it, and claim post hoc that we like it.

Another thing to keep in mind is the utility of music and what people do while its playing. A musician is involved with music at a deeper level than a normal consumer, and therefore I think there is some indication that a natural disposition, or tendency, to enjoy more complex music is inherent. A consumer, on the other hand, is not subjected to the music’s composition, isn’t really involved, and experiences the simpler side of the music; its sound and not its technical realities.

I could never listen to the radio for longer than five minutes. Main-stream rock/pop/rap.etc, for me, is an insult to musical integrity and largely a product of no artistic value. Beside the fact of its simplicity and overwhelming regularity and repetition, the image presented by the “artists” are just as shallow as the sound itself, if not more. Mediocrity has overtaken this medium of art and music is, I’m sorry, dead.

I don’t know what “noise” music is, mind you, but I would assume that its just some new promotional device for making money by recording a bunch of shit and selling it to mindless consumers.

Am I right or am I right?

If Noise is anything like Industrial or Techno or Rave or anything like that, then please, turn down your amps for the sake of humanity.

Apathy

IMO you’ll get closer to the answer if you consider, in the objective sense, at what point noise becomes music.

Noise is essentially just that, noise. It doesn’t have much to do with mainstream music other than being the polar opposite of it. A good example of ambient styled noise would be the sound of a waterfall, something a lot more harsh would be something along the lines of a construction site. Noise music simply uses these more natural samples of noise in a way to create ‘music’. Sort of hard to explain, just search for Merzbow or just noise and see if you can get a track or two.

I tend to find the opposite, in that people shy away from my musical tastes and just proclaim it as rubbish without actually listening to it. The dismisal of the music doesn’t piss me off as much as the blatant lack of appreciation of the musics worth, irrespective of whether they like it or not. Though thats a whole issue on its own.

Im not sure how to tackle the rest of your post, because our viewpoints on music seem to be quite conflicting. Personally, I find that the musics ability to emote, to be vastly more important than how technical and complex it is.

This could perhaps explain why I love things like dark ambient music and hate free jazz. It doesn’t however, give me any thoughts on why noise is so accessible to me as it doesn’t actually resemble music, as essentially it could be labeled as antimusic.

S.

A very good point. I would say it has something to do with the point at which sound is orchestrated or aranged in a particular way by an artist. Still, that doesn’t quite satisfy me because noise as a genre doesn’t have anything to do with music in the conventional sense.

I’d be very interested to see what other people think about this question.

S.

I think music and mood are intertwined, and it depends on your mood or state of mind which time you hear something as noise and which time you hear it as music. I, for one have such diverse taste, and two of my favorites are Prince and Rachmaninoff. Now, give me a break. You have to admit that most of those loving Prince would NOT get the Rach, but I am a pianist, so the Rach inspires me. Music changes mood, just as your mood can change the feeling of the music you are listening to. I also agree with detrop and his view of those who compose music because being involved (which I have) gives a new perspective to the mix.

What is horrible noise to some is a vision of beauty to others. Is there a real time when music is truly noise? Depends on mood, I think. Could depend on age too. As my life becomes more harried, I find my taste leaning toward “elevator.” OMG, I AM getting old. Did I just write that?