For the past several years I’ve become someone who generally bristles at the term “Noise Music*”. This ire is not simply because of it’s purposefully self-effacing name. To me, it’s more of a reaction to the connotation that what I’m about to hear is the music composed majorly by neophytes who generally lack the ability to refine their compositions nor the decency to plug their diuretic stream of releases long enough to piece together a proper album.
Let’s face it there’s this perception for a reason. Oh your “ensemble” recorded 12 albums last Tuesday? No thanks, I think I’ll pass.
Recently I watched a documentary on YouTube about the Portland music scene called People Who Make Noise (2008). Where one of the people being interviewed brought up this point in particular:
“For some reason noise music has a lot of music that isn’t fully developed. Because it’s a fad, it’s an emerging genre, because it’s becoming more recognized. People need to take whatever it is – their drawings, their magazine editorials, their documentaries, and their noise music. Not only should it be a fully developed realized idea, it should be awesome before you show it to other people.”
It is just a thought that maybe we as musicians should take a moment to think about what we’re putting out into the already marketplace before we release it. I know that every musician thinks that they shit excellence, and that every little note is precious and should be beloved by the millions. However isn’t it time to open our eyes, and just try to raise the bar a little?