, a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsnoise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical ...

scene of Japan. Nick Cain of ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...

'' identifies the "primacy of Japanese Noise artists like

Merzbow is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...

Hijokaidan is a Japanese noise and free improvisation group with a revolving lineup that has ranged from two members to as many as fourteen in its early days. The group is the project of guitarist , its one constant member, who is head and owner of the Os ...

and

Incapacitants are a Japanese noise music group formed in 1981. Initially a solo project of Toshiji Mikawa, Fumio Kosakai joined upon the project's relocation to Tokyo. The duo's stated aim is to produce "pure" noise, uninfluenced by musical ideas or even huma ...

as one of the major developments in noise music since 1990. Certain Japanese noise artists themselves feel uncomfortable being categorized under the umbrella of "Japanese noise", arguing that use of the term is a way of ignoring the differences between musicians who don't necessarily follow the same approach or even know each other at all. On May 8, 1960, six young Japanese musicians, including

Takehisa Kosugi was a Japanese composer, violinist and artist associated with the Fluxus movement. Biography Kosugi studied musicology at the Tokyo University of the Arts and graduated in 1962. He first became drawn to music listening to his father play har ...

and

Yasunao Tone (b. 1935) is a multi-disciplinary artist born in Tokyo, Japan and working in New York City. He graduated from Chiba University in 1957 with a major in Japanese Literature. An important figure in postwar Japanese art during the sixties, he was acti ...

, formed the

Group Ongaku Group Ongaku (グループ音楽, ''Grūpu Ongaku'') was a Japanese noise music and sound art collective exploring musical improvisation, composed of six composers, including Takehisa Kosugi, Mieko Shiomi (composer), Mieko Shiomi (Chieko Shiomi), Y ...

with two tape recordings of noise music: Automatism and Object. These recordings made use of a mixture of traditional musical instruments along with a vacuum cleaner, a radio, an oil drum, a doll, and a set of dishes. Moreover, the speed of the tape recording was manipulated, further distorting the sounds being recorded. In the late 1970s and early 1980s,

took Lou Reed's album ''

Metal Machine Music ''Metal Machine Music'' (subtitled ''*The Amine β Ring'') is the fifth studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed. It was recorded on a three-speed Uher machine and was mastered/engineered by Bob Ludwig. It was released as a double album ...

'' as a point of departure and further abstracted the noise aesthetic by freeing the sound from guitar based feedback alone, a development that is thought to have heralded noise music as a genre. According to

Paul Hegarty Paul Anthony Hegarty (born 25 July 1954 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish football player and manager. He was captain of Dundee United during their most successful era in the 1970s and 1980s, winning the Scottish league championship in 1983 and th ...

(2007), "In many ways it only makes sense to talk of noise music since the advent of various types of noise produced in Japanese music, and in terms of quantity this is really to do with the 1990s onwards .. With the vast growth of Japanese noise, finally, noise music becomes a genre". Other key Japanese noise artists that contributed to this upsurge of activity include

Boredoms Boredoms () (later known as V∞redoms) is a rock band from Osaka, Japan formed in 1986. The band's sound is often referred to as noise rock, or sometimes Japanoise (Japan’s noise music scene), though their more recent records have moved towar ...

, C.C.C.C.,

KK Null , known by his stage name KK Null, is a Japanese experimental multi-instrumentalist active since the early 1980s. He began as a guitarist but learned how to compose, sing, play drums, and create electronic music. He also studied Butoh dance at ...

Yamazaki Maso , better known by his stage name Masonna, is a Japanese noise musician. He was born on November 16, 1966, in Miyazu, Kyoto, Japan. was started in 1987 in Osaka as Maso Yamazaki's noise project. The name is a combination of the Japanese wor ...

Solmania is a Japanese noise music project, founded in 1984 by . He was later joined by (ex Outo), who first appears on ''Trembling Tongues'' (1995). Ohno is known for making his own experimental electric guitars out of spare parts and using them in ...

, K2,

The Gerogerigegege () is a Japanese experimental music project, founded in 1985 by . Though they are often categorized with Japanese harsh noise acts such as Merzbow and Masonna, The Gerogerigegege has also released albums of more straightforward punk rock (' ...

, Mayuko Hino,

Ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

and

Hanatarash Hanatarashi (), meaning "sniveler" or "snot-nosed" in Japanese, was a noise band created by later Boredoms frontman Yamantaka Eye and featured Zeni Geva guitarist Mitsuru Tabata. The outfit was formed in Osaka, Japan in 1984 after Eye and Tabata ...

References

External links

Japanoise.net
Japanese styles of music Music scenes Noise music {{rock-music-stub

See also

References

External links