Power electronics is a style of
noise 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 ...
that typically consists of static, screeching waves of feedback, analogue synthesizers making sub-bass pulses or high frequency squealing sounds; with (sometimes) screamed and distorted vocals. The genre is noted for its influence from
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
.
Power electronics is generally
atonal
Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a s ...
, like most noise music; there's also lack of conventional melodies or rhythms. To match its sonic excess, power electronics relies heavily upon extreme thematic and visual content: whether in
lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...
, album art, or live performance actions. It is a genre that often invites strong reactions from both listeners and critics, if not dismissed or ignored altogether. Power electronics is related to the early
Industrial Records
Industrial Records is a record label established in 1976 by industrial music and visual arts group Throbbing Gristle. The group created the label primarily for self-releases but also signed several other groups and artists. The label gave a nam ...
scene but later became more aligned with
noise 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 ...
.
[Whitehouse, Allmusic bio. [] Access date: March 15, 2009.]
Etymology and background
The name of the genre was coined by William Bennett (experimental musician and founding member of
Whitehouse Whitehouse may refer to:
People
* Charles S. Whitehouse (1921-2001), American diplomat
* Cornelius Whitehouse (1796–1883), English engineer and inventor
* E. Sheldon Whitehouse (1883-1965), American diplomat
* Elliott Whitehouse (born 1993), ...
and
Cut Hands) as part of the sleeve notes to the 1982
Whitehouse Whitehouse may refer to:
People
* Charles S. Whitehouse (1921-2001), American diplomat
* Cornelius Whitehouse (1796–1883), English engineer and inventor
* E. Sheldon Whitehouse (1883-1965), American diplomat
* Elliott Whitehouse (born 1993), ...
album ''
Psychopathia Sexualis
''Psychopathia Sexualis: eine Klinisch-Forensische Studie'' (''Sexual Psychopathy: A Clinical-Forensic Study'', also known as ''Psychopathia Sexualis, with Especial Reference to the Antipathetic Sexual Instinct: A Medico-forensic Study'') is an ...
.'' ''
Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine
Launched from the Lower East Side, Manhattan in 1983 as a subscription only bimonthly publication, the ''Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine'' utilized the audio cassette medium to distribute no wave downtown music and audio art and was in activity ...
'' produced a compilation
compact cassette
The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...
tape called ''Power Electronics'' in 1986 that was curated by
Joseph Nechvatal
Joseph Nechvatal (born January 15, 1951) is an American post-conceptual digital artist and Aesthetics, art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses.
Life and work
...
.
Tellus #13 – Power Electronics (1986)
Death industrial
Death industrial is an industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
subgenre typified by a dense atmosphere, low-end drones, harsh loops and screamed and/or distorted vocals. It can be differentiated from power electronics by a slower, more atmospheric sound reminiscent of dark ambient, and a less abrasive sound. Acts described as death industrial include Brighter Death Now
Brighter Death Now is the artist name under which Roger Karmanik (b. 1965 as Roger Karlsson), the founder of the Swedish record label Cold Meat Industry, releases death industrial, power electronics
Power electronics is the application of ...
, Anenzephalia
Anenzephalia is the ''nom-de-plume'' of noise musician B. Moloch, who is occasionally joined by Wilhelm Herich of Genocide Organ. Anenzephalia was one of the first projects to record for the Tesco Organisation label.
Partial discography
*''Lyse'' ...
, Atrax Morgue
Marco Corbelli (3 April 1970 – 6 May 2007), better known professionally as Atrax Morgue, was an Italian noise musician. Many of Atrax Morgue's early material was released on cassette, as part of the industrial/noise 'cassette underground' of t ...
, Aelia Capitolina, Author & Punisher
Author & Punisher is a one-man band from San Diego, formed in January 2004 by mechanical engineer and artist Tristan Shone. Most of the instrumentation and controllers Shone uses, called "Drone Machines" and "Dub Machines", are custom-designed a ...
, Genocide Organ
Genocide Organ is a German power electronics/martial industrial collective, formed in Mannheim, Germany in 1985. They are known for their brutal and controversial presentation in their music and attitude.
Many of the themes present in their musi ...
, Ramleh
Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations.
The city was f ...
, Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...
, Stratvm Terror
Peter Andersson (born March 20, 1973 in Boxholm, Sweden) is a music composer within the ambient, noise, industrial, electronic and experimental genre.
His projects are Raison D'être, Stratvm Terror, Necrophorus, Atomine Elektrine, Yantra Atm ...
and Dead Man's Hill.
See also
* Electroacoustic improvisation
Live electronic music (also known as live electronics) is a form of music that can include traditional electronic sound-generating devices, modified electric musical instruments, hacked sound generating technologies, and computers. Initially the pr ...
* Experimental music
Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...
* Sonology Sonology is a neologism used to describe the study of sound in a variety of disciplines.
In medicine, the term is used in the field of magingto describe the practice of medical ultrasonography. According to some scholars, sonology may represent a ...
References
1982 neologisms
20th-century music genres
Extended techniques
Industrial music
Noise music
British styles of music
{{music-genre-stub