Richard Ramirez is an American

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 ...

artist originally from

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, recording and performing both as a solo artist and as part of several groups, including

Black Leather Jesus Black Leather Jesus is a harsh noise wall group originally from Houston, Texas. The group was founded by Richard Ramirez in 1989, who fronts the band alongside partner Sean E. Matzus and various other musicians assisting. At one point, the band ...

, Priest in Shit, An Innocent Young Throat-Cutter, House of the Black Death, Martyr of Sores, Last Rape and the "static noise" solo project Werewolf Jerusalem. He is notable for being one of the earliest American

harsh noise 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 ...

artists. Ramirez draws a distinction between his relatively few professionally printed

CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

and LPs and the many

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the in ...

s and

tapes Tape or Tapes may refer to: Material A long, narrow, thin strip of material (see also Ribbon (disambiguation): Adhesive tapes * Adhesive tape, any of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive * Athletic tape, pressure-sensiti ...

he produces for smaller record labels. He has done collaborations and split releases with many important figures in the noise field, including

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 ...

Emil Beaulieau Emil Beaulieau, or more fully, “Emil Beaulieau: America’s Greatest Living Noise Artist” (born July 5, 1957) is the stage name of Ron Lessard, a prominent noise musician who primarily records for his own label: RRRecords. He has collaborated ...

Kommissar Hjuler Kommissar Hjuler (born Detlev Hjuler; 1967) works as a sound recordist in the field of Noise and Post-industrial music, visual artist, film maker and police officer at Flensburg, a town on the German border with Denmark. He often works together wit ...

Mama Baer Mama Baer (born Andrea Katharina Ingeborg Göthling; 29 October 1981) is a German sound recordist of noise music and post-industrial music. She is a filmmaker and visual artist at Flensburg. She has had solo and group art exhibitions around the worl ...

, Skin Crime,

The Haters The Haters are a noise music and conceptual art troupe from the United States. Founded in 1979, they are one of the earliest acts in the modern noise scene. The group is primarily the work of the Hollywood, California-based musician, artist, w ...

Prurient Ian Dominick Fernow is an American experimental musician, poet and multimedia artist. He is best known for extreme music released under the stage name Prurient, as well as numerous other aliases including Vatican Shadow and Rainforest Spiritual ...

, Smell & Quim,

Macronympha Macronympha is an American Noise music and power electronics group formed 1990 by Joseph Roemer and Rodger Stella in Pittsburgh, PA. Tim Oliveira ( Stimbox) and Dominick Fernow (Prurient) have occasionally appeared on Macronympha recordings and l ...

, Stabat Mors, Kenji Siratori, Sudden Infant, and MSBR. Ramirez's work tends to consist of long, slowly changing or static tracks of heavily distorted low- to mid-range noise, with a gradual move over the last several years toward more

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

-influenced sounds in addition to his harsh noise work. Parallel to this evolution has been a shift in thematic concerns, with album covers, titles, and general themes changing from more typical noise music concerns such as violence and war (largely borrowed 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 ...

culture) to a focus on homosexual themes and

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artwork. In addition to his musical work, Ramirez also runs the noise and

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, ...

label Deadline Recordings. Ramirez is also an "avant-garde" fashion designer under the alias, Richard Saenz. He recently collaborated with Giovanni Mori, musician power noise, mind of the project L.C.B., his album ''Born'' (

Old Europa Cafe Old Europa Cafe is an Italian independent record label and mail order service specializing in ambient music, noise music, electronic music, and industrial music. It is based in Pordenone. Originating in the early 1980s Old Europa Cafe began ...

in 2015) and has also made with L.C.B. an album on cassette entitled "Homo Sense" (Black Leather Jesus - Le Cose Bianche, Signora Ward Records). In late 2016, Ramirez started a new noise label with his husband, Sean E. Matzus, called Next Halloween. The two are now based near

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

.https://www.facebook.com/nexthalloween/?ref=br_rs

References

External links

An interview with Richard Ramirez

Deadline Recordings official siteNext Halloween
American noise musicians Musicians from Houston Living people American gay musicians Year of birth missing (living people) LGBT people from Texas Power electronics musicians {{US-musician-stub