Among the individuals responsible for bringing drones into the modern museum, one key one is Banks Violette, who has collaborated with black metal musicians from Scandinavia and with the band Sunn O))’s Stephen O’Malley in the construction of installations that combine painting, sculpture and sound. The PS1 podcast series, broadcast from the Queens-based arts center, [...]
The act known as Look to the Skies has about as elegant a release strategy as they come: a sparse web page (looktotheskies.net), with one freeform, drone-infused audio experiment at a time posted as a single file and available via RSS feed (link).
Call it the drone-diary format. It has a lot going for it, each [...]
Ever downloaded a hefty video to find only the audio portion functions properly? Then the frustration inherent in following the two-part recording Plano Vertical, by musician Juan José Calarco, will provoke some serious déjà vu — and some pleasure.
The major difference, of course, is that Calarco’s imposing disorientation is entirely willful on his part, [...]
Into the Pandemonium is the title of, arguably, the best album by doom metal band Celtic Frost, not just for its dour take on the Wall of Voodoo hit “Mexican Radio” but for the industrial rigor of “One in Their Pride.” That album came out 20 years ago, when heavy metal was a seeming enclave [...]
The unlistenability of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music is one of the great overstatements of pop culture. Some 30-plus years have passed since its release, and we now live at a time when the noise of Merzbow and the Boredoms and countless death-metal bands regularly draw sold-out crowds; many listeners today came of age to [...]
Hmm, this sounds unfortunate. The latest release by the trenchant netlabel Noise Jihad (noisejihad.dk/netlabel) includes the following, less than promising statement: “These are the surviving recordings from the Noisejihad Festival, which marked some sort of end or break for Noisejihad.” Let’s hope it’s just a respite. In addition to a video of MaaletHelligerMidlet666 playing live [...]
The attenuated noise of Phillip Stearns‘ Autopoiesis – I isn’t a matter of drones, per se. At least the five “Structures,” labeled “I” (MP3) through “V” (MP3), do not burrow deep into singular sounds and coast in a den of intense sameness. Quite the contrary, though the sonics of these pieces, described briefly by Stearns [...]