Noise Music: A History

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 221 pages
• Published by: Continuum International Publishing Group September 2007
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0826417264
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0826417268
• Book Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 14.4 ounces

From Publishers Weekly
Can silence be "noisy"? Why do punk bands downplay their musical abilities? What do 37 minutes of ceaseless feedback and squawking birds tell us about the human experience? Calling upon the work of noted cultural critics like Jean Baudrillard, Georges Bataille and Theodor Adorno, philosophy and visual culture professor Hegarty delves into these questions while tracing the history of "noise" (defined at different times as "intrusive, unwanted," "lacking skill, not being appropriate" and "a threatening emptiness") from the beginnings of 18th century concert hall music through avant-garde movements like musique concrete and free jazz to Japanese noise rocker Merzbow. Ironically, it is John Cage's notorious 4'33", in which an audience sits through four and a half minutes of "silence," that represents the beginning of noise music proper for Hegarty; the "music," made up entirely of incidental theater sounds (audience members coughing, the A/C's hum), represents perfectly the tension between the "desirable" sound (properly played musical notes) and undesirable "noise" that make up all noise music, from Satie to punk. Hegarty does an admirable job unpacking diverse genres of music, and his descriptions of the more bizarre pieces can be great fun to read ("clatters and reverbed chickeny sounds come in over low throbs"). Though his style tends toward the academic (the "dialectic of Enlightenment" and Heidegger appear frequently), Hegarty's wit and knowledge make this an engaging read.
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The Wire, October 2007
A brave attempt to grapple with an impossible subject as one could reasonably hope forSome brilliant writing.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Noise/Music: A History (Paperback) In high school physics I was given an assignment to comprehend the entire mathematical equation of the respiratory cycle. Fortunately, here the subject is noise music, a bit closer to my interests. To say this book is pretentious would be to do it a dissevice. In fact, "Noise/Music A History" is actually more scientific, an examination of noise, music, their relation and the various manifestations of which have existed and continue to exist. From John Cage to free jazz to industrial music to Merzbow, it has the feeling that someone is using sonar equipment to measure the sonic vibrations at a Masonna concert and presenting a thesis of the results. Fortunately, there are footnotes so that you can fill yourself in. Be prepared for a quiz. Comment | | (Report this)