Noise rock, or "pigfuck," as it is sometimes lovingly called, is a genre of music that takes punk aesthetic to its extreme, generally drawing from the atonal musical experiments of noise and industrial and making them more direct, generally with song structures resembling punk rock, though this is not necessarily true. The roots of noise rock can be traced back to the 60's, to the "Nihilist Spasm Band," a group who constructed their own instruments and played mostly free improv. The Velvet Underground truly laid the foundations for noise rock, most notably with their songs "The Black Angel's Death Song" on VU&Nico and "I Heard Her Call My Name" on White Light/White Heat. In the 70's, the No Wave became an important genre in New York, inspiring artists such as The Ex and Sonic Youth. Noise rock finally emerged as an independent genre in the 80's, with bands like Big Black, the Jesus Lizard, Scratch Acid, The Swans, The Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth, and Pussy Galore gaining attention from an "alternative" audience. In the 90's, Japanese bands like The Boredoms and Melt Banana emerged on the scene, making noise rock even more abrasive and direct.
Some essential albums:
Big Black - Atomizer
The Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician
Jesus Lizard - Goat
The Boredoms - Pop Tatari
Scratch Acid - The Greatest Gift
The Swans - Children of God
The Cows - Sorry in Pig Minor
For those of you who already have most of those albums, and are into noise rock, here are some more albums that you'll be sure to enjoy:
Arab on Radar - Queen Hygiene II
Noise rock the way it was meant to be done, screeching guitars, demented vocals, and a strong underlying sense or rhythm and a twisted atonal sense of melody.
hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=OT4SZQTM
(Not my link, so I can't vouch for it, sorry)
The Cherubs - Heroin Man
One of my favourite noise rock albums, extremely tight and loud, it comes at you and pummels you with violent guitar and vocals that make your head spin.
hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=A73P0NEO
Dazzling Killmen - Face of Collapse
Similar to The Cherubs, look on allmusic if you need more information.
hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=SACCVIJ7
Skullflower - IIIrd Gatekeeper
As far as noise rock goes, Skullflower are rather unique. Their music is sometimes described as "dark ambient," but that to me reminds raises connotations of Sunn 0))) style drone music. Though Skullflower is sometimes that, they're also a lot more, they have pummeling riffs, distorted guitar, pummeling drums, all to keep you on the edge of your seat. At other times, they rely on a more Neu-like driving rhythm with interesting guitar experimentation layered on top of it. Basically, this album lies somewhere in between Sunn 0))) and Arab on Radar, it's dense, experimental and challenging, but hardly boring.
hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=J8O3B6ZX
The Cows
The Cows are the shit. They're fast, furious they screech and holler and murder trumpets and babies just for kicks and at no point do they stop rocking the shit out of you. Here's two albums.
hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=EM461QMF
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01-24-2007 06:18 PM