From our lectures, the majority of examples and previous student work shown to us were inherently musical. From breakbeats used to demonstrate the various software’s routing capabilities, to a work that seemingly sampled vinyl crackle, music has been core to this specialism so far, at least as I see it.
A reference point that resurfaced for me was Sonic Youth and their self-titled debut EP. I went back to check what I thought I remembered reading in Byron Coley’s (2005) liner notes; ‘Edson’s pulsing drums and Kim’s huge bass sound hold things together while Lee runs a contact mic’d electric drill through a wah-wah pedal’. A band known for invention, this weird choice on this weird song always stuck with me. It may be an obvious contradiction, but I am interested in bringing the everyday abrasion of power tools into music, abandoning categorical purity. The uneasy balance of work’s noise and noise’s music.
Reflecting on conversations and experiences I’ve had at work, sonic touchstones. As a builder, a lot of work consists of being held inside the ribcage of building until it’s finished. An odd sonic event I remember distinctly was Metallica’s ‘Seek & Destroy’ looping in a reflective tiled hallway. The suspended, surreal sense of entrapment by Hetfield’s voice and the recurrent riffing marked me. The rising irritation among the crew. Demystifying it, a coworker’s Amazon Music playlist simply got stuck on repeat, but being forced to coexist within the song’s world, its beginnings and ends and shape rendered interminable through the way it harshly shimmered off the tiles and plaster, was undeniably affecting. This is a tonal palette I am interested in exploring and representing in my piece.
Informing this thought too, is Chat Pile, a recent discovery. Their deranged and highly postmodern aesthetic aligning the group’s work as a disarming representation of an industrial midwest horror. Drawing on the noise rock lineage of Steve Albini’s Big Black and The Jesus Lizard, as well as Nirvana’s more offbeat B-sides, much of their work concerns itself with the darkest skew of the seemingly mundane; American urban planning, homelessness, the Bible thumper.
A notable song title is ‘grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg’, referring to the infamous purple McDonalds mascot. This demonstrates their highly modern, unique brand of American Midwest malaise, and seeing the pulpy (and genuine) horror within. I love the tonal contrast this subject matter creates with the violent madness of the sound, it’s a dark, dark meld of ironic humour and deadly severity. I am not seeking to create something so brutalist or abrasively expressive, but the rawness of the group’s subject matter is inspirational to me. Also relating the specificity of a geographic region’s characteristics is something I am deeply interested in.
And so, again, I have returned to guitar. I am nagged by a voice that’s telling me this is not the project for it, but these inspirations are still formative. The larger interest I am focussing on, is an interplay between dynamic aural phenomena and the perceived real world of sound. Making music with the mundane. Most crucially, an intrinsic associative link with construction is the intrusion of its noise. How to harness that, rather than prod the listener in a way that may come off as juvenile antagonism?
I experimented with making recordings of my dad’s old belt sander, gritty and nasty sounding, and accompanying it with guitar via the two input channels on the Marshall AS50D guitar amplifier. I liked the sonic palette, but also I am concerned about colouring the working experience with a particular emotion; leading the listener too transparently, or perhaps even unintentionally. I think that darker, isolated tones are my first creative instinct, regardless of material inspiration. I think this is a quality I will have to monitor and carefully examine as I further work on this project.
References:
Coley, B. (2005) ‘In Memory’. In Sonic Youth [CD liner notes]. EU: Geffen Records
Metallica (1983) ‘Seek & Destroy’, Kill ‘Em All [CD]. New York: Megaforce.
Chat Pile (2024) ‘I Am Dog Now’, Cool World [CD]. San Francisco: The Flenser.