Noise Attacks Your Physical and Mental Health

Quite obviously, Noise music has a detrimental effect on your hearing. But the harm that is done goes much deeper than that.

Since the sounds used in Noise often sound like "alarm" noises, the body reacts with increased sympathetic nervous system activity, which in turn results in increased heart frequency, increased blood pressure, and decreased blood flow to the peripheral organs. Other proven negative effects of noise are overall metabolic changes, such as magnesium deficiency, as well as an elevation in blood sugar (glucose), insulin, blood lipid levels and cholesterol. Sleep quality is lessened, which contributes to weakened immune response and increased susceptibility to infectious disease.¹

For many years, military organizations have researched the negative effects of noise on humans, with the intent to develop sonic weaponry.² During World War II, Nazi scientist Dr. Zippermeyer developed prototypes of the Luftkanone ("Air Cannon") and Wirbelwind Kanone ("Whirlwind Cannon"), gigantic devices which attempted (unsuccesfully) to use focused sounds as anti-aircraft weapons.³ Continuous, high-volume recordings were used to oust Noriega, during the siege of Waco, and to interrogate prisoners in Abu Ghraib. Recently, in response to the terrorist threat, the Coast Guard developed the Underwater Port Security System Integrated Anti-Swimmer System (UPSS IAS), which uses underwater sound waves to incapacitate "frogmen." ⁴ In June of 2005, Isreal used a sonic weapon it called Tze'aka ("the Scream") to disperse Jewish settlers during the Gaza Strip evacuation.⁵ And after the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, the U.S. Army developed the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), currently being used in areas of Iraq.⁶ The LRAD was also used by the Seabourn Spirit, a luxury cruise ship, to fend off pirates off the African coastline;⁷ and in 2004, it was used by police in New York City during protests of the Republican National Convention. Nor is sound weaponry limited to governments; Howard Stapleton, a security consultant in Wales, has devised a device called "the Mosquito" to repel teenagers by emitting high-pitched soundwaves which cannot be heard by adults.⁸

The effects of certain noise frequencies may have more occult uses as well. English engineer Vic Tandy believes that the physiological effects of low-frequency sound waves are what cause some people to believe they are seeing ghosts or other paranormal phenomena.⁹ And psychedelic artist David Woodward claims to own a device called the "Feraliminal Lycanthropizer," which uses subsonic frequencies to stimulate atavistic animality, sexual excitement, and a loss of inhibitions in its target. According to Woodward, early tests of the device resulted in the sex-and-strangulation deaths of six youths.¹⁰

This is not surprising, given the findings about the effects of noise on children. In addition to the effects listed above, increased exposure to noise makes children more vulnerable to learned helplessness.¹¹ "Learned helplessness" is when an individual learns that the outcome of his behavior is not dependent upon his behavior. This makes people more likely to ignore the consequences of their actions, and also more willing to let other people make decisions for them.

This dovetails nicely with Noise music's aesthetic, or rather lack of aesthetic. Music traditionally has rhythm, melody, harmony, and form; these are not compositional techniques, but the criteria by which music is judged (with the addition, of course, of how well such music is performed). Noise music intentionally has none of these things. As a result, Noise has no criteria by which to differentiate good Noise from bad Noise - not even by Noise musicians themselves, who are prone to lengthy and boring discussions on just such subjects. Noise is one of the only forms of music where intellectual or critical understanding is actually HARMFUL to one's appreciation of the music. As proof, just compare the descriptions of a faithful Noise fan to the ramblings of someone under the influence of intoxicating drugs.

This effect is intentional. Noise pioneers Monte Cazzaza and Throbbing Gristle often incorporated infrasound into their live performances, in an attempt to affect the psychological state of the audience. Brian Williams (of the noise group Lustomord) was specific in revealing these techniques:

You can create very simple environments which will encourage a certain emotion though, using the well-known stress frequencies like that of babies or animals crying, or a woman shrieking. (...) You can set up your equipment to produce that kind of thing, and people listening to it find it really panicky, scary music. On that level it's quite simple.¹²

Noise elder Boyd Rice (aka NON) was even more specific:

I created something that blanks out your brain, leaving a vacuum and allowing new thoughts to form... I wanted to create something that would run all the thought out of people´s heads.¹³

Considering the content of Noise music, it should be obvious what they want to put in its place.

When you obliterate all objective standards for judging music, you obliterate not only aesthetic discretion, but rational thought in general. If anything can be acceptable, then everything becomes acceptable, no matter how unpleasant or repulsive. The only way to tell whether something is "good" or "bad" is by obeying what someone else (i.e. peer groups or an authoritarian guru) is telling you. This indoctrination has much more of an effect on children and teenagers, who are already bombarded by similar messages in popular culture and childrens' programming. The acceptance of this worldview is further compounded by the fact that Noise music itself causes its listeners to suspend all judgement and obey whatever signals the music is sending them.

By denying its listeners any way in which to judge good from ill, the genre itself presents its listeners with a self-defeating and antisocial system of values. In the real world, the only way to gain respect, popularity, and success is through hard work, learning your craft, and having talent. By contrast, Noise music promotes the idea that you can get whatever you want merely because you make loud noises, act juvenile, and promote violence - and if it's socially disruptive, so much the better.

Noise is less a form of music than a form of mind control. It is the trumpet blast at the walls of Jericho, collapsing the psychological barriers in its listeners, and causing the destruction of rationality, individuality, and personal willpower.

Noise Promotes Unthinking Consumerism

Because it lacks anything which is musically recognizable, it is often literally impossible to tell one Noise artist from another. (An example: RRRecords label owner Ron Lessard once released a series of tapes purporting to be from well-known Noise artists. In reality, they were created in his apartment by Lessard himself. Nobody noticed.) To get around this, Noise artists often use other methods to differentiate between themselves and convince unsuspecting consumers that their albums are worth owning. One such method is to use novelty packaging, such as making home-crafted CD cases, pressing records onto colored or oddly shaped vinyl, enclosing a cassette in a box of nails, etc. Another method is to make the recording deliberately rarified, creating editions in ridiculously small numbers (say 23 copies).

Both methods have actually been used for years in other media, particularly media geared towards youngsters (e.g. comic books). The results are the same: people are encouraged to buy products not because they need them, or even enjoy them, but because they look neat, and you'll be special if you own one. This is especially dangerous in the case of Noise music, as a Noise fan is not just buying a product, but a piece of their own personal identity.

The situation becomes even worse if you decide to become a noise musician yourself (as most fans invariably do). All forms of music require the purchasing of musical equipment, but this is taken to the extreme in the case of Noise. The only way to perform Noise music is through the non-stop accumulation of new synthesisers, mixers, effects pedals, etc. These pieces of equipment are used once or twice and then discarded, or often actually destroyed in a Noise performance itself.

Despite this, Noise musicans and their fans will often try to defend Noise music by citing its deliberately non-commercial aspects. They claim that they are creating their products outside of the mainstream means of production, using a "do it yourself" methodology to empower the artists and fans directly. (In reality, of course, they are forced to do this, since nobody with any taste would ever consider buying their music.) But an "underground" economy is still an economy, and is not necessarily any better than the mainstream; in fact, due to its clandestine nature, it is often worse.

In any case, Noise music is not the underground phenomena its defenders would claim it is. Just ask Justin Mitchell at Cold Spring Records, a successful European Noise label:

A good thing in a way, business-wise I suppose, is being able to work from the smallest labels doing the tiniest little mailorder, right up to Virgin, Sony, Mute; and having friends in some of the biggest and extensive labels in the world who are close friends.¹⁴

He's not alone. Many Noise artists such as NON, Throbbing Gristle, Einstuerzende Neubauten, and Sonic Youth put out recordings on Mute Records, which is owned by EMI. EMI is the English label which was responsible for the "British invasion" of rock-and-roll in the 1960's, and was also responsible for the Sex Pistols, inventors of the "Punk Rock" movement which has unfortunatly swept America. EMI also owns DFA, the home of noise-rockers Black Dice; owns the Caroline distribution company; and is joint owner (with Toshiba) of TOEMI, the Japanese music label.¹⁵

Sonic Youth also put records out on Geffen, which is owned by Universal, which is, in turn, owned by Vivendi - a French company.¹⁶ (It should also be noted that Sonic Youth is largely responsible for the signing to Geffen of "grunge" rockers Nirvana, who contributed to the degradation of American youth by turning them into drug-addled, suicidal hippies.)

Wolf Eyes recordings are released by Sub Pop (Nirvana's former label), which claims to be "independent," but is in fact part owner of ADA Distribution - the other owner being Warner Music Group.¹⁷ (A distribution company is essentially a broker between labels and music stores, and is therefore able to monitor and control what music ends up available to the buying public.) Warner's Japanese branch also releases music by the Boredoms. Warner's current CEO is the Canadian Jew, Edgar Bronfman Jr. - the same person who brokered the sale of Polygram and Universal to Vivendi in 2000.¹⁸

EMI, Vivendi Universal, and Warner are three of the so-called "Big Four" record labels, which control around 70% of the world music market (estimated at $30-40 billion in 2004) and around 85% of the United States music market.¹⁹ The fourth label is Sony, the Japanese company that also manufactures millions of consumer electronics products worldwide, and inventor of the Compact Disc (which managed to convince the buying public that their old recordings were now "obsolete"). Sony is a notoriously ruthless company when it comes to garnering profits; it even when so far as to include XCP software on its CD's in late 2005. Ostensibly to prevent illegal copying, its real purpose was to install software outside your computer's operating system that would gather information about you without your consent.²⁰

And in 2004, Sony became Sony BMG Music Entertainment when it merged with BMG, formerly one of the world's largest record labels (prior to this merger, the "Big Four" was the "Big Five"). BMG is the musical division of Bertelsmann AG, the German media corporation that produced Nazi propaganda for the military during the second world war, profited from Jewish slave labor in Latvia and Lithuania, and whose leader Heinrich Mohn was a dues-paying member of the SS.²¹ Bertelsmann's magazine "Stern" also published the "Hitler diaries" in 1983, which supposedly showed Hitler in a milder light, but were later revealed to be forgeries.²² In addition to BMG, Bertelsmann also owns American book publishers Random House and Bantam Doubleday Dell, as well as booksellers Barnes and Noble.

As of yet, Sony has not made many forays into Noise music, limiting itself to a few compilations that feature Noise artists. But this may be changing; Kioon (a division of Sony) recently released an album by noise duo Afrirampo (who have toured with Sonic Youth and Lightning Bolt). In addition, Sony has started deliberately exporting subversive music to Taiwan through its subsidiary Amp Records,²³ and has a pipeline to the American underground network via RED Distribution.

There's no denying that Japanese culture has been tremendously effected by consumer corporations such as Sony (and of course Toshiba, EMI's partner in crime). Japan has a society which can be politely described as "hyper-consumerist," where every conceivable item is marketed and accepted (often with results that Westerners find absurdly funny). Now consider that Japanese Noise artists are often the first "true" Noise artists a young person listens to. These Noise artists are worshipped like gods, such that even the most boring laptop Noise performer can demand thousands of dollars for a performance. Could Noise music be a cultural attempt to turn America into a Japanese-style oligopoly?

In any case, it's clear that despite Noise artists' claims to the contrary, the sale of Noise records does nothing more than line the pockets of an international economic cabal - one whose interests lie firmly outside America's borders.

Noise Is Antisocial and Amoral

Noise music was influenced by mid-century avant-garde composers such as Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaffer, Morton Subotnick, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. These academic radicals deliberately set out to destroy traditional forms of music and tonality, replacing it with processed non-musical sounds and synthesised atonal noises. Their goals were not (and are not) merely musical in nature, but also social. Consider that Stockhausen called the 9/11 terrorist attacks "the greatest work of art ever." ²⁴

But the true godfather of Noise music was probably Luigi Russolo, member of the Italian Futurist movement and author of "The Art of Noise." The Futurists were deliberately antisocial, amoral, and anti-intellectual, preferring the power and force of industrial machinery over traditional morality and human values.

From The Futurist Manifesto by FT Marinetti (1909):

We will glorify war - the world's only hygiene - militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for women. We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind, will fight moralism, feminism, every oportunistic or utilitarian cowardice. (...) Come on! set fire to the library shelves! Turn aside the canals to flood the museums!... Take up your pickaxes, your axes and hammers and wreck, wreck the venerable cities, pitilessly!²⁵

These "twentieth-century composers" infiltrated underground culture in the 1960's and early 1970's, influencing such musical genres as "Kraut Rock" bands like Can and Faust, as well as "happenings" in America. This music was intended to be a soundtrack to a revolution, a revolt against "authoritarian" (i.e. mainstream American) ideologies, with its eventual goal the destruction of all traditional cultures.

But for the most part, these prior movements were mostly limited to tenured academics and art historians. Noise music, by contrast, is just as likely to be performed in a bar or rock club. Ideally, they occur in spaces that are outside of social and parental control, such as a refurbished basement, warehouse loft space, secluded outdoor location, or illegal underground venue masquerading as a "non-commercial art space."

And as Noise music came out of the closet, it also became more extreme in its antisocial tendencies. Violent rape, serial murder, parricide, castration, forced incest, sexual exploitation of children - all these things and more could be inspiration for a Noise track. This is not merely treated as subject matter, but actually advocated, in such detail as to be an instruction manual. Nor is this simply limited to the lyrics: in the past, Noise performances have included live sex acts, occult rituals, self-mutilation, and the use of explosive incendiary devices. Noise artists Hanatarash even went so far as to crash a bulldozer through the wall of a venue as part of their onstage performance.

It's often pointed out that many noise artists don't have lyrics of this nature, or in fact, any lyrical content at all. Such music is seldom content-free, however; it often is suggested by the title or packaging, as for example Merzbow's "Music for Bondage Performance." They also defend these artists by relying on the freedom of speech, and that an artist has a right to say anything he or she wants. This is of course a cop-out; just because someone has a right to say something, does not mean that he or she cannot be judged by what he or she says. Nor does it explain why that artist would want to concentrate on such subjects in the first place.

What these people are really saying is that nobody is allowed to make moral judgements about what anyone says - becuase after all, it's just words, and words are unimportant. Quite obviously, the only effect of this attitude will be to desensitize Noise fans to images of horror and death.

And when you're desensitized to the images, it won't be long until you're desensitized to the acts themselves.

Noise Is Undemocratic and Anti-American

Even when not overtly political in content, Noise is by its nature elitist and undemocratic. Both Noise artists and their fans believe that a small musical aristocracy (of which, of course, they are members) is the only group that knows what "good" music is, and that normal, average Americans are ignorant slobs with no taste. It's common practice to claim their music is "not for the masses." The very nature of "limited-edition" items suggests an elitist aesthetic in which only the few can participate.

Such attitudes are common in cult philosophies, where the "initiated" believe that they are the only ones privvy to knowledge of the "truth," and that everyone else is acting out of ignorance or intolerance. The result, naturally, is thier separation from society in general, and particularly from friends and family members not indoctrinated into the cult's philosophy. In extreme cases, they end up believing that their moral superiority places them outside of all human values, so that they have the right - perhaps even the duty - to eliminate the "subhumans" in the name of their cause.

This elitism is brought to the fore when noise artists DO espouse a political philosophy. This philosophy is always militaristic, proto-fascist and social Darwinist in nature. Noise artists such as NON, Grey Wolves, Streicher, Der Blutharsch, and Puissance openly espouse Nazi ideologies, and have political allies in such groups as the White Aryan Resistance, the American Front, Austrian Right-wing extremist Jörg Haider, Berzerker Records (distributor of racist, Nazi and holocaust revisionist music), and even racist mass murderer Charles Manson.²⁶ All these artists, and more, have consistently been labeled "hate groups" by anti-racist watchdog organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.²⁷ These groups routinely get shut down in more rational countries, but in America, they take advantage of "freedom of speech" to spread their message of hate.²⁸

When taken together, the political objective of Noise music become clear. That objective is nothing less than a New World Order, with its political structure based on German Fascism, its economic system based on Japanese Imperialism, and its center in a pan-European empire.

Can the resurgence of the Axis Powers be too far behind?

Sources:

1. ^ Health Consequences and Harmful Effects of Noise
http://www.szu.cz/chzp/rep04/html_an/ka05_06.htm

2. ^ Sonic Doom (Fortean Times)
http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/153_sonicweapons.shtml

3. ^ Dr. Zippermeyers Wirbelwind Kanone
http://www.hagelkorn.com/Germany/Luftkanone/luftkanone.htm

4. ^ Underwater Port Security System Integrated Anti-Swimmer System (UPSS IAS) (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-frogman_techniques#UPSS_IAS

5. ^ Israelis unleash a new Weapon: Scream (Indymedia)
http://www.indymedia.ie/devel/article/70496

6. ^ Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_range_acoustic_device

7. ^ Ship Blasted Pirates With Sonic Weapon (CBS)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/08/ap/tech/mainD8DNUV2G3.shtml

8. ^ Noise machine deters shop gangs (BBC)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/4415318.stm

9. ^ The fear frequency (Guardian UK)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/farout/story/0,13028,1063346,00.html

10. ^ Feraliminal Lycanthropizer
http://www.physicsroom.org.nz/log/archive/8/feraliminal/

11. ^ Effects of Noise on Young Children
http://www.designshare.com/Research/LMaxwell/NoiseChildren.htm

12. ^ Lustmord Interview (EST Magazine)
http://media.hyperreal.org/zines/est/intervs/lustmord.html

13. ^ Terra Incognita liner notes
http://www.boydrice.com/terraincognita_linernotes.html

14. ^ Justin Mitchell - Interview Winter 2004 For Ritual Magazine
http://www.coldspring.co.uk/interviews/ritual2004.php

15. ^ EMI (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMI

16. ^ List of assets owned by Vivendi Universal (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Vivendi_Universal

17. ^ About the Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA)
http://www.ada-music.com/generic.asp?module_map_id=1207&view=aboutus

18. ^ Edgar Bronfman, Jr. (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Bronfman%2C_Jr.

19. ^ World Music Market (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_music_market

20. ^ 2005 Sony CD copy protection controversy (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_CD_copy_protection_controversy

21. ^ Bertelsmann admits Nazi past (BBC News)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2308415.stm

22. ^ Bertelsmann's Revisionist (The Nation)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/19991108/fischler

23. ^ Sony banks on taking Taiwan past ballad sap (Asia Week)
http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/96/0823/feat5.html

24. ^ The art of terror (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/06/IN225021.DTL

25. ^ The Futurist Manifesto
http://www.futurism.org.uk/manifestos/manifesto01.htm

26. ^ "Protest against concert of ultra Right band"
http://www.gebladerte.nl/30093v01.htm

27. ^ Turn It Down list of White Power Bands (including "Fascist Experimental")
http://turnitdown.newcomm.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=26

28. ^ Turn It Down article on "Noise Nazis" (PDF)
http://turnitdown.newcomm.org/images/stories/Soundtracks/sndtrck-noise.pdf

Note: Many of the points in this essay were fleshed out due to the discussion list run by Mothers Against Noise, where a first draft of this essay was originally posted. I am indebted to their organization, and to everyone on that list, for their kind assistance.