An aggressive manifesto. A scream from a futurist.
“This limited circle of pure sounds must be broken, and the infinite variety of “noise-sound” conquered.”
Luigi Russolo was definitely disappointed with the expression ability of the conventional classical orchestra music form. His ideas embedded in this article have led me to think about what is music. After all, it’s about expression. Music is the output of the input of the previously external expression. The problem with conventional music is that its output means are significantly restrained. As a disappointing result, the artists’ talents are limited to finite forms of expression. In this case, I agree with Russolo’s view that the solution is in the art of noise. The infinite possibility of noise is key to solve the plight contemporary music is facing.
However, if I were able to choose the word, I won’t use “music” to define the art of noise, as Russolo did at the end of the manifesto, where he shouted out to the futurist musicians. I will simply choose “sound”. Ontologically speaking, the action of creating music is a kind of intentional attempt in order to achieve certain intentional results. On the other hand, noise is the purest and most natural form of music, and therefore the action of creating noise is a kind of conscious or unconscious attempt to seek the natural order in chaos. Under this circumstance, the word “sound” is more appropriate because it clearly separates “music” and “noise”, and at the same time, allocating more colorful meanings to “noise”.
The ONLY word I will use to describe Merzbow’s work is a masterpiece.
The general noise piece appears to be a stream of consciousness to me. Composed of two distinct music layers. The high-frequency melody is like a person’s ego, drifting along with the society. While on the other hand, the id has been buried within the low-frequency accompaniment. At first, the two parts were very distinct, but when time goes by, there are more and more tiny inharmonious, and overlapping pieces between the two music parts. I would say the tendency is like the person’s id is gradually taking control over his ego, and when this reaches the extreme, the noise ends. It is apparently indicating the person’s completely being taking control of by his most natural consciousness. In an attempt to combine the id and noise expression, Merzbow has proven his talents.