Ugly Music
I was going through my old writings when I came across this old editorial from the very early days of my zine on my love of noise and muddle:
It can be easy to understand why beautiful music is enjoyable, to speak of melody, rhythm, and poignancy. But I also have a deep love for ugly music.
There’s something incredibly satisfying in the alienation of the sounds of Power Electronics, original Industrial, Noise, Dark Ambient, and the like. Some music is so underground that it will never be in any danger from the co-opting of commercialist interests.
Or alternately, in a world where we are surrounded by so much noise, noise as music is a form of adaptation. We can’t control the rumble of jets, buses, trains, and construction, but we can control the noise we choose to listen to. And even in chaos, one can eventually hear patterns and rhythms. “One man’s trash is another’s treasure” easily applies to what could be considered the debris of music. There’s plenty of gear that promises noise reduction and clear signals, but not all of us need that. There are plenty of musicians that seek perfect clarity, but it's possible to sound to clean, to clear, too soulless.
It can be easy to understand why beautiful music is enjoyable, to speak of melody, rhythm, and poignancy. But I also have a deep love for ugly music.
There’s something incredibly satisfying in the alienation of the sounds of Power Electronics, original Industrial, Noise, Dark Ambient, and the like. Some music is so underground that it will never be in any danger from the co-opting of commercialist interests.
Or alternately, in a world where we are surrounded by so much noise, noise as music is a form of adaptation. We can’t control the rumble of jets, buses, trains, and construction, but we can control the noise we choose to listen to. And even in chaos, one can eventually hear patterns and rhythms. “One man’s trash is another’s treasure” easily applies to what could be considered the debris of music. There’s plenty of gear that promises noise reduction and clear signals, but not all of us need that. There are plenty of musicians that seek perfect clarity, but it's possible to sound to clean, to clear, too soulless.