As a big fan of noise music, it’s easy to admit that some of it is pretty crazy bullshit. Sometimes that crazy bullshit is brilliant, and sometimes it’s just crazy bullshit. Two prominent examples of this are the supremely loose (and probably entirely made up/unused) sub-genre of “danger music” and the “unplayable” music release.

I first learned about so-called danger music while stumbling around Wikipedia. According to some dude who decided to write about it, danger music is “based on the concept that some pieces of music can or will harm either the listener or the performer.” While I’ve had my eardrums blown out by the likes of Prurient or Merzbow, this is something else entirely. The page particularly notes Hanatarash, the former band of current Boredoms leader Yamantaka Eye. Boredoms add their own dash of noise weirdness to psychedelic rock, but accounts of Hanatarash shows are…a bit more extreme. Noise music, particularly some of the stuff like Hanatarash that gets branded “Japanoise,” is so dependent on primal emotion, of which anger and fear are major sources. Their audio recordings include bloodcurdling screaming and power tools rattling and screeching. Their live shows also once allegedly included Eye cutting a dead cat in half with a machete, another time driving a bulldozer through the venue.

Another interesting example I came across (thanks to the sublimely NSFW/disgusting/wonderful noise blog Terror Noise Audio) was Australia’s own Justice Yeldham. A Google image search would give you some idea of the insanity that Yeldham produces. His music is made solely by a piece of amplified glass sent through a large number of distortion pedals and noisemakers. Yeldham proceeds to howl at and spit on the glass, as well as chewing on it and smearing it across his face, often leaving him a bloody mess, like Iggy Pop’s demented younger brother.

Another note on the good ol’ Wiki page regards composer Takehisa Kosugi and his Music for a Revolution. In this piece, the performer is directed to “scoop out one of your eyes 5 years from now and do the same with the other eye 5 years later.” Allegedly, there are other pieces much like this, but they’re often more theory than performance, a suggestion of performance art rather than a musical experience. In fact, I don’t even know if Kosugi’s piece was ever performed.

Much along those lines, noise music also has some history of unplayable concept releases. Some favorites (courtesy of NoiseGuide) include Gerogerigegege’s Art is Over, an octopus tentacle stapled into a cassette box; Jupitter Larsen’s The Haters, a blank vinyl EP with instructions to scratch your own grooves; and a literally split 10″ record by Small Cruelty Party and Chop Shop, in which the A and B sides were cut apart down the middle. Much like the theoretical performance pieces, these pieces are more valuable in their idea than in any physical emanation of sound. Some may find it silly, stupid, or insulting, but there’s something intriguing in an object that doesn’t fulfill its intended purpose. There’s a sense of humor in the willingness to debase its very nature.

So, there you have it. Music that can’t be heard and music that’ll hurt you. Think about that when you start complaining about Coldplay or talking about being challenged by Phillip Glass.

Audio Archaeology is a presentation of Media Potluck and Consequence of Sound.