Noise Music: A History by Paul Hegarty
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Book Reviews of Noise Music: A History
Book Review: Academic, but accessible with lots of useful information
Summary: 5 Stars
Paul Hegarty does a good job jumping into the world of experimental/noise music headfirst. Up to now, this has been a whole area of music largely ignored by the musicological community. There is a distinct emphasis on Japanoise with a whole chapter on Merzbow alone, but then again, I think it's deserved.
We can forgive many of the book's faults because it is essentially the first of its kind. It's probably as comprehensive as possible considering that there's next to nothing to build upon. Hegarty has done a great service to future scholars.
The writing is scholarly and theoretically sound, but it's also approachable to those outside the field of musicology. It's a bit more dense than, say, an article on Wire or Pitchfork, but it's also structured so that a casual reader can simply skip over the more theoretically robust sections, while still getting a lot of useful information.
Noise/Music is an exciting first step and fans of the music (you know who you are) will not want to miss this. Highly recommended.
Book Review: Great Background and Analysis
Summary: 4 Stars
Hegarty comes at the topic from the standpoint of an avid listener and performer, explaining and exploring what the various artists are trying to achieve. His coverage of historical and contemporary performers/composers is exceptionally broad and adds a invaluable context for the work -- even if some influences are only mentioned in passing.
The chapters on Japanese noise and Merzbow are spot on and alone make the book a worthy purchase. I have been listening to this stuff for over ten years and found the discussions both accurate and enlightening.
I only give it four stars since while reading other parts of the book I kept wishing that he would describe what the music sounds like rather than engage its theory. One other minor point: the font on the paperback is a small narrow sans serif which increased the reading effort (although given the topic this might have been a design decision)
Book Review: Entertaining AND informative
Summary: 4 Stars
Sometimes the writing tends to be a tad dry, but this is a serious work of scholarship regarding the "noise" movement through the history of music so one wouldn't expect a page turner. There is a whole chapter devoted to Japanese Noise music, as well as one specifically on Merzbow, who is like the god of noise. I appreciated the fact that in the introduction the author did mention that he only touches on Coil, Nurse With Wound, and Current 93 b/c they have their own book ("England's Hidden Reverse" by David Keegan). Several mentions of Throbbing Gristle are made as well, though the book "Wreckers of Civilization" by Simon Ford is an excellent read on that wacky troupe. I was entertained by the author's description of listening to specific pieces of music, and he raised my interest in several artists I wasn't familiar with. This was a gift, but I would have gladly paid full price for this excellent book.Book Review: Dissection of Noise Into Its Component Sonic Fragments
Summary: 4 Stars
In high school physics I was given an assignment to comprehend the entire mathematical equation of the respiratory cycle. Fortunately, here the subject is noise music, a bit closer to my interests. To say this book is pretentious would be to do it a dissevice. In fact, "Noise/Music A History" is actually more scientific, an examination of noise, music, their relation and the various manifestations of which have existed and continue to exist. From John Cage to free jazz to industrial music to Merzbow, it has the feeling that someone is using sonar equipment to measure the sonic vibrations at a Masonna concert and presenting a thesis of the results. Fortunately, there are footnotes so that you can fill yourself in. Be prepared for a quiz.Book Review: Good noise theory;not too hard,not too soft.
Summary: 4 Stars
Hegarty's book is not a dry,excessively detailed history but rather a work much more usefull to myself and perhaps all noisicians and sound artists.It tries very well to reason why we make noise.If you make or dig noise,even if you are a philosophical novice,read this book.
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