[Column] Noise Punk / Avant-Punk ─ When destructive impulse becomes ideology
Column en Avant-Punk Noise Punk![[Column] Noise Punk / Avant-Punk ─ When destructive impulse becomes ideology](/../assets/images/column-noise-Punk-avant-punk.webp)
Prologue: Why Punk Had to Break
Text: mmr｜Theme: About noise punk/avant punk, which is a memory device for constantly rejecting the safe zone of music
Noise punk/avant punk is an attempt at extreme self-destruction that arose from within the punk movement that was born in the late 1970s. Rather than the superficial images of early punk, such as speed and rebellion, punk is characterized by its underlying impulse of ““denial,” ““refusal,” and ““destruction’’ that extends to the musical structure itself.
In this music, skill and pleasure are not important. Rather, phrases that are close to unplayable, dissonance, and rhythms on the verge of collapse are actively chosen. There was a clear distrust of rock’s entertainment and commercial value.
DNA and The Pop Group are the most radical embodiment of this attitude. Rather than updating punk, they dismantled it from within, opening up a completely different realm of expression.
Noise punk was an attempt to visualize ideas by destroying music.
Punk after Punk: Collapse of preconditions
Around 1977, punk spread rapidly and at the same time rapidly became formalized. 3 chords, short songs, aggressive attitude. They quickly became a style and began to be reproduced. Noise punk/avant punk was born out of a strong sense of discomfort with this situation.
The problem for them was that rock was once again being reduced to ““easy-to-understand music’’. Rebellion becomes a symbol, and dissent becomes fashionable. In order to reject the process itself, the music intentionally moved in an incomprehensible direction.
This attitude seemed to deny punk, but in reality it was a thorough implementation of the fundamental spirit of punk.
Avant-punk was born not to end punk, but to purify it.
Noise choice
Noise is not decoration in noise punk. Nor is it a substitute for melody or rhythm. It is a means of presenting “rejection” as a sound.
In traditional rock music, dissonance and feedback have been treated as elements that create thrills and exhilaration. But in noisepunk, they persist and are not resolved. The listener is denied pleasure and remains in an unstable state.
This structure is not accidental, but intentional. I don”t understand, I don”t fit in, I don’t feel comfortable. That feeling was exactly the experience they wanted to present.
The noise was not a musical effect, but an attitude.
New York and DNA: Performance as deconstruction
DNA was a band active in New York in the late 1970s, and was a core member of the so-called no wave movement. Their music is structured in such a way that it deconstructs all the basic elements of rock.
The guitar does not form chords, but emit single notes or irregular noises. The bass and drums don’t share a beat, and the performance is always on the verge of collapse. The vocals reject the melody and are released as fragmented words and screams.
Although DNA’s performances are improvisational, they are not simply chaotic. Rather, it is filled with a sense of tension to sustain the ““moment when rock is not established.’’
DNA achieved the paradox of denying rock by performing.
No Wave context
An essential part of talking about DNA is the short-lived New York movement called No Wave. This was more a collection of attitudes than a genre.
No Wave was characterized by its complete rejection of blues and rock”n”roll traditions. Denied the pleasure of dance music and the catharsis of punk, the music became extremely dry.
In this context, DNA is positioned as the entity that has undergone the most thorough deconstruction.
No Wave was not a genre, but a series of acts of destruction.
The Pop Group: A fusion of politics and noise
The Pop Group was a British band active in the late 1970s that combined punk, funk, dub, and free jazz into a radical fusion.
Their music is both physical and chaotic. Sharp guitar cuts, unstable rhythms, and aggressive vocals all ring out at the same time, with no clear center.
The significance of The Pop Group was that its music was explicitly political. Critiques of capitalism, consumer society, and power structures were embedded not only in the lyrics but in the very structure of the sound.
The Pop Group made noise function as a political language.
Comparison of two avant-garde styles
Although DNA and The Pop Group are in the same avant-punk context, their focus is different. One focused on the destruction of the rock structure itself, the other musicalized their anger at social structures.
This difference shows that avant-punk was not a single methodology.
Avant-garde was not about looking in the same direction, but about making multiple rejections at the same time.
Chronology: The formation of noise punk/avan punk
This trend occurred intensively in a short period of time and left a deep influence on subsequent alternative music.
Although the history of noise punk is short, its aftershocks continue for a long time.
Impact and Sustainability
Although noise punk/avant punk was not a commercial success, its influence extends to subsequent experimental music, post-punk, industrial, and even contemporary noise.
What is important is not a specific sound, but the inheritance of an ““attitude of continued doubt.’’ Every time music is about to be reclaimed as pleasure, it has played the role of creating a crack.
Noise punk is a memory device that constantly refuses the safe zone of music.
