Here's a few paragraphs of what I'm talking about, from the "Politics of HNW" article:
In the last few years, one topic of debate within the harsh noise world has been the defining factors that have built up around what is now known as the sub-genre 'Wall Noise.' Power Electronics discussion used to dominate areas of disagreement, contrast, and arguments over stylization and content, but as of late, I have witnessed even longer, more in-depth discussions/arguments over the tonal qualities and supposed purpose of Wall Noise. This facet of harsh noise has been met with violent opposition from some artists, as the tonal statements it presents can put some people over the edge. Wall Noise is seen as a threat to some, as it can disregard themes that some harsh noise fans feel need to be infused in harsh noise, such as drama, story, entertainment, etc. But does Wall Noise actually ignore the standards that previous harsh noise classics have achieved? Is the motivation behind this style of noise completely different, or is Wall Noise part of a healthy and creative growth pattern of Harsh Noise that simply carries the form to extremes for fans of heavy noise?
Before we get into this further, I should discuss in plain English the developments of Wall Noise over the years. Sound artists have obviously meditated over themes of minimalism in tones and 'noise' for the last century. Even a cursory overview ranges from the Futurists' examples of violent engine sounds, to Philip Corner and his 1962 work 'Black Hole' (from Oracle, an electronic cantata on images of war: strike week version -- a piece which scarily sounds a lot like contemporary Wall Noise works), to LaMonte Young's minimalism, the immense volume and snapping violence of Zbigniew Karkowski, Francisco Lopez and his soaring works, all the way through to something like the minimal and quiet works of Bernhard Günter. The range of noise study is long and surely accomplished, some works being examples of noise for noise's sake, and others acting as examples of stages of tonal and sound study, as an artist like Chop Shop would display in his levels of study and experimentation. The academia behind the works of sound artists of the past century plays a critical role in the establishment of Harsh Noise into the late 1970s, '80s and '90s, as projects like Merzbow, Hijokaidan, The Haters, Incapacitants, etc. took form with acute knowledge of the past techniques and ideologies. But Wall Noise took a very different path of influence and workmanship, which is one of the most important aspects of the sub-genre. Rather than from sound art, Wall Noise has grown from the roots, sound, and mania of the 1990s 'Americanoise' culture.
First of all, in subtle contradiction of what was just stated above, Wall Noise is nothing new. It has indeed taken some forms of harsh noise to new levels of study and heavy interest, but most wall noise artists take their influence from very defined past works. Japanese harsh noise obviously has its prime examples of massive cascading walls of noise with projects like Hijokaidan, Incapacitants, and Monde Bruits, each taking different aspects of harsh noise generation and layering them into mountains of sound. To a lesser extent, Merzbow's stylizations can be evaluated with many of his studio works, but his live works have been focused in the past on massive layers of continual sound. The Japanese had a major influence on the harsh noise movements of North America (for those not already acquainted with something like The Haters or early U.K. Industrial projects) in the 1990s, perpetuating the popularity of American projects like Macronympha, Skin Crime, Richard Ramirez, Black Leather Jesus, Taint, etc. Something that one notices almost immediately about 'Americanoise' (the term used initially to describe the heavy and dark distortion-laden Mother Savage Noise Productions cassette compilation from 1995, and then used frequently to describe the North American harsh noise style of the 1990s) is the style, the sound. American harsh noise back in the 1990s was noticeably dirtier, concentrating on the crunch and rumble a lot more than the squeal and jolts of some Japanese artists with their cleaner feel. American harsh noise was representative of something a little meaner and more dangerous, and this instigated a new way of interpreting the harsh noise form of the time. The culmination of this 'sound' can be heard in Joe Roemer's (Macronympha) side project OVMN, which stands for 'Optimum Volume Maximum Noise.' OVMN is a virtual avalanche of harsh noise that is purposely the harshest possible, culminating in massive walls of sound while representing the American noise ideal with its grit and darkness. Contemporary Wall Noise artists are the children of the 1990s Americanoise, with a strong interest in the characteristics of the genre as a whole. The Incapacitants and crustier Japanese acts such as Cracksteel and MO*TE are also driving influences, but it's the cassette culture and sadism of the North American sound that you can really hear in the heavy distortion lines of modern Wall Noise artists.
