Quote from: Kaaoskultti on March 18, 2026, 12:09:10 AMAny thoughts on Japanese PE? I have come to the conclusion that I don't know any artist from the country which aims at this particular genre. Don't even know if such exist there. Might be the noise of equivalent of norwegian death metal, if you get what I'm saying. Heh
Also, any thoughts on what cultural factors might have contributed to the country's prolific appeal towards noise music in general?
One big practical thing are the living conditions and consideration for other people. You can't play live instruments in your house, but you can record almost completely quietly with most noise gear without bothering neighbors (with headset) or take the same gear to rehearsal studio to record with real amps. It is often compact and convenient. Especially Tokyo, where the sound is much more machine based than other places. I know many people who used to have lot of junk and other instruments, but after moving to Tokyo became mostly modular/synth based. I think to some extent this also contributes to lack of power electronics in the Western understanding of it, since vocals play so dominant part in it (as far as my understanding is) and Japanese don't make so much separation between noise and power electronics, but often just use both (and in that sense there are probably many artists for both, but not purely neither one) alongside in description.
I think this is a language thing, if most of these words and genres were made in English speaking context, some don't maybe even understand what they mean or what the difference is, but noise is simple and makes sense. I think since the early days industrial is much more common and used genre.
As to say why noise has so big appeal in Japan, well, to be honest, it doesn't. The shows are the same size as anywhere in the world, the audience being usually from 5-20, if a really big event then 50-100 people perhaps. Not to downplay it at all, I think it is great and I have played all the best shows of my life probably in Environment 0g, and would gladly do so to the end of my days.
