Vocal Noise

[Potier]

Over the last little while I have been exploring some sound poetry and spoken word material as well as some other older favorites of vocal noise and noise-adjacent material.

Namely the following:

Junko - Sleeping Beauty
Junko - The Void
Ami Yoshida - Spirital Voice
Ami Yoshida - Tiger Thrush

Last night I came across this one:

Carlfriedrich Claus - Basale Sprechoperationsräume - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wuyOOnVq0I&t=605s

I would love to explore this kind of stuff further and am looking for some recommendations and thoughts or pointers on vocal noise.
Ideally it would not be in the context of power electronics and I would love to find more material that is strictly voice with little to no effects or other instruments/players involved.
Junko's The Void is kind of already pushing it with the effects on the voice.

I've been digging some Posset or Yol-material that will often include voice/mouth sounds/screams and other weirdness...mangled speech...but there must be more condensed voice stuff out there that is pushing boundaries.
There is a lot of poetry and wordplay/radio-play type material that I enjoy for a variety of reasons, however I am wondering about pure voice noise.

Ideas? Suggestions?

[Bruitiste]

Do you know the sound poems of Henri Chopin and Bob Cobbing?
How about free improv vocal improvisers such as Phil Minton?  Does that fit the category?

[Potier]

Do you know the sound poems of Henri Chopin and Bob Cobbing?
How about free improv vocal improvisers such as Phil Minton?  Does that fit the category?

The name Henri Chopin is familiar but I can't say I have heard anything. Cobbing is an unknown for me all around. Any good starting points for both?
Noticed there seems to be a few Cobbing-compilations...any pointers for both much appreciated.

Minton is interesting but what I have heard seems maybe a bit tame...for lack of a better term...any of his material in particular that has your seal of approval?

Another one I have enjoyed recently is Kazehito Seki's "Self Something For The Moment" on Idiopathic from last year.

Thanks for the names - certainly warrants further digging in that direction.

[Bruitiste]

For sound poetry in general I would suggest tracking down the Revue OU compilation (4 CDs) that has Chopin, Cobbing, and loads more.

If Minton is a little too light, you might want to try the Lost Rivers CD by Sainkho Namtchylak, which has lots of interesting and sometimes noisy vocal techniques and singing on display, it's a full record of solo vocal improv.

C Spencer Yeh of Burning Star Core has a good one called Solo Voice I-X.

Schrei X by Diamanda Galas is also solid.

[Duncan]

Existing sound poetry thread: http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=98.0

Lots of crossover between this and the more 'noise' based suggestions but it's a distinction worth making. I suppose Charmaine Lee would fit the bill to some extent.

[Zeno Marx]

Vocal stuff isn't usually an interest, but I'll add another recommendation for Henri Chopin

[Potier]

For sound poetry in general I would suggest tracking down the Revue OU compilation (4 CDs) that has Chopin, Cobbing, and loads more.

If Minton is a little too light, you might want to try the Lost Rivers CD by Sainkho Namtchylak, which has lots of interesting and sometimes noisy vocal techniques and singing on display, it's a full record of solo vocal improv.

C Spencer Yeh of Burning Star Core has a good one called Solo Voice I-X.

Schrei X by Diamanda Galas is also solid.

I will definitely give Minton another look/listen. There is a lot to explore, however it seems a lot of collaborative improv-work with musicians. Thanks.

Sainkho Namtchylak is also new to me and I will follow up on that lead for sure.

I did not know that Mr. Yeh has solo voice material recorded - certainly should prove worthy of looking into.

Diamanda Galas is someone everybody should be listening to. I am somewhat familiar with her discography and maybe it's time to re-visit some of it.

Existing sound poetry thread: http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=98.0

Lots of crossover between this and the more 'noise' based suggestions but it's a distinction worth making. I suppose Charmaine Lee would fit the bill to some extent.

Like I said, there is a lot of sound poetry that is fascinating on a lot of levels, I thought I would start this thread to see if anybody has recommendations for strictly tortured voice/vocal/mouth sounds that would be considered noise. The less actual words or phrases the better. Sorry if the crossover turns out to suffice in eliminating this thread.

Vocal stuff isn't usually an interest, but I'll add another recommendation for Henri Chopin

Duly noted. :-)

[PTM Jim]

A lot of RHY Yau is pretty vocal.

[Japsi]

Some of my earlier material (as Chav Stabber) was built around glossolalia and extended vocal technique, but it was more in line with harsh noise than what you're looking for here.

Have you tried "Adult Themes for Voice" by Mike Patton?

It was all done with a microphone and a 4-track (possibly a dictaphone in there too), but it's an interesting, if self-indulgent album.

[totalblack]

Michael Barthel - excellent sound poetry\collage stuff made mostly using voice and tape machines. Also runs the excellent "Recordings For The Summer" label.
Justice Yeldham primarily performs by yelling into glass with a contact mic attached. this sounds more like traditional harsh noise, through pedal usage if I remember correctly.

[Duncan]

The more I think about it the tougher this kind of style is to pin down without just recommending something that falls into a lineage of sound poetry (and related) or free improv. Barthel is a good example of this where the fidelity of the recording and some of his voice techniques sit within quite grating, noisy territory but clearly come ultimately from a discipline of experimental poetics. My being unable to understand German definitely colours how 'noisy' I find it too. Great work nonetheless.

It's definitely worthwhile to try and talk about where these things diverge into more demonstrably noise based works though. I mentioned Charmaine Lee earlier. Definitely the strong presence of free improvised voice in her work but the use of different mics and some fx take it in that more heavy, abstract direction

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ksonevztiro

Junko is of course totally correct. I've not heard for myself but I believe she and Mattin have a collaborative album that's just a load of pretty fucking difficult to listen to yelling?

Less heavy and taking a different approach in that other people's voices (I think) are always used but blackhumour is worth a mention for the way it grinds repeating sounds or phrases into a big mulch.

Maybe it's hard to find many examples of artists for whom this is a dedicated practice but it's certainly the case that across many masonna, schimpfluch and even gerogerigegege releases you'll find plenty of meaningless, gross vocal noises.

Hope to think of some more examples later as we'll encounter some new suggestions here

[Andrew McIntosh]

Masonna?

[DBL]

If Minton is a little too light, you might want to try the Lost Rivers CD by Sainkho Namtchylak, which has lots of interesting and sometimes noisy vocal techniques and singing on display, it's a full record of solo vocal improv.

Ah sweet, I thought it was just one song and not a full album! This is the song I had heard previously: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6PGKV0C-Ok

[Yrjö-Koskinen]

Henri Chopin

Ah, this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg3NrR7_jYk

I am quite sure I saw him sleeping on a pavement once.

Just kidding, this was pretty awesome and his look does nothing but improve the experience.

[cantle]

Saw Randy Yau live- full set of just voice driven feedback. Was rather impressive