I don't doubt that in parts of the world where there are reasonable scenes of people into this kind of thing, that is people who meet up on a regular basis for gigs and so forth, that a kind of uniform look, attitude, language, etc begins to form. It's a bit human nature. I expect these things to have some similarities between each other, but also regional differences.
There would definitely be crossover with other scenes, though. Since Noise tends to be something of a minority taste, it would rely more on connections with Metal, hardcore, etc scenes on the one hand, and "sound art" scenes on the other. While it's not unknown for people to straddle both poles, there are distinct differences there. But, for the most part, Noise as a scene-in-itself tends to be spread across other scenes. At least, that's been my experience.
In any case, with situations like this, there'll be those who opt for as much identifying inclusion as possible, and those who will just "be themselves" regardless. It depends on how seriously individuals take this scene business.
Personally I don't see it as any loss that Noise isn't some bigger identified distinct cultural phenomena in the way theotherjohn describes, but I don't see it as an issue if that did happen. If we take modern Noise scenes as having started in the 1980's, though (I know, sound-wise, it's antecedents are longer than that), it's been something like four decades we've been able to get by without hand-signs, slang, dance-moves, fashion and all the rest of it. There could be something unique in that, in itself.
On this forum, there's been discussion of things like a Noise "brotherhood", or "the PE lifestyle" and so on. People do like to have these kind off tribal identities. The thing with that is that, with most other popular music genres, they're pushed by consumerism, which is why people outside of those scenes latch onto various indicators like clothing and so forth. So far, Noise, as is, lacks commercial appeal, which is something else pretty unique for something that's been around for so long. What major label is going to sign up Hijokaidan or Bizarre Uproar and market them to young consumers around the world as the next big thing? For me, one of the great things about Noise is that it's almost impossible to water it down without losing its essence. If there was a distinct image, that might be co-opted. But with fourty to fifty minutes of pure screaming harsh sound, the only way you could make that palatable would be to put a dance beat on it, making it therefore extraneous to the dance beat. It's brilliant that Noise can work that way - it has to stand on its own, or it just becomes mere decoration.
If theotherjohn is saying "he music itself apparently doesn't seem to be making progress alone", I have to ask in what way that is a negative thing for those of us who dig Noise?
