Noise And The Beat

[Andrew McIntosh]

Listening to the releases of the wonderful "30 Years Of Excess" six-tape box made me think about the use of drum machines and other rhythmic devices in Noise and Industrial. Although it's a standing joke that a few of the "innovators" basically sold out and went disco, Le Syndicat are the proof that use of drum machines doesn't make you a necessary candidate for wimping out and watering down your sound (the more recent album "Propagation" demonstrates that the group has it's integrity in Noise, and also something else - that it's possible to make excellent Noise using computers. But that's another debate).

But another thing it got me interesting in, was wondering about the use of rhythm in Noise. Like a few of us, I'm often suspicious of it, but should I be? While repetitive elements can be frequently used in Power Electronics, there's more a tendency away from anything rhythmic. That's fine with me, but now I wonder if there are any other projects that, like Le Syndicat, can make rhythm an important part of their work. The Grey Wolves come to mind, for one.

I'm not just asking for lists of names. I'm also interested in reading other peoples' thoughts on this.

[secondplanet]

I very much welcome rhythm and noise together. It adds an element of pop appeal (if that's possible) to noise that essentially takes the harsher sound and in hammers it into your head in a way it wouldn't normally. Also, sometimes its just another way of channelling energy into the music.

I think one area where rhythmic noise can be particularly compelling is when it is used in combination with hip-hop (which seems to be a bit of a trend as of late). While it does often compromise the harshness of the sound, I can't say I'm not excited by the idea of taking noise out of the context of, well, noise. Take these for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y35SMUy4o0c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5RVbch7rEg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe6hHnHUQVk

I definitely wouldn't call them noise artists in the purest sense, but I think it is a very creative way of presenting normally more inaccessible sounds into something designed to be more widely relatable.

When it comes down to it though, I just like a good beat.

[Zeno Marx]

I'm not usually a fan of it, but that likely has more to do with how difficult it is to be successful and not contrived.  One of the finer hybrids was Winterkalte.  I first heard them on the Progressive 10", and it floored me.  After them, and in such a discussion, I quickly become confused between whatever it is and industrial.  Decree (Wake of Devastation), Cazzodio, SAT Stoicizmo, very early Imminent Starvation,  Dissecting Table...and then I feel like I'm just having thoughts of solid, throttling industrial music.

[nidding]

I'm a big fan of beat-oriented music, but in noise I often enjoy it in a different manner if we're not talking hybridized forms. Loops and repetition are wide-spread in noise and electro-acoustic music, and that just seems to take the place of the beat ... instead of an incessant kick drum, you instead have an endlessly looping 6 second snippet, for example. The effect is mostly the same. That's been applicable since the early pioneers like the before mentioned Le Syndicat, Grey Wolves and Vivenza and on to more contemporary artists like Aaron Dilloway.

[candle)ice]

When done right it can be extremely hypnotic, and can similarly add a kind of urgency and propulsion that is often lacking in beatless noise compositions. I'm thinking of the aforementioned Winterkälte and SAT Stoicizmo, along with Institut's "A Great Day to Get Even."
I've received similar feelings from some Dissecting Table releases but at times the beats used seem to function more as something of a jarring arpeggiated noise, and as such don't have that propulsive effect. Not always the case, however.

[hsv]

I think Winterkälte sometimes does it right, but he also has some material that completely falls on the wrong side of the line. Generally minimal and a-rythmic beats tend to work, but adding distortion to bombastic stadium-techno 4/4 kickdrums and actionfilm-soundtrack-breakbeat patterns always just sounds tacky as shit. To me a lot of more "clean" classic techno, rave and harder house/acid is both more harsh, if that's what you're looking for, and more sonically interesting, "experimental" and such than most of the "rhythmic noise" I've heard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENw8vRTj310
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4Zj00MbeeM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pinaEePEkTc
etc etc

[tiny_tove]

esplendor geometrico...

[Dr Alex]

I'm not usually a fan of it, but that likely has more to do with how difficult it is to be successful and not contrived.  One of the finer hybrids was Winterkalte.  I first heard them on the Progressive 10", and it floored me.  After them, and in such a discussion, I quickly become confused between whatever it is and industrial.  Decree (Wake of Devastation), Cazzodio, SAT Stoicizmo, very early Imminent Starvation,  Dissecting Table...and then I feel like I'm just having thoughts of solid, throttling industrial music.

Yes, Cazzodio, SAT Stoicizmo and Dissecting Table use great beats in some tracks.
Also, some Control Resistance tracks contain beats in the vein of Godflesh.

I forgot Alberich and Prurient.

[jesusfaggotchrist]

im not sure if haus arafna count, but they make good use of rhythmic devices within a power electronics frame

[dubduboverlord]

I'm a big fan of rhythmic stuff, whether that means implied rhythm via loops or recurring samples or motifs, or straight-up beats. In various varieties of noise/industrial or otherwise. My username here is tribute to an incredible Hanatarash track incorporating drums:

http://youtu.be/KCoWcv5Xj7Q

When I was a teenager in the 80s first exploring a lot of this stuff without easy guideposts or much disposable income RRR was one label I always knew to look for - as a result blind buys of the Hanatarash 3 album and Bruitiste comp (Vivenza/Esplendor Geometrico sides especially) had long and enduring effects on my listening habits.

My own work draws as much from HULA, 23 Skidoo and Microphonies/Arm of the Lord/Drinking Gasoline/etc. era Cabaret Voltaire (Sheffield sound, "machine funk," whatever) as much as any straight-up gritty noise/industrial. I still like a lot of music from (or similar to) the heyday of the Wax Trax/"industrial dance" era and occasional noise/rhythm gems show up in that stuff too, like this Meat Beat Manifesto track:

http://youtu.be/hj8js0tHTr0

I recognize its relative mild nature when considered as a noise track, but personally find the dance beat/feedback shard combo irresistible.

Another heavily rhythmic project I always liked (and that has been a big influence on my sound projects) was SMERSH:

http://youtu.be/H3M6exmh18w
http://youtu.be/Rbqkr2wssr4
http://youtu.be/pOPODBPB3B0

Utter nonsense, but I could listen to it all day long, and the b-movie/monsterkid references and vibe resonate with my obsessions and interests a lot more than politics or sexuality, frankly.

I suppose at some point a lot of this crosses over to what is now called "minimal synth" or something, but that sort of hairsplitting rear-view-mirror taxonomy doesn't much appeal to me. To a dumb kid growing up in Backassward, Florida this was all industrial, or noise, or industrial noise, when I could be bothered to try and describe it to anyone in the first place.

[jesusfaggotchrist]

Utter nonsense, but I could listen to it all day long, and the b-movie/monsterkid references and vibe resonate with my obsessions and interests a lot more than politics or sexuality, frankly.

one of the reasons I dropped most of the political angle of Arseterror. the latest tracks are more trash cinema and horror movie inspired.

[jesusfaggotchrist]

STROM.ec and Diutesc make good use of rhythm within a noise/industrial context.

This is a track I wrote while heavily inspired by Haus Arafna

http://m.soundcloud.com/zombie-militia/arseterror-humanity-is-the

[jesusfaggotchrist]

This is a track I wrote while heavily inspired by Haus Arafna

http://m.soundcloud.com/zombie-militia/arseterror-humanity-is-the

wtf?  when I click on the link, I get this:

Oops! SoundCloud doesn't fully support your browser yet.

I'm on a Mac, OS X Version 10.8.3, and my browser is Firefox 21.0  I couldn't be more up to date!?

try using Safari

[Zeno Marx]

This is a track I wrote while heavily inspired by Haus Arafna

http://m.soundcloud.com/zombie-militia/arseterror-humanity-is-the

wtf?  when I click on the link, I get this:

Oops! SoundCloud doesn't fully support your browser yet.

I'm on a Mac, OS X Version 10.8.3, and my browser is Firefox 21.0  I couldn't be more up to date!?

Do you have NoScript or AdBlock?  They don't get along well with Soundcloud, bandcamp, etc.  You have to go into the add-ons and directly make them an exception.  It doesn't always work if you just make an exception on the page or disable on the page.

[jesusfaggotchrist]

see if this link works better

https://soundcloud.com/zombie-militia/arseterror-humanity-is-the