Noise, an underground music made through an amalgam of feedback, distortion, and electronic effects, first emerged as a genre in the 1980s, circulating on cassette tapes traded between fans in Japan, Europe, and North America. With its cultivated obscurity, ear-shattering sound, and over-the-top performances, Noise has captured the imagination of a small but passionate transnational audience. For its scattered listeners, Noise always seems to be new and to come from somewhere else: in North America, it was called "Japanoise." But does Noise really belong to Japan? Is it even music at all? And why has Noise become such a compelling metaphor for the complexities of globalization and participatory media at the turn of the millennium? In Japanoise, David Novak draws on more than a decade of research in Japan and the United States to trace the "cultural feedback" that generates and sustains Noise. He provides a rich ethnographic account of live performances, the circulation of recordings, and the lives and creative practices of musicians and listeners. He explores the technologies of Noise and the productive distortions of its networks. Capturing the textures of feedback-its sonic and cultural layers and vibrations-Novak describes musical circulation through sound and listening, recording and performance, international exchange, and the social interpretations of media.
David Novak is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1. Scenes of Liveness and Deadness 28 2. Sonic Maps of the Japanese Underground 64 3. Listening to Noise in Kansai 92 4. Genre Noise 117 5. Feedback, Subjectivity, and Performance 139 6. Japanoise and Technoculture 169 7. The Future of Cassette Culture 198 Epilogue: A Strange History 227 Notes 235 References 259 Index 279
In Japanoise, David Novak draws on more than a decade of research in Japan and the United States to trace the "cultural feedback" that generates and sustains Noise.
"Edgy, compelling, and sharply insightful, this is the definitive book on Japanoise. Through his personal involvement in Noise scenes across two continents and over two decades, David Novak takes readers into the experience of Noise: its production and performance through apparati of wires, pedals, amplifiers, and tape loops, its intensity on the stage and in one's ears and body." - Anne Allison,author of Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination "This is a striking book: theoretically exciting, aesthetically intriguing, and well crafted. Japanoise is an extreme case study of modern musical subjectivity that demonstrates how core cultural ideas are formed on the fringe. Novak's treatment of circulation as embedded in the creative process will shift the debate in ethnomusicology, popular music studies, and global media studies." - Louise Meintjes,author of Sound of Africa! Making Music Zulu in a South African Studio "The book should prove particularly interesting to musicians; Novak has done a good job in describing the instrumental set up of the artists whose shows he watches. Just as interesting, though, is hearing that members of Boredoms were once welcomed as "noise idols" on mainstream Japanese TV in the 1990s - I'm sure the many Arashi variety shows on air could benefit from the likes of Merzbow showing up."--JapanTimes.co.jp
