Harsh noise

Harsh noise is a subgenre of noise music that emerged in the early 1980s, originating from the Kansai no wave movement and later developing through Japanese noise music and the European power electronics scene.

Harsh noise
Merzbow is considered to be one of the most popular harsh noise artists.
Stylistic origins	Kansai no wave Japanoise industrial power electronics
Cultural origins	1980s; Japan, Europe and United States
Subgenres
Harsh noise wall
Other topics
Noise rock

Characteristics

Harsh noise is an extreme subgenre of noise music characterized by its rejection of music theory and traditional song structure, with little or no conventional melody, rhythm, or harmony. Artists typically employ effects pedals, synthesizers, manipulated recordings, or custom-built electronics to generate distortion and feedback, resulting in compositions of dense static, electronic screeches, and abrasive sonic bursts.^[1][2] Performances often incorporate improvisation, and the style is frequently described as inaccessible and lacking commercial appeal.^[3] Harsh noise is primarily associated with underground music, with regional scenes emerging internationally in Japan, England, Canada, Indonesia and America.^[4][5]

History

Origins

Harsh noise music originally emerged in Japan through the Kansai no wave scene, which shaped the Kansai region's experimental music and helped establish the Japanese noise music scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s.^[6] Early Japanese noise acts such as Merzbow, Hijokaidan, Hanatarash, C.C.C.C. and Incapacitants would prove influential in establishing the sound of harsh noise music.^[6]

Around the same time, European power electronics, a subgenre of post-industrial music, became an important influence on the development of harsh noise, with the style later being popularized in the United States by American noise musicians such as the Haters, Daniel Menche, and Richard Ramirez.^[1][7]

Related genres

Harsh noise wall

Harsh noise wall
Stylistic origins	Harsh noise
Cultural origins	1990s; United States, Japan, France
Other topics
Japanoise

Harsh noise wall (also known as wall noise, noise wall, or HNW) is a subgenre of harsh noise that emerged in the 1990s, originally pioneered by artists such as Richard Ramirez, Skin Crime, the Rita and Vomir. Music journalist Russell Williams described the genre as "a literal consistent, unflinching and enveloping wall of monolithic noise".^[8]

Harsh noise wall features noises layered together to form a loud, distorted, brickwalled static sound. French harsh noise artist Vomir described the genre as "no ideas, no change, no development, no entertainment, no remorse".^[9] Harsh noise wall musician Sam McKinlay, also known as The Rita, considered the genre as "the purification of the Japanese harsh noise scene into a more refined crunch, which crystallizes the tonal qualities of distortion in a slow moving minimalistic texture."^[10]

See also

• Avant-garde music
• Noise music