New Noise

Now that I schooled you all on some obvious shit with the last post, I'd like to talk about something semi-fresh and inspiring that's been happening - and is happening - right now. I've been following the 'new noise' sound (groups like Emeralds and Oneohtrix Point Never and probably a lot of others that I'm just unaware of) with passing interest for some time now; it seemed like a fad that was popular with the college-radio circuit, that could either pass away or start gaining momentum. From the outset, I knew that whoever was behind Oneohtrix Point Never knew what was up, and had serious style, but I kind of relegated it to the 'get around to listening when I have the time' pile, because enjoying this kind of music takes a lot of time and requires you to be in a certain mental/emotional state (i.e. really high). It's like Dark Side of The Moon with the Rock turned down to 0 and the Drugs turned up to 10. Anyway, seems that while I wasn't paying attention, everyone got hip to this sound and OPN is on the verge of 'blowing up', which apparently means selling 2000 copies (holy shit!) of their latest album Returnal. Maybe we'll all be listening to this in the mall before long, I don't know. What really caught my attention, though, is the series of 'music videos' (sort of audio-video mashup pieces) that OPN has on Youtube. These aren't mind-blowing, but they're in a way some of the coolest pieces of art I've seen in a long time. He's apparently released them along with others on a DVD (does anyone have a burn of this? HIT US UP!). They could definitely point the way to a new sound/aesthetic that is completely untapped, and for that, I am excited. Let's hope someone else comes along with as much vision as this guy has (Drutones, I'm looking at YOU baby!)