'There is No Autonomy Show'

Much Noise terrorised the walls of Mdx on Saturday as DJ Rupture finished off the Noise conference with a mixture of distortions, dark beats and a few tranquil moments of Radiohead and Tracy Chapman. It was definately an experience to sit in what used to be a chapel (hints of a fled God here and there) and vibrating away. The conference itself was a success and thanks to Ray and Andy for organising it. I have learnt more about the various theories of Noise and the diversity of peoples and theories that are intereted in it.

The papers themselves varied from dubious, to interesting, to sinisterly cute. K-punk's is here so you can read it for yourself but simply reading it won't allow you to experience his excellent deliverance and passion behind it. Steve dyperklub spoke about sound viruses; a song stuck in your head is a cognitive itch!! Z'ev asked if there was immunisation but it doesn't seem that there is... dammit! The notion of sound viruses and sound warfare interests me greatly so that was a bonus. Z'ev himself had forgotten his notes so he sat like a wise old man and chatted about the sensory experience of hearing and informed us that we can hear with other parts of our body, most particularly our legs. With my immanent trip to see Valve Soundsystem I will be interested to see how much I do hear with my legs. The surprise was William Bennett of Whitehouse who had an almost angelic aura about him. He spoke about Romance novels and touching what seemed to be the soul/unconscious with huge amounts of charisma and presence. What was so unsettling was the distinction between the darkness and rupture of his music and the sweetness and gentleness of his persona.... I think I'm quite taken with him. For those of you who are interested Whitehouse are playing on the 7th December at Scala in London. Details are at the Whitehouse link above. If money permits I will probably be there.

The day ended in a somewhat apt though at times annoying way with a trip to a restraunt with 20 'noiseologists.' The food was excellent, the conversation was presumably witty and erudite but unfortunately not much was heard over the loud Turkish music and girls dancing on chairs. Having been dubbed 'carnality in person' but kaptain k-punk, I proceeded to eat until I felt ill and speaking was finally difficult. The feeling ill was a problem but the space for speaking was rarely there so I didn't feel too bad.

Mark Sinker (who's paper I was unfortunately unable to see) has also put a review of the conference up at Freaky Trigger so those of you interested might want to look there.

That's all about that.

gluebot / gleebok

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