I remember being in a noise music fb group and these fuckers were totally chill with letting literal actual no shit there he was mikko aspa be a regular poster. Fuckin ran myself back into the woods I tell ya.

noise is terrifying

Yeah I’m glad I stumbled into it in my backwards way and was never part of a bigger scene. At least the stereotype has shifted from edgy white boys into trans girls. I’ve made the joke about it being a glow up for those girls, but I think a generational divide is a bigger part of it.

So it’s been exceptionally affirming for people to be like “yeah normally I can’t stand noise music, but your framing and approach has given me a much more positive and interesting context for it” Even better when the little kids start dancing to it.

i apologize i feel like my comment was awful, i should clarify that the early 2010s online noise scene was terrifying!!!

oh you're not wrong, and I think that corner still exists and is well-represented. Prurient guy was working with mikko aspa as late as like, 2021 I wanna say. Which I guess is 4 years ago at this point but also c'mon dude. I think a similar situation is true for a lot of the "bigger" noise labels.

Noise is also such a collection of different artistic lineages/approaches that I find it can be difficult to talk about it like other music genres. I've got a compilation called "OHM the early gurus of electronic music" that has people in the 50s doing tape loops and electroacoustic experiments.

and like, incredibly edgy pioneers of power electronics whitehouse cited yoko ohno as one of their biggest influences, but they're still approaching it from a performance art POV as opposed to engineers just fuckin' around with their equipment to see what shakes out.

YES

The comment section on my own website, which is acknowledged as one of the best on the internet, can drive me crazy. I can't even imagine what those groups are like on fb. Nightmare stuff.

i actually get nervous looking at your comment section (complimentary) i don’t know how you deal!!!!

I mean, we ban assholes. Like, we're not shy and shrug it off when people call us names or whatever. I'm the only asshole allowed in the comment section. Also, anyone who's implying their fascist/racist politics gets banned.

The other trick is that we write a lot of words and we don't write about the Slipknots and Five Finger Death Punches of the world. So, I think our appeal is towards people who'll argue, but who won't be so belligerent. It's self-selection.

this is so valid

I was thinking about this a bit more: one of the things that I like about our comment section is the fact that there's just a lot of enthusiasm for music in it. So if it's up off topic, it's often someone recommending something they love that's adjacent to the review. Sometimes this can be /1

Disrespectful, but I love when the Records of the month go up and it's 100 people giving their lists for the month. I get so much great music from them. I discovered Wilderun through a comment. I discovered my ex-father-in-law's band through a comment. Like these people are so nerdy. And that is /2

Sometimes elitist and gatekeepy, but our diversity as a staff keeps the comment section honest, too. And I just feel proud of them also. Because they also click. Like, the record of the month got like 250 people sent to Bandcamp within a couple hours of it being published. Just positive vibes. /3

Calva Louise said their Bandcamp had exploded after my review. They saw an 800% increase. I've heard the same from a lot of bands and PR folks. It makes the effort worth it to know that we're cutting through the noise and desiring silence. /Fin

I am endlessly grateful for the AMG review that Dolphin Whisperer did for our album in January. It was easily the best sales day of the entire year for us, as well as the biggest streaming day for us on every streaming platform. Thank you for everything you do and facilitate 🙏

also i want to say i always get really excited when you review a band im working with bc i know that review will be well written, fair and have valid points worth discussing regardless of the rating

ok this is so sweet and ideal and important for a community to evolve - conversations NEED to be critical and differing opinions SHOULD be shared respectfully because how else can we learn, empathize with others experience and just be better overall?