Noise.

I have always had an affinity for noisy, raw, rocknroll bands. The punk DIY aesthetic and the rocknroll lifestyle go hand in glove with some romantic, anarchic spirit that lets you know that yes indeed you are alive. Noise and fuzz and feedback and long hair and more drugs than Pablo Escobar’s bathroom cabinet.


The songs below are in no particular order and are meant to be a snapshot, a quick look into the last 4 or so decades of noise/raw rock. So, without further ado, I present to you my RAW/NOISE ROCK PLAYLIST.


1. The Stooges – No Fun, The Stooges, 1969
The dumb simplicity of this fuzzed out surf tune is compounded by catchy hand claps and Iggy’s debased howl. Iggy and The Stooges are one of the most loved (and ridiculed) bands ever. Their influence stretches far into subsequent decades, and Iggy’s self-harming stage antics and rampant drug abuse are quintessential.


2. Dinosaur Jr. – Freak Scene, Bug, 1988
Having changed their name from Dinosaur in 1987, they released Bug fresh from signing with Blast First and riding a wave of popularity generated by this song. Characteristically Dinosaur, the extremely high gain, melodic vocals and Mascis’ unique, wandering guitar solos still don’t sound dated. Rivalling Alive, by Pearl Jam for the kind of air guitar epicness possible, Freak Scene is jagged and fast paced, a melodic and catchy 3 and a half minute punk gem. 


3. Sonic Youth – Teenage Riot, Daydream Nation, 1988
While Dinosaur Jr. were ripping up kid’s eardrums with Mascis’s heaving guitar, Sonic were quietly going about the business of creating a masterpiece. I’ve already written at length about Daydream Nation, here. Teenage Riot is the best track off this album, a jangling, shimmering chunk of youthful rebellion and a snapshot of a band at the height of their power.


4. Mercy Arms – Shine A Light, Mercy Arms, 2008
20 years later, it is good to know that the spirit of guitar experimentation is still alive. You’ll find it in spades on this album, but Shine A Light is the standout. Be it feedback, weird squelchy effects, whammy bar, string scratches or lightning fast plectrum work, its all there. It’s a shame this band ran out of steam a few months after their debut release, because they were worth seeing just to hear another track, Half Right, which garnered some serious radio airtime last year.


5. The Velvet Underground – Heroin, The Velvet Underground And Nico, 1967
This song builds and builds and builds and builds and builds and builds and builds till it rips you apart in glorious, screetching feedback, Lou Reed’s slow, spaced out voice struggling to be heard among the cacophony. A hurricane of a song.


6. Nirvana – Been A Son, Blew EP, 1989
This preceded Nirvana’s debut effort Bleach. Been A Son is Nirvana at their raucous best, loud, callous, thick and heavy. Kurt’s dark lyrics and Novoselic’s thunderous bass drive the track forward in a mindless, freight train kind of way.


7. The Birthday Party – Happy Birthday, The Birthday Party, 1980
Originally released under the name “The Boys Next Door”, The Birthday Party was re-released when the band changed to The Birthday Party. Nick Cave’s sub-vocalisations, grunts, shrieks and impersonations of a dog on this track, along with the two lead guitarists discordant and jarring riffage ripped chunks out of conventional song-writing and was the first foray into music for Nick Cave, Mick Harvey and Roland S. Thompson.


8. Pixies – Debaser, Doolittle, 1989
Black Francis, the lead singer and guitarist for Pixies had already written a breakthrough album in Surfer Rosa, their debut. Debaser continued in this tradition of catchy yet unconventional songs, the fat drums and fuzzy guitar typical of Pixies style. The vocals, referencing surrealism and Salvador Dali were a pop pastiche, the high pitched yelp of Francis offset by Kim Deal’s sweet innocent pitch. Garnered them even more critical acclaim and cemented them as one of the most influential bands of the 80’s, especially on the subsequent Seattle Grunge explosion.


9. Children Collide – Economy, The Long Now, 2008
First recorded on their Glass Mountain Liars EP, CC re-recorded Economy for their 2008 long player, showcasing their harder-edged, nouveau grunge sound. The chaotic, deliberately discordant guitars and menacing drum track render this an angry listen at the best of times.


10. Animal Collective – For Reverend Green, Strawberry Jam, 2007
Unconventional pretty much fits this 4-piece from New York, New York, their extremes of experimentation and weird instruments causing them to be labelled as freak-folk or noise-pop. They remain hard to categorize however, a testament to their versatility as a song writing force. For Reverend Green has me stumped as to what instruments are used, save the heavily affected guitar and the screamed vocals. An unrelenting ache of a song that pulses and drives relentlessly onwards.


So there it is. My noise/raw rock playlist, in all its longhaired glory. As a sort of disclaimer, let me say this. My musical experience may differ vastly from your own and, probability dictates, from everyone else’s as well. What I’ve seen and heard will shape my perception of noise rock as much as it will yours. Use this list as a guide or a refresher, listen to these songs, buy the albums.
Later,

Daydream nation.

I’m going to talk about albums that I adore and focus on some new stuff that I'm digging as it comes out. I thought it best to start on a high, so to this end, I give you Daydream Nation, by Sonic Youth.

It’s a record I put on late at night after a night out, lie on my bed and get lost in the ramblings and searchings of guitarists Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore.

If you’ve never listened to Sonic Youth before then this, their 5th effort released in 1988, is an ideal starting point. It’s sort of the crossover album from their noisy, dissonant and musically deconstructive past, to a more polished, melodic sound, fairly accessible if you are into stuff like the Pixies, or other 80-90’s guitar-driven bands, whilst still keeping an authentic punk edge.

Over 70 minutes, the album jangles, shimmers, rattles and hums in a glorious cacophony of sounds. I liken it to a pot of water on a stove, sound boiling over and splattering on the kitchen floor of your mind.

The first single from Daydream Nation, Teenage Riot is probably Sonic’s most well known song. Beginning quietly with Kim Gordon performing stream of consciousness prose over Moore and Ranaldo’s interlocking guitars, the song quickly picks up and Moore takes over vocal duties. Fat drums and clashing guitars ensue, and a fast paced epithet to the spirit of restless youth and modern boredom is the result.

Immediately following this is a substantially harder-edged track, Silver Rocket, discordant and fast-paced, interrupted by about 45 seconds of trademark Sonic Youth noise guitar experimentation. Similarly, the next track, The Sprawl is probably the best example of the pot of hot water analogy. A large part of the 7+ minutes of the song is given over to this sound experimentation.

Gordon and Moore’s lyrics fluctuate between sophistication and the knife, between some kind of urban cool and pop stupidity, a surreal trip across a vast expanse of sonic landscape: Shots ring out from the center of an empty field/ Joni's in the tall grass/ She's a beautiful mental jukebox, a sailboat explosion/ A snap of electric whipcrack.

This sort of style permeates the record, punk and noise and rock and dissonance and experimentation. Eric’s Trip, Total Trash, Providence, through Rain King and Kissability. The sprawling final track, Trilogy serves as a book-end, a moment which draws the album to a close, the intensity building to the penultimate climax and then, finally, silence.

Ultimately, the wonder of this album lies not in the wild spirit of experimentation, or the youthful naivete of a group of musicians at the height of their powers, but that it has been so under-appreciated for so long.