Art of Noise recommendations/information?
CHARLES JORDAN
give me a discography? The ones I've heard are:
In Visible Silence
In No Sense - Nonsense!
Below the Waste
I would think that In No Sense... was their "masterpiece," but does anybody
have any other favorites?
And just in case this is read by an Art of Noise expert, I've got a few
questions: Are they still making records? Did they ever go on tour? What
instruments do they actually play, or is everything sampled? What kind of
musical background do they have?
Yes, I know I could get this information from the fan club, but I thought I'd
see if there were any experts out there... I would still appreciate album
recommendations...
Chuck
--
Chuck Jordan | jor...@castor.cs.uga.edu
"Meanwhile, in the dark impenetrable void, Jean-Paul Sartre was a-movin'
and a-groovin'."
-- MST 3000
Joel Guilhamet
|> And just in case this is read by an Art of Noise expert, I've got a few
|> questions: Are they still making records? Did they ever go on tour?
Yes, they toured the US in support of In Visible Silence. I saw them perform
at Wolfgang's in San Francisco. The instrumentation consisted of a Grand Piano,
a drum set with electronic pads, and a sequencer/keyboard. This is the only
time that they haw toured the West Coast that I am aware of. I have been a fan
since the release of "Who's Afraid of The Art of Noise" in the US which is
their first album proper on ZZT/Island records. The album was reissued on CD a
couple of years ago. The album and early eps can also be found on the ZZT
import CD "daft".
--
-- Joel Guilhamet "I am not where I think,
and I think where I am not." - Lacan
jo...@corp.sgi.com
Boleslaw Andrzej Rawicz
>Can anyone out there recommend the best albums by the Art of Noise and possibly
>give me a discography? The ones I've heard are:
> In Visible Silence
> In No Sense - Nonsense!
> Below the Waste
>I would think that In No Sense... was their "masterpiece," but does anybody
>have any other favorites?
>And just in case this is read by an Art of Noise expert, I've got a few
>questions: Are they still making records? Did they ever go on tour? What
>instruments do they actually play, or is everything sampled? What kind of
>musical background do they have?
>Yes, I know I could get this information from the fan club, but I thought I'd
>see if there were any experts out there... I would still appreciate album
>recommendations...
>Chuck
>--
Hello, I am no Art Of Noise expert but I have liked it since I heard
"Peter Gunn" and "Close to the edit". I personaly think "In No Sense..."
is their "masterpiece" but "Below the Waste" is good (although it is a bit
dancish, the James Bond theme is great though). "In Visible Silence" is
good and so is "Who's afraid of ..." (the 1st and one of the last songs
on it are good).
I'll send you the discography to your account.
K. Lena Bennett; Slacker Goddess
like The Ambient Collection the best. Combines my love for dance
music with my proto-new-age/meditation leanings. It's remixes of
familiar stuff from their other albums.
Lena
David James Hahn
> Can anyone out there recommend the best albums by the Art of Noise and possibly
> give me a discography? The ones I've heard are:
> In Visible Silence
> In No Sense - Nonsense!
> Below the Waste
In my opinion the only good Art of Noise album was there first (and any
remixes from it)
Who's Afraid of (The Art of Noise)
Blows the others away.
Later,
Dave
--
Eric T Sasse
>
>|> And just in case this is read by an Art of Noise expert, I've got a few
>|> questions: Are they still making records? Did they ever go on tour?
>
Unfortunately The Art of Noise is defunct :(. They did do tours, even had a
concert played on MTV. Their music was mostly synthesized, but there were
classical instruments used very effectively within, the grand piano, trumpets
violins, even human voices (very distorted and sounding like the synth itself).
Great band, great band, too bad they had a certain amount of a rep. for being
a "geeky" band. Ever see their first video, where they trash normal instruments
like a piano with chainsaws?
Recently there was a new album of their work put out, it was a collection
of re-makes other people mixed of their songs, I heard one song of this and
it sounds really bad.
Their albums are as I remember:
*Into Battle with the Art of Noise (albumette, got them started, some of
their best stuff still! Two versions of Beatbox, best song I think)
*Who's afraid of the Art of Noise (lots of stuff from the albumette, with
lots of new stuff too)
Innocence, Nonsense
In Visable...Gee I can't remember this title!
Below the Waste (bad album, it's what did them in!)
Collections of their stuff redone:
The Ambient Collection
Best of Art of Noise (couplea new songs here)
*Re-Works of the Art of Noise (Great live stuff in Tokyo here)
Paranomia 1990 (They always remade this song every year seems like)
...And VARIOUS, MANY MANY collections of casette singles with 2 or 3
redone songs on them, most of which never made it to CD, like the infamous
"Why me?"
*denotes my favorites
Anyway, there were so often sampled it's not funny, I still hear news songs
using their unique sounds, even the Tra-la la from Close to the Edit!
-Eric
Lazlo Nibble
>Can anyone out there recommend the best albums by the Art of Noise and possibly
>give me a discography?
Their best album is still, IMO, the first: WHO'S AFRAID OF THE ART OF NOISE?
Here's a quick summary discography; I've got the full-length version available
on request in either email from me or from the discography FTP server.
Albums:
INTO BATTLE WITH THE ART OF NOISE [Mini-LP]
(WHO'S AFRAID OF?) THE ART OF NOISE! [contains "Close (To The Edit)"]
IN VISIBLE SILENCE ["Paranoimia", "Peter Gunn", "Legs"]
DAFT [compilation of first two LPs+"Moments In Love" single]
RE-works of art OF NOISE [non-LP singles, remixes, live]
IN NO SENSE? NONSENSE! [langan leaves, more ambient]
THE BEST OF THE ART OF NOISE [singles, remixes on CD, "Kiss"]
BELOW THE WASTE [their worst album, IMO -- no spark or fire]
THE AMBIENT COLLECTION ["gentler" old tracks segued]
THE FON MIXES [hard techno remixes -- entertaining but unimportant]
> And just in case this is read by an Art of Noise expert, I've got a few
> questions: Are they still making records?
The two remaining members (Anne and JJ) split after BELOW THE WASTE; THE
AMBIENT COLLECTION and THE FON MIXES were mixed and released without any input
from the band, but THE FON MIXES apparently "revitalized" them and they
have reformed, complete with member Gary Langan (who left after IN VISIBLE
SILENCE). No word on what's next.
During the break, Anne Dudley's only full-length album release was her
collaboration with Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman, SONGS FROM THE VICTORIOUS
CITY.
> Did they ever go on tour?
Yes they did; they toured in support of IN VISIBLE SILENCE. There's a
concert video available overseas and in Canada (VISIBLE SILENCE) and a
few live tracks turn up on the RE(WORKS OF ART) OF NOISE album and as
B-sides.
> What instruments do they actually play, or is everything sampled? What
> kind of musical background do they have?
Anne and JJ are both accomplished keyboardists; Anne also does a lot
of string arranging for other artists.
> Yes, I know I could get this information from the fan club, but I
> thought I'd see if there were any experts out there...
You'd be waiting for a year or so for news from the fanclub. There's an
AoN mailing list that'll do you much better: aon-r...@polyslo.calpoly.edu.
By the way -- Re: "Nous sommes" in your headers: it's "No sun". "Opus 4"
is cribbed from the poem "November" by Thomas Hood:
"No sun - no moon! / No morn - no noon - / No dawn - no dusk - no proper
time of day - / ... / No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, /
No fruits, no flow'rs, no leaves, no birds, / November!"
-Thomas Hood, 1842.
--
Lazlo (la...@triton.unm.edu)
Al Crawford
>
> Anne and JJ are both accomplished keyboardists; Anne also does a lot
> of string arranging for other artists.
And a great deal of music for TV - I'm sure she's done enough theme music
to put together at least one full length album, but rights would be a
problem.
--
Al Crawford - aw...@dcs.ed.ac.uk
"Breakdown. Splinter. A thousand fragments disperse and die."
AK Doney
remember was something called 'the FON Mixes'. This is a collection of
AON's tunes remixed by the likes of Graham Massey(808 State) and Liam
Howlett(The Prodigy) and loads of others.
It is a top CD!!
Durns.
Cliff Heller
>In article <1992Apr30.0...@odin.corp.sgi.com>, jo...@corp.sgi.com writes...
> Their albums are as I remember:
> *Into Battle with the Art of Noise (albumette, got them started, some of
>their best stuff still! Two versions of Beatbox, best song I think)
> *Who's afraid of the Art of Noise (lots of stuff from the albumette, with
>lots of new stuff too)
> Innocence, Nonsense
In no sense? Nonsense!
> In Visable...Gee I can't remember this title!
In visible silence
> Below the Waste (bad album, it's what did them in!)
NOT.
If they were "done in" it was before this album. And if the album
was unsuccessful, then it was a failed comeback.
Personally, I like the album a lot. The stuff with Mahlathini and
the Mahotella Queens is as good as anything they have ever done. There is
a lot of ambient stuff on the album that breaks no new ground. Not an
altogether bad album.
> Anyway, there were so often sampled it's not funny, I still hear news songs
>using their unique sounds, even the Tra-la la from Close to the Edit!
The Tra-la-la is originally from the song "In the Army Now" which is from
"Into Battle" It got itself sampled into many of the other songs they did
during the ZTT period.
--
/ \ Reverend fnord | "King Kong died for your sins!"
/ \ fn...@panix.com |
/ <0> \ | "Don't just eat a hamburger,
/_______\ Church of Obfuscatology, Inc. | eat the HELL out of it!"
Brian K!z!K MacDonald
CD-ography and quick ratings:
daft (1984) : I'm glad I have it. GREAT notes in a thick booklet.
contains the Into Battle EP and Moments 12" along with
Who's Afraid? in its entirety plus more. "Snapshot" is
extended to 2 1/2 minutes instead of one. The best
thing is the article inside trashing AoN after leaving
ZTT.
In Visible Silence (1985) : _THIS_ IS THEIR MASTERPIECE. Elements of
of almost EVERYTHING here. Contemporary noise.
Reworks of AoN (1986) : WHY ISN'T THIS ON CD? This is a mini-LP
with 12" remixes on one side and
LIVE tracks on the other side. Has "Legs"
"Paranoimia (MINUS Max. H)" and a 10 minute
excursion of "Backbeat" performed.
In No Sense? Nonsense! (1987) : A bit of a disappointment.
it for the first time. I like "Fin de Temps"
and "Day at the Races" but the rest seems
to go a bit far to contemporary for my ears.
The best of Art of Noise : Pretty much a cash in. Though I think
"Legacy" was a GREAT reworking of Legs
(far noisier compared to the original).
Below the Waste : A definite contemporary fallout. They get into
African rhythms. The melodies are nice, but still
wanky for the most part.
The Ambient collection : Should be renamed "The Best of the Soft of
AoN With Ocean Sounds In Between". OK
concept. I like "Art of Love".
K!z!K
Lazlo Nibble
> Reworks of AoN (1986) : WHY ISN'T THIS ON CD?
It is on CD. US: China/Chrysalis VK 41567, JP: China/Chrysalis CP32-5320.
The Japanese disc adds "Opus III (live)". It's been out of print in the
US for a while, though.
> Below the Waste : A definite contemporary fallout. They get into
> African rhythms. The melodies are nice, but still
> wanky for the most part.
Listening to BELOW THE WASTE was like listening to the Beatles albums
released after Lennon & McCartney had stopped collaborating. "This is an
Anne song, this is a JJ song..."
--
Lazlo (la...@triton.unm.edu)
Adam J. Weitzman
Many times I cannot decide whether _(Who's_Afraid_Of?)_ or _In_Visible_
_Silence_ is their masterpiece, but I usually side with the former. I
have a soft spot in my heart for it, as I waited *so* long for it after
hearing "Beat Box" on the radio and getting "Into Battle." I just *had*
to have more, and _Who's_ was it. That album was THE first non-pop album
I bought. Ah, to be 13, in Massachusetts, in the summertime, close, to
the cassette deck...
I still think it's among the five most brilliant albums I know. The most I
ever paid for a single CD was when I bought _Daft_, and to this day I
still think it was the best value, in terms of quality per dollar, on
any CD I've bought (save _Achtung_Baby_, which I got for free :-).
There's not a single uninteresting millisecond on that disc.
And you *can* get _Re-Works_ on CD. It was out for a while, and now it's
out-of-print on CD, but I see it all the time in the used CD stores
around here. It's fun. But my heart knew, after _In_No_Sense?_ finished
its first turn in the CD player, that my AoN was dead. They've had flashes
of brilliance from those times ("One Earth," "EFL," "Yebo!", "Catwalk"),
but it sounded forced and uninspiring. It's not *bad*, but it's not
greatness. A real disappointment...
And unlike most of the pop music I listened to back then, _Who's?_ is still
available on CD, to last an eternity (or at least another 10 years). I
hope this reunion can recapture its former brilliance...
No group meant as much to me as AoN. They were *mine* from the beginning.
No one I knew had heard of them (except Mr. Jon Drukman), and nothing
gave me more pleasure than that tape. I still have it, even though
I never need to play it.
Sorry, this is too wimpy and sentimental for this group. Forgive me,
but I'm gonna have "Realization" running through my head for the next
week or so...
Enjoy AoN. They were the greatest music to come out of the 80s (with
Big Audio Dynamite running a close second).
--
- Adam J Weitzman
weit...@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu