There are thousands of music genres around the world, with the most popular genres in the UK being pop, R&B, dance, rock, hip-hop, rap, reggae and indie, according to a British survey in 2018 with over 2,000 respondents.
But despite those few genres making up over 80% of the British music industry market, many lesser known and more niche genres of music exist, ones which are largely unconventional and sound unpleasant to the vast majority of people. Among them is harsh noise wall. Harsh noise wall is an extreme sub-genre of noise music, which is often associated with avant-garde music due to its unorthodox and unique style.
Though the exact definition of “music” is disputed, it is generally accepted to be the art of arranging various different sounds (created by instruments, electrical means or any other noise in general) in time to produce a composition through the elements of melody, harmony, rhythm and timbre. In music, noise is any unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing, and that is exactly what harsh noise wall encompasses.
Harsh noise wall generally sounds like incredibly loud, distorted monolithic static, with the same static noise usually lasting for the entirety of the song and rarely changing in pace or frequency. It comes in many different forms, however, with several artists adding their own twist on the genre. Harsh noise wall has a niche market, as it deliberately challenges or alienates universal audiences. It can be created with synthesisers or other electronic kits, however one could also use an expensive microphone to record the air and drastically increase the bass, compressor and distortion by using an online program in order to achieve the familiar static effect.
The harsh noise wall movement is spearheaded by French musician Romain Perot, under the stage name Vomir, who organises the Harsh Noise Wall Festival. He describes the genre as “no ideas, no change, no development, no entertainment, no remorse”, which proves to be a rather fitting description.
Perhaps surprisingly, in spite of staying largely underground, harsh noise wall has gained a semi-prominent cult following, with several other noted harsh noise wall artists on the scene, some of which have appeared as guests at Vomir’s music festival on the genre. According to a live report at the festival from Russel Williams, writing for The Quietus, guest artists present included Werewolf Jerusalem, TheNightProduct, Black Leather Jesus and Tissa Mawartyassari. Some create harsh noise wall in order to protest against the alleged musical status quo, as well as for other causes such as the environment or more political reasons.
A quick search online (on music streaming platforms and resources such as Spotify, AllMusic, SoundCloud, YouTube Music and Apple Music) brings results for countless other smaller, often younger independent artists also producing harsh noise wall music. Public music sharing websites such as SoundCloud have made it near effortless to share and distribute music independently.
We approached some artists and asked them why they chose to produce harsh noise wall. Only one granted us an interview:
Malum the Plague Bringer, a British-based artist who registered on the site in mid-2019, originally produced experimental music and white noise – a genre similar to harsh noise wall that consists of much more lighter, calmer static.
“I create harsh noise wall because I genuinely like how it sounds.” He explained.
“I first got into the genre after listening to white noise to help me sleep or just relax, and I [then] became inspired to attempt to create my own white noise music. After further researching, I eventually stumbled upon harsh noise wall, and it greatly captivated me, [so] I decided to produce that instead, and made my first harsh noise wall song in March of 2021.”
Thus far, Malum has created seven harsh noise wall songs, of which two have been released online. He says he is working on an album that will consist of at least ten songs, which he aims to release sometime this year.
It certainly is surprising that harsh noise wall has achieved such a cult following, especially with how odd it is to most of us. Nevertheless, one must not judge or mock a person based on something as irrelevant as their music taste.
Above image by James Schidlowsky, 2004, via Wikipedia Commons;
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