HNW Unplugged, Disabled Records

A new noise label called Disabled Records has begun a series entitled 'HNW Unpluged' which aims to publish HNW music made under the following stipulations:

no electricity, no fx, no editing, no layers.

It's an interesting idea and certainly one thats been kicking around the HNW scene for a while, in one form or another. And so it's good to see people finally having a proper stab at it. You can stream the releases at the label's bandcamp page.

Here's the thing though; none of this really sounds like HNW, at all. No crunch, no crackle. No well-defined, abstract lines and angles of sound. It really just sounds like acoustic harsh noise or industrial and, in that sense, it's not really all that original sounding. Still, it's good enough for a listen. And I reckon there's always a chance someone might actually manage an acoustic piece of HNW at some stage, so I'll be keeping an eye on it.

HNW Questionary; A View From Nihil interview

Over at the Noise Admiration blog, Sascha has devised what he calls a HNW Questionary. It's essentially a set of thirty-two incomplete phrases on the subject of HNW which he will be asking various HNW composers to complete. It makes an interesting change from the traditional interview format, and it is surely better suited to email correspondence, which has become the norm for underground interviews, than the old interview format. Sascha asked me to be the first to attempt the questionary, which I did gladly. You can read the AVFN edition of the HNW Questionary here. It features probably the most self indulgent response imaginable; cause I'm like that. Thanks to Sascha for asking, and I'm looking forward to reading the following editions, for I think the layout of the HNW Questionary will allow for some interesting comparisons and contrasts between different artists.

Emptyset

Powerful, minimal, textural, suprematist. Four words which may be used to describe both Harsh Noise Wall and the music of Emptyset equally well. Emptyset, we salute you.