Houston noise
Since the 1970s, Houston, TX has become one of the world's leading centers for a particular brand of dark experimental music, ranging from psych-rock to industrial to distorted, stripped-down folk songs, to dance party mayhem, but all sharing a similar aesthetic sensibility rooted in dissonance and a flippant attitude towards sonic clarity and technical virtuosity. Together these groups fall under the heading of Houston Noise.
Band Listing (by decade of founding)
This list is for notable bands identified as part of the Houston Noise genre.
1960s
- Red Krayola
1970s
- Jandek
1980s
- Culturcide
- The Pain Teens
- Richard Ramirez (musician)
- Rusted Shut
1990s
- Charalambides
- Concrete Violin
- DJ Screw
- Rotten Piece
- MOZ
2000s
- Swarm of Angels
- Indian Jewelry
- A Pink Cloud
- ATCAT
- Jana Hunter
- Vaarg
- The Wiggins
- Rua Minx
- Dead Roses
- the Krinkles
- Kai/ros
- A Thousand Cranes
- together.We are Instruments
- Eyestek
- the Sugarbeats
- Wicked Poseur
- The They
- Slord
- Inoculist
- the Entertainment System
- Muzak
- Maria Chavez
- Astrogenic Hallucinauting
- The Defenestration Unit
- the Last Bastions
- EtherResearchTherapy
- Tinfoil
- 10th Grade Cutie
- Discordian Popes
- Chiasma
- Cop Warmth
- the Briokids
- Black Magic Marker
- Larry Lorrac
Sociological Considerations
One contributing factor to the formation of noise bands in the Houston area has been KTRU-FM, The 50,000-watt station founded and operated by Rice University students whose "eclectic and progressive programming" has historically included psych and noise from around the world with a special focus on the Houston scene. Still, geography comes in to play when people attempt to explain the heterogeneous mixture of psych with every MusicAL genre under the sun that makes the Houston sound.
An article AbOUT the local scene gives one reference to this Houston sound. "I don't know if it's a Houston curse or a Houston blessing, but [like a lot of local bands] they're not enough of one thing, they're a little bit different, they're a little bit off," says Sound Exchange owner-manager Kurt Brennan, who has released some of their material in the past on his Fleece label.
An April 12, 2007 article in the Houston Press praised the egalitarian spirit of Noise Music in Houston. Unlike stodgier Noise epicenters such as Tokyo and Brooklyn, it stated "Houston Noise is an equal opportunity genre. Men, women, men who want to be women, women who love men who want to be women -- everybody has a shot at being a noiser."
References
- Houston Press Article, Linus Pauling Quartet, Dec 18, 2003
- Houston Press Article, Swarm of Angels, Dec 26 2002
- Houston Press, Culturcide, July 16, 1998
- Houston Press Article Houston Noise Music Top five reasons to love it, Apri l4, 2007
- Houston Calling - the Jonx talk about ATCAT