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Originally Posted by sarramkrop
I wouldn't have a problem getting lumped in with other 'noise' musicians, it's just that I don't circuit-bend almost anything, I know how to make a synth sound noisy while playing it, and turning knobs or pressing pedals alone leaves me unsatisfied and like I'm some sort of cheat, not because there aren't people who are extremely good at that, it's just that I'm not good at it myself.
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That's the thing with this newer more modern definition of "noise" that I find confusing. People dwell on the equipment more than the sounds a lot of the time (brings us back to Savage Clone's comment, I know).
To me, Borbotomagus are just as much noise with two saxes and a guitar as anyone who's wired up their weedeater and toaster oven together as some new type of instrument. Same with Merzbow when he just uses his laptop (though I agree with anyone who says that's boring to watch).
It does seem like the current generation of noise kids have the biggest pedal fetishes know to human history and maybe that really does end up influencing the definition of the genre. Kind of the same way that Suicide were considered a punk rock band until the definition of punk was more clearly established as a traditional rock instrument band with a snotty attitude, and then Suicide were "proto-punk" or some other term outside the genre (similar story with the Screamers and hardcore).
But living in Portland makes my perspective weirder, because while the global definition might be getting narrower, around here it's broadening massively. Basically, noise is so popular that many experimental musicians want to be called that so they don't seem like dweebs who play in their bedroom to nobody that listens. There are even hot chicks at noise gigs, some of them performing, it's really pretty odd.