wolf eyes is very capable of making breathtaking tunes, but they just release too much. but albums like thier s/t, dead hills ep, and black vomit are some really brutal and interesting records. i still like them a lot because they were one of the first noise bands i listened to some 6 years ago or whatever, and obviously i had never heard anything like that. also, they are not always a pure noise band. some of thier stuff has elements of early industrial, early fucked up hardcore, noise, and even hypnotic dub ype rthyms. if they cut down of the amount of records they put out and focused more on being a psychedelic industrial band i dont there would be a whole lot of doubt in peoples minds theyre one of the best bands around.
as for noise, as much as i love it, i think its been getting far too serious and academic lately. there are less and less bands who just wana rock the fuck out. thats why i love people like tom smith, rat bastard, nandor nevai, weasel walter, yknow, the whole to live and shave in la crew. theyre making extreme avant music fun again. bands like to live and shave in la, to live and shave in la 2, ohne, laundry room squelchers, burmese, and the miss high heel record, are making music thats really extreme and really interesting, but also fun and not so serious. maybe im not making much sense, but im a firm believer in the 'free glam' aesthetic as outlined by to live and shave in la 2. it goes like this, "
Free glam was the guiding idea behind
To Live and Shave in L.A. 2, created to free
noise music from what was viewed as the tedious, studious formula of bands like
Merzbow and
Nihilist Spasm Band. It was created by
Weasel Walter,
Misty Martinez (the alter-ego of
Liz Armstrong) and
Rat Bastard, leading them to leave
To Live and Shave in L.A. 1 and TLASILA founding member Tom Smith. The group incorporated everything
noise music supposedly wasn't --glamour, fashion, obnoxious rock star attitudes, gossipy
Fleetwood Mac-infighting, etc. Through doing, they showed that glamour itself and persona itself could be fragmented, freeform, abrasive, artistic and conceptual -- making the
performer him or herself the equivalent of
noise music as much as the sounds produced."
this from the to live and shave in la 2 website:
To Live and Shave in L.A. 2 is a terrifying vortex of solipsistic catharsis wherein the members violently express the innermost chaos in their black souls by extrapolation of set groupings of specific abstract parameters. Although the performances deceptively resemble the most heinous free improvisations imaginable, they are guided by a rigid and innate meta-logic. Discipline and sacrifice are the cornerstones of this martyr-like display. Each member is called upon to psychically transform themselves into a superhuman being, perpetrating physical acts of ungodly strength and musicality.
The fifth member of the group is an interdimensional demon known as THE INTERNAL ORGAN. This creature utilizes psionic abilities to conjure upper-partial aes-encoding fields, mesmerizing the audience and ultimately destroying their inner essences. This intellectual murder is orgasmic for the victim.