Beyond Unwanted Sound: Noise, Affect and Aesthetic Moralism($40.95Value)

Description

Noise is so often a 'stench in the ear' – an unpleasant disturbance or an unwelcome distraction. But there is much more to noise than what greets the ear as unwanted sound. Beyond Unwanted Sound is about noise and how we talk about it. Weaving together affect theory with cybernetics, media histories, acoustic ecology, geo-politics, sonic art practices and a range of noises, Marie Thompson critiques both the conservative politics of silence and transgressive poetics of noise music, each of which position noise as a negative phenomenon. Beyond Unwanted Sound instead aims to account for a broader spectrum of noise, ranging from the exceptional to the banal; the overwhelming to the inaudible; and the destructive to the generative. What connects these various and variable manifestations of noise is not negativity but affectivity. Building on the Spinozist assertion that to exist is to be affected, Beyond Unwanted Sound asserts that to exist is to be affected by noise. Beyond Unwanted Sound establishes Marie Thompson is one of the most exciting scholars of sound, noise and music. Theoretically adventurous, this book weaves together thinkers as disparate as Michel Serres, Murray Schafer and Claude Shannon, building a strong theoretical edifice for the closely-observed case studies which follow. Thompson's analysis of the creative work of Throbbing Gristle, Christian Marclay, Diamanda Galas and dozens of others make this a rich survey of the ways in which sound, noise and music disrupt situations, assert identities and invite moral judgments. Will Straw, Professor of Communications, McGill University, Canada [Thompson's] overarching narrative is contemporary and relevant with interesting examples ... A thoroughly engaging read. The Wire Marie Thompson shows 'noise' to be essential to any medium or communicative act by deftly mobilising an eclectic set of resources - from Spinoza and Shannon to Diamanda GalÁ s. Unwanted sound is incisively characterised as relationally, contextually affirmed, rather than as an objectifiable, morally appreciable phenomenon. We are thus urged to heed sound that might tomorrow be heard as new music, as a creatively organised affective force that 'once-was-noise'. Beyond Unwanted Sound is definitely a wanted, and thoroughly needed, contribution to the fast growing field of sound studies. Sally Jane Norman, Professor of Performance Technologies, Sussex Humanities Lab, University of Sussex, UK Marie Thompson is a PhD candidate at Newcastle University, based jointly in ICMUS and Culture Lab. Her research interests lie primarily with avant-garde and experimental musics from both sides of the (purported) high/low divide, improvisatory practices and cultural theory, in particular, gender and feminist theory. She regularly performs solo as Tragic Cabaret, in the duo Ghostly Porters, and as part of Newcastle's audiovisual collective, Kira Kira.