ABSTRACT
The exploration of the potential of noise in music history reflects composers’ relentless ambition to expand their sound palette, experiment with new organizational methods and create unprecedented sonic experiences. Noise music could not easily be accepted as music when it first appeared, even though the use of noisy sounds became increasingly common in musical practices of various genres from the second half of the twentieth century onwards. In noise music, noise does not serve to create a dynamic effect within a musical flow. The most fundamental component of music is, self-evidently, sound, which is a physical phenomenon. When excessive sonic information is vertically stacked, individual components can no longer be separately discerned but instead become a part of the resulting mass of sounds. A typical Merzbow sound, characterized by extreme densities and harshness, was not apparent in his work from the beginning.
