'Music that should be played on the radio......a stunning, stunning piece of work'
Biography
Good Noise Bad Noise are a loose collective of improvising musicians, sound artists and video artists based in the North of the UK. They play a mixture of electroacoustic music and drone based free improvisation mixing processed field recordings and found sound with live instruments and live visuals.
The group was started by Shaun Blezard & John Hall as a laptop duo as a break from their respective solo projects (Shaun with Clutter & John with The Cardboard Lung after they had toured Cumbrian village halls as a duo in 2006. The village halls tour was part of FRED an arts invasion of Cumbria and involved the duo live processing sounds of the halls and their environs into electroacoustic improvisations.
The band have now grown into a multi-media collective and have played many festivals in the UK as well as just returning from their first tour of the US, where they co-headlined a tour with Atlanta based Duet For Theremin & Lap Steel
GNBN have released music on Dokuro Records (Italy), Earth Monkey Productions (UK) & Electronic Musik (UK).
Releases
EMP054 | Good Noise Bad Noise vs Duet For Theremin And Lap Steel | Live Manatees
Download: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Stream: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Download: Cover Art - Disc Art
Tracklisting: 1. Knees With Trees | 2. Under The Porcelain
Live Manatees @ The Internet Archive :: Live Manatees @ Last.fm
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EMC001 | Good Noise Bad Noise | Joist Hounds (Ltd Ed of 80 3”CDr)
Tracklisting: 1. Donated Howl Show | 2. Hooded Shawl Town | 3. Hothead Slowdown | 4. Old Thaws Hoedown | 5. Dial Lone Owl
Preview Joist Hounds @ Last.fm
‘The music is dynamic and has an easy momentum and flow that removes this from the noise for noise sake ghetto into one that is far, far more interesting and worth further investigation’ - Wonderful Wooden Reasons
UK - £4 inc shipping | International - £4.50 inc shipping
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EMP050 | Various Artists | 50:50 An Earth Monkey Productions Compilation
Download: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Stream: Hi-Fi - Lo-Fi :: Download: Cover Art - Disc Art
Tracklisting: 1. 4th Alternative - Fossil | 2. Clutter - Watersmouth | 3. Dansette Curtsey - The Forests Of Europe Cloak So Much | 4. Cousin Silas - Room 50 Hotel Ereso | 5. Pandacetamol - A Particular Wind | 6. Adrian Carter - Deka (Edit) | 7. Des Slow And The Stop Pills - 50 Mill | 8. Radio Scotvoid - I Love Special K (Crunchtime Mix) | 9. Fonik - Fallout Beach | 10. ry-om - 110706 | 11. Good Noise Bad Noise - In Search Of The 3 Minute Single | 12. Susan Matthews - Moon Tremors | 13. Andrew Deakin - Grasmere Edit | 14. The Cardboard Lung - Backtrouble | 15. Halal Kebab Hut - Algorithmic Poetry
50:50 @ The Internet Archive :: 50:50 @ Last.fm
Review of Joist Hounds @ Vital Weekly
The CDR runs for 18 minutes and is divided into 5 chapters. The style is Ambient but with a noisy edge. The expressions are abstract and dreamlike in atmospheres with found sounds moving backward and forward meanwhile samples of acoustic instruments such as screeching violins creates some high frequency noises. Final track titled "Dial lone owl" is my favorite moments with distant sounds of field recordings buried in a soup of abstract noises. The result is like a strange dream. (NM)
Review of Joist Hounds @ Wonderful Wooden Reasons
Two laptoppers, a violinist and a visualist (I think I made that last word up but I kinda like it so it's staying) who operate under the Good Noise Bad Noise name which invites lazy reviewers (cough) into the temptation of making two lists of which bits of the ep should be filed under which half of the name. Well if I was to do such a thing (I'm not going to - I'll admit I was tempted - but I'm not going to) I'm happy to say that the second column would be the much shorter. They do occasionally fall into the screeching cacophony trap but they rarely stay there for very long and they often arrive and leave from a plausible and worthwhile position. The music is dynamic and has an easy momentum and flow that removes this from the noise for noise sake ghetto into one that is far, far more interesting and worth further investigation especially if the work of the aforementioned visualist (I'm going to trademark that word) is featured more strongly.
Review of Slow Corrosion & Joist Hounds by Ed Pinsent @ The Sound Projector
'These two mini-CDs, both pretty interesting, are the first catalogue numbers from a UK micro-label Earth Monkey Productions in Cumbria; have a look at their website for further affordable goodies, which will probably disappear quite quickly as their editions are tiny. Clutter vs Susan Matthews have their Slow Corrosion EP (EMC002), which is kind of like noise electronics in places influenced by dub music techniques. Good Noise Bad Noise released Joist Hounds (EMC001), which is a nice combination of two guys with laptops and one other guy with a violin; some of these cuts were originally broadcast on The Download Show for Oldham Community Radio. 80 copies only of these wee gems, and nicely packaged too. The label supports local experimenters in a good way, and the website will also lead you to their net label, where you can freely download some music licensed under Creative Commons.'
Ed also played Donated Howl Show from Joist Hounds on The Sound Projector radio show on 25th July 08 which is broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM. The show can be streamed and downloaded by following the link to TSP radio show.
'Music that should be played on the radio......a stunning, stunning piece of work' - Jeff Grainger, The Download Show on a Good Noise Bad Noise session for the show
'Bring on the light show' - Wire magazine
‘Good Noise Bad Noise will further explore desolate wintry soundscapes with Worrying Sectarian Tramp Trend. the mood of this piece is wonderfully bleak. while it's not big on dynamics, throwing subtle changes in every so often, the imagery and sound of it is fantastic’ - Smooth Assialing on Odd Rooks Recur
'Marvelous performance in Warrington with a set that contained more than its fair share of truely wonderful moments both sonically and visually' - Fonik
'There will always be those albums, the ones you just love but when someone asks you what is it about the album in particular that you enjoy, you can't put it into words, even though you think it's on the tip of your tongue. Semiotic Clunker had this very effect on me, just one of those great albums that I would just have to make you listen to to understand where I'm coming from. Good Noise Bad Noise are sensational at surrounding the listener with all these various odds and ends, ranging from Pandora's Box chaos to an entrancing industrial sonance' - EXP/Am Review on Semiotic Clunker
'I love the eerie mood to everything, very intriguing, I feel like I am lost in the woods while listening to your sounds, you sound brilliant. It sounds like squeaking doors and the hum of a carpet cleaner, at least the "Shareware" song does, yes I really admire you for this wonderful sound, all of it. I like the wind chimes, and everything is layered together wonderfully' - The Ms.
'yeah, great ambience you got going there. put the mother-in-law on edge for a bit, but hey, i think her cat likes it. i'm really enjoying it, cheers, stuart' - Antisocial Services
'Best thing I've seen since Samuel Beckett's "Paint Drying Time" in 1977' - YouTube comment on Arias Soften Revolt
Contact
Good Noise Bad Noise @ Myspace