ARTNOISE is first the continuation of a project that began out of the ashes of DEEP FRY BONANZA, one of the best-darned webzines to grace this earth. As a music webzine, ARTNOISE aspires to match DFB’s former ethos of talking about punk and independent rock music in an honest, intelligent, and decidedly unpretentious way. ARTNOISE will showcase all the usual trademarks of indie music journalism: reviews, interviews, features, opinions, etc. ARTNOISE will also endeavor to pioneer less traditional ways to meaningfully explore both music and the broader music scene as a whole.
Like DFB, ARTNOISE will never try to pose. ARTNOISE will try to avoid industry hype and will continually seek meaningful engagement over “coolness” and fashion. For better or worse, ARTNOISE seeks authenticity above all else.
Unique to this project will be a particular recognition that the independent music scene cannot be treated as value-neutral culturally, aesthetically, or politically. Whatever the ultimate course of this project, ARTNOISE will seek to push the scene forward, highlighting its most radical and innovative tendencies as well as its most glaring shortcomings. Fundamentally music must be treated as a living, breathing art, it should not be treated in terms of stagnant, unyielding genres and—to whatever extent possible—it should not be treated simply as a commodity for the open market.
Politically, ARTNOISE will not make any claims to itself be value-neutral. ARTNOISE stands for free and democratic self-expression through art. ARTNOISE is hostile to any institution that seeks primarily to commercialize, exploit, delegitimize, regulate or otherwise destroy the independent music scene and its creative capacity. ARTNOISE will openly advocate for the demolition of corporate record labels and media conglomerates, and also reserves the right to be critical of any so-called indie record labels, bands, and media outlets that are needlessly complicit in reducing our music to mere commerce. ARTNOISE will similarly be critical of problems particularly internal to the scene itself and openly condemns all forms of sexism, racism, classism, and homophobia as anathema to free and democratic self-expression. Lastly, ARTNOISE will make no concrete distinction between the music scene and society at large and will thus regularly offer commentary that transcends the bounds of typical “rock journalism” in both subject and analysis.
Despite the stated politics of this project, ARTNOISE does not seek to “call out” people/labels/bands for perceived political missteps, to advance uncomplicated political propaganda, or to only support bands and labels that are 100% in agreement with the stances described above. At its core, ARTNOISE seeks to write in terms that are honest, fair, and—to the greatest degree possible—respectful. Self-righteousness obscures communication and thus has no place in this project. Purism is just a form of self-delusion and likewise has no place. Given that this project will almost inevitably fuck-up even by its own standards, ARTNOISE can scarcely condemn others: ARTNOISE can only offer criticism when it is deemed appropriate.
The aesthetic that will inform ARTNOISE is the aesthetic of punk rock: an aesthetic of liberation, free participation, unrelenting agitation against convention, psychological intensity, transcendence, creation, falling over, rolling around the floor, and freaking the fuck out. ARTNOISE is not bounded by the institution of Punk™ as expressed by the mainstream media, the mainstream indie media, or the hipster caste of any subcultural movement. Indeed, ARTNOISE is hostile to those structures and will struggle against them to the greatest degree possible. As such, the mission of this project will be to make punk rock punk again. Ka-Pow!
