SINGLES
THE HIT
THE ART OF NOISE: ‘Into Battle With The Art Of Noise’ (ZTT)
Without doubt, in a week when there were hundreds of dreadfully diverse, dull and tedious singles released, this is the only one that I would have bought. The Art Of Noise probably don’t exist as a marketable group, as most would like to imagine, but purely in the minds of ZTT mentors Trevor Horn and ex-NME scribbler Paul Morley, but who cares?
This colossal 12 inch, which seems to last an eternity, is a magnificent collection of noise, sound, speech, anything you can imagine in fact, which has been pilfered, in part, from cther records. Not ripped off, merely borrowed and reworked into the structure of something new, that should be NEW.
Horn and Morley have become junk merchants, taking their fave bits and rearranging them over powerful thumping rhythms thus creating a medium that will undoubtedly be bastardised for months, perhaps years to come. They weren’t the first by any means; several lesser known individuals who I could list but you’d never had heard of, have been doing it for years, maybe you’ve even done it yourself. But this exercise in reconstruction has been carried out with the finest of studio effects, probably the finest equipment and a feel for the pieces of this particular puzzle.
Like a Frankenstein monster the whole pounding cacophony is an endearing fantasy that pulls you in from the word go. At times there seems no logical reason for the next step but it most certainly fits. The art of mixing, scratching etc is all performed before the record even hits your turntable. It’s versatile too as side two amply shows when the mood suddenly relaxes only to be eventually broken free by the most compulsive music that’s been released commercially for many a year.
With a debut disc like this, ZTT should be eagerly watched and encouraged.