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FROM THE EDITOR It cannot be denied that the way we consume recorded sound has gone through a bizarre metamorphosis in the last few years. The record album as a physical artifact is quickly becoming obsolete, and single song downloads have left the idea of a complete album behind. Compact discs are finally seen for what they are, cheap fragile crap. Totally disposable. Recorded sound seems to have transcended its former physical manifestation and returned to its original formless presence, vibrating air. In a way I find this perfect and beautiful, but sometimes I feel like something is missing. ThereŐs another undeniable truth we have to admit, and that is the fundamental congruence of Light and Sound. We like to see a thing that is associated with a sound. For hundreds of years people have probed the parallels between these two sensory experiences. From the ocular clavichord to MAX/MSP/Jitter, we see examples of an attempt at a unified sonic/visual creation. Here we hope to continue this legacy, but from a slightly different angle.
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 The Journal of Popular Noise is based on the organization of Sound. It is our intention to collide two traditional methods of organizing Light and Sound in the hope that it will create a new way of seeing and hearing each other. Drawing on the formal structures of both magazine design and pop music, we have created a format that (hopefully) engages the imagination in a structural game. The format (shown right) along with instructions (above the chart) for each track were created and sent to various musicians. The instructions were left open to a certain amount of interpretation. At the root of it all, this publication is about creating a document of current trends and aesthetics. By standardizing the structure, the artistŐs creative attention is forced to express their uniqueness through the superficial. The results are the three records you find here, each composed from the same basic structure, but whose sounds are as diverse as they are gnarly. -B. Kalet |