Knurl (band)
Encyclopedia
Knurl is the noise music
project of Alan Bloor, Canadian experimental composer and sculptor. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Bloor has been performing and recording Knurl material since 1994, when his seminal harsh noise releases "Nervescrap" and "Initial Shock" were recorded and released. He has released over twenty albums internationally, and has collaborated with sound sculptors such as Jim O'Rourke
, Thurston Moore
, and Aube
.
band called "Binge of Violence." After the band's breakup, he pursued a career as a solo musician, studying jazz bass, as well as classical and flamenco guitar. In the late 1980’s he began performing noise backgrounds at poetry readings in Detroit, Michigan, in which he experimented with his bass guitar by placing metal objects on the strings to produce the sounds (a technique often called prepared guitar
).
Since that time, Bloor has delved heavily into experimentation with found objects as sound sources, which have included fan blades, typewriters, scrap metal and car springs. He has also supplied musical scores for performers Andrew Hammerson (ex DV-8) from the UK and Jake Brown, Montreal. Since the beginning of 1995 he has been performing solo as Knurl in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Detroit, and has explored a less harsh side of noise music in his acclaimed ambient music
project called Pholde.
, RRRecords
, Solipsism, Harshnoise, Troniks, Gameboy, and
Obscurica.
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
project of Alan Bloor, Canadian experimental composer and sculptor. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Bloor has been performing and recording Knurl material since 1994, when his seminal harsh noise releases "Nervescrap" and "Initial Shock" were recorded and released. He has released over twenty albums internationally, and has collaborated with sound sculptors such as Jim O'Rourke
Jim O'Rourke (musician)
Jim O'Rourke is an Irish-American musician and record producer. He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene...
, Thurston Moore
Thurston Moore
Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...
, and Aube
Aube (band)
Aube is the name used by Japanese musician for his experimental noise records. He has released many CDs, LPs and cassettes since 1991, and is regarded as one of the most important noise musicians working today. He himself does not like to term his work "music," preferring the term "design": "I...
.
Biography
Bloor, originally from Windsor, Ontario, was involved in several bands in the early 80s, including a Hardcore punkHardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
band called "Binge of Violence." After the band's breakup, he pursued a career as a solo musician, studying jazz bass, as well as classical and flamenco guitar. In the late 1980’s he began performing noise backgrounds at poetry readings in Detroit, Michigan, in which he experimented with his bass guitar by placing metal objects on the strings to produce the sounds (a technique often called prepared guitar
Prepared guitar
A prepared guitar is a guitar that has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques...
).
Since that time, Bloor has delved heavily into experimentation with found objects as sound sources, which have included fan blades, typewriters, scrap metal and car springs. He has also supplied musical scores for performers Andrew Hammerson (ex DV-8) from the UK and Jake Brown, Montreal. Since the beginning of 1995 he has been performing solo as Knurl in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Detroit, and has explored a less harsh side of noise music in his acclaimed ambient music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
project called Pholde.
Music
Knurl's objective is to take music and strip it entirely of what we know music to be: it’s rhythm, melody, vocals, even production quality which is most associated with music today. Bloor records and performs without the assistance of computers, synthesizers or samplers. Labels that have released Knurl material include Alien8 RecordingsAlien8 Recordings
Alien8 Recordings is an independent record label founded in 1996 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The music label was founded by Sean O'Hara and Gary Worsley...
, RRRecords
RRRecords
RRRecords is a used and new record shop. RRRecords is distinguished as being the first American record label to specifically publish underground noise music in the early 1980s, and published the first American vinyl by Merzbow, Masonna, The Hanatarash, Violent Onsen Geisha, and many more artists...
, Solipsism, Harshnoise, Troniks, Gameboy, and
Obscurica.
Partial discography
- Nervescrap (1994)
- Initial Shock (1995)
- Floritura Deuteranopia (1998)
- Periodic Nephromucilaginocity (1999)
- Torus (1999)
- Kurtosis (2002)
- Magnetomotive (2003)
- Acidamide (2005)
- Scyamine (2006)
- Vermifuge (2007)
- Necrophilia (2008)
External links
- Knurl on label site Alien8 Recordings
- Knurl on label site Obscurica
- Knurl and Pholde featured in Toronto's "Ambient Ping", with MP3 samples from both Bloor projects.