Okay Spy Vibers, let's get this week moving. The Art of Noise was an experimental pop project that fused early avant-garde ideas with 1983-era sampling technology. Gary Langan, J.J. Jeczalik, Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, and Paul Morley were the original sound alchemists, who crafted a proto-Gorillaz anonymous band packaged in graphics. Spy Vibers may recall their innovative adaptation of Peter Gunn. I will never forget picking up their first album. Not only was it my introduction to "found sound" in pop music (The Beatles' use of found sounds had been too subtle for me to notice as a kid), but also my introduction to the kind of primal electronic beat that would be a genesis for techno music. One of their early songs used the sound of a car engine starting as the foundation beat, an idea that blew me away at the time. The group has produced projects with various members over the years, including an interesting sound-bio of composer Claude Debussy in 1999 and a reunion on November 30th, 2013 with Dudley and Morely and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Official website here. Below is the Art of Noise versions of James Bond (1989) and Peter Gunn (1986). And just for fun, I will include their Max Headroom video, Paranoimia (1986). Enjoy!
