NOISE SOLO PROJECT
There is no noise
image label (from “Noise Solo” Vinyl Lp) by Márcio Matos
The roar of a city, Lisbon, with no excuses. More than that: a roar happening to overcome the city, opening up the high, the middle and the low frequencies to the maximum. When the urban noises shut you up, you have three alternatives: 1) to lost your individuality, choosing to play pop music as everybody else, 2) to find a space of diminutive sounds, like Radu Malfatti, Taku Sugimoto and other reductionist musicians do, and 3) to pick an electric guitar, a synthesizer or a computer laptop and make a riot, choosing to follow Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music” example.
In his “Noise Solo”, jazz/improvised music guitarist Luís Lopes takes the third option, trying to shut his city, Lisbon, up. If he was once a punk noisemaker, now he goes beyond punk to deal exclusively with noise. Because he now knows that all musical languages must be forgot to really find the essential, non-functional, non-domesticated sound world. And to make the ultimate discovery: that, like silence, there is no noise. Only astonishing, overwhelming sounds, running wild and demanding to be abused. Rui Eduardo Paes
Press:
About “Noise Solo” Vinyl record (lpz records 2014):
“Where other modern noise artists rely on computers and circuitry, Lopes applies his craft like Hendrix. He coaxes sound from a strangled guitar neck, plies feedback from furniture and his own body, making his performance as much about movement and gesticulation, as it is about sound” Mark Corroto / ALL ABOUT JAZZ New York
“on this albums he completely lets loose his inner voices and demons, a therapeutic eruption of suppressed emotions, a fuck-you of radical sound, a release of pure and unadultered noise, a liberating experience if you manage to participate in it, as the listener” Stef Gitssels / freeJazz Blog
“The art of noise and the art of solo guitar don’t always converge. With Luis Lopes’ LP Noise Solo at ZDB Portugal (001LPZ) it certainly does. . . in ways that make noise an art […] It’s lovely, beautiful, extreme guitar, in a very electrically charged way. Kudos! If you like the margins of total skronk this is a great example. If you don’t then get out a Segovia record instead–or play them both at once!!” Grego Applegate Edwards / Gapplegate guitar and bass blog
“Het resultaat is, meer nog dan bij Comte, een puur klankverhaal dat kiest voor de abstractie (eigenlijk een contradictio in terminis, want Lopes gaat net zo goed naar de essentie) op een even halsstarrige als geïnspireerde manier” Guy Peters / enola zoekt u magazine
“Lopes sculpts the sounds he produces like a visual artist, bending and shaping it to fit his needs. At times he resembles a conjurer, barely in control of the powerful beast he is summoning. Whether this involves strong attacks of punishing noise or wailing feedback, this is an impressive album where the music comes out of the speakers in powerful shimmering waves. It is not just a blast of unbridled power, Lopes uses a great deal of dynamics that keep the music continually interesting. This cacophonous improvisation is not for the faint of heart, but open-eared music fans should track it down” Tim Niland / Jazz and Blues Blogspot
“Noise Solo” is an experiment in the directions and deconstructions of sound, genre and perception. The vinyl only release is intriguing at its heart. And reflective upon conclusion. While based on the idea of noise, the album keeps a serene calm throughout the evening. The opening movement is like a broken smoke detector being thrown down a well. There’s static. There’s chord changes. There’s passages that are portraits in rock extreme and finally there’s the element of adventure. In a similar notation that you have no idea what will come next, Luis Lopes delivers the unconventional solo album filled with found sounds and passage in progress. But in the end–Noise Solo is something for the listener to determine on their own. It’s an idea but also a free expression which will have a different effect on each listener. Not for the faint and heart. But rewarding for those who take the ride” Stephan Moore / JazzWrap blog
“Hendrix redescendu sur terre trouverait sans doute quelque vif intérêt à ce vinyle de guitare saturante. Il constaterait avec amusement que les vieux vinyles noirs résistent corps et sillons au ridicule CD. Et même qu’il embaucherait sur le champ Luis Lopes, ce guitariste riche en sustain et en distorsion. L’exercice a été profitable, penserait-il alors : « Django et moi avons ouvert la voie. On m’a aussi parlé d’un certain Derek B. Il va falloir que je me mette à la page. Cet étonnant Lopes me renseignera sans nul doute ». Voilà ce que penserait Hendrix aujourd’hui. Il se délecterait de ces sons sales, contrariés, contrariants. Il écouterait ce sustain se fracasser contre des grillages rouillés. Il comprendrait ce schéma évolutif partant d’un drone (un mot nouveau pour lui) pour s’en aller enchâsser des chaos extrêmes. Il mettrait quelques minutes à interpréter les silences et les impacts soniques (encore un vocable à découvrir) du début de la face B. Puis, ravi des frappes fatales qui ne cesseront de s’affronter par la suite, il téléphonerait à son manager pour lui proposer un duo avec cet allumé lusitanien. Mais se demanderait aussi le pourquoi de toute cette hargne-violence, de toute cette colère. D’autres Vietnam sans doute…” Luc Bouquet / Le son du grisli
“Lopes diz que cada um destes concertos é “uma viagem”. O resultado é um feedback contínuo, continuamente trabalhado, direccionado, conduzido. Sempre no vermelho, é uma experiência limite, despida na sua essência eléctrica, sem a maquinaria típica do noise japonês. É uma verdadeira aventura, mas apenas aconselhável para quem não tenha medo de mergulhar no vazio. Esta música é uma imersão para fora da realidade, para lá do previsível” Nuno Catarino / Bodyspace
“It’s a century-long tradition of sonic experimentation that Lopes invokes, distinguishing himself from the majority of feedback guitarists by the constructivist patience of his work, his fondness for the infinitesimal microtonal shift in a wailing sustained tone, for the development of rhythmic patterns as one sound is played against another, and for the sense of sustained design. It’s fundamentally meditative noise that Lopes practices, exploring perhaps feed-forward as well as feedback in the ecstatic creation of a timeless trance” Stuart Broomer / Point of Departure
“The two performances on this LP, each recorded at the ZDB Gallery in Lisbon, have a bit of Andy Gill’s trebly savagery about them, and that’s always a good thing. On side one, however, one wishes for a bit more of Gill’s pith; the noise is bracing, but on account of the bloody-minded persistence with which it pursues a rather narrow band of noise, it could afford to be a little briefer. On the other side he throws in a bit of Ron Asheton wah-wah grit, and also a bit more restlessness; that’s the one that keeps me coming back. This self-released document of Lopes’ dark side comes on 180 gram black vinyl, encased in a full-color sleeve adorned by a painting that looks more like my notions of rural Norway than anything in Portugal” Bill Mayer / STIL SINGLE
