Smegma (band)
Encyclopedia
Smegma is an American experimental
noise
group formed in Pasadena, California
in 1973 and currently based in Portland, Oregon
. Originally part of the Los Angeles Free Music Society
(LAFMS) movement of the 1970s, Smegma is one of the few music collectives of that era still active today. Author Richard Meltzer
became their vocalist in the late 1990s. The group was included in the Nurse with Wound list
and more recently was featured on the cover of the August 2006 edition of The Wire
.
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
noise
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...
group formed in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
in 1973 and currently based in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. Originally part of the Los Angeles Free Music Society
Los Angeles Free Music Society
The Los Angeles Free Music Society has been, since the early 1970s, the banner heading of a loose collective of experimental musicians in Los Angeles, California who were joined by an aesthetic based around radicalism and playfulness...
(LAFMS) movement of the 1970s, Smegma is one of the few music collectives of that era still active today. Author Richard Meltzer
Richard Meltzer
Richard Meltzer was one of the earliest rock music critics. His first book, The Aesthetics of Rock, evolved out of his undergraduate studies in philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and graduate studies at Yale University...
became their vocalist in the late 1990s. The group was included in the Nurse with Wound list
Nurse with Wound list
The Nurse with Wound list is a list of 291 musicians and bands that accompanied Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella , the first album by Nurse With Wound...
and more recently was featured on the cover of the August 2006 edition of The Wire
The Wire (magazine)
The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
.
Partial discography
- Sing Popular Songs (includes guest vocalists such as Wild Man FischerWild Man FischerLarry Wayne Fischer , better known as Wild Man Fischer, was an American songwriter in the outsider genre. He was notable for being responsible for Rhino Records' first release, Go To Rhino Records...
) (1974) - Can't Look Straight/Flashcards, single (1979)
- Glamour Girl 1941 (1979)
- Soundtracks 1-5 EP, NonBoyd RiceBoyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and current staff writer for Modern Drunkard...
/Smegma (1980) - Pigs For Lepers (1982)
- Nattering Naybobs of Negativity (1987)
- Smell The Remains (1988)
- Ism (1994)
- The Goodship Poleshiner (1995)
- The Mad Excitement, The Barbaric Pulsations, The Incomparable Rhythms Of... (1996)
- Smegma Plays MerzbowPlays (album)Plays is a collaboration effort between Smegma and Merzbow, in which each artist remixed works by the other.The album was released on CD and vinyl record.-Notes: 1-26: Electro Smegmacousic Music...
(1996) - Glamour Girl 1941 (1997)
- Rumblings (compilation 1997-2003)
- Tiromancy
- Sing Popular Songs (includes guest vocalists such as Wild Man FischerWild Man FischerLarry Wayne Fischer , better known as Wild Man Fischer, was an American songwriter in the outsider genre. He was notable for being responsible for Rhino Records' first release, Go To Rhino Records...
) - The Beast (collaboration with Wolf EyesWolf EyesWolf Eyes is a post-industrial/noise band from Detroit, Michigan, United States.-History:Wolf Eyes began as a solo project of former Nautical Almanac member Nate Young, with Aaron Dilloway joining in 1998, and John Olson in 2000...
) - Thirty Years Of Service
- Live At No Fun Fest
- One/Don't Tell Roberto (Split with Sissy Spacek (John WieseJohn Wiese-Biography:Born April 18, 1977, John Wiese is an artist and composer residing in Los Angeles, California. In the late 1990s, Wiese moved from St. Louis, Missouri to the west coast in order to study graphic design at the California Institute of the Arts...
) & Kommissar HjulerKommissar HjulerKommissar Hjuler works as a sound recordist in the field of Noise and Post-industrial music, visual artist and film maker at Flensburg, a town on the German border with Denmark. He often works together with his wife Mama Baer as Kommissar Hjuler und Frau. As self-taught artist he began making...
und Frau) - The Good Fight/Blues For M./Self-Hypnosis (Split with Kommissar HjulerKommissar HjulerKommissar Hjuler works as a sound recordist in the field of Noise and Post-industrial music, visual artist and film maker at Flensburg, a town on the German border with Denmark. He often works together with his wife Mama Baer as Kommissar Hjuler und Frau. As self-taught artist he began making...
und Frau)
External links
- [ Allmusic entry]
- Official Smegma MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page - Smegma DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
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