Listen: The Art of Noise – Instruments of Darkness
ZTT Records recently released a boxed set of early Art of Noise rare tracks titled And What Have You Done with My Body, God?
I was only recently acquainted with the charms of the band’s first full-length album, (Who’s Afraid Of …?) The Art of Noise!, but I’ve been familiar with its work since I was in the eighth grade. That was 1986, and "Legs" was a radio hit in America.
I bought In Visible Silence and proceeded the play that record to death, much to the annoyance of my siblings.
In Visible Silence is a flawed album, and it’s nowhere near as radio-friendly as (Who’s Afraid Of …?) The Art of Noise! (I just like typing out all the punctuation in that title.)
But for all of its inaccessibility, there’s an avant-garde quality to the album, an underpinning of high-minded composition underneath the samples.
"Instruments of Darkness" has been remixed by electronica artists numerous times, but the original album version is quite stunning. The first half of the song repeats the same chord for about three minutes before a more pop-oriented song emerges in the second half.
It’s quite maddening, as my brother and sisters might tell you.
But you don’t have to take my word for it.
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