New Noise From Mike Damn Nobody

12/4/2018

Hi y'all,
Hal wants an intro....here it is.

Mike Damn Nobody is the pseudonym that I use for my noisier work, including industrial, musique concrète, and noise music (I guess). This is another in my RecycleTape series. I dub them on repurposed cassettes of varying quality. But, they also include unlimited digital downloads with purchase, if you want to listen on your iPod or something.

I compulsively produce music & art regularly. I usually don't know what to do with it all and have given away or discarded a TON of it. There is probably a landfill full of it somewhere, under mountains of used diapers and coffee grounds. I just don't have much storage space. My stubborn obsessive-compulsive perfectionist streak often hinders me from completing a lot of stuff. So, unfortunately, that work is typically the first to go.

Creating noise music (or just noise) has always been a freeing outlet for me. Consisting of random chance, there isn't really a wrong way to do it. It either sounds good or it doesn't. So, it is okay to be totally chaotic. Anything that makes a sound is fair game. Audio recordings don't really do this sort of thing justice, though. There is much more energy in a live environment, where anything could happen. Property damage and bystanders' safety be damned.

Lately, I have been expanding the role of my noise releases, as a way of preserving stuff that otherwise would have gone to waste on the trash heap. Even the music gets recycled here, folks. Some of these recordings are decades old. I don't always remember their origins. I may remix or touch them up a little before releasing them. The ones on 666 are from tapes made in the 1990's and 2000's. It seems like there are a lot of found sounds going on here. One is a Christian music tape that I had recorded over long ago. The original album still bled through, though. One is the Beatles slowed wayyyy down, "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am the Walrus" (I think), then mixed together with some other noises. One sounds like a live show in Detroit somewhere that has been cut-up.

Music & art is another world that I live in, far away from everybody. The spectrum that I'm comfortable with can go from precisely constructed to anarchic destruction. Tapes like these are on the latter end.

3 Comments

Mike Nobody

Turning Junk Into Punk Since 1985

Mike Nobody
is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, visual artist, and creator of experimental
custom-made instruments. Diagnosed with major depression and social anxiety disorders, he is regarded as an outsider artist–musician by his contemporaries in the fine art and alternative music scenes. Known for his highly eclectic style and diverse projects, his sound incorporates a variety of music genres, both popular and experimental, with a predominantly Lo-Fi aesthetic. Much of his work consists of ultra-limited, handmade cassettes recorded alone in his home, with whatever means that were available at the time.

His visual work consists primarily of “stream of consciousness” drawings and mixed media paintings
made from repurposed materials, with occasional ventures into film & video.

Creating in near anonymity since the 1980’s, most exposure to his work has been primarily in the form of mail art packages, ad-hoc self-distribution, and a few local retail outlets. He gained some notoriety in the Metro Detroit area, beginning in the 1990’s, and has collaborated with numerous musicians across the sonic spectrum. Whether people were listening or not, however, Mike continued to compulsively produce music and art pieces. Exponential growth of the internet in the intervening years has given Mike new opportunities to reach an audience, unavailable to him before.

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Leslie Singer

12/4/2018 16:03:34

Mike, this is awesome! I was about to have my third cup of coffee this afternoon but who needs more caffeine when we've got your latest-- 666! I especially love all the voices that seep through RZshrrRZY along with all the screeches. They are getting me ready for my 4:00 meeting. The Moment of silence at the end works so well with it all too. Hellbound and I'm Hungry bookend it really well. Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing this!

Lumen K

12/9/2018 08:40:01

Thank you for sharing this! The interplay of sounds here, the alleged “chaos,” turns out to be surprisingly coherent and even harmonious in its own way.

Penny

4/30/2019 03:20:55

Wicked wicked fun!! I really liked a lot of what u brought up on the freeing moments in a live show vs recording. Going back to give a second read.

New Noise From Mike Damn Nobody

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