Nocturnal Emissions

Many titles

Soleilmoon Recordings

Web: http://www.soleilmoon.com/

Nocturnal Emissions, masterminded by Nigel Ayers, have been on the cutting edge of new music since the 1970s. Ayers has been described as a Guerrilla Sign Ontologist, cutting‑up and pasting the contents of the human psyche. With a background in avant‑garde art, his work has grown from audio visual installations through underground video works.

In the early eighties Nocturnal Emissions hit London with a barrage of seminal funk; pioneering the use of sound samplers, multi‑cultural collage and electronic noise. Nocturnal Emissions became the name of a shape‑shifting chameleon ‑ lightening the darkness of post‑industrial music. They were a group the like of which had never been seen before, combining extremist performance art and video displays with apocalyptic beat music. Nocturnal Emissions have since been credited as a catalyst for a generation or two of sound workers, from Lustmord, SPK and Psychic TV to the Aphex Twin, the KLF, The Prodigy and Bjork..

At the height of their success, the Emissions decided to shun the crass commercialism that had developed around them, and to develop their work as a secret alchemy. Nigel Ayers has continued to work with a strong underground of cult support, avoiding music industry fashions, and following his own creative path. As Ayers chose to isolate himself from the city‑based music industry, he concentrated on creating a strong sense of a wilderness identity through sound.

Nowadays, Nigel Ayers lives in rural Cornwall, toiling away in his sonic laboratory, masked in a cloud of obscurity. His work is a profound and relevant disassembly, always surprising and always with a strong sense of humour. He may sometimes be seen performing in squatted venues in Europe, campaigning for such causes as the abolition of the British Monarchy; the dissolution of all known religions, and unrestricted public access to Space Travel.

His latest CD Futurist Antiquarianism is hard to define, it has a unique sound, texture and form which generates an unusual response in the listener.

Do not expect music as you know it and be open to a new way to appreciate sound. Ayer brings together all manner of sound, noise, texture and samplings to create quite a wave of sound which will flow over the listener and awaken an array of audio and visual sensations. It is impossible to define the experience as, like with a roller coaster, there are such a wide array of sensations and experiences.

Another unique CD is Omphalos. The world Omphalos means navel and is used in traditional cultures to represent the world centre, the nexus of the community. In Delphi it was a conical stone which represented the centre of the earth. The Omphalos is also related to the Axis Mundi, the great pillar, pole or cosmic tree that spans the worlds. It is the centre of sacred geometry and is where matter and spirit meet.

In Omphalos Ayers works to create a sound expressions of this concept. Again this is an unusual yet brilliant CD, sound samples are used as instruments and a texture, feel and environment is created which triggers a response from the listener. In some ways the term listener is incorrect, you participate in the music, you do not just listen to it !

Nocturnal Emissions is at the cutting edge, it may be challenging to many, but will enlighten the few – well worth the experience !