Abstract

From Captain Beefheart to Stockhausen, through the Velvet Underground and La Monte Young, this article redefines the « noise continuum » not so much as a transgeneric reality than, more surprisingly, as the emanation of a raucous « ritournelle » anchored in the work songs of the African-American community. Minor shifts in a chord progression, notes held beyond their expected duration, smoking blabbers : the source of noise music is to be located in the gutters of the musical roads built by the bluesmen