Nocturnal Emissions
OriginLondon, England
GenresIndustrial, Dark ambient, post-industrial, Ambient, Experimental, Noise, Dub
Years active1980–present
LabelsSterile Records, Staalplaat, Soleilmoon, Earthly Delights, Klang Galerie, Dark Vinyl, Illuminated Records, Vinyl On Demand
MembersNigel Ayers
Past membersDanny Ayers
Caroline K
Reg Sailyne
Steve Tanza
Fiona Virtue
WebsiteEarthly Delights

Nocturnal Emissions is Nigel Ayers's sound art project that has released numerous records and CDs in music styles ranging from electro-acoustic, musique concrète, hybridised beats, sound collage, post-industrial music, ambient and noise music. Their sound art has been part of an ongoing multimedia campaign of guerrilla sign ontology utilizing video art, film, hypertext and other media, particularly collage.[1] Nocturnal Emissions were depicted by the novelist Stewart Home.

History

The project was initiated in Derbyshire in the late 1970s by Nigel Ayers (b. 1957), a former art student who, during the period, lived in London, together with collaborators Danny Ayers (b. 1964) and Caroline K (1957–2008). Since 1984 Nocturnal Emissions has continued mainly as Nigel Ayers' solo project.

Record labels

In 1979, Nocturnal Emissions founded Sterile Records. Sterile Records’ approach was a combination of the experiments of musique concrète and Fluxus combined with the critical eye of conceptual art and the spontaneity and energy of punk rock. The dark humour of industrial music and the incomprehensible nonsense of various ultra-leftist political fractions were an essential part of the mix. Sterile Records used both commercial and non-commercial media to deliver anti-capitalist messages, multi-coloured noise and information overload. The label was effectively dissolved in 1986, when Ayers founded Earthly Delights.[2][3][4]

In 1990–92, Nocturnal Emissions collaborated on Butoh dance performances in Europe and the United States, with the Japanese choreographer Poppo Shiraishi. Around this time Nocturnal Emissions' Situationist-influenced practice became increasingly informed by magick, stone circles, technoshamanism, neo-paganism, animism and Fortean research. There were many collaborations on animated films by Mancunian TV director Charlotte Bill. Bill was never an official member of Nocturnal Emissions but admits to being one of the legion of members of The Fall[5]

Association of Autonomous Astronauts

Nocturnal Emissions were later to be associated with the Kernow section of the Association of Autonomous Astronauts[6]

Partial discography

Collaborations

Side projects

Oedipus Brain Foil 3xCD (with Randy Greif and Robin Storey) (Soleilmoon, 1998)

Mesmeric Enabling Device CD (with John S. Everall and Mick Harris) (Soleilmoon, 1999)

The World Turned Gingham CD (with Robin Story, released under the name Hank & Slim) (Caciocavallo, 2000)

Transgenic CD (Solo album released under the name Transgenic) (Soleilmoon, 2000)

Selected Video works

Bleeding Images (1982)

The Foetal Grave of Progress (1983)

Soundtracks

The Three Trials – Adventures in Psychotica (Randy Greif dir.) www.thethreetrials.com

Books

See also

References

  1. ^ Nicolas Ballet, Forward, ELECTRONIC RESISTANCE, Amaya Publishing (Oakland, CA) hardcover, ISBN 9780578978208, pp. 5-7
  2. ^ Record Collector magazine October 2011[page needed]
  3. ^ Accessed 20 January 2008
  4. ^ Interview (with Nigel Ayers) in Sounds Magazine 1983
  5. ^ David Simpson , The Fallen: Life In and Out of Britain's Most Insane Group (Canongate Books, 2009), ISBN 1847671446
  6. ^ Oberhaus, Daniel (23 April 2015), "Smash the Hotels Squat the Moon", Vice, Vice.com, retrieved 24 September 2015

Online references:

[12] Beyond Logic Beyond Belief - retrieved 28 July 2020