WHAT IS ALL THAT NOISE?

MIKE PATTON AND THE PRESENCE OF ITALIAN FUTURISM

_______________
A Thesis
Presented to the
Faculty of
San Diego State University
_______________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
in
Music
_______________
by
Lawrence J ay Rizzuto
Summer 2011


iii
Copyright 2011
by
Lawrence J ay Rizzuto
All Rights Reserved



iv
DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to the eternal pursuit of futurism.


v
ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS
What is all that Noise? Mike Patton and the Presence of Italian
Futurism
by
Lawrence J ay Rizzuto
Master of Arts in Music
San Diego State University, 2011

Mike Patton is an artist who transcends musical categories. He sings and
collaborateswith several experimental rock groups, performs selections of Italian pop music,
and he composes music for films and video games. While listening to his music one can hear
the fusion of many genres and that he frequently draws his musical ideas from the principles
of Italian futurism. A multidisciplinary movement that emerged in the early twentieth
century, futurism celebrated the relationship humans and technology and called for noise as
an integral part of a musical composition. In his manifesto The Art of Noises, futurist
composer Luigi Russolo advocated for the study of the unlimited varieties of noise and their
musical possibilities. Futurisms noise resounded well into the twentieth-century avant-garde
and the tradition of American experimentalism. Composers such as Edgard Varse, Henry
Cowell, and J ohn Cage echoed many of the sentiments posed by Russolo and championed for
the appropriation of noises as musical sounds in their writings and compositions. Futurist
noise continues to have a presence in the works of contemporary composers of experimental
music. While living in Italy, Patton studied the futurist poet F. T. Marinettis The Futurist
Cookbook and was inspired to compose Pranzo Oltranzista, which is a contemporary
expression of the futurist aesthetic. The aim of this study is to examine the historical,
cultural, and aesthetic developments of noise in experimental music and its relationship to the
Italian futurism movement. Specifically, I will study the relationship between Mike Pattons
Pranzo Oltranzista and F. T. Marinettis The Futurist Cookbook as they relate to the futurists
exploration of the musical element of noise.


vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................................v
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1
Review of Literature ................................................................................................9
Purpose ...................................................................................................................14
Limitations .............................................................................................................14
Methodology ..........................................................................................................14
2 HISTORY, AESTHETICS, AND ADAPTATIONS OF NOISE ................................16
Futurist Noise .........................................................................................................20
The Awakening of a City .......................................................................................25
American Noise .....................................................................................................26
3 VIOLENT ACTS OF NOISE ......................................................................................32
4 THE EXTREMIST BANQUET ..................................................................................42
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................54



vii
LIST OF FIGURES
PAGE
Figure 1. Mike Patton crowd surfing at the Hollywood Palladium, December 1, 2010.
Photo by Lawrence J ay Rizzuto. ..................................................................................32



viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I have constructed the organization of this thesis together with Dr. Eric Smigel. Dr.
Smigels criticism has always been supportive and constructive, and it proved indispensible
to the narrative of my text. This study would not have been possible without his superior
knowledge of the literature and historical context of my examination. His guidance was vital
for my temperament during times when I was doubtful about the track of my scholarship.
I would also like to acknowledge the esteemed staff and faculty at the San Diego State
University School of Music and Dance who have supported and inspired my educational
pursuits over the past two and a half years. I would like to recognize the other members of
the graduate committee who provided criticism for my thesis examination: Dr. Kevin
Delgado, Professor Brent Dutton, Dr. Mitzi Kolar, and Professor Richard Thompson. Special
thanks go to Dr. Kolar whose guidance and persistence in the early stages of the Spring
Semester 2011 was critical to my academic success. I would like to thank Dr. Nan McDonald
for her mentorship, and also the Director of the School of Music and Dance, Donna Conaty,
for providing several enriching opportunities for my professional scholarship. I would also
like to mention Dr. J oanne Berelowitz for serving on my thesis committee and stimulating
my interest in the visual arts and the avant-garde. I would also like to express gratitude to all
of my colleagues at the School of Music and Dance, whose companionship has made my
time at San Diego State University a truly rewarding experience.
I would also like to mention my family, who has been there for me every step of the
way. To my father, your words and letters of encouragement always gave me promise that I
would achieve my goals. To my mother, your love, support, and insistence have kept me on
the steady track. To my sister and my brother I say, You cant make fun of Lawrences
vocabulary sac anymore! I would also like to thank Megan Corbett who has been by my
side throughout all of my pursuits at San Diego State University. Your love and
understanding (and superior proofreading capabilities) has been of the utmost importance to
my happiness.


1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Futurism, a multidisciplinary artistic movement that emerged in Italy in the early
twentiethcentury, celebrated the relationship between humans and technology and called for
the use of noise as an integral part of a musical composition. In Noise/Music: A History, Paul
Hegarty states, Noise has a history. Noise occurs not in isolation, but in differential relation
to society, sound and to music.
1
The early twentieth century was bustling with new sounds
as industry sprouted all over Europe; automobiles, airplanes, manufacturing, new invention
and new machinery all brought new sounds and noises into the landscape. Modernization had
a profound impact on the futurists and was the primary source of inspiration for their fiery
rhetoric.
Poet F. T. Marinetti, the founder and impresario of Italian futurism, wrote the first
manifesto, Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism (1909), which laid the foundations for
futurist performance and inspired similar movements in the arts. The following excerpts are
taken from Marinettis manifesto, which highlight futurisms aesthetic: We want to sing the
love of danger, the habit of energy and rashness No work without an aggressive character
can be a masterpiece Why should we look back when what we want is to break down the
mysterious doors of the Impossible?
2
Similarly, the futurist composer Francesco Balilla
Pratella asserts an aesthetic for futurist music in the Manifesto of Futurist Musicians
(1910): To provoke in the public an ever-growing hostility towards the exhumation of old
works which prevents the appearance of innovators.
3
A year later, Pratella elaborated his
sentiment in the Futurist Music Technical Manifesto (1911): Young musicians, once and


1
Paul Hegarty, Noise/Music: A History (New York: Continuum Publishing, 2007), 5.

2
F. T. Marinetti, Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism, in Futurist Manifestos, ed. Umbro
Apollonio (New York: Viking Press, 1973), 21-22.

3
Francesco Pratella, Manifesto of Futurist Musicians, in Futurist Manifestos, ed. Umbro Apollonio
(New York: Viking Press, 1973), 31.


2
for all, will stop being vile imitators of the past that no longer has a reason for existing and
imitators of the venal flatterers of the publics base taste.
4

Futurisms assertions are both controversial and problematic. In many regards the
futurists could be regarded as the first shock rockers of the twentieth century. Their
aggressive aesthetic was their foremost characteristic, and futurist performances often
involved rioting and shouting matches. Some attendees of futurist performances were issued
the same seating assignments, causing agitation among the concertgoers. By dismissing the
fascist, racist, and misogynistic overtones of the futurists, We will glorify war the worlds
only hygiene we will fight moralism, feminism, every opportunistic or utilitarian
cowardice,
5
and focusing on futurisms call to renounce the trends of the artistic
communities in which they were involved, it is apparent that futurism was a victim of its own
cause. As much as they tried to disavow the past, the futurists were also imitators of their
artistic climate and social settings.
6

While Marinetti wrote manifestos on futurist performance prior to Luigi Russolos
The Art of Noises (1913), it is Russolos writing that is the most significant for music
scholars, as Hegarty states: The first key moment occurs with futurism it is Luigi
Russolos The Art of Noises that provides the theorization of futurist ideas on sound.
7

Russolo was originally a painter, but he quickly became the spokesperson for futurist music.
In The Art of Noises, Russolo asserts: We must break out of this limited circle of sounds and
conquer the infinite variety of noise sounds.
8
In order to achieve these noise sounds
Russolo crafted twenty-one intonarumori, crude noise instruments, and arguably the first
musical synthesizers that produced sounds resembling the environments of industry and the
forces of nature. These new instruments combined noise with the acoustic properties of the
overtone series, as Hegarty explains: Instead of musical tones, sounds would be created,


4
Francesco Pratella, Futurist Music: Techincal Manifesto in Futurist Performance ed. Michael
Kirby, (New York: Paj Publications, 1971), 161.

5
Marinetti, Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism, 22.

6
Musica Futurista, The Art of Noises, Salon Recordings, CD, 2004. Pratellas compositions were tonal
and quite conventional for their time (La Guerra, Op. 32 for solo piano).

7
Hegarty, 5.

8
Luigi Russolo, The Art of Noises (New York: Pendragon Press, 1986), 25.


3
often inspired by machinery, which although pitched, would work between and link different
pitches, using microtones and overtones so the instruments would remain noisy.
9
The
noise instruments were operated with a lever, similar to a modulation wheel on a synthesizer,
and vibrated a string through a calf-skinned membrane which, when manipulated with the
operating levers, would change the pitch and amplitude of the instrument. The instruments
construction acted as an amplifier for the intonarumori; wooden boxes in various dimensions
with conical shaped speaker attachments projected the sound.
10

The Art of Noises had a decisive impact on Western culture. Michael Kirby, author of
Futurist Performance, contributes the following about Russolos forward thinking manifesto:
The theory of The Art of Noises was simple, profound, and far-reaching. In
essence, it implied that although sound itself was limited only by the physiology
of the ear and contained an infinite number of gradations of tone, pattern, and
quality, only a small part of that infinite field of sound was acceptable in Western
culture as music. Russolo wanted all sound to be possible material for music.
11

The consideration of noise as viable material for musical composition has been
common in the tradition of American experimental music. Edgard Varse, the self-professed
organizer of sounds, wrote that he was not a musician but rather a worker in rhythms,
frequencies and intensities.
12
In his article The Liberation of Sound, Varse adapts many
of the theories that Russolo poses in The Art of Noises, but he also exposes Russolos navet,
as Varse believed the musical ambitions of the futurists were amateurish: Why, Italian
Futurists, have you slavishly reproduced only what is commonplace and boring in the bustle
of our daily lives.
13
Although Varse contested the futurist aesthetic of noise he elaborated
on its timbral potential, and similar to Russolo, he deliberates the acoustical properties of
sound by examining timbre and its endless possibilities for expression: Indeed to stubbornly


9
Hegarty, 14.

10
There is scarce documentation of Russolos work. The instruments are believed to have been lost
during WWII campaigns, and Russolos written music is limited to the opening seven bars of his music for
intonarumori, The Awakening of a Great City.

11
Michael Kirby and Victoria Nes Kirby, Futurist Performance (New York: PAJ Publications, 1986),
33.

12
Edgard Varse, The Liberation of Sound, Perspectives of New Music 5, no. 1 (Fall-Winter 1962):
18.

13
Ibid., 11.


4
conditioned ears anything new in music has always been called noise. But what after all is
music but organized noises. And a composer, like all artists, is an organizer of disparate
elements. Subjectively, noise is any sound one doesnt like.
14
Although Varse had
theoretical differences with the futurists, the sirens and incorporation of non-traditional
percussion instruments, such as the Tambour corde (Lions Roar), used in Ionisation
(192931) recall futurisms principles, in particular Russolos intonarumori.
In the 1950s Varse, like many other composers, turned his attention to noise and the
electronic medium. He composed Pome lectronique (1958), which was written for the
Phillips Pavilion at the Brussels Worlds Fair. Author Douglas Kahn highlights this aesthetic
shift in Noise, Water, Meat: The influence of Russolos noise waned but was then revived in
the wake of musique concrte in the 1950s and has become widely recognized as a precursor
to a range of artistic activities as the second half of the century rolls to a close.
15

Futurism influenced many American experimental composers, most notably J ohn
Cage, whose work epitomizes many of Russolos noise theories. Cage offered the following
on the future of music, expanding on a sentiment posed by Russolo: Experiment must
necessarily be carried on by hitting anything tin pans, rice bowls, iron pipes, anything we
can lay our hands on. Not only hitting, but rubbing, smashing, making sound in every
possible way.
16
Cages Water Music realizes Russolos comments in The Noises of Nature
and Life, an essay in The Art of Noises: Truly, water represents in nature, the most
frequent, most varied, and the richest source of noises.
17
Water Music (1952) is a pioneering
work that opened the floodgates regarding the listening, performance, and compositional
possibilities of sounds in music. Several years later, Cage composed Water Walk (1959),
which elaborated on the chance techniques of Water Music, and it was also performed live on
television in J anuary 1960 on the popular program Ive Got A Secret. This is a noteworthy


14
Varse, 18.

15
Douglas Kahn, Noise, Water, Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
1999), 57.

16
J ohn Cage, Silence: Lectures and Writings by John Cage (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University
Press, 1961), 87.

17
Russolo, 42.


5
event as it identifies a time and place where Cages music had become exposed to popular
culture.
Presently, the use of noise and non-traditional instruments in music is common, and
we live in a technological age in which music production is accessible to every musician.
Although many distinguished experimentalist composers have received thorough academic
training, many contemporary composers of experimental music are self taught. One such
person is Mike Patton (b. 1968), a composer who is distinguishing himself in the tradition of
experimental music. Patton frequently uses noise and has adapted many of the aesthetics of
Italian futurism in his compositions, regardless of the genre or style.
Patton draws from different styles of music, including heavy metal, gospel, Rhythm
& Blues, hiphop, jazz, funk, and Italian pop music from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. In an
essay entitled How We Eat Our Young, Patton describes his compositional aesthetic: Sift
through others belongings. Borrow. Steal. And try to achieve some sort of pleasure while
doing it.
18
Pattons musical career began at age seventeen when he collaborated with fellow
high school students to form the experimental rock band Mr. Bungle (ca. 1985 2004).
Throughout the Mr. Bungle years, he was also the lead singer for the popular mainstream
rock band Faith No More.
19

Pattons earliest associations with experimental music can be traced to Mr. Bungle.
Music critics consider the sophomore release Disco Volante (1995) to be the most
experimental of all Mr. Bungles works. The songs abruptly shift musical styles and Patton
uses musique concrte as a compositional tool, sampling the timbral variety of his voice.
Most importantly, the polystylism on Disco Volante frequently alludes to the Italian avant-
garde, which provides the first evidence of Patton hinting at the futurist aesthetic in his work.
Pattons initial exposure to futurism began during his residence in Bologna, Italy in
the late 1990s with his wife at the time, Italian artist Titi Zuccatosta. During this time Patton
developed an interest in Italian culture and conceived the idea for Pranzo Oltranzista (1997)


18
Mike Patton, How We Eat Our Young, in Arcana: Musicians on Music, ed. by John Zorn (New
York: Hips Road and Granary Books, 2000), 280.

19
Faith No More separated in 1999 laying dormant until reassembling in 2009 for performances in the
UK, South America, Europe, and their U.S. farewell performances at the historic Hollywood Palladium.



6
after reading Marinettis The Futurist Cookbook (1932). The cookbook proposed a futurist
revolution in dining, and documents Marinettis electrified banquet lectures from Milan to
Paris to Budapest. Author Lesley Chamberlain states in his introduction to The Futurist
Cookbook: The Futurist Cookbook was designed to wrench out food out of the nineteenth
century bourgeois past and bring it into the dynamic, technological, urban twentieth
century.
20
Although the cookbook is characterized by the dynamic rhetoric of futurism,
Chamberlain proposes the following idea in his introduction:
The Futurist Cookbook was a serious joke, revolutionary in the first instance
because it overturned with ribald laughter everything food and cookbooks
held sacredFuturist cooking was revolutionary and a joke because actually it
was about food as raw materials for art a disguised artistic game, full of avant-
garde experiments.
21

The futurist dinners provided Marinetti and his futurist friends another social setting in which
to espouse their aesthetic; Italian cuisine would never be the same.
Pranzo Oltranzista (Extremist Dinner) subtitled Musica da Tavola per Cinque
(Banquet Piece for Five Players) is a pivotal work that links Patton directly to Italian
futurism. The album cover bears a picture of Russolos intonarumori, the crude noise
intoners constructed by the futurist composer. While Patton does not use Russolos actual
instruments on the album, he evokes their sounds through sampling and extended techniques.
Pranzo Oltranzista is one of Pattons noisiest and most technical endeavors to date. Patton
samples such noises as smashing plates, breaking glassware, plunger sounds, machines, and
airplane propellers juxtaposed with fast be-bop swinging on the ride cymbal and J ohn Zorns
saxophone squeals. Patton adds to these compositions with his screams, wails, moans, grunts
and growls layered with Marc Ribots microtonal guitar lines and Erik Friedlanders
extended techniques on the cello.
Songs such as Contorno Tattile (per Russolo), which opens with the sounds of a
knife chopping food, juxtapose textures and noises that are linked with culinary themes
drawn from Marinettis cookbook. Pattons album and song titles are derived from the names


20
Lesley Chamberlain, introduction to The Futurist Cookbook, ed. Lesley Chamberlain (San
Francisco: Bedford Arts, 1989), 7.

21
Chamberlain, 7.



7
of chapters from Marinettis cookbook, such as Extremist Banquet, Tactile Dinner Party,
Milk in a Green Light, and Geraniums on a Spit. As Marinetti adapts food as the raw
material for his formulas, Patton interprets the recipes and treats noises as the raw material
for his compositions. Perhaps Pranzo Oltranzista, as Chamberlain suggests about Marinettis
cookbook, is simply a musical joke, but the connections to Marinettis highly imaginative
and inedible culinary dishes are overt.
Patton has crafted an artistic identity that closely aligns with the fiery temperament of
the futurists. As a performer, Patton regularly taunts audiences with obscenities that result in
warring exchanges. Recently, at a Faith No More reunion performance at the Ruisrock Rock
Festival in Turku, Finland, Patton chided audience members who were overlooking the stage
from VIP seating arrangements, which included first class amenities, food, and beverages. In
a humorous YouTube video document Patton mocks the guests: Look at these fucking
assholes. What are they doing? Having a five star meal? HOW DOES FUCK YOU SOUND!
Yeah, Yeah, nice caviar, yeah, bring me some foie gras bitch!
22
Also, Patton does not shy
away from his critical assessment of popular music. In another spirited YouTube video
document, Patton is interviewed backstage at Lollapalooza an annual multi-genre art and
music festival and criticizes a rock band playing on stage: Are you hearing this shit? What
year are we in? Forgive me [pause] but Wolfmother you suck!
23
Recalling the sentiments
posed by Marinetti and Pratella, which aggressively denounced the elitist trends of the past
and advocated innovation no matter how violent we can conclude that Patton does not
value VIPs at rock concerts, and bands that, to him, are imitators of 1970s classic rock.
Another example of Pattons involvement in Italian futurism concerns a recent
collaboration with the Italian composer, musicologist, and instrument builder Luciano
Chessa. Chessa commissioned Patton to write a composition for his homemade
intonarumori, which were modeled after Russolos noise intoners. Entitled Music for 16
Futurist Noise Intoners, these new works were performed in San Francisco and New York as
part of the Performa 09 Series. In a YouTube video document, one can see Patton


22
Patton, FN Mike Patton bitching about VIP Crane Lounge, Youtube.com,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0J 7WdNDk8s (accessed April 22, 2011).

23
Patton, Mike Patton Puts Wolfmother In Their Place, Youtube.com,
http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ZKDvJ TxZDbA (accessed J anuary 22, 2011).


8
enthusiastically recording and manipulating sounds on Chessas intonarumori.
24
On J une 19,
2010, Patton progressed further into Italian modernism by performing Luciano Berios
Laborintus II at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam, and currently he is writing a film score
for the full-length feature film adaptation of Paolo Giordanos novel, The Solitude of Prime
Numbers.
The origins of Pattons latest album, Mondo Cane (2010), can also be traced to
Pattons exposure to Italian culture. Mondo Cane is Pattons first album for orchestra, and
features songs by the Italian composer Ennio Morricone.
25
During his residence in Italy,
Patton immersed himself in the culture and language, and he was entranced by Italian pop
music from the 1950s and 1960s. He started tape recording songs from the radio, and learned
the history of the works and their respective composers with the intention of recording and
arranging the works for orchestra. In an interview with Rick Florino, editor of
Artistdirect.com, Patton offers the following insight about the beginnings of Mondo Cane:

It was quite a process. The entire idea basically started gestating when I lived in
Italy about seven or eight years ago. I was looking for Italian music. To be honest,
I was searching for modern bands, and there wasnt a lot that excited me. I
remember I was sitting in my apartment sweating my ass off one day during the
summer, and there was the radio station that played oldies. This was back in the
days of cassette tapes. I put a cassette tape in, and I just taped all of these radio
transmissions that were playing all of this amazing shit. I mean a lot of it was
crap, but some of it was really amazing. I think thats were the whole thing started
getting to know Italy, getting to know how they make music, what their strong
points are and what they arent.
26

Although many of the adaptations on Mondo Cane are tonal and conventional, Patton uses
noises and sampled sounds to enrich the timbral palate. Pattons sound effects are also
produced with his extended vocal techniques, and the use of unconventional percussion
instruments, such as thunder sheets and sirens.


24
Luciano Chessa and Mike Patton, Intonarumori: Music for 16 Futurist Noise Intoners,
Youtube.com, http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rfCq71Efnu&feature=related (accessed December 4, 2010).

25
Mondo Cane was recorded under the direction of conductor Aldo Sisillo and The Filarmonica Artuto
Toscanini Orchestra, and debuted at #2 on Classical Billboard.

26
Rick Florino, Faith No Mores Mike Patton on Mondo Cane I was living a completely different
experience, and that was Italy, Artist Direct.com, http://www.artistdirect.com/ entertainment-
news/article/interview-mike-patton-on-i-mondo-cane-i-i-was-living-a-completely-different-experience-and-that-
was-italy/6663302 (accessed April 7, 2011).


9
Patton is an active composer of experimental music with an impressive rsumof
accomplishments. Categorizing Pattons work can be difficult and is not the task of this
study; however, Pranzo Oltranzista clearly associates him with a specific musical style and
historical movement and offers a context to discuss Pattons music. As a result of this
exposure to Italian culture, consequent solo works and collaborations with other artists have
incorporated the principles of Italian futurism.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
There have been numerous scholarly studies that explore the historical developments
of noise in music. For the purposes of this examination, the selected literature focuses on the
impact the historical movement of Italian futurism had on the development and use of noise
in the tradition of American experimentalism.
Douglas Kahns Noise, Water, Meat: A History of Sound In The Arts and Paul
Hegartys Noise/Music: A History are recent publications that provide historical surveys of
noise in experimental music. Kahn narrates a history of twentieth century music, literature,
and the visual arts that focuses on the aural interpretation of noise. Hegarty analyzes the use
of noise in various historical contexts and cultural aesthetics. The primary focus of his study
concerns noise music from the mid 1970s with bands such as The Boredoms and Throbbing
Gristle. Kahn and Hegartys narratives identify canonical works of the avant-garde
concerning the chief composers of experimentalism. Both examinations will provide a
framework for my investigation, which will situate Pattons use of noise within the context
Italian futurism.
Arndt Niebischs dissertation Distorted Media: The Noise Aesthetics of Italian
Futurism and German Dadism, Mark Radices Futurismo: Its Origins, Context, Repertory,
and Influence, and Edward Venns Rethinking Russolo are critical examinations of
futurism that offer different accounts of the validity of futurist theories and its influence on
contemporary musical aesthetics. Niebisch argues that the incorporation of noise by the
avant-garde was not intended as a representation of industrialized society, but rather, noise
served the function of disturbing communication and receptive processes. Radice narrates a
history of futurism and examines the potentiality and limitations of Russolos noise theories
and theintonarumori. Radices essay concerns the futurist aesthetic, its context and value in


10
music history, and how it influenced experimental composers: Any movement that
precipitates a widespread reevaluation and reorientation of aesthetics demands our
attention.
27
Venns Rethinking Russolo is a critical account of futurism that challenges
Radices theories that Russolos musical vision was innovative and unorthodox. Venns
position that Russolo was musically unadventurous, and Russolos relegation to an
interesting footnote in music history is perhaps deserved.
28

Musicologist Susan McClary opens her afterword to J acques Attalis book Noise: The
Political Economy of Music: The subject of Attalis book is noise, and his method is
likewise noise.
29
Best known as an economist and a financial advisor, Attali narrates an
intriguing historiography of music. Attali examines the relationship of music to culture and
society in a three-part argument. First, the history, performance, and institution of music have
been silenced by theorizing music. Secondly, the history of music is derived from the
social construct and reflects various channels of violence in society. Lastly, composition
should return to all members of society and not be restrained by rigid institutions of
specialized music training.
30
McClary acknowledges that some scholars have dismissed
Noise as out of hand, but she goes on to say: For if Attali can serve to jolt a few musicians
awake or to encourage those attempting to forge new compositional or interpretive
directions, then the hope he expresses for a new music controlled neither by academic
institutions nor by the entertainment industry may be at least partially realized.
31

Attalis theories of composing will verify that Pattons compositional approach is a result of
his exposure to futurism and Italian culture.
Salom Voegelins recent study, Listening To Noise and Silence: Towards A
Philosophy of Sound Art, critiques the developments and use of noise and silence in the
disciplines of music and the visual arts. In a chapter entitled Noise, she addresses


27
Mark A. Radice, Futurismo: Its Origins, Context, Repertory, and Influence, The Musical Quarterly
73, No. 1 (1989): 1.

28
Edward Venn, Rethinking Russolo, Tempo 64 (2010): 15.

29
Susan McClary, Afterword: The Politics of Silence and Sound, in Noise: The Political Economy of
Music (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1985), 149.

30
McClary, 156.

31
Ibid., 149.


11
Russolos influence on the avant-garde and traces the changing attitudes of noise throughout
the twentieth century: His work accompanied and sounded the Zeitgeist of objective
ideality, of a faith or doctrine rather that the humanity in mankind should be overcome in the
perfection of its creation.
32
Voegelins critique of noise will provide a contextualization of
Pattons use of noise in postmodern literature.
In addition to historical and cultural studies of noise, numerous scholars from the
visual arts, theater, literature, and music have studied the movement of Italian futurism.
Umbro Apollonios Futurist Manifestos is the definitive anthology for the translated texts of
futurist manifestos by F. T. Marinetti, Balilla Pratella, Luigi Russolo, and the other futurist
artists. Michael Kirbys Futurist Performance was a groundbreaking book during a time
when there was limited research being conducted on Italian futurism. Kirbys work, which
provides a detailed perspective of futurism through multiple lenses, is still a primary
reference source on futurist manifestos and their historical context. Kirby focuses on the
performative approaches of futurist theater, music, radio, and cinema, and his analyses will
support the notion of Pattons role as a performance artist as it relates to Italian futurism.
F. T. Marinettis The Futurist Cookbook, which poses a futurist revolution in cuisine,
is a disguised artistic game full of avant-garde experiments and not an actual cookbook with
edible dishes. The book documents Marinettis travels and lecture/banquets that caused a
media sensation at each stop on the tour. The Futurist Cookbook was the primary source of
inspiration for Pattons first adaptation of futurism, Pranzo Oltranzista. Marinettis dishes
include recipes entitled Futurist Pheasant and Fire In The Mouth, which Patton adapts as
song titles on Pranzo Oltranzista.
Luigi Russolos The Art of Noises is considered by many scholars to be the most
influential of the futurist manifestos regarding music. Partly inspired by Marinettis free
poetry, Russolos chapter The Noises of War highlights noises such as explosions and
machine gun fire, which he experienced while serving in the Italian Army during WWI. The
chapter The Noises of Language theorizes the timbral possibilities of consonants to
produce noises: Vowels represent sound in language, while consonants clearly represent


32
Salom Voegelin, Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art (New York:
The Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc., 2010), 43.


12
noise.
33
Russolo also states, Futurist composers should continue to enlarge and enrich the
field of sound.
34
The Art of Noises will corroborate and provide a framework for the
examination of the disparate noises and sounds on Pranzo Oltranzista, and also Pattons use
of extended vocal and instrumental techniques.
Herman von Helmholtzs extensive study On The Sensations of Tone: As a
Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music, is an essential reference document when
contextualizing the history, developments, and aesthetics of noise in the twentieth century.
Russolo challenges several of Helmholtzs theories on sound and noise, and many composers
of experimental music and electronic music would eventually reference Helmholtz in their
theoretical investigations and exploration of the acoustical properties of sound.
Similar to the futurists, the American experimental composers also called for the
exploration of new sound sources. In New Musical Resources, an influential book for many
American composers, Cowell forwards his theories regarding the overtone series on music:
Innovation, then, may be of two kinds both reaching a step higher into the range of
overtones for musical material, and using the material thus gained on a greater variety of tone
combinations.
35
Patton regularly enhances the overtones of his voice through sampling,
amplifying, and modifying with circuit-bending instruments, thus creating varieties of tone
combinations suggested by Cowell. In his brief but informative essay The J oys of Noise,
Cowell addresses the use of noise as musical material, and confronts prevailing attitudes of
noise. As Cowell states, Since the disease of noise permeates all music, the only hopeful
course is to consider that the noise-germ, like the bacteria of cheese, is a good microbe,
which may provide hidden musical delights to the listener, instead of producing musical
oblivion.
36

In Silence, J ohn Cage offers his own manifesto on experimental music and musical
possibilities: It goes without saying dissonances and noises are welcome in this new


33
Russolo, 56.

34
Ibid., 28.

35
Henry Cowell, New Musical Resources, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 17.

36
Henry Cowell, Essential Cowell: Selected Writings on Music By Henry Cowell, ed. Dick Higgins
(Kingston, New York: McPherson & Company, 2002), 252.


13
music.
37
Cage called for the inclusion of all sounds and noises in music, and theorized new
ways of listening, performing, and composing. As previously mentioned, the similarities
between Cages aesthetic and the futurists are explicit as it relates to the use of noise and the
possibilities for rhythm and new music:
Instead of giving us new sounds, the nineteenth-century composers have given us
endless arrangements of the old sounds. We have turned on radios and always
known when we were tuned to a symphony. The sound has always been the same,
and there has not been even a hint of curiosity to the possibilities of rhythm.
38

Cages connection to futurism and noise helps substantiate the link between Pattons use of
noise, the American experimental tradition, and the Italian futurists.
Edgard Varses essay The Liberation of Sound anticipated the shape of music to
come. Varse distinguishes himself from other composers as an organizer of sounds and
noises. While Varse believed the musical ambitions of the Italian futurists were amateurish,
he expanded on Russolos vision by theorizing a new musical apparatus to produce sound
and to notate music. He also acknowledged the unbelievable new variety of timbres
39
in
the electronic medium. Varse is an important link between the American experimentalists
and the Italian futurists, and this essay will support the idea that Patton is an organizer of
noises, intensities, frequencies, and disparate elements on Pranzo Oltranzista.
How We Eat Our Young is an essay by Patton included in a compilation of essays
edited and published by J ohn Zorn in Arcana: Musicians on Music. Similar to a futurist
manifesto in its tone and delivery, Patton lashes out at the corporate entities and musicians
who are contributing to what he views as the current demise of the arts. He also envisions a
world of music in which the artists insecurities are liberated from the warm tongue of the
critic. Although the essay is brief, the context provides an understanding of Pattons aesthetic
and will help corroborate his relationship to futurism.
Currently, there is no scholarly research on Mike Pattons association with Italian
futurism. Online interviews, source recordings, and live performances posted on internet
websites are, at this time, the primary resources for information on Patton. The online


37
Cage, 11.

38
Ibid., 87.

39
Varse, 18.


14
interviews discuss Pattons involvement with Italian culture, his use of noise, and his recent
scores for film. Other online sources provide valuable historical information about Pattons
career, performance and album reviews, and documentation of his recent collaborations with
other experimental artists.
PURPOSE
This study examines the historical, cultural, and aesthetic developments of noise
within American experimental music and its relationship to the movement of Italian futurism.
Specifically, I will study the relationship between Mike Pattons Pranzo Oltranzista and F. T.
Marinettis The Futurist Cookbook as they relate to the futurists exploration of noise as a
musical element.
LIMITATIONS
Many of Pattons musical endeavors could be associated with the aesthetic of
futurism. For the purposes of this study, I will examine Pranzo Oltranzista as it relates to
Russolos The Art of Noises, Marinettis The Futurist Cookbook, source recordings of futurist
music, and writings concerning the use of noise by the American experimental composers
Cage, Cowell, and Varse. Pattons most recent album, Mondo Cane, and his collaboration
with Luciano Chessa also corroborate his exposure to Italian culture, but I will limit this
study to Pranzo Oltranzista as it identifies the first time and place (late-1990s Bologna, Italy)
in which Pattons compositional aesthetic was influenced by Italian futurism.
METHODOLOGY
I will begin by examining the development and use of musical noise in the historical
movement of Italian futurism and also in the tradition of American experimentalism, which
includes writings by the composers Cage, Cowell, and Varse. I will discuss interviews that
describe Pattons personal and professional experiences in Italy. Information about Patton
will be collected and transcribed primarily from interviews, reviews, and online journal
entries. My narrative will study Pattons compositions that are tied to the historical
movement of Italian futurism.
Drawing from recordings, interviews, and writings by Patton, I will identify the
commonalities and differences between Pranzo Oltranzista and The Futurist Cookbook, to


15
demonstrate how Pattons compositions realize Marinettis written recipes. I will identify the
noises and sounds that Patton arranges via instruments, vocals, and samples and provide a
description of timbre, dynamics, and texture concerning the songs Carne Cruda Sguarciata
Dal Suono Di Sassofono, Vivanda in Scodella, Guerra In Letto, and I Rumori
Nutrienti. I will establish the value of Pattons relationship to Italian futurism by
documenting the biographical and historical facts of his time in Italy, his exposure to Italian
culture, his recent revival of Italian pop music, and his use of noise to demonstrate his
appropriation of futurism.


16
CHAPTER 2
HISTORY, AESTHETICS, AND ADAPTATIONS OF
NOISE
If you ask critics and scholars to provide a historical definition of noise, the responses
would greatly vary depending on their criteria. The contrasting definitions of noise are a
consequence of our sonic environments, which include both auditory and visual exposures to
noise. Recalling Luigi Russolos intonarumori, which were categorized by noises howlers,
whistlers, growlers Russolo, in a sense, constructed a hierarchy of noises and classification
system for his instruments that were based on his aesthetic value, as Radice explains: The
list of intonarumori cited in Russolos Larte de rumori mentions twenty instruments
excluding percussive noises and animal or human noises. These intonarumori reflect Futurist
contempt for tradition and their veneration of contemporary life and technology in their
artistic use of technological sounds.
40
As an extension of Russolos theories, composers
such as Edgard Varse, Henry Cowell, and J ohn Cage expanded the timbral palette with the
use of new musical resources and performance techniques, as is evident in Varses
Ionisation, Cowells The Banshee, and Cages Water Music.
This chapter will not answer the question, What is noise?; rather, it will examine
historical and theoretical developments of noise in the twentieth century. Tracing the
development of noise theories and identifying the changing attitudes and perceptions of noise
will demonstrate how Pattons composition and arrangement of noises is an expression of his
musical and aesthetic values.
To begin, we shall investigate the perception of noise as undesirable sound, both aural
and visual, which has dominated the psyche of individuals who view noise as an unwanted
signal. Bart Kosko, a professor of electrical engineering at University of Southern California
and the author of Noise, depicts noise as unfavorable:

40
Radice, 7.


17
What is Noise? Noise is a nuisance. Noise is the hiss and pop of the static we hear
when we listen to a radio station or a walkie-talkie or an old vinyl record album. It
is the flickering of snow that mars a cable TV image when someone bumps the
cable or when the cable company scrambles the pay-per-view boxing match. It is
the grainy streaks that flash across the screen when we watch an old print film.
Noise is the background chatter of people in a restaurant when we ask the server
to tell us about the dinner special. Noise is the Internet of telephone signal that
interferes with our own. Noise is a red rose that grows in a cornfield. It is a signal
that does not belong there. Noise is a signal we dont like.
41

It is necessary to challenge the subjectivity of Koskos perception of noise. Some would
agree that noise is a nuisance, but one persons nuisance could very well be anothers delight.
However, this statement conveys that noise is a signal that can be transmitted visually,
aurally, physically, and psychologically. The ideas of signal and transmission are the crux of
Koskos definition. Noise scholar and music critic Paul Hegarty offers another definition that
corroborates the psychological perception of noise:
Noise is not an objective fact. It occurs in relation to perception both direct
(sensory) and according to presumptions made by an individual. These are going
to vary according to historical, geographical and cultural location. Whether noise
is happening or not will depend also on the source of what is being called noise
who the producer is, when and where, and how it impinges on the perceiver of
noise.
42

Hegartys definition differs from Koskos, as it leaves open the possibility that the definition
of noise is value driven and highly subjective, and must be interpreted within societal and
cultural contexts. Furthermore the source of noise, or what is being called into question as
being noise, must meet certain criteria by whom, what, why, where, when, and how noise is
being produced, transmitted, and perceived. Hegarty goes on to say:
Noise is not the same as noises. Noises are sounds until further qualified (e.g. as
unpleasant noises, loud noises, and so on), but noise is already that qualification;
it is already a judgment that noise is occurring. Although noise can occur outside
of cognition (i.e. without us understanding its purpose, form, source), a judgment
is made in reaction to it. Noise is something that we are forced to react to and this
reaction, certainly for humans, is a judgment even if only physical.
43


41
Bart Kosko, Noise (New York: Viking Penguin, 2006), 3.
42
Hegarty, 3.
43
Ibid.


18
The notion that people may not even be aware that noise is occurring is problematic when
distinguishing human reactions to everyday noise and the musical use of noise. The
reactionary and responsive gestures that humans and animals make to noise are also
problematic, as responses vary greatly depending on cultural and geographical contexts.
44

Douglas Kahn also grapples with a definition of noise, and in doing so he defines and
establishes the criteria by which we perceive sound. In his introduction to Noise, Water, Meat
he states:
By sound I mean sounds, voices, and aurality all that might fall within or touch
on auditive phenomena, whether this involves actual sonic or auditive events or
ideas about sound or listening, sounds actually heard in myth, idea, or
implication; sounds heard by everyone or imagined by one person alone; or
sounds as they fuse with the sensorium as a whole.
45

From here we can see that Kahns focus lies solely in the auditory realm of sound, and
further he establishes his criteria for a definition of sound. In Part I of his book Kahn
grapples with a definition of noise:
Wherever they might occur among the arts, noises interchangeably soundful and
figurative, loud, disruptive, confusing, inconsistent, turbulent, chaotic, unwanted,
nauseous, injurious and noises silenced, suppressed, sought after, and celebrated
always pertain to a complex of sources, motives, strategies, gestures, grammars,
contexts, and so on.
46

Here, Kahn narrows his scope of noise to that which appears in the arts, and the many
different ways in which noise is both perceived and categorized, and more importantly, the
contexts in which noises are transmitted and received. Further on, Kahn provides a poetic and
postmodernist definition: Noise is the forest of everything.
47
Clearly, Kahn is asking us to


44
The following examples identify the different forms, perceptions of, and responses to the natural
occurring phenomenon of noise. Certain calls, or noises, that the Diana monkeys produce communicate warning
signals for predators. These monkeys also understand that the noise will evoke a response from their
community. By falsely producing these warning noises (lying), the monkeys are using noise for their own
benefit to either locate or harness food without the intrusion of others.
The recent events in J apan have produced monumental noise. The chain of events that include the
earthquake (seismological noise), tsunami warning and sirens (auditory noise), flooding (visual and physical
noise), and the lingering aftershocks that also include the economy (fiscal noise), and most importantly the
rescue of survivors (joyful noise); are the consequence of noise.

45
Kahn, 3.
46
Ibid., 20.
47
Ibid., 22


19
see the tree within the forest, or to acknowledge a single sound among a blanket of white
noise. This is a difficult track to follow, as it is laden with subjectivity. To further complicate
matters, if there really is no silence, is there really any noise?
48
Kahn addresses this problem:
With so much attendant on noise it quickly becomes evident that noises are too
significant to be noises. We know they are noises in the first place because they
exist where they shouldnt or they dont make sense when they should. But here
too in knowing this we already know too much for noise to exist. But noise does
indeed exist, and trying to define it in a unifying manner across the range of
contexts will only invite noise on itself.
49

The recognition of noises and their acceptance and saturation in culture is what has made
noise such an appealing and suitable option for experimental music.
The sound arts and design lecturer Salom Voegelin addresses issues concerning
listening, noise, and silence in her recently published work, Listening to Noise and Silence.
She makes a distinction between turn of the century noises, modernist noises, and
postmodern noises:
It is as if noise music lives out the trauma of the beginning of the twentieth
century: sounding its consequences for community and tolerance Noise does
not have to be loud, but it has to be exclusive: excluding other sounds, creating in
sound a bubble against sounds, destroying sonic signifiers and divorcing listeners
from sense material external to its noise.
50

Within these authors arguments is an underlying problem for the concept of this chapters
intent. Noises have been interpreted in numerous contexts throughout the twentieth century
into the twenty-first century. Voegelins affirmations of noise reverberate with postmodernist
theory, but the modernist noise pronounced by futurism was the first to occur, and it
continues to resound in the arts. Whereas, the overall aesthetic of postmodern noise embodies
an attitude and rejection of modernism and its noise may not be related to one specific
historical moment in the arts, the beginnings of modernist noise are directly related to the
developments in industry and technology during the turn of the century. The invention of the

48
Ask yourself, at this time, what is going on around you? Is the clock ticking? Is a T.V. or radio on in
the distance? Is your heart beating? Indeed, there is no silence, a theory that J ohn Cage, who will be addressed
later on in this chapter, theorized after his experience in an anechoic chamber; and noises, however slight their
din, are always occurring.
49
Kahn, 21.

50
Voegelin, 43.


20
phonograph assimilated modernist sounds and noises into a cultural status whereby humans
could record, reproduce, perceive, and eventually manipulate sounds and noises outside of its
ephemeral state. Kahn states: Because phonography did not just hear voicesit heard
everything sounds accumulated across a discursive diapason of one sound and all sound,
from isolation to totalization.
51
Futurisms appropriation of industrial noise and exploitation
of its musical capabilities are primary attributes of the modernist aesthetic: Modernism thus
entailed more sounds and produced a greater emphasis of listening to things, to different
things, and to more of them and on listening differently.
52

FUTURIST NOISE
In order to investigate the origins of futurist noise theory, we must first address the
German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, who pioneered the theories regarding the
acoustics and aesthetics of sound. In his comprehensive study, On The Sensations of Tone,
Helmholtz provides a physiological basis for the theory of music. In Part I, On The
Composition of Vibrations, Helmholtz makes a perceptual distinction between noise and
sound: The first and principal difference between various sounds experienced by our ear, is
that between noises and musical tones Noises and musical tones may certainly intermingle
in very various degrees, and pass insensibly into one another, but their extremes are widely
separated.
53
Helmholtz also addresses the physical differences of vibration between sound
and noise: The sensation of a musical tone is due to a rapid periodic motion of the sonorous
body; the sensation of a noise to non-periodic motions.
54
As we shall see, the line of
separation between noises and musical sounds becomes increasingly indistinct.
However, it is with Helmholtzs theories that the avant-gardes noise making has a basis for
its theories, and, in a sense, promoted its growth. Helmholtzs research established the basis
from which the avant-garde was able to expand on their theories on the physical properties of
noise.

51
Kahn, 9.
52
Ibid.
53
Hermann von Helmholtz, On the Sensations of Tone: As a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music.
(New York: Dover Publications, 1954), 7.
54
Ibid., 8


21
Russolos noise theories in The Art of Noises, is one of the initial instances where
Helmholtzs theories were questioned and criticized. In the chapter Physical Principles and
Practical Possibilities, Russolo provides a definition of sound and noise that expands on
Helmholtzs theory:
First let us see how noises and sounds are usually defined. Sound is defined as the
result of regular and periodic vibrations. Noise, instead, is caused by motions that
are irregular, as much in time as in intensity. A musical sensation, says,
Helmholtz, appears to the ear as a perfectly stable, uniform and invariable
sound. But the quality of continuity that sound has with respect to noise, which
seems instead fragmentary and irregular is not an element sufficient to make a
sharp distinction between sound and noise.
55

From this statement alone, we observe Russolos criticisms of theories based on the physical
distinction between sound and noise. Russolo is calling into question Helmholtzs criteria for
sound as being perfectly stable, uniform and invariable. Russolo argues that noises are, in a
contrasting manner, stable and uniform. However, Russolos theories would open critical
discourse and assert what Russolo valued in noise namely, the perceived unstable and
unpredictable nature of sounds both from nature and industry. His qualifications of sound and
noise lie with two governing bodies: vibrations, or speed at which a sound is produced, and
the timbre, or sound quality. From here, Russolo provides a broad overview of acoustics
based on the three characteristics of sound: intensity, pitch, and timbre. Russolos argument
for the underlying difference between sounds and noises is summed as follows: Thus, the
real and fundamental difference between sound and noise can be reduced to this alone: Noise
is generally much richer in harmonics than sound. And the harmonics of noise are usually
more intense than those that accompany sound.
56
Russolo opened the possibilities for noises
as an extension of sound and widening the timbral palette, contrasting Helmholtzs theories,
which he figured were too narrow in scope.
The subsequent chapters of The Art of Noises The Noises of Nature and Life
(Timbre and Rhythms), The Noises of War, and The Noises of Language include
further elaboration of Russolos noise theories. Clear indications of Russolos values are

55
Russolo, 37.
56
Ibid., 39.


22
displayed in the following passage at the beginning of Chapter Four, The Noise of Nature
and Life:
O Pastist Reader, who will have laughed aloud while reading in my manifesto that
we delight much more in combining in our thoughts the noises of trams, of
automobile engines, of carriages and brawling crowds, than in hearing again the
Eroica or the Pastorale, I want to lead you to the understanding and
admiration of the noises that nature and life offer us.
57

Russolo generalizes his audience and assumes they will scoff his theories. He also refers to
his manifesto, which includes his brotherhood of futurists, as an act of unity and defiance
against the status quo of music and musicianship. Furthermore, the concept of noise as idea,
and not as sound, is a distinction of psychological versus auditory noise. This binarism,
again, is problematic when determining what is deemed as noise. The trouble, Kahn
explains, is that noises are never just sounds and the sounds they mask are never just
sounds: they are also ideas of noise. Ideas of noise can be tetchy, abusive, transgressive,
resistive, hyperbolic, scientistic, generative, and cosmological.
58

The idea that noises are never just sounds is a concept that Russolo addresses by
emphasizing the noises of nature, war, and language. For instance, Russolo is interested in
the timbral and pitch variance of water. When the rain falls in large, single drops, the
general pitch that results is low. When instead it falls in quantity, the noise of rain is much
higher as a general pitch.
59
Russolo was inspired by the possibilities of noises in nature, as
their timbres, pitch, and amplitudes also changed throughout the course of the year: But not
only different trees produce different timbres, these timbres are different according to the
season. Thus, we have tender, very delicate murmurs in the spring, stronger, more intricate
and fuller rustlings in the summer, and finally the drier crackling, metallic noises of
autumn.
60
Obviously, geography has a profound impact on the noises we hear due to the
changes in seasons. When Russolo turns his attention to the noises of life, in particular the
noises of the city, we begin to see that Russolo classifies noises according to value based

57
Russolo, 41.
58
Kahn, 20.
59
Russolo, 42.
60
Ibid., 43.


23
hierarchies: And finally if we finish by analyzing the slightest and apparently least
interesting noises, we can make observations that are useful in understanding the other,
larger and more significant noises.
61
Life in the city provided Russolo with many noises and
limitless timbres, The street is an infinite mine of noises.
62
That Russolo uses the word
mine is significant, as his experiences during WWI greatly influenced his theories of
noises.
Russolos involvement in WWI provided him with extremely heightened sensory
experiences, which greatly influenced his appreciation of noises and, ultimately, informed the
construction of his intonarumori. Russolo states:
In modern warfare, mechanical and metallic, the element of sight is almost
zero.The sense, the significance, and the expressiveness of noises, are infinite
modern war cannot be expressed lyrically without the noise instrumentation of
futurist free words the futurist poets were and are since the beginning of the
Libyan War the only one who depict noise with free words the essence of todays
battles.
63

Marinettis futurist sound poem, Zang Tumb Tumb greatly influenced Russolos aggressive
vision. Russolo acknowledges Marinetti in his manifesto: Recently the poet Marinetti, in a
letter from the trenches of Adrianopolis, described to me with marvelous free words the
orchestra of a great battle: every five seconds siege cannons gutting space with a chord
ZANG_TUMBTUUUMB mutiny of 500 echos smashing scattering it to infinity.
64
By using
Marinettis onomatopoetic writing as a model, Russolo is able to describe, with great detail,
the acoustical and timbral variety of war noises, such as machines guns, grenades, and
explosions. The following excerpt provides an example of Russolos war noises, and covertly
acknowledges Helmholtzs theories while overtly using Marinettis free words formula:
In order to explain these different pitches we must consider the mass of air
displaced by the gas released from the shell as a vibrating bodyThe machine
gun has a characteristic wooden voice, with its rapid tok-tok-tok-tok, followed by

61
Russolo, 47. (Italics added)
62
Ibid., 45.
63
Ibid., 49. (Given the current political and social climate in Libya there certainly is irony in Russolos
words.)
64
Ibid., 26


24
a shaaah. The Austrian rifle heard from our trenches (I do not know how it
sounds to those who are shooting) has a curious noise two beats: tek-poom.
65

Within this description, Russolo acknowledges that the receiver and transmitter of noises will
perceive these sounds differently, a sentiment that recalls Kahns notion that, noises are
never just sounds.
66
In instances of war, noises often mean the difference between life and
death.
Russolo poses another response to Helmholtzs theories in his chapter The Noises of
Language (Consonants). First, we must address Helmholtzs Vowel Qualities of Tone, on
which Russolo based his theory. Following a study of the acoustic properties of wind and
string instruments, Helmholtz draws a comparison to the human voice, regarding resonance,
tone quality, and harmonic partials: The quality of tone thus produced has consequently a
peculiar character, and more or less resembles one of the vowels of the human voice.
67

Helmholtz also investigates the modification of vowel sounds by varying mouth positions.
Although the intention of Helmholtzs study is to enforce the proper singing tone of vowels,
his theories also lay foundations for extended vocal techniques used by many twentieth-
century performers.
As an extension of Helmholtzs work, Russolo grapples with noises produced by
consonants, with a slight degree of subjectivity: Vowels represent sound in language, while
consonants clearly represent noise.
68
Russolo also classifies noises (consonants) and sounds
(vowels), and differentiates the acoustical phenomena produced by their prolongation:
Some consonants, however, can be held long enough and require nothing more to
be perfect and well-pitched noises. It is understood that the consonants are not
prolonged with a vowel, of course, since the prolongation would be made with the
vowel and no longer with the consonant. The consonance itself is pronounced
rather than its name.
69

Russolos investigation sheds lights on the highly percussive nature of consonants when they
are sustained. In this context, Russolo, again cites Marinettis onomatopoetic chords in The

65
Russolo, 52.
66
Kahn, 21.
67
Helmholtz, 103.
68
Russolo, 56.
69
Ibid.


25
Visceral Repercussion Of The Lyric Onomatopoeias Of A Train and responds to their
effectiveness and potential for further inquiry: These examples are sufficient to demonstrate
the great efficacy and intensity of expression attained through the use of consonants. A new
and interesting investigation could be that of studying the origins of language and words with
reference to the imitation of noises.
70
Although Russolo acknowledged the usefulness of
language to create noises he focused his pursuits to the construction of his intonarumori and
composing.
THE AWAKENING OF A CITY
Aside from the opening seven bars of his composition Il risveglio di una citt, there is
scarce existing music by Russolo to document a musical manifestation of his theories. From
this excerpt alone it is difficult to garner a genuine appreciation of Russolos compositional
capabilities and aesthetic, but it does provide insight to his intent regarding his noise theories
and the possible uses of the intonarumori. The musicologist Edward Venn recently published
an essay entitled Rethinking Russolo, which calls into question Russolos reception and
value as a composer of futurist music: Although it is dangerous to assume that there is
necessarily a unity between a composers aesthetic writings and the compositional output,
there is evidence in the first seven bars of Il risveglio that Russolo practiced what he
preached.
71
Although Venn acknowledges Russolos accomplishments, he also questions
Russolos effectiveness as a composer due to his pragmatic approach: his use of the
intonarumori lacks a deft touch. The impression is that the composer is eager to show off his
creations. Within the first six bars, he deploys all of his available resources Clearly the city
is awakening quickly!
72
Later, Venn relents his criticism: One should perhaps not read too
much into these opening bars, for they represent Russolos earliest attempts at deploying the
new resources at his disposal However, the traditional basis of these bars should also serve
to limit readings of his work that overemphasize the progressive aspects.
73


70
Russolo, 60.
71
Venn, 11.
72
Ibid., 15.
73
Ibid., 16.


26
Venns criticism challenges other contemporary accounts of Italian futurism. In
Futurismo: Its Origins, Context, Repertory, and Influence, Mark Radice asserts futurisms
patriarchal status among the avant-garde: From our present-day perspective, it can be seen
that the Italian Futurist movement was the earliest of the radical, avant-garde movements that
affected music Futurism acted as a much-needed aesthetic irritant not only in Italy, but
throughout Eastern and Western Europe.
74
Ultimately, the main argument that Venn poses
Russolos relegation to an interesting footnote in music history is perhaps deserved,
75
is
due to the lack of documentation of Russolos music. However, Russolos noise resonated
loudly with the American experimental composers, particularly through the influence of
Edgard Varse, as the scholar Herbert Russcol contends:
The compositions of Pratella and Russolo are of meager artistic value simple
melodic ideas with an accompanying palette of noise. But their notions remained
in the air for decades. They had provocatively raised the question: where do
musical sounds end and noises begin? Only one composer of stature stepped
forward to make a methodical exploration of that dark, unknown sonic territory.
His name was Edgard Varse.
76

AMERICAN NOISE
While Varse admired the ambitions of the futurists, he criticized their shortcomings
and narrow vision. Varse owes much to the writings of Russolo, but it is the Italian
composer Ferruccio Busonis essay, Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music (1907), that
inspired Varses essay, The Liberation of Sound.
77
Busonis words served as a basis on
which Varse was able to cultivate his aesthetic of sound and noise. The ideas of freedom,
possibility, and liberation abound in Busonis writing: The art of music was born free and its
destiny is to win again its freedom.
78
This begs the question, Freedom from what? to

74
Radice, 16.
75
Venn, 16. For clarification, Venns argument, more or less, questions Russolos validity as a composer,
not as a theorist.
76
Herbert Russcol, The Liberation of Sound: An Introduction to Electronic Music (Englewood Cliffs, NJ :
Prentice-Hall, 1972), 42.
77
Varse had read Busonis essay, which left a great impression on the young composer. Varse moved to
Berlin and became close friends with Busoni, even though they had conflicting views of music and the
possibilities for electronic music.
78
Ferruccio Busoni, Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music, in Source Readings in Music Vol. 7, ed. Oliver
Stunk, 52.


27
which Busoni offers the following response: Our tonal range has become so narrow, its
form of expression so stereotypical, that there is now no known motive which cannot be
joined with another known motive so that the two can be played simultaneously.
79
Busoni
desired a greater range of sound and tonality, as did Russolo and Varse. Furthermore,
Varses Hyperprism (192223) and Ionisation (192931) accommodate Russolos and
Busonis pleas for an expanded tonal range, and demonstrate the acoustical principles raised
by Helmholtz in his entries Pitch and the Siren and On an Electro-Magnetic Driving
Machine for the Siren.
80

Although Varse was curious about the futurists noise, he pointedly disassociated his
own aesthetic and values from futurism.
81
Varses chief student Chou Wen-Chung echoes
this sentiment:
Because of his interest in percussion and his acquaintance with Marinetti and
Russolo, Varse was referred to on occasion as a Futurist; but his ideas and use of
sounds and noises in music are entirely opposed to those of the Futurists. He once
said: The Futurists believed in reproducing sounds literally; I believe in the
metamorphosis of sounds into music.
82

Chou makes a distinction between noise and sound, while Varse, in his own words, does
not. In the Liberation of Sound, Varse provides an explanation of his decision to
incorporate sirens in his music: Our new medium has brought to composers almost endless
possibilities of expression, and opened up for them the whole mysterious world of sound. For
instance, I have always felt the need for a kind of continuous flowing curve that instruments
could not give me. That is why I used sirens in several of my works.
83
From this example it
is clear that Varses choice to use the sirens was not meant to evoke a physical or

79
Busoni, 53.
80
Helmholtz, 1112, 372. Helmholtz demonstrates the siren through sketches and explains the acoustical
phenomenon that occurs with the siren rotates in relation to pitch and amplitude. He also addresses the
possibilities for his new electro-magnetic siren that operates with a constant velocity of rotation as opposed to
the hand driven siren.
81
Varses personal relationship with the futurists continued despite his aesthetic dissociation toward
futurism. In 1929, Varse introduced to a Paris audience Russolos most advanced noise-intoned keyboard
instrument called the Russolofono.
82
Chou Wen-Chung, Varse: A Sketch of the Man and His Music, The Musical Quarterly Vol. 52 No. 2
(April 1966): 156.
83
Varse, 18.


28
psychological response (although its effect is dramatic), but rather to suit his needs for a
specific sound that created a continuous glissando. Varses interests in percussion
culminated in his work Ionisation, which was the first concert hall percussion work written
for thirteen players; featuring an array of cymbals, gongs, keyboard and hand percussion,
field drums, a whip, and sirens.
Henry Cowell also echoed many of the sentiments posed by Russolos The Art of
Noises and accredited his newfound fascination with noise to the works of Varse. In his
essay The J oys of Noise, Cowell makes a distinction between noises as mere sounds and
noises used for musical construct: My interest in noise as a musical element began when I
discovered my delight on hearing Varses Hyperprism.
84
In the same essay, Cowell
clarifies his perception regarding noise as an artistic aesthetic: Although existing in all
music, the noise element has been to music as sex to humanity, essential to its existence, but
impolite to mention, something to be cloaked by ignorance and silence. Hence the use of
noise in music has been largely unconscious and undiscussed.
85
What Cowell is
highlighting, as did Varse and Russolo, are the subjective and conscious decisions that
composers engage in when utilizing noises as an integral musical character of a composition.
Noises, no matter how cloaked, are inherent in musical sounds. Although Cowells The
Banshee (1925) with its sweeping of flesh across the piano strings was composed six
years before his essay, it is significant in that Cowell recognizes that Varses adaptation of
noise in Hyperprism had a profound effect on his compositional and theoretical aesthetic.
Furthermore, the commission of the Rhythmicon, despite its initial failure, provides another
indication of the adaptation of Russolos theories: In creating noise, then, strength and
irregularity with which a body is set into motion will determine the production of extremely
different harmonic sounds.
86
Russolos language would continue to resonate in the tradition
of American experimentalism, and the composer J ohn Cage would interpret Russolos vision
in a unique way.

84
Cowell, 249.
85
Ibid., 252.
86
Russolo, 3839. Similar to Russolos intonarumori Cowells Rhythmicon was intended to demonstrate
the overtone series by way of rhythmic-harmonic relationships.


29
Cage was the most prominent figure of American experimental music, and his work
continues to resound well into the twenty-first century. Cages theories regarding sounds and
silence provide further indication of the links between Italian and American experimental
music. In his essay The Future of Music: Credo, Cage calls for the exploration of new
musical terrain through the electronic medium: I believe that the use of noise to make music
will continue and increase until we reach a music produced through the aid of electrical
instruments which will make available for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be
heard.
87
Cages prediction echoed sentiments posed by Varse in New Instruments and
New Music and the Electronic Medium,
88
and places noise and sound on the same plane.
On the perception of noise he states, Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When
we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it we find it fascinating.
89
Cage acknowledges
that receivers of noise make conscious decisions whether or not to accept it. Similarly,
composers who integrate noise into their compositions are also making conscious decisions
based on their values, as Cage asserts: We want to capture and control these sounds, to use
them not as sound effects but as musical instruments.
90
From Cages assertion we can make
the connection to Russolos intonarumori, which emulated the environments of industry and
the sounds of nature. Further on, Cage corroborates the use of Varses term organized
sound: If this word music is sacred and reserved for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
instruments, we can substitute a more meaningful term: organization of sound.
91
Contrary to
Russolos bemoaning of Beethovens Eroica and Pastorale Symphonies, Cage politely
distinguishes between the older and newer forms of music.
In Miroslav Sebestiks documentary entitled Listen, Cage provides valuable insight
regarding his aesthetics pertaining to the meanings of sound, silence, and music:
When I talk about music it finally comes to peoples minds that I am talking about
sound that doesnt mean anything that is not inner but is just outer. And they say
(these people who understand that), You mean its just sounds? thinking that for

87
Cage, 34.
88
Varse, 11, 17.
89
Cage, 3.
90
Ibid.
91
Ibid.


30
something to just be a sound is to be useless, whereas I love sounds, just as they
are, and I have no need for them to be anything more than what they are. I dont
want them to be psychological, I dont want a sound to pretend that its a bucket,
or that its president, or that its in love with another sound [laughs]. I just want it
to be a sound.
92

Whereas other American experimental composers and Russolo made a distinction between
noise and sound, Cage granted no such distinction. By Cages definition musical sounds and
non-musical noises are equal. He values the activity of traffic noises just as much as the
sounds of the orchestra, and his distinctions are based on the type of sound created, how it is
produced, and how it is received.
Two compositions by Cage that reflect Russolos theories are Water Music (1952)
and Water Walk (1959). Water Music is a performance piece that involves playing the piano,
operating a radio, bird whistles, shuffling a deck of cards and then dealing them on top of the
piano strings, and shaking water containers. The work is temporally organized with all
timings and indications specifically marked; certain decisions, such as pitch, are left up to the
performer. Similarly Water Walk (also known as Water Music 2) is temporally organized
with all the featured musical objects having a relationship to water. In this piece, Cage calls
for a grand piano, a bathtub, a toy fish, a pressure cooker, ice cubes chopped in an electric
blender, a goose whistle, five radios, a gong, a watering can, flowers in a vase, and a single-
track tape machine. Several of these objects are dropped into the bathtub and submerged in
water. When the gong is struck and then submerged in the bathtub it produces a glissando,
which raises or lowers the pitch depending on whether the performer raises or lowers the
gong in the bathtub. Included in the score are instructions for the floor plan, arrangement of
objects, and pictographs describing the actions of musical events. Cage also indicates the
timings, which were not as precise as Water Music but should be followed as close as
possible with a stopwatch.
The performance of Cages Water Walk on the popular television Ive Got a Secret
(1960) marks a change in culture regarding the use of noise and sounds in what were then
considered unconventional methods for musical compositions. Although the performance
was largely viewed as an eccentric novelty act, the fact that the producers cancelled the

92
Miroslav Sebestik, Listen, J BA Production, CD, 1992.


31
shows regular programming for the act shows an appreciation for, and recognition of,
Cages musical aesthetic. Prior to the performance, the show host asks Cage about a course
in experimental sounds he was teaching, and Cage politely corrects the host, calling it
experimental music. He then asks if Cage considers his piece music, to which the composer
responded: I consider music the production of sounds, and since, in the piece you will hear,
I produce sound [pause] I will call it music.
93

What Cage and other experimental composers are questioning are not only the sounds
that are available for use in a composition, but also the means in which these sounds can be
created, transmitted, and received. Many of these composers works feature unconventional
notation, such as Russolos block notation for the intonarumori, Cowells numeric swiping
indicators on the piano strings, and Varses and Cages graphic scores. As Attali states, In
composition, it is cartography, local knowledge, the insertion of culture into production and a
general availability of new tools and instruments.
94
Varse, Cowell, and Cage were
interested in the study of new sounds and noises, and the availability of new compositional
tools and instruments facilitated their work. Along with these innovations and new noises
came new attitudes and perceptions about noises. Furthermore, the composers who adopted
noise in their works were adapting to their environments filled with noise. As noise would
eventually become accepted into the culture of popular music with the rise of punk rock in
the 70s, hip-hop in the 80s, and techno music in the 90s, it has also provided many
composers with a voice that may have otherwise remained silent in the raucous din of urban
humanity.

93
Cage, J ohn Cage Walter Walk, Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSulycqZH-U
(accessed; May 14, 2011).
94
J acques Attali, Noise: The Political Economy of Music (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota
Press, 1985), 147.


32
CHAPTER 3
VIOLENT ACTS OF NOISE
Mike Patton was born in Eureka, California on J anuary 27, 1968. While Patton is
primarily known as the lead singer for the experimental rock bands Faith No More and Mr.
Bungle, he has transcended musical categorization by means of his diverse musical activities.
With Faith No More, Patton recorded four full-length studio albums: The Real Thing (1989),
Angel Dust (1992), King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime (1995), and Album Of The Year
(1997). The Real Thing, with its heavily rotated radio hit and MTV music video Epic,
garnered significant commercial success and critical acclaim for the band, and placed Patton
among a significant list of rock band singers. His vocals talents are matched by his energetic
live performances during which he dances and thrashes about the stage, engages in
confrontations with audience members, and is not afraid to go stage diving (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Mike Patton crowd surfing at the Hollywood
Palladium, December 1, 2010. Photo by Lawrence Jay
Rizzuto.
Throughout his years with Faith No More, Patton was also performing and recording
with another experimental rock band, Mr. Bungle. Ultimately his commercial success with
Faith No More led to Mr. Bungles recording contract with Warner Brothers. Unfortunately
for many Mr. Bungle fans, the band has not recorded or performed live during the past seven


33
years. After their third album, California (1999), the band split apart due to personal and
artistic differences, which ultimately led to Pattons pursuit of other musical interests. In an
interview by Danny Canak, Patton discussed the future of Mr. Bungle: I think it is over. The
guys are spread all over the world and we dont talk to each other. I have not spoken to a
couple of the guys since the last tour, years ago.
95
In a Rolling Stone interview Patton
addresses the personal and creative differences that plagued Mr. Bungle: Im at the point
now where I crave healthy musical environments, where there is a genuine exchange of ideas
without repressed envy or resentment, and where people in the band want to be there
regardless of what public accolades come their way. Unfortunately, Mr. Bungle was not one
of those places.
96

Mr. Bungles first record, Mr. Bungle (1991), produced by the experimental
composer and musician J ohn Zorn, clearly has Zorns fingerprints on it with furiously paced
mashing of genres, but it is Mr. Bungles sophomore release, Disco Volante (1995), in which
we can trace Pattons earliest associations with Italian futurism. Disco Volante is an album
that engages several genres of music, including noise-infused adaptations of metal, jazz,
techno, and spaghetti western. The albums polystylistic nature baffled much of the audience
who responded to their previous album. One of the songs, Violenza Domestica,
exemplifies a clear allusion to the futurist aesthetic. Violenza Domestica is sung in Italian
and contains a wide variety of noises. The song begins with the sounds of knives sharpening,
the crack of a whip, indeterminate percussive noises in the background, Patton muttering in
Italian, and distorted guitars. This setting creates an atmosphere that evokes violence (as the
title suggests) through the use of unconventional musical sounds and noises. The lyrics,
combined with the disturbing noises and constantly shifting of musical textures, produces a
musical setting that is both suspenseful and charged, and is akin to a soundtrack from a 1950s
thriller movie.
There are moments within the song where the textures shift in accordance with the
lyrics in order to enhance the dramatic effect of the music. Patton is playing the role of two

95
Danny Canak, Bungle No More, AbsolutMetal.com, http://www.absolutmetal.
com/PattonInterview.htm (accessed March 31, 2011).
96
Greg Prato, Mr. Bugle Goes Kaput. Rolling Stone. www.rollingstone.com
/news/story/6659786/mr_bungle_go_kaput (accessed March 31, 2011).


34
voices, with one as the abuser and the other voice as the victim, which evokes such
psychological noise as fear, aggression, and violence. Patton changes the timbral quality of
his voice to enhance the lyrical relationship to the noises and shifts in musical textures. For
instance, when Patton sings Ti faro male in posti che nessuno port mai vedere. Nessuno! In
posti che ti faranno male per il resto della tua vita! (I will hurt you in places that no one
will ever see. No one! In places that will hurt you for the rest of your life!), the music
changes texture, timbre, and meter to create a dramatic effect. The accordion and organ play
a mysterious dance in 3/4 time with orchestral cymbal swells. A descending chromatic
figure played on the piano panned right to left to add depth to the descent, and frantic
tremolando in the accordion accompany Pattons words, il resto della tua vita! At this
point, the music resolves with a subdued organ ostinato played in 4/4 time while a mandolin
rapidly tremolos in the background.
Pattons lyrics, which emphasize elements of danger and violence, reflect several
futurist writings, including Marinettis The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism. It was
after a near death-experience in an automobile accident that Marinetti had his rebirth, or
awakening, and he recalls these events with allusions to matriarchal care giving: O maternal
ditch, almost full of muddy water! Fair factory drain! I gulped down your nourishing sludge;
and I remembered the blessed black breast of my Sudanese nurse When I came up torn,
filthy, and sticking from under the capsized car, I felt the white-hot iron of joy deliciously
pass through my heart!
97
Literary critic Marjorie Perloff describes the symbolic nature of
Marinettis words: The language is still heavily Symbolist But these images do not point
toward the self On the contrary, Marinettis selfhood is subordinated to the communal
we, addressing the you of the crowd, the mass audience he hopes to move as well as
delight.
98
Similarly, Patton addresses the audience with two voices. The patriarch or
matriarch of the family described in Pattons lyrics (as gender is not specified) is either the
bearer or asserter of violent behavior, and violence was often celebrated in the writings of the
futurists, as notions of destruction permeate every futurist manifesto. The following excerpt

97
F. T. Marinetti, The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism, 21.
98
Marjorie Perloff, The Futurist Movement: Avant-Garde, Avant Guerre, and the Language of Rupture
(Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 87.


35
from Marinettis manifesto highlights assertions of violence and calls for an art conceived as
a violent activity:
We intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness We
intend to exalt aggressive action the punch and the slap No work without an
aggressive character can be a masterpiece. Poetry must be conceived as a violent
attack on unknown forces, to reduce and prostrate them before man We will
glorify war We will sing great of great crowds excited by work flashing in
the sun with a glitter of knives Art, in fact can be nothing but violence, cruelty,
and injustice.
99

It is unlikely that Pattons intent is to celebrate acts of domestic violence in Violenza
Domestica, but violence is evoked in the lyrics, musical sounds, and the noises that are
incorporated. Furthermore, the act of recording and performing these lyrics is commodified
as an art object, which, however, is a form of glorification.
The liner notes for Disco Volante include artwork that bear a striking resemblance to
the visual aspects of Marinettis futurist poetry. The collage style and fragmented grouping of
pictures, words, and numbers were inherent traits of futurist publications. Perloff describes
the futurists use of collage and positioning of characters: the verbal-visual space created by
the positioning of phrases, words, and letters, by the acrostics, puns, and catalogs in which
discordant elements are introduced, a verbal-visual space that could not have existed prior to
the invention of the typewriter, has strong affinities with collage composition.
100
The
collage comprises two pages in the liner notes and is based on black and white contrast and
linear geometric symmetry. There are photographic images of a man holding a gun, a man
being grabbed by his dress shirt, and a man and womans shoes next to a bed. The three
images differ in size and are loosely dispersed in the collage. The focus of the artwork is on
Pattons lyrics, which are centered and comprise a variety of handwritten fonts. Some of the
words appear agitated and others are smooth in character. For instance, senza lingua
(without your tongue) is placed within in the shards of a broken wine glass, and the words
voglio dire che (I want to say that) are placed inside a heart-shaped figure. Curiously, the
word ascolta (listen) is misspelled escolta.

99
Marinetti, 222. Italics added
100
Perloff, 100


36
Disco Volante marked a change in aesthetic and sound for Mr. Bungle. Pattons
desire to explore elements of futurist noise may have contributed to Mr. Bungles demise.
Theo Lengyel, the wind instrumentalist in the band, would leave Mr. Bungle shortly after the
release and worldwide tour of Disco Volante, mainly because the music did not call for
saxophone, trombone, or flute parts. As bassist Trevor Dunn recalls: We unanimously
decided to go on without him [Lengyel] because he wasnt growing with the rest of the band
and we were running out of things for him to do.
101
Music critics were also conflicted about
the musical direction of Mr. Bungle and Disco Volante. Cameron McDonald wrote a review
of the album reflecting on its initial release and then providing a second thought on the
album a decade later:
Of course, I didnt like everything I heard. There were a few songs that I could
not listen to without winching. The bands zest for skipping across a dozen genres
within one song often throwing in thrash-metal assaults seemingly thrown in for
the hell of it gave me headaches A decade later, Disco Volante still sounds
daring. My ears have received enough damage from noisicians with laptops and
white noise generators, that I can now tolerate more of Disco Volantes discord.
102

Since the release of Disco Volante McDonalds perception of noise has changed, as he has
adapted to its situation in popular music. He even classifies a new breed of musician,
noisician, distinct from that of a musician, who might also use noise in their works. To
McDonald, the distinction might be as simple as needing a laptop, which Patton frequently
uses during his live performances to produce noises.
Pattons experiences with Mr. Bungle, his relationship with J ohn Zorn, and his
touring experiences in Italy had a profound effect on his creative aesthetic. We shall next
investigate the events of Pattons experiences in Italy that ultimately gave rise to his interest
in Italian futurism and his foremost futurist work, Pranzo Oltranzista.
While touring with the bands Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, Patton performed
numerous times in Italy, and in 1994 he married the Italian visual artist Titi Zuccatosta and
resided in Bologna. In 2001, Patton and Zuccatosta separated but they remain friends. In an

101
Trevor Dunn, Your Questions/My Answers: 2005, Trevordunn.net, http://trevordunn.net/qa2005.html
(accessed April 2, 2011).
102
Cameron McDonald, Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante, Stylusmagazine.com,
http//www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=1994 ( accessed April 2, 2011).


37
interview on Loveline, Patton suggested that his rigorous professional schedule and work
habits affected their marriage. A caller asked Patton how he maintains a relationship when he
is involved with his music, and he stated:
I got married when I was twenty-four, I am thirty-eight now, and I have been
separated for five years but its a good thing I feel like it had to happen, it was
two people wanting different things, even though we knew each other really well
when we got married, it doesnt get easier. Were trying this, see what happens,
and there is still hope.
103

Pattons relationship with Italian culture did not necessarily blossom from his marriage, but
rather it grew from his learning of the language and through his affinity for Italian culture.
Outside of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, Patton has performed frequently in Italy,
including several engagements with J ohn Zorns Moonchild Trio, a performance of
Lamentatio and Inquisitio by the American composer Eyvind Kang at Teatro di Modena in
2006, and the recent live performances of his album Mondo Cane. In an interview with the
online magazine Artist Direct, Patton describes his early exposure to Italy and explains how
his experiences shaped his affinity for Italian culture:
It happened after I got married, my friend [laughs]. I married an Italian lady, and I
had to get acquainted. Basically, it started with the language because her family
and parents didnt really speak English. I had to learn the language, so I did that.
The longer you spend in a place like that, it really sucks you in. It really envelops
you and makes you feel like one of them. If you say Ciao they go, Oh my God,
thats amazing! That sounds great! Youre Italian! Its not like France, where
you say, Bonjour and they go, No, no, no, its Bonjouuurrr! [Laughs] I had
never been taken in like I was in Italy just by saying a few words. That made me
feel like I had to put in the effort and I want to be one of them.
104

Furthermore, Patton engaged in the language with persistence, often giving interviews and
answering questions in Italian, as in an excerpt from a YouTube interview prior to a Mr.
Bungle performance in Bologna.
105
Essentially it was Pattons insistence on learning the
language that allowed him to thrive in Italy.

103
Mike Patton, Loveline, westwooddone.com, http://www.westwoodone.com/pg/jsp/loveline/
tonightarchive.jsp; jsessionid=ACEAF$D2F98E40FFA560FABCC70939A6?pid=9543 (accessed April 9,
2011).
104
Rick Florino, Faith No Mores Mike Patton on Mondo Cane I was living a completely different
experience, and that was Italy, Artist Direct.com.
105
Mike Patton, Mr. Bungle in Bologna, Youtube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr5d3CNe
Pp8 (accessed April 10, 2011)


38
In an interview with Alarm Press, Patton describes how he learned the language and
assimilated to Italy: I did have a lot of friends there. Most of them spoke English, but my
whole deal was dont speak to me in English; I have to learn. Im not doing any DVD
Rosetta Stone bullshit. Trial by fire, you know?
106
(It was during this time that the seeds
were being planted for Pattons latest release Mondo Cane, which would realize Italian pop
songs by famed composers such as Ennio Morricone.) Further on in the interview Patton
states:
You want to be a part of everyday life there and you dont want anybody to look
at you sideways. So you find ways of blending in, and its a real challenge. I was
able to do it, by learning the language well enough and then also really immersing
myself in the musical scene. Oddly enough, I became attracted to the stuff from
the 60s and 70s, and thats where this record comes from.
107

In an interview with Spin magazine Patton describes his experiences and affinity for Italian
culture: While there I immersed myself in the complete culture: the music, art, literature,
film, food and history. As a country, Italy does a good job of holding onto its rich traditions
and culture. Theres a real lack of embracing history in America.
108
Patton notes what he
perceives to be important differences between American and Italian cultures, which verifies
that Pattons experiences in Italy changed his opinion of American culture and his artistic
aesthetic. When Patton performs in Italy he not only sings in Italian, but he also addresses the
audience in Italian. This allows him to connect and identify himself not just as a performer,
but an American performer who has adopted an Italian persona that complements Italian
culture.
In another interview with the online magazine The Vine, Patton describes the
reasoning for his submersion in language:
Its not to say that you need to know what Im saying. I dont think you need to
know the meaning of the words; if the words sound good and if the vocal sound
good, I think thats enough. Me, I had very deep reasons for learning the language

106
Scott Morrow, Mike Patton: Anomalous Vocalist Tackles Italian Orch-Pop, Alarmpress.com,
http://alarmpress.com/17905/features/music-interview/mike-patton-anomalous-vocalist-tackles-italain-orch-
pop/ (accessed April 9, 2011).
107
Florino.
108
Tim Lucas, Q&A: Faith No Mores Mike Patton Talks New Music, Spin.com,
http://www.spin.com/article/qa-faith-no-mores-mike-patton-talks-new-musicPA (accessed April 9, 2011).


39
and felt like if I didnt; why should I be there, why should I be living in a place as
a complete gringo? I was learning both the language at the same time.
109

To Patton, understanding language should not influence ones experience with music, and he
values the timbral quality of the voice over comprehension of language. To illuminate the
connection to Pattons study of Italian language and his concerns with meaning and
interpretation, we can draw from the writings of Pierre Boulez. Boulezs affirmation
addresses meaning and the necessity for critical engagement in text and the language from
which it is spoken:
The musical text having thus been structured in relation to the poetic text, the
obstacle of its intelligibility arises. Let us, without evasion, ask: is the fact of not
understanding supposing that the interpretation has been perfect an absolute,
unconditional sign that the work is not good If you wish to understand the text,
then read it, or speak it: there can be no better solution.
110

Although the context of Boulezs argument is specific to poetic texts, Pattons comments are
similar as not understanding language should not hamper ones interpretation and personal
experience with a work. However, Patton needed to have an accurate understanding of Italian
if he was to convey, with an appropriate amount of authenticity, the Italian pop songs he
adopted for Mondo Cane. Singing the words was not enough for him to connect with Italian
culture; to be engaged and to be accepted, Patton valued what he describes as a deep
reasoning of Italian language and its meaning. In a separate interview, Patton explains his
reasoning for the trial by fire attitude he adopted while learning the language:
I took it as sort of a personal benchmark to not have an American accent. Its the
ugliest; it really is basically like pissing all over whats great about the Italian
language. Were [Americans] very hard, very fast, very staccato; theirs [Italians]
is long and flowing; it sounds like a curtain in the wind. Its a hard thing to adapt
to, but the way I learned was by ear. I heard it as music. I realized that the only
way for me to do it was to live there, and not speak English. Trial by fire; I told
all my friends, No, speak to me in Italian, correct me when Im wrong, and make
a fool out of me, Its the only way Im going to learn. I was lucky it worked.
111


109
Andrew McMillen, Mike Patton Interview, Thevine.com, http://www.thevine. com.au/music
/interviews/mike-patton-_-interview20100528.aspx (accessed April 10, 2011).
110
Pierre Boulez, Notes Of An Apprenticeship, trans. Herbert Weinstock (New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1968), 55.
111
McMillen.


40
His experiences in Italy culminated in last years release of Mondo Cane. Pattons
realizations of Italian pop songs pay tribute to a culture with which he fell in love, as he
states in the interview with Florino: Absolutely! This is like a snapshot of me getting to
know Italy. Its the love affair with a great country I got to know it better and better and I
did lots of research.
112

Pattons love affair with Italy eventually paid dividends as Mondo Cane debuted at
No. 2 on the Classical Billboard charts.
113
Along with receiving critical acclaim and notoriety
as a multi-talented musician and composer, Patton has become a sensation in Italian culture,
meeting the approval of several local dignitaries. In video footage from a YouTube
document, Patton meets the Mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, backstage before a performance
of Mondo Cane at the Milan Civic Arena on J uly 10, 2010. During the interview Patton
converses in English and Italian, and he is engaged in conversation with the Mayor, whom he
is clearly honored to meet. Moratti hands Patton a copy of Mondo Cane and asks, Posso
avere un autografo? (Can I have your autograph?), to which Patton responds, Crto!
Dovrei incenerire a Lei! (Of course! I should ask you!).
114

Pattons immersion and involvement in Italian arts has also resulted in a recent
collaboration with the musicologist and composer Luciano Chessa, whose scholarly work
includes reconstructions of the intonarumori. Chessaconducted extensive research of
Russolos life and uncovered some previously unknown details regarding the demise of the
intonarumori. Chessa discovered that the instruments may not have been lost during
bombing campaigns, as previously thought, but rather when the Nazis retreated through
Northern Italy and used the instruments for firewood.
115


112
Florino.
113
Classical Billboard, Classical Albums, Billboard.com, http://www.billboard.com/charts/classical-
albums#/charts/classical-albums?chartDate=2010-05-22 (accessed April 23, 2011).
114
YouTube, Moratti e Terzi da Mike Patton, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b19BcCxtNU&
feature=related (accessed April 22, 2011).
115
David Weinstein, Performa 2009: Luciano Chessa, Luigi Russolo, and the Intonarumori, Art on Air,
http://artonair.org/show/performa-2009-luciano-chessa-luigi-russolo-and-the-intonarumori (accessed April 10,
2011).


41
Recognizing Pattons talents and responding to his work on Pranzo Oltranzista,
Chessa commissioned Patton to write a piece of music for the Performa 09 Series in San
Francisco. It was because of Pranzo Oltranzista that Chessa sought out Patton:
I commissioned Mike for a new piece for intonarumori precisely because of
Pranzo Oltranzista, which I bought when it came out. I have actually known
Mike since his, and my, Bolognese years: la Zuccatosta used to hang out in the
same place where I was curating experimental music concerts in Bologna in the
mid 90s, and I was one of the producers of a concert Mike did there.
116

The title of Pattons work is <<Kostnice>>, which is based on the infamous Sedlec
chapel of bones ossuary in the Czech Republic, and as Patton states, The piece is arranged
in a similar way, based on motifs composed of sonic bone fragments and references the
human body as a sort of building block for an audio house of worship.
117

Pattons personal and professional experiences, including his work with Zorn,
Chessa, and Mondo Cane, are connected to his attraction towards the writings of the Italian
futurists. His exposure to the literature of the futurists was the inspiration for Pranzo
Oltranzista, which is derived from Marinettis The Futurist Cookbook and which contains
many musical traits that were explored by the American experimentalist composers Varse,
Cowell, and Cage. The following chapter will examine the contents of Marinettis cookbook
with a description of Pattons realizations of Marinettis recipes.

116
Luciano Chessa, e-mail message to author, January 25, 2011.
117
Mike Patton, from Luciano Chessa e-mail message to author, J anuary 25, 2011.


42
CHAPTER FOUR
THE EXTREMIST BANQUET
The Futurist Cookbook (1932) by Marinetti was written in collaboration with the
painter and amateur artist Luigi Colombo Filla. As author Lesley Chamberlain states in the
introduction to the cookbook, The Futurist Cookbook is densely poetic text woven around
repeated concepts and images,
118
in which Marinetti combines his technique of free words
and poetry to create recipes. It is important to address the cookbooks fascist overtones as
Marinettis attempts to make futurism the state art are interwoven into the text of the
cookbook. The futurists rival school of artists and entrepreneurs was The Novecento group,
which was led by Benito Mussolinis mistress Margherita Sarfatti. Chamberlain addresses
Marinettis relationship to fascism and Mussolini: At the height of Futurism Marinetti
became embroiled with Mussolini and Fascism, a connection which led to his being ignored
by the Italian public for three decades after the war. His Fascism remains a hotly-debated
question, again not helped by Marinettis constant interweaving of art and life.
119
Adding to
Marinettis fascist persona are numerous photographs of Marinetti in the uniform of the
Italian Academy, and images of Marinetti with members of the fascist party.
While the cookbook evokes racist, misogynist, and fascist overtones, Chamberlain
acknowledges it had a humorous side:
It is funny, almost slapstick in its attacks on bourgeois habits, stuffy professors
and the war between the sexes. At eating times it has the atmosphere of a
childrens party. Overall the form is a collage containing many different messages
and textures, including newspaper quotes, personal letters, true reportage, and
spoof history.
120


118
Chamberlain, The Futurist Cookbook, 18.
119
Ibid., 15.
120
Chamberlain, 1820.


43
Marinettis initial declaration for futurist cooking occurred at a futurist dinner party at
the Penna DOca restaurant in Milan. At the conclusion of the meal, and after much
discussion about the present of futurism, Marinetti issued the following statement:
I hereby announce the imminent launch of Futurist Cooking to renew totally the
Italian way of eating and fit it as quickly as possible to produce the new and
dynamic strengths required of the race. Futurist cooking will be free of the old
obsession with volume and weight and will have as one of its principles the
abolition of pastasciutta. Pastasciutta, however agreeable to the palate, is a
passist food because it makes people heavy, brutish, deludes them into thinking
it is nutritious, makes them skeptical, slow, pessimistic. Besides which
patriotically it is preferable to substitute rice.
121

In order to address the intricacies of Marinettis recipes, we must acknowledge his manifesto,
Destruction of Syntax Imagination without Strings Words-in-Freedom (1913), which
explains his theories on syntax and language.
In the manifesto, Marinetti denounces the academic formulas of his predecessors
and contemporaries: Casting aside every stupid formula and all the confused verbalisms of
the professors, I now declare that lyricism is the exquisite faculty of intoxicating oneself with
life, of filling life with the inebriation on oneself.
122
To Marinetti, words-in-freedom and
imagination without strings are the main ingredients and essence of material:
With words-in-freedom we will have: CONDENSED METAPHORS
COMPRESSED ANALOGIES. DIMENSIONS, WEIGHTS, MEASURES,
AND THE SPEED OF SENSATIONSRESTFUL MOMENTS OF
INTUITION. MOVEMENTS IN TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE DIFFERENT
RHYTHMS.
123

Further on in the manifesto Marinetti explains his concept of multilinear lyricism as a
complex chain of musical sensations that evoke color, sound, smell, noise, weight, and
density. J ust as Busoni, Russolo, and Varse advocated for the liberation of sound, Marinetti
called for the expansion of timbral possibilities of language. The conclusion to the same
manifesto addresses the possibilities for free words:

121
F. T. Marinetti, The Futurist Cookbook, (San Francisco: Bedford Arts, 1989), 33.
122
F. T. Marinetti, Destruction of Syntax Imagination without Strings Words-in-Freedom, in
Futurist Manifestos ed. Umbro Apollonio (New York: Viking Press, 1970), 98.
123
Marinetti, The Futurist Cookbook, 100.


44
Today we no longer want the lyric intoxication to order the words syntactically
before launching them forth with the breaths we have invented, and we have
words-in-freedom. Moreover our lyric intoxication should freely deform, reflesh
the words, cutting them short, stretching them out, reinforcing the center of the
extremities. Augmenting or diminishing the number of vowels of consonants.
Thus we will have the new orthography that I call free expressive. This instinctive
deformation of words corresponds to our natural tendency towards onomatopoeia.
It matters little if the deformed word becomes ambiguous. It will marry itself to
the onomatopoetic harmonies, or the noise-summaries, and will permit us soon to
reach the onomatopoetic psychic harmony, the sonorous but abstract expression
of an emotion or pure thought.
124

Marinettis poetics and Pattons musical ideas are linked as Patton frequently incorporates
extended voice techniques that augment and diminish consonants and vowels, he prolongs
and shortens words to complement the music, and he contrasts the dynamics of his voice for
dramatic effect.
Drawing from Marinettis manifesto and aesthetic, we can establish connections to
Pattons Pranzo Oltranzista, which realizes Marinettis recipes through noise-summaries.
What follows is a descriptive analysis of selected tracks from Pattons album that refer to
specific recipes in Marinettis cookbook.
125
Pattons compositions are developed through
instrumental and vocal relationships that contrast sounds and noises common to the
atmosphere of a kitchen. He intermingles live acoustic and sampled sounds, juxtaposing
kitchen noises with instruments to produces various timbres, dynamics, and textures. The
songs that are analyzed were selected for the following reasons: they are interpretations of
Marinettis recipes; and they incorporate noises and sounds that occur in industrial and
natural environments; they recall the extended musical techniques that were theorized and
practiced by Cage, Cowell, Russolo, and Varse.
Carne Cruda Squarciata Dal Suono Si Sassofono (Raw Meat Torn By Saxophone
Blasts) is an adaptation of Marinettis formula Carne Cruda Squarciata Dal Suono Si
Tromba (Raw Meat Torn By Trumpet Blasts). Marinettis and Pattons renderings have
different ingredients and instructions for preparation. Here is Marinettis recipe:

124
Ibid., 106.
125
It should be stated that in The Futurist Cookbook the recipes are referred to as formulas but in the
liner notes to Pranzo Oltranzista Patton describes them as recipes.


45
Cut a perfect cube of beef. Pass an electric current though it, then marinate it for
twenty-four hours in a mixture of rum, cognac and white vermouth. Remove it
from the mixture and serve on a bed of red pepper, black pepper and snow. Each
mouthful is to be chewed carefully for one minute, and each mouthful is divided
from the next by vehement blasts on the trumpet blown by the eater himself.
126

Pattons translation of Marinettis formula varies slightly as his recipe substitutes the trumpet
with a saxophone, he omits certain ingredients, and he is not as precise about the preparation:
Cubes of beef marinated in rum, cognac and white vermouth served on a bed of black
pepper and snow. Each mouthful is separated by saxophone blasts blown by the eater
himself.
127

The form of this composition is simple binary (ABAB). The song begins with the
sampled music in the style of a late Romantic violin sonata with piano accompaniment, and
Patton chewing food. The sound of Pattons chewing is enhanced with amplification and is
intermingled with indeterminate background noises, which include glassy and metallic
percussive textures. Overall, the samples are quiet, subdued, and non-disturbing. After Patton
swallows a bite of his food, the violin sonata crescendos, which anticipates the following
abrupt change in texture, dynamic, and timbre.
In the B section the listener is confronted with an immense wall of sound, which
becomes cluttered with loud noises layered on top of one another. Pattons voice is multi-
tracked with chattering and vocals that contrast J ohn Zorns saxophone blasts, which are also
multi-tracked. Percussionist William Winant adds a mixture of sounds that include fast
single-stroke drums rolls, suspended cymbal and hi-hat crashes, and pedaling on the timpani
to produce glissandi. Marc Ribots guitars and Erik Friedlanders cello create drones of
distortion and feedback.
These noises continue for approximately thirty seconds before the violin sonata
reappears for the return of section A. Patton continues his chewing noises and he introduces a
new timbre of rustling paper. These sounds continue for approximately twenty-four seconds
until the return of section B that again abruptly changes texture, dynamic, and timbre before
returning to the noisy wall of sound. Contrasting his sotto voce of the first B section, Patton

126
Marinetti, The Futurist Cookbook, 102.
127
Mike Patton, Pranzo Oltranzista, Tzadik, CD, 1997.


46
multi-tracks his yells, moans, and high-pitched wails to complement Zorns saxophone
blasts. Winants percussion parts are performed more aggressively as he adds more cymbal
swells and crashes compared to the first B section. The composition concludes with a noisy
duel between Pattons screams and Zorns loud shrieks.
Guerra In Letto (War in Bed) is the final course of the futurist dinner entitled
Nocturnal Love Feast, which follows Marinettis instructions to devour half a ham and
drink a glass of Asti Spumante. The dessert is prepared for two lovers who engage in a War
in Bed:
The bed, vast and already full of moonlight, fascinated, comes to meet them from
the back of the open room. They get into it, toasting each other and sipping from
the War-in-Bed. It is comprised of pineapple juice, egg, cocoa, caviare, almond
paste, a pinch of red pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and a whole clove, all liquidized
in Strega liqueur.
128

Pattons translation of Marinettis formula is as follows: A bowl of Strega Liqueur and
pineapple juice with floating egg, caviar, cocoa, almond paste and a pinch of red pepper.
129

The form of this work is through-composed with three contrasting sections, ABC.
The A section begins with Pattons chewing sounds, which are accentuated by temple blocks
enhanced with reverb to evoke the sound of dripping water. Patton adjusts the panning and
amplitude controls to disperse the temple blocks in the sound field. Ribot detunes his guitar
strings to produce glissandi, which are also distributed throughout the sound field. At
approximately forty seconds into the composition the B section begins with the guitar and
cello conversing with call and response motives.
The guitar and cello are the focus of the B section, but there are other noises in the
background that fill the texture, including a snare drum played softly and panned hard left,
indeterminate noises of glassware smashing, and two ticking stopwatches panned opposite of
one another. The stopwatches are recorded out-of-synch, which creates a polyrhythmic
effect. This section continues for approximately forty seconds until section C, where the
stopwatches cease and Patton introduces Winnant playing a fast swing pattern on the ride
cymbal with two and four accents on the hi-hat. Recalling the texture of water introduced

128
Marinetti, The Futurist Cookbook, 107.
129
Patton, Pranzo Oltranzista.


47
in the A section, Patton introduces plunger sounds and splashing water that intermingle with
his heavy breathing. The song abruptly concludes with the sampled sounds of several kitchen
objects breaking.
Vivanda in Scodella (Magic in a Bowl) is a formula posed by the Italian futurist
Filla. The dish is the second course of the Fillas Tactile Dinner Party, whose theme is
based on sensations of touch and uses materials such as a sponge, cork, sandpaper, felt, steel
wool, silk, and velvet. In order to heighten the senses, the diners are encouraged to eat
blindfolded while discovering the courses. Fillas directions state:
Magic Food: this is served from smallish bowls, covered on the outside with
rough tactile materials. The bowl should be held in the left hand while the right is
used to fish out the mysterious balls it contains: these will all be made of caramel,
but each one filled with something different (such as candied fruits or bits of raw
meat or garlic or mashed banana or chocolate or pepper) so the diners cannot
guess which flavour will enter the mouth next.
130

Pattons recipe is slightly different as it suggests the tactile material for the bowls and is
specific about the number of bowls: Five bowls, each covered on the outside with either felt,
aluminum sheeting, steel wool, sponge or cork. Bowls are filled with caramel balls filled
with either raw meat, garlic, banana or cayenne pepper. Eat blindfolded.
131

This work contrasts the other noisy and atmospheric pieces on Pranzo Oltranzista.
Some of the noises from other songs return, such as Pattons chewing noises and water. The
textures in this work are comprised of a mixture of glass, metal, and water. Overall, the
timbral quality of this work produces a serene effect and is reminiscent of J avanese Gamelan
music. In this regard, the use of the gong, which signals recurrence and changes of thematic
material, suggests a colotomic structure, but not in the strictest sense.
The piece begins with the sounds of a glass harmonica, which sustains a Bb. This is
followed by a gong hit, at which point Patton begins to incorporate other timbres. The sounds
and noises in this work all involve the use of water. For instance, the steel bowls (common to
the kitchen) contain water and are stuck to produce a glissando effect that is similar to a
flexatone. A smaller gong is then stuck and submerged in water, which changes the pitch

130
Marinetti, The Futurist Cookbook, 125.
131
Patton, Pranzo Oltranzista.


48
depending on whether the gong is raised or lowered. When the gong is raised out of the water
one can hear droplets of water dripping off the gong into the receptacle.
These sounds continue in a placid manner for approximately two minutes and fifteen
seconds at which point a high-pitched glassy drone slowly begins to crescendo. During this
progression, the sounds of bowed cymbals intermingle with the glassy drone and Patton
reintroduces the chewing noises.
Not all of Pattons interpretations of the cookbook were based on Marinettis
formulas; some of Pattons recipes are realizations of Marinettis proclamations to the guests
that were invited to the futurist dinners. As previously mentioned, Marinetti collaborated
with other futurist artists to create the cookbook. Marinetti and the futurist painters
Caviglioni and Alberti collaborated on the Futurist Aerobanquet in Bologna on December 12,
1931. A review in Resto del Carlino describes the scene:
The Aerobanquet was able to live up to its name because of the mise-en-scne
designed by the organizers. The tables were arranged sloping at various angles,
giving the impression of an aeroplane. There are the wings slender and narrow
like those in a high-speed hydrofoil and the fuselage, and at the far end of the
tailpieceBetween the wings a huge propeller not turning, fortunately! and
behind it two motorcycle cylinders, promoted for the occasion to the rank of
aeroplane engines.
132

A bit further on in the dinner, the room becomes engulfed in diaphanous blue light and the
engines begin to roar. Marinettis describes the nutritious noises: Observe how the sound
of the engine rouses and nourishes the stomach it is a kind of massage of the appetite.
133

The dinner guests responded with delight to Marinettis words and began to beat on their tin
plates, relegating them to the role of noise intoners. Pattons liner notes for I Rumori
Nutrienti (The Noise Nutrients) describe the song as the sound of an engine with a
diaphanous blue light. Patton then quotes Marinetti: Observe how the sound of the engine
rouses and nourishes the stomach its a kind of massage of the appetite.
134

Different from the other works, I Rumori Nutrienti is an open-form structure. The
song begins with the sampled sound of an airplane engine propeller, which is modified on a

132
Marinetti, The Futurist Cookbook, 95.
133
Ibid., 96.
134
Patton, Pranzo Oltranzista.


49
separate track with a phasing effect that seems to be operated with a guitar wah-wah pedal.
Friedlander then enters playing a muted drone on C, a continuous rhythmic ostinato, and
indeterminate texture changes with percussive slaps on the fingerboard of the cello. The
saxophone is the main ingredient in this work: Zorn develops pentatonic, jazz-infused
motives that are interpolated by long and short pauses. Zorns tone is subdued but it
maintains an edgy character with sharp attacks and melodic phrases that are earmarked by the
breathy sound of his saxophone. At the three-minute mark Friedlander changes the drone and
plays ascending and descending figures on C, D, Eb, F, and G.
As an improvisatory work, it seems as if the composition abruptly concludes as
Patton ends the piece with a quick fades out, which suggests that there was more recorded
material that did not make the final cut on Pranzo Oltranzista.
Pattons explicit use of noise on Pranzo Oltranzista realizes Marinettis abstractions
of language in The Futurist Cookbook. As the album progresses, the noises become
something other than just noises Pattons saturation of noises and sounds on Pranzo
Oltranzista becomes assimilated into the sonic environment of the listener. The impact of
sustained exposure to Pattons noises is similar to the intended effect of prolonged interaction
with Marinettis writings. In the preface to F. T. Marinetti: Critical Writings, Doug
Thompson addresses the phenomenon of Marinettis writing:
No other significant Italian writer, at any time, has made use of emphatics quite as
much as Marinetti. At times the pages of his manifestos bristle with forests of
exclamation marks or are punctured by a profusion of suspension points, inviting,
one supposes, either admiration or reflections. Yet, where every utterance
demands our special attention, the demand soon becomes tedious and loses its
force.
135

Thompsons sentiment regarding the effectiveness of Marinettis language over a prolonged
period of time can be compared to Pattons use of noises on Pranzo Oltranzista, as they too
begin to lose their forcefulness throughout the course of the album. This is not to infer the
noises lose their effectiveness, but rather the noises reveal themselves as sounds that are the
integral ingredients to the musical texture of the album.

135
Gnter Berghaus, and F. T. Marinetti. Critical Writings, trans. by Doug Thompson (New York: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 2006.) xiii.


50
Patton has clearly adapted the aesthetic principles of Italian futurism. Beginning with
Mr. Bungle and culminating with the appropriation of Marinettis cookbook on Pranzo
Oltranzista, Patton pays homage to the noise that was celebrated in the futurist writings.
Although the noises and sounds incorporated on Pranzo Oltranzista include futurist noise,
Patton had a larger palette of musical resources, styles, forms, and technology available for
his disposal. As a result, Patton complemented futurist noise by creating musical atmospheres
that incorporated jazz, gamelan, psychedelic music, and romantic music. In many ways,
Patton championed Russolos affirmation of noise: Futurist composers should continue to
enrich the field of sound.
136

The meaning of noise, and consequently its musical use, has undergone a change that
is reflected in the language of postmodern criticism. The modernist noise of Italian futurism
is related to, but distinct from, the postmodernist noise on Pranzo Oltranzista, as Pattons
adaptation of noise included musical resources and styles that were not yet available to the
futurists. Describing Pattons use of noise as either modernist or postmodern is problematic.
The purpose here is not to classify Pattons musical identity and use of noise as one or the
other, but rather to examine the complexities of the historical context from which Pranzo
Oltranzista was derived.
The intent of modernist composers was to disrupt the academies and the worship of
past musical trends, as evident in Russolos and Cages charges about the music of
Beethoven. Modernist noise was in competition with classical and romantic sounds despite
owing its very existence to them.
137
In this regard, the disturbing noises of early modernism
needed the luxuriant sounds of the Romantic era, in order to have a shocking effect on its
audience. (Futurism did not simply want to renounce the past trends of the arts theywanted
to destroy their very existence.
138
) In order to highlight the complex relationship between
modern and postmodern noise, we can appropriate the modernist aesthetic of futurism and

136
Russolo, The Art of Noises, 28.
137
The following ideas are adopted from J onathan Kramers discussion of postmodernism and history:
J onathan D. Kramer, The Nature and Origins of Musical Postmodernism, Current Musicology 66 (1999), 7-
20.
138
We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind.,. Qtd in Marinetti, Foundation
and Manifesto of Futurism, 22.


51
the idea of the postmodern composer with Patton and his use of noise in the following
passage taken from J onathan Kramers essay The Nature and Origins of Postmodernism:
Postmodernists, however, are more like adolescents than like children: they have
passed beyond their oedipal conflicts with their modernist parents, although they
may still have an uneasy relationship with the (thus, postmodernists may accept
historical succession even while rejecting the idea of progress). Postmodernists
like to feel that they can be whatever they wish. Their music can happily
acknowledge the past, without having to demonstrate superiority to it. Postmodern
composers understand that their music is different from that of modernism, but
they can nonetheless include modernist (and earlier) styles without having to
make them something other than what they were or to relegate them to the inferior
status of historical adolescents. But, like adolescents, they can maintain
ambivalent feelings toward the modernists whom they view as parents. If these
attitudes of postmodernists seem navely utopian, that quality is certainly
consonant with their adolescent nature.
139

In many ways the development of modernist noise is similar to the physical and emotional
growth of a child. As babies are instinctively curious about the world around them, so too
were the modernist composers of futurism fascinated with the sprawl of industry and exciting
new technologies of society. If babies need attention, are hungry, or need comfort, they cry
and wail for their parents. The futurists, like young children, kicked and screamed their way
into modernism, disregarding their forebears of previous artistic movements. Postmodern
noise is different from modernist noise, as it has matured and assimilated into society,
becoming an integral component of society at large through entertainment media and popular
culture. Kramers assertions provide a substantive and intriguing platform from which we can
view Pattons appropriation of Italian futurism and use of noise on Pranzo Oltranzista.
Although Patton had passed adolescence physically, as a musician and composer he was in
the developmental stages of his compositional career.
Pranzo Oltranzista is unique to Pattons repertoire because his interest in futurism
occurred when he was heavily engaged in rock singing, but he was becoming more inclined
toward the musical possibilities of noise. Patton deviated from his role as a rock singer and
assumed the role of composer and organizer of sounds.
140
Although his artistic aesthetic
was in a period of adolescence, his interests in exploring the historical movement of Italian

139
Kramer,12.
140
Varse.


52
futurism is indicative of his maturation as a musician and composer of experimental music.
In an interview with Spin magazine, Patton explains his artistic values and his reasons for his
multi-faceted approach to music:
As an artist, I would never let myself get boxed in. Im a human being too and,
like most humans, I am interested in many different types of music. I also get
easily bored. There are so many ideas that I have in my mind, of projects that I
would love to tackle, people I would love to work with, genres I would love to
experiment with, and sounds that dont fit any of my previous projects that I need
to find a home for. I am constantly amazed at the musicians that are able to do the
same thing over and over for twenty years. That would drive me absolutely
insane.
141

Pattons decision to examine futurist noise not only reflects his artistic desires but it also
highlights his interest in experimenting with different genres, musical styles, and what he
values about music in general. Also, his musical decisions that influenced the noises,
instrumentation, and vocalizations on his album were not based on a contemporary artistic
movement, but, ironically, the historical movement of futurism, which occurred a hundred
years ago. Patton chose not to sing on Pranzo Oltranzista because he wanted to appropriate
his voice in such a way that would complement Marinettis cookbook, and coalesce with the
sounds and noises on the album. This is a sentiment which also echoes Pratellas assertions in
the Manifesto of Futurist Musicians: To proclaim that the reign of the singer must end,
and that the importance of the singer in relation to a work of art is the equivalent of the
importance of an instrument in the orchestra.
142
Although the context of Pratellas language
expresses futurisms disdain toward the traditional operatic conventions of their time, we can
make the comparison that Pattons interest in re-exploring the musical possibilities of futurist
noise contributed to the development of his artistry as a musician and composer.
In order to understand why Patton investigated futurism to develop his musical
aesthetic it was vital to examine his previous engagements in noise trafficking, and his
personal and professional experiences in Italy that eventually culminated in Pranzo
Oltranzista. Pattons musical use of noise on Pranzo Oltranzista supports Kramers
assessment that postmodern composers, can happily acknowledge the past, without having

141
Lucas, Q&A: Faith No Mores Mike Patton Talks New Music, Spin.com.
142
Francesco Pratella, Manifesto of Futurist Musicians, 37.


53
to demonstrate superiority to it.
143
As such, his inclusion of the modernist noises celebrated
by the futurists provided a unique and essential balance with his inclusion of noise from
contrasting genres and styles of music and historical periods that Patton either valued or was
acquainted with through previous musical experiences.
But how did Patton choose his noises? Presumably, Patton heard a host of noises
before he was exposed to futurism, but it was his interaction with futurist literature that
prompted him to use noises of airplane propellers, kitchen objects breaking, and a picture of
Russolos intonarumori for the album cover artwork. Patton could have appropriated noises
through the use of electronics, synthesizers, and computers, but his decision to create noises
in an analog fashion through acoustic instrumentation and sampling sounds in the style of
musique concrte reflects a historical style, which acknowledges the early stirrings of
modernism in the artistic movements of Italian futurism and American experimental music.
Pattons recognition of futurism supports the concept for his album: his understanding of the
historical movement provided a basis for his selection of specific noises. Patton translated
passages from Marinettis cookbook into sound, and his postmodern interpretation of
futurism illuminates modernist aesthetics through the use of extended musical techniques, the
incorporation of machine sounds, and kitchenware that was appropriated as a musical
instrument.
The examination of futurist literature and its relationship to the historical, cultural,
and aesthetic developments of noise has revealed a unique perspective of Pattons work. As a
musician and composer, Patton has created a complex musical identity influenced by his
personal and professional experiences in Italy. Consequently, his exposure to, and
appropriation of, futurist noise is evident in his compositions and performances subsequent to
Pranzo Oltranzista. Pattons diversity as an American composer of experimental music
continues to expand from his engagements in Italian culture, the aesthetics of Italian
futurism, and the use of noise. Pattons fusion of musical styles represents an amalgamation
of his life experiences with American and Italian arts, and as such, he is a living embodiment
of the presence of Italian futurism in contemporary culture.

143
Kramer, 12.


54
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