Big question - what is the difference between noise and music. There are no doubt old fogeys out there bemoaning the lack of a good tune in this new fangled rap music and surely there is more to it than making a chav's Peugeot vibrate at the traffic lights. Instrumental tracks are quite difficult to review as there are no lyrics (that would be caused by the lack of vocals…) to comment on but Bluesbunny likes to give everything a fair hearing and therefore Tarakohe by the New Zealand based 1/3 Octave Band is spinning up on the turntable now. Let the reviewing commence.
Taking the A side ("Tarakohe") first, we get reminded of something along the lines of the wordless choruses of Gyorgy Ligeti but then again there is not really a chorus here either. Tarakohe would seem to be an actual town in New Zealand famous for cement production so perhaps this track is meant to express the environmental costs of such operations. Anyway, there is a feeling of emptiness and sadness about it like the echoes in an empty room. It might also find a good home in an old (as in the good old Iron Curtain days) Russian science fiction film.
The B-side ("Ritual of Gravity") was just a bit eerie, seeming almost industrial and robotic in comparison to the A side. Again, I am thinking film soundtracks again but something along the lines of that Lynchian nightmare Eraserhead. It is quite subtle stuff though and you have to listen carefully to put it all in order and it does leave you with an unresolved feeling of unease.
So do we have noise or music here? Well, it evoked emotion so it must be music. Question answered.