Power Electronics
Controversial and anti-establishmentarian style of noise music consisting of static, unbearable waves of feedback, and screamed/distorted vocals [1]. Generally speaking, the stated central objective of power electronics is to cause physical and emotional pain to the listener - an effort met in part by implementing subsonic and ultrasonic frequencies at volumes damaging to human hearing. Power electronics is typically atonal and lacking in any coherent rhythmic or harmonic structure [2]. Lyrics often feature highly offensive and violent subject matter. Visual materials, including pornography, were often projected in concert. Central to the development and (relative) popularization of the style was the band Whitehouse; the term power electronics stems from the liner notes to their album Psychopathia Sexualis. Whitehouse reached its creative and commercial peak with the 1980 release of Total Sex. Additional purveyors of the power electronics style include Genocide Organ, SPK, Brighter Death Now, and Black Screen o' Death, a New York-based group known for augmenting their music with disturbing scenes from art films.
