John Wiese

Los Angeles-based composer and sound artist John Wiese has long stood at the forefront of the American noise underground, shaping abstract electronics, abrasive textures, radically experimental editing methods, and other demanding sonic approaches since the 1990s. His catalog stretches to extraordinary length, encompassing abundant solo releases such as the 2007 album Soft Punk alongside numerous joint projects. Beyond his role in the grindcore-informed noise outfit Sissy Spacek, he has issued multiple collaborative recordings across varying lineups drawn from the Wolf Eyes circle, Merzbow, Kevin Drumm, C. Spencer Yeh, and many additional figures. In 2022 he sustained this partnership-driven approach by issuing the EP The Echoing Shell alongside No Age drummer Dean Spunt, while 2023 brought further joint work with Drew Daniel of Matmos and participants from the Los Angeles Free Music Society.

Wiese had already immersed himself in extreme music by the time he completed his studies at the California Institute of the Arts in 2001. Then active in Sissy Spacek, he simultaneously pursued tape manipulation, harsh noise, and experimental editing processes in his solo capacity. He channeled frequent output through his own Helicopter imprint while placing additional material on numerous independent labels. Across the 2000s, 2010s, and subsequent years, he maintained an intense pace of recording, touring, and releasing, expanding his body of work from dozens into hundreds of entries. These efforts included partnerships with Thurston Moore, Sunn O))), Smegma, Bastard Noise, and many more, though numerous albums remained strictly solo.

Even amid near-constant smaller-scale productions, notable solo statements surfaced, among them the angsty distortion of Soft Punk in 2007, the digitally demolished field recordings captured on 2009’s Circle Snare, 2017’s Escaped Language, and the continuing multi-volume Magnetic Stencil series. His individual projects, involvement with Sissy Spacek, and assorted collaborations all extended uninterrupted into the 2020s. In 2022 he joined longtime associate Dean Spunt of No Age for The Echoing Shell on Drag City. Mazes Running, an aggressive effort centered on tape manipulation created with Drew Daniel of Matmos and the Soft Pink Truth, followed in 2023; the release represented their second joint venture after the rhythmic glitch album Continuous Hole from 2018, which Cold Spring reissued later that year. Also in 2023, Wiese issued Solid State of Time with industrial tape music pioneer Robert Turman and The Elusive Flexure with Los Angeles Free Music Society members Joseph Hammer and Joe Potts.