The Art Of Noise

Anne Dudley, Gary Langan, and Paul Morley had already served together in Trevor Horn’s studio ensemble during the early 1980s when they decided to launch the Art of Noise, a techno-pop outfit whose sonic identity blended studio trickery, razor-blade edits, and electronic rhythms. Into these layered collages the trio folded fragments drawn from hip-hop, rock, jazz, R&B, classic pop, ambient noise, and found audio, producing a distinctly postmodern musical landscape.

At the group’s core stood Dudley, whose prior arranging and production credits already included sessions for Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ABC, and Paul McCartney. The three musicians aligned themselves with Horn’s ZTT imprint and introduced their work with the 1983 EP Into Battle With the Art of Noise. A year later they delivered the full-length (Who’s Afraid Of?) The Art of Noise!, which contained the hit single “Close (To the Edit).”

Following that release the band severed ties with Horn and ZTT, then returned in 1986 with In Visible Silence; the album yielded the U.K. Top Ten single “Peter Gunn,” featuring Duane Eddy on guitar. Also issued that year was Re-works of the Art of Noise, a collection of remixes and live performances. With In No Sense? Nonsense! in 1987, the group broadened its palette by incorporating orchestras, choirs, brass sections, and rock ensembles. The following year brought the retrospective The Best of the Art of Noise, highlighted by a duet with Tom Jones on Prince’s “Kiss.”

Below the Waste arrived in 1990 and reflected the band’s growing interest in global traditions, though it met with only modest critical and commercial response. In 1991 a subdued remix project, The Ambient Collection, was overseen by Killing Joke’s Youth, after which the Art of Noise disbanded. Dudley subsequently collaborated with Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman and with Phil Collins. Horn, Dudley, and Morley reconvened in 1999 to record The Seduction of Claude Debussy, expanding the lineup to include Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.