The accepted interpretation of the adage ‘we get the art we deserve’ is that artists are constantly reflecting society back at us. This strikes us as a rather one dimensional reading of creativity. Are artists merely a mirror? As far as music in the margins is concerned, in this case the noise genre, that theory appears to overlook artists’ craft seemingly originating and being transmitted from every fibre of their being. Followers of the scene, who relish the raw aesthetic, are drawn to these naked expressions of emotion.
Margaret Chardiet a.k.a. Pharmakon has been a mainstay of New York’s underground music community, repeatedly renewing a brief to create confrontational music, with a goal of wanting to make people FEEL something.
A decade ago, Abandon was Chardiet’s first proper studio album, and makes use of loops and thunderclaps of electronic fog to create an aura of grim desolation. Yes, this could be the society many of us experience, but look deeper and it is the sound of every human sinew attempting to cope with the madness of a dysfunctional world. When Chardiet expresses this disgust with her voice it is released in an eruption of strained screams.
Margaret Chardiet has continued to release era defining albums of supercharged power electronics characterised by compassion and rage.
