Spike Magazine

Spike | 15 YEARS OF BOOKS, MUSIC, ART, IDEAS | www.spikemagazine.com
He mentioned the internet earlier, as being one of
the elements which contribute to the modern youth’s
differing mindset. Does he feel the global awareness it
can bring is helping this aim, societally?
“Yeah, it’s part of it. I do think we’re putting a lot of
emphasis on the net beyond what it is. But it’s another
part of Liquid Culture, like the DJ remix. The remix to
me is the ultimate Postmodern artform, and the net is a
symptom and a part of that.”
Noon has finally started experimenting in the ‘DJ
remix’ area himself. Alongside the novel of Needle
In The Groove came an audio CD, executed by David
Toop and released on Sulphur Records. It’s an ambient
wordtrip; Noon reads passages from the novel while
Toop cuts them to ribbons, adding an urban underlay of
beats and soundforms. It’s certainly … different. And,
on reflection, something which I’m surprised Noon
hasn’t tried before. How did it come about?
“It kind of grew out of some things the publisher said,
about doing a few tracks for promotional purposes. Just
to give out to bookshops, initially. And I’ve always
loved Toop’s music, so I asked him and that was it. I
didn’t know him before this. I’d met him maybe twice,
three times before we actually recorded.”
Did Noon have much ‘hands-on’ involvement with
the production?
“Well, I sent him the lyrics, and notes on the musical
ideas I had in my mind. Working from that, he sent me
BUY Jeff Noon books online from and
tapes, which I worked to. And then we went in and kind
of co-produced it. It was amazing going in there, because
I hadn’t been in a recording studio for years, and
all this digital stuff they’ve got is just mind-boggling.”
Noon’s voice rises a little as he becomes more
animated. I get the distinct feeling we’re into a subject
Noon wants to talk about a lot…
“I mean, they can do anything, absolutely anything.
They can manipulate the musical input, the signal, any
way they like. And then coming home again, turning on
the word processor … You just think, there’s something
wrong here. There’s a massive difference between the
way that I can manipulate text, and the way that David
can manipulate the music on his screen. And I don’t
know why that’s built up.
“For instance, I’m often changing the sex of my
characters. But there’s no button I can press that says,
‘Change the sex of this character all the way through.’
Ridiculous. There’s no button I can press that says,
‘Turn this into the past tense.’ And there should be.”
Not that technology’s shortcoming are going to stop
him. “With Cobralingus, I’m doing a lot of random
manipulation. But I have to do it all by hand, either on
screen or on bits of paper. There isn’t a button I’ve got
that can randomise it for me. Sure, there are random
text generators and so on, but they’re seen as add-ons
rather than part of the process of Liquid Culture. We
need to allow words to become part of that. And to
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