Who is Jansky Noise?
Jansky Noise, a name spun from the static of '96,
One of many faces of Andy Macgregor, Shapeshifter, noise sculptor, sonic outlaw.
Back in the V/Vm days—homebrew chaos, A record label stitched from the free energy, madness, free spirit of creativity:
V/Vm Test. Co-creator of worlds bent and broken, Macgregor wore masks like second skins: As V/Vm Burns, Animal, Animal Macgregor,
Professor Broxburn, Alien Porno Midgets, Host, and Mack Apollo and more.
Each name a portal, each alias a fractured mirror.
Who is Jansky Noise?
A whisper, a roar, a question wrapped in sound.
From breakdance through Balearic to Noise and back
Macgregor from the age of 13 was participating in the local Break Dance Scene in Manchester, battling in local crews and listening to a very broad mix of musics from Motown to New Beat, thanks to his father Acid Alan.
After his initial exposure to music
At a tender age he started to explore and experiment as a DJ, spinning electro, techno, pop and Acid House, Macgregor found himself deep between Detroit Music and New Beat from Belgium.
Record Stores in Manchester
As a regular he would shop at Easter Block Records, and Vinyl Exchange and along the way he would be influenced by the Madchester scene and local Musicians 808 State. As the Techno scene exploded and morphed into Rave Macgregor found himself submerged in Manchester nightclub scene, where he became a DJ at the the long closed Limit Night Club Manchester UK.
Vostock
In 1993 Vostok were formed with James Leyland Kirby and Scott Hallam, they made several Detroit influenced techno recordings, however none were released and the project morphed into Macgregor and Kirby forming V/Vm and the record label V/Vm Test Records. The label forged from the carcass of Detroit Techno, UK POP, and was a forced to be reckoned with. The label gave rise to a very Northern twist of electronic music and experimentation that paved the way for many after.
Illegal Broadcast Radio (IBC Manchester) - Pirate Radio Manchester
At the age of 20 Macgregor along with James Kirby and Scott Hallam (DJ Rhythm) the trio took over the illegal Broadcast Company IBC radio, previously hosted by Autechre. Macgregor as DJ Jiffy, Kirby and Hallam replaced Autechre, making weekly shows on IBC radio.
In the ealry days at the birth of p2p
As V/Vm was gaining velocity so was the internet, and Macgregor was quick to adapt. in 1998 with friends from the Lucky Kitchen Label USA Macgregor was exchanging files, and testing transfers for a new platform that would arise Napster. The birth of file swapping and pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing was about to grow Macgregor noticed that there was a potentially massive way to get corrupted and remixed files of popular artists on the drives of other people sharing. Many works from V/Vm stable and other digital audio hacks, we wrongly labeled and repoistioned for those sharing via Napster and a massive spreading of V/Vm files occured.
Not just music - ACPI - AudioMulch Software Release
In 1999, Macgregor and DJ Speedranch released a CD album was made titled : Advanced Configuration With Power Interface : The album was a first of its kind giving access to music and power electronics, but also providing the user with free software including the Audiomulch Software. Audiomulch was later found and used by by Shitmatt, Fourtet and Nine Inch Nails.
At V/Vm Test Records hundreds of recordings were made
From 1997 till 2009 Macgregor released music's repetedly on his own platform via the Manchester based V/Vm Test Records.
A Fairwell Statement: Slow Order
On 11/11/11, Macgregor's final musical statement came—
Slow Order emerged, an epic milk-filled, symphonic bath of dairy, new and old world order, pigs, power, orchestra, corruption, electronics and lies. Sinking into a cleansing time and space, merging sound with stillness.
A hibernation in the dark depths of the mind.
An immersion.
The V/Vm End: Unsound, Krakow, 2012
But just one year later—a jolt, out of stilnnes,
An electric pulse—applied, Jansky was resuscitated,
At the Proper Kaput 2012 show. V/Vm was ready for the pyre.
Unsound Proper Kaput, Macgregor and Kirby
Climbed into coffins, declared the death of V/Vm
And rose again: grotesque, surreal, mummy to Michael Jackson,
Burned face to pig, in a bizarre rebirth.
They screamed: Kaput!
The music industry was dead.
A stage invasion split the audience—
Half ecstatic, half aghast.
James Leyland Kirby, his counterpart,
Found himself lost in the memories of time,
The Caretaker’s work began,
A haunting, a lingering through the fog.
Jansky—Jansky turned inward
Meditating, breathing in the water,
The fields, the stillness—letting sound rest,
Till the moment of rebirth 13 years later.
Gone are the anarchic fighting energys,
Now a heart full of the love fuels it all.
Jansky Love Noise—the name evolves,
But the fire, the energy, the pulse—
Still burns with that same starry spark,
Same boundless orbiting.
The music dies, or transforms,
Reborn in a new swaying rhythm,
Under nebular lights,
In the endless breath of creation.
A phoenix-light, animal-light,
Brighter, and gentler, still reckless—
But this time, in thought, and chaos.
He stands, striking a pose,
Breathing space, breathing jazz,
Leaning into liberated forms,
The infinite freedom of improvisation.
Space travel, electronics, and free jazz,
Endless possibility, sculpting sound from the ether,
Reimagining the future,
Drawing from the stars,
Reactivating spontaneity.
Still Jansky. Still inspired.
Still bursting through,
Dancing in the light.