The Most Extreme Music You Listen To?
 

Whether it be conceptually, in terms of composition, the nature of the lyrics, what have you.

For me I'd say either Harry Partch or Merzbow:

Re: The Most Extreme Music You Listen To?
 

I don't listen to as much noise music as I used to these days but I still have a soft spot for the early British power electronics bands such as Whitehouse, Sutcliffe Jugend, and Consumer Electronics (though I tend to prefer the more modern post-2000 releases by Whitehouse and Consumer Electronics in comparison to their 1980's albums, with a few exceptions).

Re: The Most Extreme Music You Listen To?
 

Renaissance music.

Re: The Most Extreme Music You Listen To?
 

I like to listen to music that has a strong 'spiritual' quality, most of which isn't particularly 'extreme': that is, I listen to a lot of early sacred music by the likes of Hildegard von Bingen, Gregorian and other kinds of Christian chant, Zen shakuhachi flute music, the music from the medieval Noh plays, as well as composers in the mystical minimalism movement in contemporary classical music (Gorecki, Pärt, Tavener).

There is only one form of 'spiritual' music that I listen to which I would consider to be extreme and that's Black Metal. Although most of the music in the genre is forgettable, some of it is quite powerful and makes for compelling listening alongside works of traditional sacred music of both the occidental and oriental traditions. Bands like Urfaust and Batoushka produce what I think of as demoniacal liturgical music. As someone who thinks of life as primarily infernal, I find Black Metal attractive as providing an appropriately infernal soundtrack to life in this world. I don't have the slightest sympathy with the absurd right-wing ideologies espoused by many in the Black Metal crowd, but the nonsensical politics don't stop me from appreciating the music as music.

Re: The Most Extreme Music You Listen To?
 

I haven't been in the habit of listening to anything that could be termed "extreme" in a while now, but I've always been very taken with the work of Mike Patton. He's explored an amazing number of different genres, but I especially like his avant-garde metal outfit, Fantomas.

I would consider their album Delirium Cordia pretty extreme, being mostly soundscapes and lacking divisions of tracks. I believe I read somewhere that it was meant to evoke a similar feeling to the phenomenon of anesthesia awareness. I couldn't honestly say if it's effective in that way, but parts of it are certainly some of the few things in music I've found truly disquieting for their aural qualities alone.

Re: The Most Extreme Music You Listen To?
 

nil

Re: The Most Extreme Music You Listen To?
 

Re: The Most Extreme Music You Listen To?
 

Reminds me very much of Noseybonk:

Re: The Most Extreme Music You Listen To?
 

@qcrisp In Soviet Russia, flowers smell YOU!

Re: The Most Extreme Music You Listen To?
 

I have managed to listen to Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music in its entirety.