BIS – BIS-CD-1803
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Merzbow / Mats Gustafsson / Balázs Pándi, Thurston Moore - 2015 - Cuts Of Guilt, Cuts Deeper 2xCD
RareNoise Records – 052
How did renowned Japanese noisemaker Merzbow (aka Masami Akita), Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi follow up their majorly intense statement made on their tumultuous debut album, Cuts, which was released in 2013. By adding another ingredient to the volatile mix, in the person of skronking guitar hero and Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore they’ve taken things up a notch or two on the Richter scale on their RareNoise Records follow-up recording. With Gustaffson’s roaring baritone sax blending with Moore’s shriekback guitar, Pandi’s intensely throbbing beats and Merzbow’s subversive white noise barrages, it all adds up to a sonic pummelling of epic proportions on the remarkable two CD-set, Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper.
For Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper, the four kindred spirits went into the studio and came up with four extended tracks. CD 1 is comprised of the 20-minute “replaced by shame, only two left” and the 18- minute “divided by steel, falling gracefully.” CD 2 contains the dynamic 21-minute jam “too late, too sharp -- it is over” and the extreme anthem “all his teeth in hand, asking her once more.” Drummer Pandi calls it ‘mystery in sound.’ As saxophonist Gustafsson said of their purely improvised session, “We had no game plan. That usually does not work so well. It all depends on the day, the energy and of course the room. And oh boy, that room was freakin’ spectacular! It actually had a skateboard ramp! It was a truly spectacular recording. It went super-fast -- just a wall of noise-poetry with layers and perspectives changing all the time. And to have Thurston Moore in the mix just added colours, layers, energies and sound. It was a very inspired sharing with the others.” Pandi provides a bit of history on the evolution of this Cuts quartet. “There is a legendary Roskilde live recording of Sonic Youth with Mats and Masami called ‘Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth’ and as a combination of that record and my longstanding duo with Masami, the idea came to try and play a quartet. Those were the days of the last couple Sonic Youth shows in South America, around 2012.
For Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper, the four kindred spirits went into the studio and came up with four extended tracks. CD 1 is comprised of the 20-minute “replaced by shame, only two left” and the 18- minute “divided by steel, falling gracefully.” CD 2 contains the dynamic 21-minute jam “too late, too sharp -- it is over” and the extreme anthem “all his teeth in hand, asking her once more.” Drummer Pandi calls it ‘mystery in sound.’ As saxophonist Gustafsson said of their purely improvised session, “We had no game plan. That usually does not work so well. It all depends on the day, the energy and of course the room. And oh boy, that room was freakin’ spectacular! It actually had a skateboard ramp! It was a truly spectacular recording. It went super-fast -- just a wall of noise-poetry with layers and perspectives changing all the time. And to have Thurston Moore in the mix just added colours, layers, energies and sound. It was a very inspired sharing with the others.” Pandi provides a bit of history on the evolution of this Cuts quartet. “There is a legendary Roskilde live recording of Sonic Youth with Mats and Masami called ‘Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth’ and as a combination of that record and my longstanding duo with Masami, the idea came to try and play a quartet. Those were the days of the last couple Sonic Youth shows in South America, around 2012.
Enhet För Fri Musik - 2021 - Ömhet & Skilsmässa
Enhet För Fri Musik
Discreet Music – 03
Jakov Jakoulov - 2004 - Within Four Walls
Self Released – None
Jakov Jakoulov was born in Moscow in 1958. He studied piano and composition at the Moscow Conservatory and the Gnesin Musical Academy. He composed music for over 20 theatrical productions for the leading Russian National Artistic Theater in Moscow, for State Television of the USSR, for the Swedish Theater "Lilla", the Moscow Film Company and numerous others. He served as pianist for the Moscow State Philharmonic and conducted the Choir of Russian Orthodox monks in a monastery near Moscow.
He left the Soviet Union in 1987, working initially in Munich and then elsewhere in Europe. In 1990 he moved to the United States where he completed a doctorate in composition at Boston University under the tutelage of Lukas Foss and Theodore Antoniou. He has been based in Boston since then, working as composer, organist and pianist. He was nominated for the 1993 award in music composition by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1996 was elected to the Pi Kappa Lambda Chapter of the National Music Center in Boston. In 1999 and 2000 he received the Annual Award of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. He is a member of the faculty of the Community Music Center of Boston. His reputation is international with commissions and performances of his works in Mexico, Finland, Israel, Germany, Sweden, Russia, Armenia and Scotland as well as the United States.
His own heritage incorporates Russian, Armenian, European and Gypsy traditions and lends to his music a complex richness and depth of feeling. He reaches into Classical, Jewish, Christian and Orthodox music for his compositions such as "Eclogue, Epitaph and Hymn." This piece, also named Viola Concerto No. 2 was performed at Ozawa Hall in July 2003 with viola soloist, Michael Zaretsky as part of the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music.
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