RareNoise Records – RNR111
A certain magic floods the room when free improvisers of the highest
order get together to make music. And when said improvisers are also
kindred spirits who know and can anticipate each other’s moves, a kind
of wonderful telepathy takes over. Such was the case when enigmatic
Japanese noise legend Merzbow (Masami Akita) got together in the studio
with fellow countryman Keiji Haino and Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi
for Become The Discovered, Not The Discoverer. For their second
encounter for RareNoise Records, following 2016’s An Untroublesome
Defencelessness, the three intrepid improvisers explore a threshold of
sound so blisteringly intense, that it passes into a zone of divine
cacophony.
Comprised of four lengthy, uninterrupted suites, each containing dense,
sometimes harsh sonic onslaughts, Become The Discovered, Not The
Discoverer is fueled by Merzbow’s cathartic sheets of electronic sound
and guitar, Haino’s slashing guitar, bass and vocal work and Pandi’s
pummeling intensity on the kit. And as Pandi explained, “It was 100%
improvised, nothing added in post-production, just like every time we
record together. No limitations, no concepts, nothing. Just listening,
and playing.”
Merzbow has found a true kindred spirit in Pandi, who has also become a
kind of ‘house drummer’ for RareNoise. “The chemistry between us was
there right from the very beginning,” said Pandi, who began
collaborating with Merzbow in 2009. “My way of playing fits his music
perfectly, as I play both improvised music that is changing shape all
the time and heavy amplified music. We don’t have things anchored, we
just have a continuously expanding vocabulary and we pay attention to
each other and find immediate hooks in each other’s playing.”
The third member of this formidable triumvirate,
singer-songwriter-guitarist Keiji Haino, had previously worked with
Merzbow under the moniker Kikuri. “Keiji is like an infinite well of
ideas, said Pandi. “It’s incredible how he can push music and sounds
into new directions. Sounds coming from him have way more qualities than
the ones coming from most musicians, as he uses every possible way to
alternate sounds and give them extra qualities that people just don’t
know about.”
For Pandi, this latest is also the fifth recently RareNoise release
involving both him and Merzbow, following 2013’s Cuts (a trio with
Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustasfsson), 2015’s Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper
(a quartet with Gustafson and skronk guitar hero and Sonic Youth
founder Thurston Moore), 2018’s live Cuts Up, Cuts Out (a quartet again
with Gustafsson, and Moore) and 2016’s An Untroublesome Defencelessness
(as aforementioned, with Haino). And for the powerhouse drummer, the
thrill is definitely not gone. “It’s been almost 10 years since I first
played together with Masami as a duo,” he said. “That was a string of
four shows, and even on that tour there was a difference between the
first and the last gig. So its obvious that we continue to do different
things, and our relationship on a human and an artistic level also
strengthened throughout the years. For obvious reasons we can’t play too
many shows. In a busy year, we have about a handful of shows, but it’s
always exciting to play and we always discover new things within our
music. Masami never uses the same setup twice, and I always do my best
to have something new to drop on him every time we play together.”
As far as the particularly intense nature of this latest invocation in
the studio with Merzbow and Haino, the drummer said, “All we do is
listen and play. Wherever we go with the music, the moment takes us
there. Even if we make a plan, we just go with whatever we feel like
doing. Haino-san decided on the spot to use the bass guitar, an
instrument he never played on previously on recordings, if ever. Also
Masami plugged in a guitar he found in the studio, so for a part of this
recording we were a rock trio. The only thing we talked about the night
before was to do five to seven-minute takes, but then the first take we
actually did was over one hour.”
While Masami and Haino strike such a seamless blend with their
electronic onslaughts, Pandi fuels the proceedings with his signature
skills, drawing on the power of grindcore and death metal while also
listening intently and reacting in the moment. “I just play whatever
feels good to play,” he said. “It’s funny that even though I try to not
play in tempo anymore and approach drumming more as coloring to give the
music another texture, this one turned out more like a classic rock
record. And at some parts I am even playing a backbeat kind of thing. So
it’s definitely more straight-forward drumming than what I usually play
these days.”
“I basically grew up with playing and being surrounded by all kinds of
music.”, continues Pandi, “Back then it was Morricone scores, Verdi,
Bill Haley & The Comets. One day I would play Dead Kennedy songs
with my high school punk band, the next morning I would play “Slavonic
Dance No. 8” by Dvorak on tympani. And still today, I have varied music
tastes. So whether I’m playing with Merzbow, Obake or Kilimanjaro
Darkjazz Ensemble, it’s all music to me.”
Like the music itself, the titles of Pandi’s latest outing with Merzbow
and Haino — “Become the discovered, not the discoverer” and “I want to
learn how to feel everything in each single breath" — are intriguing.
“The titles came from Haino-san and are inspired by the music,” the
drummer explained. “The titles, just like the music doesn’t need to be
understood, or doesn’t need a strict interpretation.”
BIOGRAPHIES
Born in Chiba, Japan on May 3, 1952, Keiji Haino has been active on
Japan’s underground music scene since the 1970s and remains active at
age 67, ever-exploring on the fringes. His main instruments of choice
have been guitar and vocals. Known for intensely cathartic sound
explorations, he has lent his distinctive voice to recordings by a
variety of groups, including Vajra (with underground folk singer Kan
Mikami and drummer Toshiaki Ishizuka), Knead (with the avant-prog outfit
Ruins) and Sanhedolin (with Yoshida Tatsuya of Ruins and Mitsuru Nasuno
of Korekyojinn, Altered States and Ground Zero). He has also
collaborated with such artists as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Loren
Mazzacane Connors, Charles Gayle, Makigami Koichi, Jim O'Rourke,
Yamantaka Eye, Fred Frith, Charles Hayward and John Butcher. He also
appeared on John Zorn’s 1993 album Painkiller with bassist Bill Laswell
and drummer Mick Harris.
Haino’s initial artistic outlet was theatre, inspired by the radical
writings of Antonin Artaud. He had his musical epiphany after hearing
The Doors' “When The Music's Over” and immediately changed course
towards music. After brief stints in a number of blues and experimental
outfits, he formed the improvised rock band Lost Aaraaf in 1970. By the
mid 1970s, he collaborated with psychedelic multi-instrumentalist
Magical Power Mako and in 1978 formed the rock duo Fushitsusha. The
lineup expanded to a trio and continued to perform, with shifting
personnel, through the 1990s. In 1998, Haino formed Aihiyo, which
performed covers of tunes by The Rolling Stones, The Ronettes and the
Jimi Hendrix Experience, filtered through his own unique
garage-psychedelia prism. In recent years, Haino has made some of his
most profoundly intense musical statements in the company of fellow
countryman Merzbow and Hungarian drummer Pandi.
Merzbow's onslaughts of sound employ the use of distortion, feedback and
noises from synthesizers, machinery, and home-made noisemakers.
Utilizing two laptops, four stomp boxes and a homemade sound-maker, he
creates a world of sound ranging from ambient drones to fusillades of
frightening intensity. One of the most recognizable figures on the
international noise scene, he began his recording career in 1980 with
Fuckexercise and Rembrandt Assemblage. He followed in 1982 with his
landmark recording, Solonoise, which incorporated tape loops and
creatively recorded percussion and metal. He has since released over 400
recordings, collaborating with dozens of musicians, contributing tracks
to compilations and making numerous guest appearances on recordings by
other artists. His stage name Merzbow comes from the German dada artist
Kurt Schwitters' artwork Merzbau, in which Schwitters transformed the
interior of his house using found objects.
Born in Tokyo on December 19, 1956, Akita listened to psychedelic music,
progressive rock and free jazz in his youth. He became the drummer of
various high school bands and shortly after began playing improvised
rock at studio jam sessions with high school friend Kiyoshi Mizutani. A
graduate of Tamagawa University, where he majored in Painting & Art
Theory, Akita commenced work as an editor of several magazines upon
getting his degree. He subsequently became a freelance writer for
several books and magazines and has written several books of his own on a
variety of subjects, including music, modern art and underground
culture. His other interests include painting, photography, filmmaking
and Butoh dance. He has cited a wide range of influences on his own
music, from progressive rock, heavy metal, free jazz, and early
electronic music to non-musical influences like dadaism, surrealism and
fetish culture. His 2010 project, 13 Japanese Birds, was a 15-album
series highlighting his ongoing ecological and vegetarian activism.
The youngest member of this powerhouse improvising trio is drummer Pándi
Balázs. Born on August 6, 1983 in Budapest, Hungary, he has worked and
toured with various acts from all around the world including Venetian
Snares, Otto von Schirach, Last Step, To Live and Shave in L.A., The
Blood of Heroes, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and the Italian
experimental instrumental group Zu. His current projects include Italian
doom band Obake, Metallic Taste of Blood (featuring Colin Edwin of
Porcupine Tree, Eraldo Bernocchi of Obake and RareNoise Records’
resident keyboardist, Jamie Saft), Slobber Pup (with Saft, guitarist Joe
Morris and bassist Trevor Dunn) and the black metal/punk band
Wormskull. From 2012, he started to play solo shows at festivals under
his own name. Since 2009, he has frequently played drums live with
Merzbow, headlining at experimental music festivals around the world.
Pandi’s muscular drumming style, marked by high-speed churning, intense
blast-beats and thunderous double bass drum pedals, has been informed by
free jazz, breakcore, doom metal and noise. It’s always pedal to the
metal with Pandi.
Together these three intrepid explorers and noise renegades arrive at
some intense, harsh and ultimately compelling on Become The Discovered,
Not The Discoverer, their latest RareNoise release.
credits
released September 27, 2019
Keiji Haino : Vocal. Guitar, Bass, Electronics, More decorous than duty
Masami Akita: Electronics, Guitar
Balazs Pandi: Drums
BECOME THE DISCOVERED, NOT THE DISCOVERER
1. Become the discovered, not the discoverer I
2. Become the discovered, not the discoverer II
3. I want to learn how to feel everything in each single breath I
4. I want to learn how to feel everything in each single breath II
All compositions by Masami Akita, Keiji Haino, Balazs Pandi
Published by RareNoisePublishing (PRS)
Recorded on 18th of February 2018, Recorded @ la Cave 38 Recording
Studio. Recorded by Kevin Le Quellec, assisted by Julien Rosenberger .
Mixing by Daniel Sandor
Mastering James Plotkin @ Plotkinworks
Artwork and Design by ROK