Sunday, August 25, 2019
Merzbow & Sun Ra - (2016) Strange City CD & LP
Cold Spring – 228 CD
Cold Spring – 229 LP
Note that LP and CD versions of this album contain completely different material
The constant and destructive waves of noise make this decisively a Merzbow record, but its cosmic mood and rhythms prove that Sun Ra lives in its DNA.
Sun Ra’s presence on the latest Merzbow record is odd: blink and you might miss him completely, but squint and you can notice him almost everywhere. The only time it’s blatantly obvious that Masami Akita, the man behind noise legend Merzbow, is using Sun Ra’s recordings as source material comes in the first 10 seconds of Strange City. Opener “Livid Sun Loop” begins with overlapping saxophones and drums, but Akita quickly steamrolls those into a dense cacophony. For the rest of the album’s 103 minutes (66 on CD and 36 on LP, both titled Strange City but containing different music), he steadfastly maintains that busy din.
Yet focus your ears intensely on Strange City—preferably through headphones—and Sun Ra’s music peeks out through Merzbow’s noise wall. (The Ra estate gave Akita material from 1966’s The Magic City and 1967’s Strange Strings, which he remixed and treated while adding his own original sounds). Rattling drumbeats grow out of crackling static like weeds in a garden, bassy rhythms undulate beneath rolling roars like shifting tectonic plates, and pretty much every screech and squeal could pass for a wailing horn. Strange City is decisively a Merzbow record, but Sun Ra lives in its DNA.
Where Strange City stands in Merzbow’s massive discography is easier to suss out. Many of the strengths Akita has developed over roughly four decades of noise devotion are put to use here. He creates relentlessly forward-moving music with so much going on that it feels three-dimensional. During such lengthy tracks, your ears and brain accept and acclimate to Akita’s ruthless sounds, and his seemingly random noise eventually starts to feel normal.
Strange City is most successful on the two half-hour-plus tracks that make up the CD version. “Livid Sun Loop” is filled with destructive sounds and stabbing rhythms, but it also has a narrative arc developed through 32 minutes of sonic drilling. On “Granular Jazz Part 2,” Akita grapples most seriously with Sun Ra’s creative spirit. Devoted primarily to the trebly end of the spectrum, the piece subtly rides Ra’s rhythms while building a space-bound aura, a fitting way to grapple with an artist who claimed to come from Saturn.
The three tracks on the LP version of Strange City—all titled as parts of “Granular Jazz”—are less distinctive. In some places, Akita falls back on stock noise moves like firing-laser jolts and helicopter-style whirr. Something interesting happens on every piece, though, and the closer “Granular Jazz Part 4” is particularly fascinating due to its relative restraint. Surprisingly distant and subdued, it’s like Merzbow’s ballad of Sun Ra, an elegy for a virtual partner coming after 100 minutes of sonic boxing. You could call Strange City a Merzbow victory, but it couldn’t have happened without Sun Ra on his team.
The constant and destructive waves of noise make this decisively a Merzbow record, but its cosmic mood and rhythms prove that Sun Ra lives in its DNA.
Sun Ra’s presence on the latest Merzbow record is odd: blink and you might miss him completely, but squint and you can notice him almost everywhere. The only time it’s blatantly obvious that Masami Akita, the man behind noise legend Merzbow, is using Sun Ra’s recordings as source material comes in the first 10 seconds of Strange City. Opener “Livid Sun Loop” begins with overlapping saxophones and drums, but Akita quickly steamrolls those into a dense cacophony. For the rest of the album’s 103 minutes (66 on CD and 36 on LP, both titled Strange City but containing different music), he steadfastly maintains that busy din.
Yet focus your ears intensely on Strange City—preferably through headphones—and Sun Ra’s music peeks out through Merzbow’s noise wall. (The Ra estate gave Akita material from 1966’s The Magic City and 1967’s Strange Strings, which he remixed and treated while adding his own original sounds). Rattling drumbeats grow out of crackling static like weeds in a garden, bassy rhythms undulate beneath rolling roars like shifting tectonic plates, and pretty much every screech and squeal could pass for a wailing horn. Strange City is decisively a Merzbow record, but Sun Ra lives in its DNA.
Where Strange City stands in Merzbow’s massive discography is easier to suss out. Many of the strengths Akita has developed over roughly four decades of noise devotion are put to use here. He creates relentlessly forward-moving music with so much going on that it feels three-dimensional. During such lengthy tracks, your ears and brain accept and acclimate to Akita’s ruthless sounds, and his seemingly random noise eventually starts to feel normal.
Strange City is most successful on the two half-hour-plus tracks that make up the CD version. “Livid Sun Loop” is filled with destructive sounds and stabbing rhythms, but it also has a narrative arc developed through 32 minutes of sonic drilling. On “Granular Jazz Part 2,” Akita grapples most seriously with Sun Ra’s creative spirit. Devoted primarily to the trebly end of the spectrum, the piece subtly rides Ra’s rhythms while building a space-bound aura, a fitting way to grapple with an artist who claimed to come from Saturn.
The three tracks on the LP version of Strange City—all titled as parts of “Granular Jazz”—are less distinctive. In some places, Akita falls back on stock noise moves like firing-laser jolts and helicopter-style whirr. Something interesting happens on every piece, though, and the closer “Granular Jazz Part 4” is particularly fascinating due to its relative restraint. Surprisingly distant and subdued, it’s like Merzbow’s ballad of Sun Ra, an elegy for a virtual partner coming after 100 minutes of sonic boxing. You could call Strange City a Merzbow victory, but it couldn’t have happened without Sun Ra on his team.
John Moloney, Merzbow & Thurston Moore - (2013) :Caught on Tape
Manhand – 160
Live Burn - MH160 Recorded live at King's Barcade at Cory Rayborn's Hopscotch Day Party September 2013.
Merzbow - Electronics
John Moloney - Drums
Thurston Moore - Guitar
Thanks to Cory Rayborn and NYC Taper.
Collage by Sarah Gibbons.
Merzbow - (2012) Lowest Music & Arts 1980-1983 9xLP & 7''
Vinyl-On-Demand – 108
Lowest Music & Arts 1980–1983 is a box set compilation by the Japanese noise musician Merzbow, it is composed of recordings from the earliest years of Merzbow.
Vinyl-on-demand deliver a knockout blow of formative, seminal Merzbow material; all of it appearing on vinyl for the first time, and all carefully selected and mastered by the notorious artist himself. It really is one of the handsomest, most alluring things we’ve ever stocked; proper, top shelf vinyl porn for the collectors, and arguably one of the most extraordinary collections of noise material to ever land on vinyl. So, maybe a little introduction is required: around 1979 Masami Akita appropriated the name Merzbow in homage to Kurt Schwitters ‘Merzbau’ artwork. It was clear indiction of his allegiance to radical avant-garde thought and practice, and came to encompass myriad influences from free jazz to musique concrète and psychedelia which would inspire a nebulous catalogue stretching to over 350 releases and an unparalleled reputation in the world of extreme music and art. This ten LP set charts the primordial genesis of this uncompromising gesamtkunstwerk: at one end we have his earliest material from 1980 – screeching, elemental Metal Acoustic Music – hypnotic rituals for ungodly praxis – thru to unique ecologies of clattering percussion, demented synth noise and cosmic/industrial cacophony, while digging deeper into the box reveals hitherto hidden sides of his oeuvre; culminating in the mindbending torque of his 1983 recordings – a decimated mixture of roiling garage rock, atonal industrialism, and, perhaps most surprisingly and enticingly of all, technoid drum patterns recalling Throbbing Gristle and MB which sound all too prescient and timely in 2012. It’d do us a mischief to describe the whole thing, but needless to say it’s a truly mind-melting collection, suitably presented with the highest attention to detail and aesthetic.
Vinyl-on-demand deliver a knockout blow of formative, seminal Merzbow material; all of it appearing on vinyl for the first time, and all carefully selected and mastered by the notorious artist himself. It really is one of the handsomest, most alluring things we’ve ever stocked; proper, top shelf vinyl porn for the collectors, and arguably one of the most extraordinary collections of noise material to ever land on vinyl. So, maybe a little introduction is required: around 1979 Masami Akita appropriated the name Merzbow in homage to Kurt Schwitters ‘Merzbau’ artwork. It was clear indiction of his allegiance to radical avant-garde thought and practice, and came to encompass myriad influences from free jazz to musique concrète and psychedelia which would inspire a nebulous catalogue stretching to over 350 releases and an unparalleled reputation in the world of extreme music and art. This ten LP set charts the primordial genesis of this uncompromising gesamtkunstwerk: at one end we have his earliest material from 1980 – screeching, elemental Metal Acoustic Music – hypnotic rituals for ungodly praxis – thru to unique ecologies of clattering percussion, demented synth noise and cosmic/industrial cacophony, while digging deeper into the box reveals hitherto hidden sides of his oeuvre; culminating in the mindbending torque of his 1983 recordings – a decimated mixture of roiling garage rock, atonal industrialism, and, perhaps most surprisingly and enticingly of all, technoid drum patterns recalling Throbbing Gristle and MB which sound all too prescient and timely in 2012. It’d do us a mischief to describe the whole thing, but needless to say it’s a truly mind-melting collection, suitably presented with the highest attention to detail and aesthetic.
Merzbow - (1994) Venereology CD
Release Entertainment – 6910
The undisputed king of Japanese noise MERZBOW returns, as the landmark album Venereology celebrates 25 tinnitus-inducing years with its inaugural vinyl pressing! Remastered by James Plotkin (ISIS, ELECTRIC WIZARD, FULL OF HELL, and more) and featuring reworked art, this is the most extreme recording of harsh electronic sickness you will ever own! Venereology features a second LP with more than 20 minutes of unreleased bonus material.
Merzbow & Xiu Xiu - (2015) Merzxiu LP
Kingfisher Bluez – 6014
The collaboration doesn't seem like it would be a collaboration upon first listen, but there is a distinguishable feature with both artists that create something unique and brilliant. While Merzbow has a very bold presence, it's clear that Jamie Stewart has his hands on the textures of Merzbow's noise, adding more experimentation, colour, and gloom to this sinister and bloodthirsty LP.
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.
Merzbow - (2016) Kakapo
Oaken Palace Records – 010
Incomparable noise legend Merzbow releases a dense, flailing black hole of a droning noise track, 33 minutes spread over two sides of green vinyl. Aside from several very limited releases and multiple adventurous collaborations, it’s the first full Merzbow record to be released on vinyl for a couple of years.
Starting with an intense machine hum, “Kakapo” then shrieks, stutters and wails while maintaining the all-obliterating industrial drone. Amidst electronic solar flares and insect metal clanging, it’s a harsh curtain of endless crushing, rumbling immersion. Simultaneously soothing and wild, machinelike and warm (depending on the settings of your drone antennae), it’s a rare and strange creature, like the endangered bird that the album raises money to protect.
Tracklist:
A - Kakapo Pt. 1 (16:42)
B - Kakapo Pt. 2 (16:03)
Having advocated for animal rights and environmental issues for years, Merzbow dedicates this release to the Kakapo, a flightless parrot native to New Zealand whose total population is sadly below 200. Profits will be donated to the Kakapo Recovery Trust.
Starting with an intense machine hum, “Kakapo” then shrieks, stutters and wails while maintaining the all-obliterating industrial drone. Amidst electronic solar flares and insect metal clanging, it’s a harsh curtain of endless crushing, rumbling immersion. Simultaneously soothing and wild, machinelike and warm (depending on the settings of your drone antennae), it’s a rare and strange creature, like the endangered bird that the album raises money to protect.
Tracklist:
A - Kakapo Pt. 1 (16:42)
B - Kakapo Pt. 2 (16:03)
Having advocated for animal rights and environmental issues for years, Merzbow dedicates this release to the Kakapo, a flightless parrot native to New Zealand whose total population is sadly below 200. Profits will be donated to the Kakapo Recovery Trust.
Merzbow - (2017) Hyakki Echo "Compact Vinyl"
Dirter Promotions – 133
Amamamazing, boundary-pushing new disc from Masami Akita aka Merzbow, making the critical switch from saturated psychedelic noise to free, instrumental improvisation with gobsmacking results, all pressed to a dual format disc befitting of the music’s experimental brilliance. Hard to think of any other artists who has broken the mould repeatedly quite like this guy!
The most compelling Merzbow masterpiece we’ve heard since his Japanese Birds series, Hyakki Echo weilds four pieces in 53 minutes, bringing us closer than ever to a form of Merzbow music which mimics avian chatter and flight, which has become a key, longterm theme to his music. Imagine, if you will, a feathered Zeitkratzer Ensemble fed on whizz-pepped seeds and let loose on one of Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s installations, and you’re practically ducking between their swarming orchestra inside. But of course it’s all the work of one man, which makes it that much more incredible.
On the vinyl side there is the 3 minutes of Amadare Guitar, which forms our first introduction to this dizzyingly febrile new Merzbow style and sound remarkably better cut than we initially expected from such a novel format. The B-side’s CD meanwhile offers a father four pieces of avian free jazz delirium, at times cosign off like Mr. Bungle on hyper fast-fwd, at others like a mechanised Balázs Pándi battling time itself, or Reinhold Friedl happily severing his digits in a bloody frenzy inside the piano. But perhaps what’s most shocking is the space between Akita’s rapid flux, where, while cramming in as much information as possible to each millisecond, he still hold a gripping spatial dynamic and meditative centre amid the madness.
Merzbow - (2017) Aodron CD
Automation Records – 056
Merzbow is the result of synth, industrial and grungy guitar soundscapes thrown into a blender—a fucking delicious harsh-noise smoothie. His latest album, Aodron, has familiar elements that represent a traditional Merzbow sound, this time adding a bit more junk metal and effects into the mix. Although there are only five songs on the album, each track is six or more minutes long, and brings its own flavor to the entirety of the album.
Aodron starts off just right with “Ao Part 1,” an alien-sounding entrance that moves straight into Merzbow’s signature white noise background with looping helicopter effects.
“Ao Part 2” is my favorite track on the album, comprising of various sounds that resemble a heartbeat. This one has a distinct rhythm to it, bringing industrial dance vibes into the picture, while in the background, there is a sound reminiscent of a fast-paced heart monitor. The 12-minute track is eerily calming, even though the noise and effects themselves can almost be anxiety-inducing. The rhythm of the song, combined with the low tonal emissions from the guitar, create an ambience that is almost meditative. Merzbow introduces what seems like arcade music from Galaga here, adding to the album’s initial introduction of alien and otherworldly noises.
“Ao Part 3” continues the hospital monitor with more distortion, outputting white noise with a harsh screaming sound in the foreground of the track. Later, he drops a deep bass in sporadic intervals, creating a nearly disorienting effect. The ending of this track is the best part, startling its listener with sudden shifts in sound from trash metal to grunge guitar to looped industrial pieces once again.
“Tetsu TO” has the most bass out of all the tracks. It’s an 18-minute song filled with deep bass that varies its tone at random frequencies. “Tetsu TO” does not incorporate a lot of high-pitched noises; rather, it stays deep—so much so, I could feel the bass in my chest while listening to the song in my car. This track is a close second favorite of the album.
Merzbow rounds off the end of his album with “Melo,” a track that makes you want to dance and relax and scream—all at the same time. It loops all of the distinct sounds from each track into one final piece, even adding a bit of keyboard and harmony into the song. It is both doomsday and alien, ending abruptly and leaving its listener needing more.
Overall, Aodron is a fantastic album for those who enjoy meditating to harsh noise. I could easily listen to it on repeat, both wanting to dance and escape into the music. Longtime Merzbow fans will enjoy the familiar aspects and can appreciate the new sounds and experimental portions throughout the album. And for those of you who have always wanted to listen to harsh noise but haven’t known where to start: Merzbow is one grungy artist who won’t let your expectations down.
Aodron starts off just right with “Ao Part 1,” an alien-sounding entrance that moves straight into Merzbow’s signature white noise background with looping helicopter effects.
“Ao Part 2” is my favorite track on the album, comprising of various sounds that resemble a heartbeat. This one has a distinct rhythm to it, bringing industrial dance vibes into the picture, while in the background, there is a sound reminiscent of a fast-paced heart monitor. The 12-minute track is eerily calming, even though the noise and effects themselves can almost be anxiety-inducing. The rhythm of the song, combined with the low tonal emissions from the guitar, create an ambience that is almost meditative. Merzbow introduces what seems like arcade music from Galaga here, adding to the album’s initial introduction of alien and otherworldly noises.
“Ao Part 3” continues the hospital monitor with more distortion, outputting white noise with a harsh screaming sound in the foreground of the track. Later, he drops a deep bass in sporadic intervals, creating a nearly disorienting effect. The ending of this track is the best part, startling its listener with sudden shifts in sound from trash metal to grunge guitar to looped industrial pieces once again.
“Tetsu TO” has the most bass out of all the tracks. It’s an 18-minute song filled with deep bass that varies its tone at random frequencies. “Tetsu TO” does not incorporate a lot of high-pitched noises; rather, it stays deep—so much so, I could feel the bass in my chest while listening to the song in my car. This track is a close second favorite of the album.
Merzbow rounds off the end of his album with “Melo,” a track that makes you want to dance and relax and scream—all at the same time. It loops all of the distinct sounds from each track into one final piece, even adding a bit of keyboard and harmony into the song. It is both doomsday and alien, ending abruptly and leaving its listener needing more.
Overall, Aodron is a fantastic album for those who enjoy meditating to harsh noise. I could easily listen to it on repeat, both wanting to dance and escape into the music. Longtime Merzbow fans will enjoy the familiar aspects and can appreciate the new sounds and experimental portions throughout the album. And for those of you who have always wanted to listen to harsh noise but haven’t known where to start: Merzbow is one grungy artist who won’t let your expectations down.
Merzbow - (2018) Exoking CD
Old Captain – 037
Here we have a recently uncovered work from Merzbow that dates back to the mid-1990’s. And it shows the Japanese king of noise throwing into the mix drum machine textures, decidedly harmonic electronica, and dance beats- through the lose/ playful noise/ loop structure side of things is very much kept in place. Meaning the release works as a halfway house/ missing link between his 90’s analog work, and the later Merz-beat albums.The release comes in the form of a CD- this appears on Ukraine based noise/ industrial label Old Captain. The four-panel digipack case takes in monochrome pictures of an industrial tower, and a line of weird circular windows. The pressing comes in a fairly small edition of 300 copies…so if you fancy this, it’s best to get it sooner than later.
The CD takes in a single just under the forty-one-minute track, and this opens up with a blend of snapping electro beats, weird wavering voices, and this dragged out & sneering horn sample- all sounding like gone wrong – sassy stage show music. Slowly but surely the layers of screaming & baying noise start to edge in, and these are joined with wondering & disorientating sweeps of percussive matter.
At around the fifth minute, the horn sample has dispersed, and we get a new electro beat pattern kicking-in. This is joined by speed-up easy listening /string twiddling, bass noise synth hits, a wonderful array of wonky drum machine batters, nervy noise textures, and longer baying noise swirls & sears. I won’t go into detail the rest of the tracks unfold here, as it would become a little tiresome & I feel it's going ruin the full effect of the release. But trust me it’s a wonderful eventful, playful, and creative track from Merzbow.
Following on from last years excellent Escape Mask( on Other Voices Records ) here’s another rediscovered gem of creative noise ‘n’ beat bound sound craft from Merzbow. Thorough-out he sounds like he’s having a hell of a time, and this makes for a really quirky, shifting, and unpredictable release- which will carry on offering up surprises & new details even after many plays.
Merzbow - (2019) Indigo Dada CD
スローダウンRECORDS – 045
Recorded and mixed at Munemihouse, Tokyo 2016-2018.
Three new pieces with one song being produced for the ダダ100周年 (dada 100) event.
Three new pieces with one song being produced for the ダダ100周年 (dada 100) event.
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