Merzbow
 

Merzbow is the moniker of Japanese noise artist Masami Akita.
The name is taken from a work by Kurt Schwitters called "Merzbau,"
which was basically a room filled up with random junk (or found art, if you will).
This gives you a pretty good idea of what the music is like...
a thunderous maelstrom of digital and analogue noise, heavily distorted samples,
complete chaos yet at the same time meticulously structured.
I see it as punk rock stripped completely bare until only the most visceral and intense elements are left,
other people see it as aural torture. In either case, it's a lot of fun.

http://www.industrialart.eu/festival...7/merzbow2.jpg



If you're interested in exploring his VAST back catalogue,
a good place to start is Merzbeat since the noise is at least looped and has a beat.
Aqua Necromancer similarly is based off of old prog-rock drum beats (not that you'll really be able to discern them, but oh well).
1930 is considered by many his masterpiece, and it is pretty mind-melting.

Yeah that is aural torture! I will never denounce this sort of experimentation but it is just unlistenable to me. I enjoy very chilled ambient monotonous music and I can see why people would be completely bored by it. It's the same here in reverse. I need some structure and I can't hear it. It is probably there but my ear is looking for a straight line and not zig zags!

it actually works really well as background music for me... i find it to be mentally stimulating

Yeah but i'm an old geezer settling down with a cup of cocoa. It's all too much for me! Now where are my favourite comfy slippers....

Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music makes for some great background music if it's quiet enough.

Anyway I listened to Aqua Necromancer about a year ago and hated it. To be honest, I find "noise music" intriguing but ultimately unrewarding. I love it when feedback/dissonance/noise is used in a SONG, in something with more structure. Noise-rock is one of my favourite genres. A good song that can meld noise and melody (wrong word but ya know) is one of my favourite things in music, and a much more impressive accomplishment that merely just noise. Pure noise is too often boring and directionless, and devoid of ideas I feel. It's all too easy to make a noise album really, and while I'm sure there are good ones, a lot of it is just thoughtless sound created by people who are compensating for a lack of creative and technical ability.

Merzbow is a cool guy though, I like his collaboration with Carlos Giffoni and Lee Ranaldo. Given his good rep, I'm sure he's got some goods, and I'm sure one day I'll find out what they are. One day I will probably dig Aqua Necromancer. But right now I'd rather listen to Funkadelic or Can or something.

I will add that if Merzbow ever came round these parts, I wouldn't hesitate to go see him live.

That's the one environment where I currently do like noise. Seeing it live is a whole lot more interesting, since there can be some interesting playing techniques and some rather crazy people as well. There's a pretty thriving noise/power electronics scene where I'm from, and I know a few people involved and regularly go to noise gigs here. I went to a festival once where this ****ing MENTAL russian artist called Monopolka played self-proclaimed "dadaist noise terror". He went on stage, absolutely wasted, and almost naked. Half way through the set he picked up his almost empty litre bottle of vodka and started smashing it over his equipment. I was standing near the front and we were hit by bits of glass flying into the crowd, while this crazy unrelenting Russian went nuts and removed the few clothes he had on. Dadaist indeed. It was a while before the next band could go on.

But digressing over, it'd be interesting to see Merzbow live.

Yeah, noise shows do tend to be absolutely insane. I went to a show where the band all picked up giant amplifiers with blasting feedback coming out of them and ran at the audience with them. It hurt, but it was fun.

I like his work with Boris
and that album he did with Genesis P-Orridge was subLIME
but I can't say I enjoy what I've heard of his other albums. It's probs an acquired appreciation.

I always imagined Merzbow to be one of those "you get what you put in" acts. So I intend to give it another chance.

I always thought merzbow was some hentai thing =o

more of an s&m thing, really