Merzbow, the project of
Japanese hyper-prolific noisemaker
Masami Akita, originally a reclusive
musician, inspired by the surrealist dogma and
the Freudian theory that everything is ultimately erotic
(and apparently by Kurt Schwitters's architectural masterpiece Merzbau),
explored sonic spaces inhabited by only the most radical works of
Borbetomagus
and
Einsturzende Neubauten.
While somehow related to the practice of the most vicious Western avantgarde,
Akita's art is faithful to canons of Eastern philosophy: noise is for him
the vehicle to achieve sonic ecstasis.
His career started in earnest with
amateurish and indulgent cassettes of free-form noise such as
Metal Acoustic Music (1980), containing the 47-minute Balance of Neurosis,
Material Action For 2 Microphones (1981),
the double Solonoise 1 & 2 (1982), 69 minutes of chaotic and tumultuous pandemonium for distorted guitar, objects and electronic noise,
and
the totally inept Yantra Material Action (1982).
Mechanization Takes Commando (1983) already shows progress as it contains
the creative and even comic collage Electric Pygmy Decollage (14:12),
the mad torture and radiation storm of Suicidal Machine (14:17),
and the percussive orgy Peaches Red Indian (10:46).
Sonic Command (1984),
Age of 369/ Chant 2 (1985 - Extreme, 1996),
and
Antimonument (ZSF Produkt, 1986), which contains the ten-minute Tatara,
all influenced by Italian noisemaker Maurizio Bianchi.
As if this wasn't enough, the double album Batztoutai With Memorial Gadgets (RRRecords, 1993) collected recordings of 1985-86.
Collaborative (Extreme, 1988) was his first widely-distributed release.
Merzbow tries to be more sophisticated on
Storage (1988), whose pieces
War Storage Pt. 1 (23:02) and
War Storage Pt. 2 (23:48) flirt with
electroacoustic chamber music, despite the presence of the usual aberrant dadaistic collage,
War Storage Pt. 3 (21:08).
Ditto for Crocidura Dsi Nezumi (1988), whose 20-minute suites
Mustela Erminea Nippon and Mustela Sixasa Namiyei refrain from
erecting walls of noise. The latter in particular is built around ominous
drumbeats although it ends in a sort of feverish Brazilian dance.
Nil Vagina Tape Loops (Extreme, 1990) is a reissue of the cassette Lowest Music 2.
Rainbow Electronics (Alchemy, 1990) is a 73-minute noise improvisation in four parts, each a mammoth pile of sonic excrements.
Part A is particularly effective in evoking alien, post-human worlds
in which future-primitive languages evolved that humans cannot comprehend and cannot even hear.
Part B is rather aimless and redundant.
Part C feels more cinematic, as if Akita were trying to tell a story,
the soundtrack to a movie in his mind.
Part D is simply a long sequence of blistering clatter, a continuum of violence.
Throughout the album there is a sense of
destruction, disintegration, decomposition, devastation.
Civilization is crumbling.
Music For Bondage Performance (Extreme, 1991) documents 1989-90 soundtracks for performance artists:
the concentrate of anguish of Seishi Seppuku Kei (10:47),
the warped psychedelic soundscape of Aimei Nawa (12:08),
and
Bondage Performance At Homo Fixas (26:17),
one of his dynamic kaleidoscopic collages.
This
would be followed by Music For Bondage Performance 2 (Extreme, 1994).
Among his countless early recordings are:
Antimonument (Art Directe, 1991),
the seventy-minute live performance of Great American Nude (1991);
the collaboration Grav (Silent, 1991) with PGR and Asmus Tietchens;
the Continuum (Cheeses, 1994), composed remotely with a Dutch musician;
the colossal improvisation Deus Irae with KK Null;
the Eleven Live Collaborations (Selektion, 1995) with Achim Wollscheid;
the collaboration Sleeper Awakes At The Edge Of The Abyss (Streamline, 1992) with Heeman (HNAS) which Akita credited to Heeman,
etc.
As he mastered the electronic instruments, his style became even more ferocious.
Hole (Heel Stone, 1994) and especially Venereology (Release, 1994),
which contains the deranged 29-minute bacchanal Ananga-Ranga and
the bombastically distorted Klo Ken Phantasie,
punch the listener in the abdomen with superhuman violence.
Locomotive Breath (Staalplat, 1995) contains three lengthy
suites of pure white noise (feedback, metal, electronics, loops),
but a bit trivial: Intercity 215 (19:25),
standout Verocity World (15:49), a relentless maelstrom of industrial pulsations and emissions,
and
Abstract Ear (13:36), a thick and ebullient magma.
Noizhead (Blast First, 1995) documents a live improvisation in
dark electronic mode which is powerful when it begins but doesn't change much
during its 45 minutes, thereby losing momentum and resulting in a monotonous experience.
Magnesia Nova (ZSF Produkt, 1995), whose compositions are all titled after texts by Athanasius Kircher, boasts the brutal symphonic poem
Rituale Lucis - Magnesia Nova (22:12), a noise of epic proportion and a peak of his anti-aesthetic of de-composition.
Specula Naturalum (8:10) is shorter, but no less aggressive, frontal attack. Oedipus Organum (7:53) doesn't have the same surges of violence of those two pieces but it paints a fresco of extreme unrelenting pain.
Pantometrum Erotica - Sphinx Mystagoga (22:41) is like a steamroller plowing through a minefield and intoning a duet with a helicopter.
Pulse Demon (Release, 1996), the ideal follow-up to
Venereology,
is even "uglier" in the way it indulges in violent noise.
The opener, Woodpecker No. 1 (6:42), is already devastating.
Ultra Marine Blues (11:29) is another shroud of vicious distortion
abrasive, and
the 25-minute Worms Plastic Earthbound
is a crescendo of cacophonic spasms with few equals in the history of music.
Spiral Honey (1996) contains the explosive Spiral Honey.A (18:02), but also much uninspired music.
Mercurated (Alchemy, 1996) is another painstakingly architected monument of chaos:
Electricwatersheep (26:36) is a tidal wave of ugly noise;
Tree Of Kusukusu (17:38) is a volcanic eruption of screaming dissonance;
and Surfactant (19:06) is a story of destruction told by the machines that carried it out.
Rainbow Electronics 2 (Dexter's Cigar, 1996), second part of the 1991
symphonya, is less intense but still contains a good dose of strident
dissonance in between some cosmic drones.
Akasha Gulva (Station R, 1996) documents a 73-minute live performance.
Scumtron (Blast First, 1996) contains remixes performed by guests.
Merzbox (Extreme, 1997) is a 50-disc box-set, including 30 reissues and 20 unreleased albums, that
"summarized" his career when he had just passed the 200-album mark.
Hybrid Noisebloom (Vinyl Communications, 1997)
opens with the torrential
Plasma Birds (9:31), then indulges in the massacre of
Minotaurus (10:46), and intones the alien birdsong of
Mouse Of Superconcetion (17:11) in a tunnel of mechanical bats,
before plunging into the nervous system to extract
the pulsating neurosis of Neuro Electric Butterfly (20:28), one of his
artistic peaks,
and closing with the usual infernal vomit,
The Imaginary Coversation Of Blue (14:55).
- Om Electrique (79) Unreleased
Masami Akita discovers electronics and the world is never the same again
- Metal Acoustic Music (80)
The first MERZBOW release ever and the source of much to follow
- Rembrandt Assemblage (80) Unreleased
The first MERZBOW recording using tape manipulations
- Collection Era Vol 1 (81)
The premier release from 'Lowest Music & Arts'
- Collection Era Vol 2 (81)
The influence of Kurt Schwitters Merz-bau is manifested musically
- Collection Era Vol 3 (81/82)
Includes bonus tracks from the 'Tridal Production' release
- Paradoxa Paradoxa (81) Live
MERZBOW's first ever live event at Kid Airak Hall
- Material Action For 2 Microphones (81)
Improvisations for home objects, akin to John Cage's 'Cartridge Music'.
- Yantra Material Action (82)
As approved by Fred Frith, this was once destined to be the first LP
- Solonoise (82)
The ugliest, cheapest sound in the world
- Expanded Music 2 (82)
Inspired by Stan Brakhage's scratched film
- Nil Vagina Tape Loop (82)
MERZBOW and tape machine are in minimalist harmony
- Material Action 2 (83) LP Reissue
The first MERZBOW LP release ever
- Mechanization Takes Commando (83)
MERZBOW in their industrial hey day
- Dying Mapa Tapes 1-2 (83)
Rare gems from the days on Aeon
- Dying Mapa Tapes 2-3 (83)
The mayhem continues unabated
- Agni Hotra (84) Unreleased
Once destined to be the second MERZBOW LP, now rediscovered
- Pornoise 1kg Vol 1(84)
The first in a series of very harsh, rough, tape noise music
- Pornoise 1kg Vol 2 (84)
The sound of demolition, literally and metaphorically
- Pornoise 1kg (84)
Degradation of sound makes MERZBOW Noise all the better
- Pornoise Extra (84)
The peak of MERZBOW's industrial period
- Sadomasochismo/Lampinak (85)
Noise as a shamanic and ritual experience
- Mortegage/Batztoutai Extra (86) Unreleased
Collage gems from the same period that brought 'Batztoutai...' double LP
- Enclosure (87)
'Ecobondage' LP provides the source for sonic manipulation
- Vratrya Southward (87)
This is what can happen with piano strings and a metal box
- Live in Khabarovsk, CCCP - I'm Proud by rank of the workers (88) LP Reissue
MERZBOW kicks up a storm in Russia (original versions without effects)
- Storage (88) LP Reissue + Extra
Once again, the full length original versions that didn't make it
to vinyl
- Fission Dialogue (88) Unreleased
MERZBOW as electro-acoustic sound sculpture
- MERZBOW + SBOTHI (88) LP Reissue
The LP that started it all for Extreme, including limited release
solo works
- Crocidura Dsi Nezumi (88)
Environmental drums make unplugged noise music
- MERZBOW + Achim Wollscheid - NIR Transformation (89) Unreleased
Wollscheid simultaneously reinterprets MERZBOW live in Hamburg
- Scum Vol. 1 (89) LP Reissue
The original long versions and extra tracks
- Scum Vol. 2 (89) LP Reissue
More of the brilliance from the last MERZBOW LP on ZSF Product
- Scum/Severances (89)
Decompositions of already decomposed SCUM works
- Scum/Steel Cum (89)
The original and official version of 'Steel Cum'
- Cloud Cock OO Ground (90) CD Reissue
MERZBOW with speed, power and distortion - a classic
- Newark Hellfire, Live at WFMU, USA (90) Unreleased
Imagine crossing NYC by taxi, listening to MERZBOW
- Hannover Cloud (90) Unreleased
Malignant, dizzying, bleak, black noise
- Stacy Q, Hi-Fi Sweat Leaf (91) Unreleased
"Crash for Hi-Fi" raw materials are decomposed and deconstructed
- Music For True Romance Vol. 1 (92) Unreleased
If this is the soundtrack, just imagine the videos they accompanied
- Brain Ticket Death (93) Unreleased
The birth of the fusion-powered electronics of the 90s
- Sons Of Slash Noise Metal (93) Unreleased
MERZBOW's passion for metal takes shape
- Exotic Apple (94) Unreleased
Recorded soon after the 'Dadarotenvator' LP
- Liquid City (95) Unreleased
You can blame the Hanshin earthquake for this album
- Red Magnesia Pink (95) Unreleased
Sonic gems from the 'Red Eyes', 'Magnesia Nova' and 'Pink Ream' sessions
- Marfan Syndrome (95) Unreleased
Featuring the talents of Reiko A
- Rhinogradentia (96) Unreleased
Take an audio generator and EMS and stand back
- Space Mix Travelling Band (96/97) Unreleased
Includes raw material for 'Brisbane-Tokyo Interlace' CD
- Motorond (97) Live Unreleased
The most recent live recording, with Bara providing Hommy chant of
Mongol
- Annihioscillator (97) Unreleased
New studio works for Noise and Theremin
In just one year he released
New Takamagahara (Ohm, 1998),
Pinkream (Dirter, 1998),
and
1930 (Tzadik, 1998), one of his least challenging works (everything is relative),
contains three lengthy pieces:
1930 (19:39), a loop of industrial noise that morphs into a slimy substance and then into a monster growl,
Degradation Of Tapes (12:29), that merges turntable scratching and bombing-like electronic effects culminating in a sequence of extreme noise,
and
Iron, Glass, Blocks & White Lights (21:50), a less cohesive work.
Tauromachine (Release, 1998) contains three of his most intriguing
sonic aberrations
(Cannibalism Of Machine, Minotaurus,
Soft Water Rhinoceros) which bridge random noise and ambient music
(and even the harsh Heads Of Clouds, upon close inspection,
aims for trance rather than killing fields).
Half of Aqua Necromancer (Alien 8, 1998) is almost
atmospheric by his standards:
Aqua Necromancer (7:34) is one of his most original Dada creatures,
and
Soft Drums (9:10) is just nine minutes of frantic drumming.
However,
Contrapuntti Indian (12:42, misspelled Italian) is instead a manic screaming collage of musique concrete, a boiling cauldron of impossible counterpoint.
Contrapuntti Patto (17:19, misspelled Italian) feels more arbitrary,
just a catalog of savage sonic events that Akita liked, chaotic for the same of chaos.
Door Open At 8am (Le Grand Magistery, 1999), ostensibly a tribute to free jazz,
contains the convoluted rhythmic anti-dance Jimmy Elvins In Traffic (9:49), which sounds more like a criminally remixed jam of drum'n'bass,
Lyons Wake (10:45), a cute novelty built around a hypnotic syncopated pulsation that gets completely disintegrated,
The Africa Brass Session Vol.2 (19:51), which deconstructs and disembodies John Coltrane so its music becomes a choir of ringing and gurgling alien beings,
and Metro And Bus (7:50), another rhythmic nightmare.
Merzbow also recorded dozens of collaborations with other musicians.
In particular, he
collaborated with Zbigniew Karkowski on two albums, both
titled Mazk (TIgerbeat, 2001).
It is difficult to tell whether Dharma (Hydrahead, 2001)
is a masterpiece or another Merzbow self-parody...
but maybe that's precisely what Merzbow is all about. One of his most
savage noise recordings, it includes the massive (32 minutes), gargantuan,
arcane musique concrete of Frozen Guitars and Sunloop/7E 802,
that after eight minutes turns into a maelstrom exuding a sense of desperation
and after sixteen enters an endless accelerating free fall into a black hole.
The crescendo of I'm Coming to the Garden No Sound No Memory achieves a screeching intensity.
The nuclear radiation over tribal dancing of Akashiman is one of his horror peaks.
The eight-minute
Piano Space For Marimo Kitty is an austere (or satirical?) chamber composition for random piano notes and alien electronic interference.
By the same token,
on Frog (Misanthropic Agenda, 2001), a sequence of variations on frogs,
Masami Akita seems to make fun of the fans who take him seriously.
The highlight of
Amlux (Important, 2002) is
the 16-minute Looping Jane, whose ambient beginning turns into industrial mayhem and then manic distortion,
whereas the 22-minute Luxurious Automobile (Krokodil Texas Mix)
is rather monotonous.
The 4 CD box-set 24 Hours - A Day Of Seals (Dirter Promotions, 2002)
is almost a catalog of his techniques, the manic loops, the white noise, the methodic glitches.
Everything is very self-indulgent.
A Taste of Merzbow (2002)
Merzbeat (Important, 2002) is his version of "dance music", meaning
that the usual dissonant bacchanal is coupled with loud and hallucinated
drumming.
Ikebana (Important, 2003) collects other people's remixes of Merzbow music.
Timehunter (Ant-Zen, 2003), issued as a four 3" cd-set, is one of his
least monolithic releases, a sign maybe that even he is getting bored of
Merzbow's noise.
Animal Magnetism (Alien8, 2003) returns to what Akita does best:
massive walls of distortion. There is more variety than on his earlier
albums, possibly the influence of his recent experiments.
Satanstornade (Warp, 2003) is a collaboration with Russell Haswell.
V (Victo, 2003) is a live collaboration with Pan Sonic.
Last of Analog Sessions (Important, 2004) is a 3-cd box-set of new
material.
Partikel (Cold Spring, 2005) and Partikel II (Cold Spring, 2007)
are collaborations with Swedish ambient musician Nordvargr, and probably the
most original Merzbow recordings of the decade.
Merzbird (Important, 2005) continues the dance project of Merzbeat.
Thanks to the upgrade to the digital technology of the laptop,
Sha Mo 3000 (Essence Music, 2004) is one of his most extreme and
savage works, if not his best work ever.
His masterpiece
Sha Mo 3000 (19:29) opens with a tribal beat, conjures a million electric birds, drowns in a Suicide-style pulsating pattern, indulges in a garage-rock rave-up, unleashes an infernal cacophony, and
ends with a hyper-propulsive tribal dance.
Dreaming K-Dog (22:08), another peak of pathos, begins like a machine that is repairing itself but soon escalates into full-throated industrial pyrotechnics, into an explosive set of distorted whirwinds, an implacable flow of evil
sounds that seems to lead to an underground robotic civilization.
Hen's Teeth (12:34) evokes a variety of drilling sounds before turning into a wild psych-rock jam.
Merzbow shoots indiscriminate dissonance in all directions hoping to hit a target, but he doesn't quite know what a target looks like.
Merzbuddha (Important, 2005) contains three calmer (but far from
calm) mantras.
Dust Of Dreams (A Thisco, 2005) is traditional Merzbow fare (another
wall of noise), whereas
Senmaida (Blossoming Noise, 2005) is industrial music with distorted
beats and expressionist cacophony.
The chaos and the dissonance were untamed on
Metamorphism (Very Friendly, 2006),
Bloody Sea (Vivo, 2006) and Coma Berenices (Vivo, 2007),
but the musician began to show
the limits of his inspiration.
Keio Line (Cuneiform, 2008) was a double-disc collaboration with
Richard Pinhas.
Metal/Crystal (Cuneiform, 2010) was another double-disc collaboration with Pinhas, this time with the addition of Wolf Eyes.
Live collaborations between the two were documented on
Rhizome (Cuneiform, 2011) and Paris 2008 (Cuneiform, 2011).
The former, in five parts, mostly unleashes waves of evil radiations, fibrillating quasi-drones
that do little more than drill their way into the listener's brain.
The 16-minute Rhizome 1 is particularly ferocious, reaching an orgasmic
peak around the ten-minute mark and then fading slowly into a
glitchy cosmic nebula.
Rhizome 2 has more of a horror feeling.
Rhizome 3 adds processed and looped voices to the wall of noise that
soars to an apocalyptic crescendo.
Kikuri's Pulverized Purple (Victo, 2008) documented a collaboration
between Merzbow's Masami Akita and Keiji Haino.
And the Devil Makes Three (Truth Cult, 2009) was a collaboration with
Porn, featuring Melvins' Dale Crover, guitarist Tim Moss and
bassist Billy Anderson.
The 12-CD box-set Merzbient (Soleilmoon, 2010) collects unreleased ambient recordings dating back to the 1980s.
Cat's Squirrel (Black Truffle, 2013) that documents a live
performance between Merzbow and Oren Ambarchi.
Cuts (RareNoise, 2013) documents a collaboration
with Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi and with Mats Gustasfsson on sax and
clarinet.
Masami Akita and Henrik Nordvergr completed the "Partikel" trilogy with III (Cold Spring, 2013), recorded in mid 2011.
Merzbow's
Grand Owl Habitat (The Death Of Rave, 2013) contains two lengthy
pieces.
Merzbow (aka Masami Akita) on noise electronics, Mats Gustafsson on sax and clarinet, Thurston Moore on guitar and Balazs Pandi on drums improvised the jams of Cuts Of Guilt, Cuts Deeper (april 2014).
Kouen Kyoudai (Mego, 2016) was a collaboration with singer-songwriter Eiko Ishibashi (also on piano, drums and synthesizers).
An Untroublesome Defencelessness (april 2015 - Rare Noise, 2016) documents Merzbow (electronics), Keiji Haino (guitar, electronics) and Balazs Pandi (drums) in two lengthy improvisations
Hatobana (Rustbladed, 2016)
was a concept double album.
Strange City (Cold Spring, 2016) documents two remixes of Sun Ra's pieces.
Gensho (Relapse, 2016) is a collaboration (or, better, a split) between
Boris and Merzbow.
The latter contributes four of his self-indulgent electronic mayhems:
the noisecore apocalypse of Planet Of The Cows (18:44), one of his best,
the imaginary videogame soundtrack Merzbow Goloka Pt 1 (20:10) and
Merzbow Goloka Pt 2 (19:34),
and the neurotic nuclear monster Merzbow Prelude To A Broken Arm (16:02).
His compositions rank among the most vicious tortures in the history of music.
Between 2016 and 2024 he released the solo albums:
Hanakisasage (2016),
Aodron (2017),
Wildwood II (2017),
Gomata (2017),
Muen (2017),
Eureka Moment (2017),
Hyakki Echo (2017),
Kaoscitron (2017),
Tomarigi (2017),
Merzopo (2018),
Indigo Dada (2019),
Kaerutope (2019),
Hermerzaphrodites (2019),
Dead Lotus (2019),
Screaming Dove (2020),
Mukomodulator (2021),
Hikaru Hane (2021),
Kazakiribane (2021),
Triwave Pagoda (2021),
Bit Blues (2021),
Kotorhizome (2021),
Double Beat Sequencer Vol. 1-6 (2021),
Janus Guitar (2022),
Purple Fish (2022),
Beetle (2022),
Seven Sides (2022),
Persimmon Mask (2022),
White Bird (2022),
New Ear Control (2022),
Hope (2022),
CATalysis (2023),
Hatomatsuri (2023),
Bluedron (2023),
Lacrima (2023),
Nil Cluster (2023),
450Q (2024),
Noise 5706 (2024),
Orthogenesis (2024),
Mukotronics (2024),
Animal Matiere (2024),
Hinawave (2024),
Magnetic Rain (2024),
Tarsometatarsus (2024),
Gecko Raga (2024),
Tsubute Mosaic (2024),
Barrack Baroque (2024),
Circular Reference (2024),
Hatomosphere Variant (2024),
Nine Studies of Ephemeral Resonance (2024),
Muko Pitch Bender (2024),
Variations for Live Performance 2023 (2024),
etc.
By 2024 he had released more than 450 albums, including collaborations.