50 Days of Merzbow, Day 50: Annihiloscillator

1997

An old evangelist friend of mine used to say that all we needed was a good, cleansing fire. Clearly, Merzbow is down with this. Annihiloscillator is a good place to end this 50 CD mountain. Fuck any scorched earth policy. Why limit it to the ground. Merzbow burns the whole world of sound with his work: the high, the low, and the in-between. Annihilation is a gift, and Merzbow just keeps giving.

We offer our gratitude and we end with a prayer.

TRACK LIST

1. Hair Gun // 13:16
2. Kyoko Hamara Air Clyster // 12:14
3. Black Brain of Piranese // 13:26
4. Soft Parts 1&2 // 17:29
5. Wild Pair // 3:50

_____________________________________

Big ups to the world of sharity that gave me the files to do this. Files here . . .

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 49: Motorond

1997

t's a long way down, but I feel alright
It's a long way down, but I feel alright
And the cops get in, and the crowd gets tight
--Ryan Adams, Starting To Hurt*

Here, Akita shoots his sounds down a narrow hallway. The sonics feel caged up, but that only increases the tension release in the second track when he hits a groove that has the same rocking effect as the deepest space of Coltrane's A Love Supreme. And that's the great illusion of Merzbow. His music might sound dark, but it comes from--and is on its way to--a place of light. Color me blinded.

TRACK LIST

1. Motorond Pt.2 // 31:25
2. Motorond Pt.1 // 27:53

*A sidenote: When the last Sonic Youth album came out the fact that Thurston Moore was influenced by Black Metal made it from the press release into just about every review that was written. You know what I want to see? Somebody to give a shout out to Ryan Adams for his absolutely convincing Black Metal yowl that pops up every once in awhile. Srsly. Ildjarn would have been happy to tap this pain vein.

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 48: Space Mix Travelling Band

1997

Would like to be objective about this recording, but when Merzbow pulls out this Death Ray of his, I am a goner. Also, I did not expect to think of (early) Kitaro here. Yet, I did. Not because of the sounds, BUT the because of their shared ability to return to the same or similar sounds in creating something fresh and good.

TRACK LIST

1. Travelling 1997 // 20:04
2. Floating Manhattan // 14:06
3. Hongkong Suite // 24:52

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 47: Rhinogradentia

1996

If Michael Stipe was an icehead and in charge of a faltering Death Ray machine, this is what it would sound like. Fucking fabulous. Windout.

TRACK LIST

1. Rhinogradentia // 14:52
2. Silver Scintillator // 16:41
3. Narco // 24:02

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 46: Marfan Syndrome

1995

This album is a good example of why people say that all Merzbow albums are the same. It's also a good example of why I don't need to talk to these people about Merzbow. Be in it. Be crushed. Be done.

TRACK LIST

1. Marfan Syndrome for Blue (Remix) // 7:07
2. Oldenbergs Soft Gun // 18:39
3. Spider Nest Castle Pt.1 // 12:26
4. Un Br Che // 11:25
5. Yosef Voice // 2:12

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 45: Red Magnesia Pink

1995

The swirling dervishes of the high end cut sharply through what feels like the Aokigahara of Noise. You know all that friction is going to cause a fire in the dry season. Thankfully, in Merzbow's world there is no dry season, but things will burn anyway.

TRACK LIST

1. Minus Zero // 5:57
2. Etic // 4:08
3. Delta X // 4:33
4. Tremelo Man // 10:27
5. Euclids Pickel // 13:48
6. Chameleon Body // 9:18
7. Little Bang! // 7:38
8. You - Bahn // 5:27

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 44: Liquid City

1995

First of all, what's not to like about an album that nods to Throbbing Gristle AND has a song title as good as Cheese Car Commando?

No build-up here. We just get dropped into the middle of the explosion that is "Liquid City 17-1-95". Its non-stop assault finally peters out in the last 30 seconds. Then a short build before the helicopters of Tiabguls kick in. (Total Xhol, Motherfuckers Live alert here, btw.) The choppers stop but things keep spinning through the next song. Lastly, "Cheese Car Commando" stutter steps onto the scene before the plates melt together to form a dense metal mass that happens to be careening towards your head. Good luck with that.

TRACK LIST

1. Liquid City 17-1-95 // 19:11
2. Dalitech Filters // 21:09
3. Tiabguls // 9:16
4. Cheese Car Commando // 7:35

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 43: Exotic Apple

1994

Merzbow gets his old drum machines and samplers out, and it's a fine damn thing. Goes for a lot of high end too. Not my favorite are in the land of the rising Noise, but what he's doing in opposition to it works so well I don' t care. When his shit is on, it's ON. Make my ears bleed for all I care. Actually, fuck my ears, this is actually making my teeth hurt. I mean it. It's triggered an olfactory memory, and I can smell the dentist's drill. Music (or anti-music) does not get better than this. If I was in a dream, I'd be looking in the mirror and my teeth would be falling out in some mythopoetic kinda way. The Merzbow soundtrack would make it alright though. Like I said last time . . . Bite the apple.

TRACK LIST

1. Sunohara Youri Is Suzanna Erica // 10:16
2. Moon over the Bwana A // 5:30
3. Apple Rock 1 // 14:20
4. Apple Rock 2 // 16:17
5. Apple Rock 3 // 7:23
6. Apple Rock 4 // 7:55

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 42: Sons of Slash Noise Metal

1993

Far fucking out. Merzbow pays homage to the ever-mighty Iron Butterfly. Heavy trippiness, thy name is In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, and Merzbow's approximately titled In-a-Gadda-Veddah grinds out a spacy groove of mayhem that does its namesake proud. About midway through the groove turns into a layered wall of blackness that careens through the next two songs through the end of the album. Man. Merzbow has clearly hit a harsh stride here. Bite the apple.

TRACK LIST

1. In-a-Gadda-Veddah // 16:53
2. Cross Toad // 10:57
3. Slash Embryo // 32:34

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 41: Brain Ticket Death

1993

Brain Ticket Death relentlessly explores the pure violence of the drum. It's, quite simply, one of the harshest Merzbow releases I've ever heard. Just. Brutal. Actually, I'll go further than that. It's one of the harshest Noise releases I've ever heard. This, kids, is saying something.

TRACK LIST

1. Metal of Doom // 6:36
2. Electric Peekaboo // 3:45
3. Iron Caravan // 5:33
4. Brain Ticket Death // 34:01

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 40: Music for True Romance Vol. 1

1992

Oh, honey. I hate you.

But seriously, this is probably the only Merzbow release to remind me of both The Gerogerigegege and Ian Hunter. That's fucked up.

TRACK LIST

1. True Romance Theme // 3:52
2. Music Cave // 2:27
3. She Floating - Preparation // 15:43
4. She Mutilation - Main Ritual // 15:17
5. Injured Imperial Soldiers Marching Song // 22:29

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 39: Stacy Q, Hi Fi Sweet Leaf

1991

The Sweet Leaf reference in the title reminded me that Merzbow has mentioned that the basic goal of his music to sustain the heaviest moments of Black Sabbath. Done. Brian Eno has stated eloquently and often that rock's biggest contribution to the history of music has been texture. There are few bands outside of Sabbath that have added a more distinctive voice to the conversation. It would have been thrilling even if Merzbow had failed at his task to to harness the great white rhino of Tommy, Geezer, and Bill. But like I said, with Merzbow it's a done deal. Task over.

Oh, and Stacy Q. Heh. Two of hearts, my ass.

TRACK LIST

1. Decomposed Cockoo // 26:29
2. Stacy Q, Hi Fi Sweet Leaf // 26:28

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 38: Hannover Cloud

1990

A grab bag of chaos and destruction tied up by the not-so-neat bow of "Autopussy Go No Go 2". Considering the bumpy ride, it's a pretty low impact landing. The restraints are in full effect.

TRACK LIST

1. Magnetic Void // 20:35
2. Rocket Bomber // 15:17
3. Untitled Cock // 6:13
4. Autopussy Go No Go 2 // 13:22

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 37: Newark Hellfire – Live On WFMU, 1990

1990

Corey Booker thought he had it bad. Damn. A slow descending before they turn the furnaces on. It's mostly fury from launch through to the end. The slightest respite appears mid-way through the blazing walls of sound in the form of a wah-wah pedal that seems to be eating shrapnel. But not to worry. Merzbow's lesser angels swoop back in before too long and take us the rest of the way into the pit. Obliteration. What a blast.


TRACK LIST

1. Newark Hellfire // 58:45

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 36: Cloud Cock OO Grand

1990

As an artist, flailing can be a good thing. This recording would be a great example of that. Stagger and drop. Get back up and reach for the ropes.


TRACK LIST

1. Brain Forest for Metal Acoustic Concret // 23:37
2. Spinnozaamen // 24:01
3. Autopussy Go No Go // 7:40
4. Modular // 15:12
5. Postfix // 8:26

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 35: SCUM – Steel Cum

1989

Yesterday I said, "If Led Zeppelin's great fuck epic Whole Lotta Love was filthier, trippier, heavier, and way more Dada; this is what it would sound like." Take that and add a dentist. I'm hurt bad.

TRACK LIST

1. Mona // 2:51
2. Great Nude Variation No. 3 // 5:57
3. Duck Exercise // 17:14
4. Blues in C Minor // 24:23
5. Body // 6:09

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 34: SCUM – Severances

1989

If Led Zeppelin's great fuck epic Whole Lotta Love was filthier, trippier, heavier, and way more Dada; this is what it would sound like. Ten years before they even existed, this release plots out an entire career for Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. And it's still as fresh as a tape I bought yesterday, literally. The new Vegas Martyrs' tape on Hospital recalls the filthy and heavy wonder of SCUM - Severances. Run, John Wayne Bobbit, run.

TRACK LIST

1. UP Steel CUM // 16:24
2. Catabolism Variation Stereo No.1 // 14:02
3. Deaf Forever / Wild Thing / Electric Shaver Forest / De-Soundtrack Variation No.1 / Rap the Khabarovsk // 31:01

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 33: SCUM – Scissors for Cutting Merzbow Vol. 2

1989

Merzbow gleefully exploits the chasm between silence and sound on this one. But don't think that that means it's not a rough rider. It is. Steep drop-offs into the belly of the beats and then back, up through the wormhole again. Hard to listen to this without thinking of John Entwistle.


TRACK LIST

1. Music for Funk Arts No.1 // 22:51
2. Music for Funk Arts No.2 // 22:09
3. Great Nude Variation No.1 // 12:05
4. Extract 5 // 3:40

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 32: SCUM – Scissors for Cutting Merzbow Vol. 1

1989

Three things to remember here. 1. Spaceships are phallic. 2. Spacejunk is made out of spaceships. 3. Ancient astronomy is art.

Why are there no constellations for those great bent and shattered cocks in the sky? Merzbow has clearly found them. Space is a wide road, but you still gotta stay in the right lane or there will be trouble. (Just ask Patricia Kennealy-Morrison.) And so it is, with nods to Dada, Valerie Solanas, and Yoko Ono, Merzbow exhibits that there is plenty of opportunity for crashing in outer space. In the end, all the space junk and all the stars collapse together into a big black hole. Awesome.

And yes. I know. That was intentional.

TRACK LIST

1. Cockchola // 12:54
2. Extract 1 // 4:21
3. Extract 2 // 5:48
4. Extract 3 // 1:18
5. Extract 4 // 5:59
6. Kinetic Environment // 11:46
7. Yeah, But That Was Just Dyke Stuff Great Nude Variation No.2 // 17:46

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 31: KIR Transformation (w/ Achim Wollscheid)

1989

Relentless white knuckle dragging across the killing floor of your metal heart. (Too much, that? Exactly.) Oddly enough, KIR Transformation reminds me of Skeltonic rhyme. Just grind down the sound until it's exhausted and then move on to the next useful action to form the whole. You'll get there. And so will I.


TRACK LIST

1. KIR Transformation // 40:40

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 30: Crocidura Dsi Nezumi

1988

Skull metal. Klang, skitter, and shred.

TRACK LIST

1. Mustela Erminea Nippon // 23:00
2. Mustela Sixasa Namiyei (includes "The Revenge of the Son of Monster Magnet") // 23:50
3. Strange Strings // 16:16

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 29: Collaborative-Merzbow & S.B.O.T.H.I.

1988

OK. Major soft spot here. I have the original vinyl release of this recording on EXTREME. It's pretty much one of my most prized slabs. Things are smudged, refined, and destroyed to the Nth degree here, and all via the goddamn mail. The borders are crossed mightily as Merzbow and S.B.O.T.H.I. (Achim Wollscheid) go to town on each other's sound sources. It's all hacksaws and scalpels, kids. Nothing is sacred in the house of these two sound lords, and it makes for a listening experience that remains fresh over 20 years later. Damn. I dare you to be this good.

TRACK LIST

1. Joint // 20:51
2. Code-Gerausch-Aggregate // 20:12
3. Jointed // 7:06

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 28: Fission Dialogue

1988

Dear sad, sorry Kanye West*: THIS is how a real artist pays homage to King Crimson. While this excursion is generally inspired by the Crims, Merzbow is quite specifically channeling the percussive madness of Jamie Muir**. I can think of no higher compliment to either musician. I can't believe I didn't see this coming. Heavy weather, with the sheet metal flying above our heads to prove it.

TRACK LIST

1. White Gamlan // 16:27
2. Fission Dialogue // 9:08
3. Inside Tangues in Tera-Aspic // 32:11

*Only click on that link if you like comedy and lameness.

**Jamie Muir with King Crimson, being neither lame nor funny.

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 27: Storage

1988

This is your Mars on drugs.

TRACK LIST

1. War Storage Pt.1 // 23:02
2. War Storage Pt.2 // 23:48
3. War Storage Pt.3 // 21:08

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 26: Live in Khabarovsk, CCCP (I'm Proud by Rank of the Workers)

1988

text t/k

Um. Kind of legendary performance. Note that the first track has the later date on it. Significant because it explains the presence of live drumming. After completely freaking out the festival officials with his first performance, Masami added a live drum kit to the mix the next night to make everything seem more "traditional". Ha! Good luck, Merzbow. In reality, working with a kit made things even weirder and more dangerous because of the unplanned nature of the aural assault. I entered this with the the attitude that I was going to be looking at a curiosity box. It turned out to be more than that. Totally unlocked. This is the sound of an artist who is afraid to fail, but not remotely worried about it.

TRACK LIST

1. Live at Trade Unions Place of Culture Hall 23 March 1988 // 29:21
2. Live at Soviet Army Officers House Hall 24 March 1988 // 28:13

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 25: Vratya Southward

1987

A surprisingly (and refreshingly) quiet start on this one, bringing to mind a less aggressive take on Nurse With Wound's Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella. Which is perfect, given both artists' affection for Surrealism. Even more surprisingly it remains--for Merzbow--quiet to the end. When I say that, I just mean that it's not a full-on pummel straight through. There is almost TOO much room to breathe. Almost. It's an "almost" that creates MORE tension than the usual Merzbow blow-'em-out approach.This isn't quite the negative sculpture of Michael Heizer but it feels like it because of the violently overflowing container that is the rest of Merzbow's work. It almost makes me sad that he didn't travel down this road a little more often. Almost.


TRACK LIST

1. Electroacoustic Voyage // 23:47
2. Electric Red Desart // 18:19
3. Lightning" // 19:10

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 24: Enclosure/Libido Economy

1987

I don't own too much early Merzbow. Nobody does, really. Unless they have thousands of dollars to blow on ebay. I came to know his work during the period he was releasing a few things on the EXTREME label in the 90s. I missed the ZSF Produkt period. Occasionally, I would hear something in a friend's collection or have some kind of crazy record store luck, but mostly his work from that period simply existed in my mind until I downloaded the Merzbox. Enclosure/Libido Economy IS the music I had been imagining. Tonally ambitious and stylistically diverse, it holds itself together in its service to sound and its dedication to the unpredictable. There are artists who make something this perfect once in their careers. In Merbow's case, he's just geting started.


TRACK LIST

1. Enclosure // 17:27
2. Scarabe // 5:33
3. Interline No.1-3 // 18:10
4. Itch // 5:39
5. Libido Economy No.1 // 5:39
6. Libido Economy No.2 // 5:32

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 23: Mortegage/Batztoutai Extra

1986

I have to say that this is the most Nurse With Wound-ish Merzbow record I've ever heard. Possibly because I was listening to Drunk With The Old Man Of The Mountains last night, but most probably because of the machines-spinning-off-the-tether-of-their-axes motif that Masami returns to again and again throughout. Also, many scatalogical moments, but less in a Coil way and more on a Satanic High School's gym locker room tip. Merzbow is cracking me up and scaring the living shit out of me on this one. Darkness descends, but with an echoing belly laugh.

TRACK LIST

1. Anus Anvil Anxiety (Long Version) // 14:40
2. Radio 1511 // 24:01
3. Mortegage Inc. Batztoutai // 23:21

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 22: Sadomasochismo/The Lampinak

1985

Give 'em enough rope.

And so, Akita's enthrallment with Sadomasochism begins. This is going to last awhile, so you might want to settle in. Unsurprisingly, it's all about tension and slack with very few safe words uttered between the beginning and end of a very long and dark night. Tie ya mutha down.

TRACK LIST

1. Antimony Pt.1 // 10:30
2. Antimony Pt.2 // 13:05
3. Eyes of Isonokami // 11:40
4. The Lampinak - Sarpent Power // 10:29
5. Carcass on the Floor // 4:35
6. Village of 8 Graves // 4:30

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 21: Pornoise Extra

1984

This one is all money shots and cigarettes. Overwhelming and way past complete.

TRACK LIST

1. Flesh Radio 1 // 4:49
2. Flesh Radio 2 // 4:51
3. Dance Of Dharma-Kala // 13:29
4. Psychotic Orange // 0:42
5. Helgas Death Disco // 5:34
6. Eros Pandra // 8:28
7. Kirie // 6:45
8. Domine // 5:54
9. Chopin Is Dead // 5:55
10. Risa Supersex // 2:55

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 20: Pornoise/1kg Vol. 3

1984

Merzbow. His love is rotten to the core. And kind of gooey.

TRACK LIST

1. UFO vs British Army // 30:46
2. Toy 69 // 28:55

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 19: Pornoise/1kg Vol. 2

1984

Merzbow is still holding on to the side of the abyss, but barely. And that's fine. Clawing always makes for good tension. The bombs-away descents used in Dynamite Don Don Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 are about the only things that betray the expected. All else is wayward thunder.


TRACK LIST

1. New Karhma // 31:24
2. Dynamite Don Don Pt.1 // 16:54
3. Dynamite Don Don Pt.2 // 13:16

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 18: Pornoise/1kg Vol. 1

1984

Let the fucking jams begin. With all of his swimming lessons behind him, Merzbow dives headfirst into the gleaming cesspool of porno sex that will sustain him for years to come. Thrilling, this.

"La petite mort". So very in the house. Just check the track list.

TRACK LIST

1. Industrial // 3:32
2. Loop Fuck 1 // 6:12
3. Loop Fuck 2 // 5:39
4. Obituary 1 // 5:15
5. Obituary 2 // 7:12
6. Night Noise White // 31:24

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 17: Agni Hotra

1984

Like I said before, at least the door was open. All the way.

Repetition burrows in and strikes a blow against your empire. It's a puncture wound in slow motion. These are some of the straightest lines Merzbow will ever draw. He can spit, spin, and swivel later. This one is about driving straight through the night. It all ends with a monstrous drone more fully explored in his utterly terrifying collaboration with Christoph Heemann, Sleeper Awakes On The Edge of the Abyss.

TRACK LIST

1. Agni Hotra // 18:26
2. Asagaya in Rain // 3:51
3. Swamp Metal // 6:29
4. Loops in Flames // 12:30
5. Arbertus Magnus // 7:14
6. Kunyan // 7:52
7. Untitled Waves // 6:45

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 16: Dying Mapa Tapes 2–3

1983

It's the next day. All the blood has dried on the side of the pool, and the neighbors are out of town at a swingers' party. It will be a long weekend. Things go all Yotsuya Kaiden after that before being interrupted by NHL Hockey coverage.

So. Totally. Dada.

The last track is a quiet morning with the Cleaner showing up for duty. Somehow everything gets bleached back to the '30s. The completion backwards principle.

TRACK LIST

1. Sukha, Chanda, Tanno, Kless // 23:28
2. Genetic Erotic (Sie Wiro Weib) // 22:57
3. Rejet, Ictus, Connotation, Accompagnement, Penisersatz, Stigma Indelible Etc. // 23:14

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 15: Dying Mapa Tapes 1–2

1983

The kitchen, again, finds itself in the blender. Merzbow seems to be running a knife through the heart of the 1950's Cupboard God. Skittish and disoriented, it staggers its way out the back door, only to find the swimming pool already filled with blood.

The good news? Now the door is open.

TRACK LIST

1. Denigration // 10:07
2. Indifferent Pt.1 // 6:20
3. Indifferent Pt.2 // 8:01
4. Ooinon for Satva Karman (Sprashutavia) Decoup // 21:46
5. Dharma Kamarage // 22:17

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 14: Mechanization Takes Command

1983

Junky, funky rhythms get dissolved by industrial strength acid soon enough before morphing into the bad dreams of syphilitic chickens. The "junky funky" part makes me think of David Ellis' trash sculptures. The "syphilitic chickens" make me think of Merzbow's future fear of contracting the Avian Flu. All is erased later when a vicious Martin Rev riddim swoops in to save this diseased day and scrub it down with a rusty Brillo pad. We skip from there to a Kavorkian test tube mineshaft and then to a striated psycho-billy guitar burn-out. Exhilarating and nuts.

TRACK LIST

1. Electric Pygmy Decollage // 14:12
2. Machanization Takes Command // 11:01
3. Peaches Red Indian // 10:46
4. Sahara // 5:44
5. Iggy // 3:15
6. Suicidal Machine // 14:17
7. Ai-Da-Ho // 10:19

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 13: Material Action 2 (N.A.M.)

1983

Tumbling and overwhelming. Starts off with what sounds like a chicken farm massacre dubbed atop rhythms played on the empty drums of argon and nitrogen that were used for the deed. It goes downhill from there. There will be no barn raising after this. EVERYTHING falls apart. And then it stays that way. In a word: Perfect. This is considered a classic for a reason.

TRACK LIST

1. Nil ad Mirari // 22:47
2. Nimbus Alter Magneto Electricity // 18:12

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 12: Nil Vagina Tape Loops

1982

Loops spinning into oblivion. Good times. Merzbow's employing a technique of loop clipping and crunching applied later, but with more subtlety, by Randy Grief on his classic (and still-thrilling) The Barnacles Inside. If the machines really did take over, this is what it would sound like. For an update on this approach, seek out anything you can find by the very convincing Ordinary Machinery.

TRACK LIST

1. Nil Vagina Tape Loop No.0 // 14:08
2. Nil Vagina Tape Loop No.1 // 30:19
3. Nil Vagina Tape Loop No.2 // 28:28

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 11: Expanded Music

1982

Starting off on the Starship Enterprise . . . THOSE are six words I never thought I'd use to describe a Merzbow release. But YO, Lt. Uhura's communications board is totally in the house! The frequency gets tweaked upwards pretty quickly though, and the coordinates get set for the planet Pain. Lines of action drop out and reappear. All the bending and stretching of rhythm and pitch brings to mind the mid-70s Jamaican dub masters King Tubby and Lee Perry. Merzbow is figuring out his sound from the low-end to mid-range to the high-end, piece-by-piece on this release. Some of the low-end knob twiddling is especially fascinating as the effect would be used repeatedly, filthily, and effectively 30 years later in the twin bastard genres of Grime and Dubstep. Which brings us back to mid-70's Jamaica. Recycle people. It's good for you and your environment.

TRACK LIST

1. Manipulation 1 // 17:37
2. Manipulation 2 // 5:28
3. Manipulation 3 // 6:36
4. Manipulation 4 // 3:53
5. Manipulation 5 // 2:51
6. Manipulation 6 // 2:15
7. Manipulation 7 // 1:57
8. Manipulation 8 // 5:45
9. M.F.S. W 1 // 18:58

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 10: Solonoise

1982

Midway through Solonoise Pt.2 the Overwhelming Cloud of God Static climbs to the top of the junk heap, and leaps off. It made me think of history again. Not Merzbow's this time though. I can hear the next 25 years of everybody else's history being written here. Kind of like what Rob Zombie says about Black Sabbath in Metal: Headbanger's Journey. "Every great riff has already been written by Sabbath. Everyone else is just stealing." Which is fine. Most art and music is thievery. That's not a bad thing. We're only human. Or we're Merzbow.

The last track is a dramatic pull-back from the second, seeking refuge in the squawky high-end. It was a good choice. We weren't ready for the future.

TRACK LIST

1. Solonoise Pt.1 // 23:55
2. Solonoise Pt.2 // 23:42
3. Solonoise Pt.3 // 22:21

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 9: Yantra Material Action

1982

Tortured warning sirens screech at the listener before melting into surf guitar samples. Welcome to the post-Hiroshima generation, kids. Pots and pans get banged in tune and in sepia, backing away from history. This is the breath.

I can imagine David Lynch listening to this in 1982 and thinking, "If only I'd made Eraserhead weird." This really is more cinematic than most Merzbow. I can only be impressed with how Merzbow has held off on the soundtrack offers over the years. Not that I have hard evidence that he's gotten them. It's just impossible to imagine that he hasn't.

TRACK LIST

1. Untitled // 11:25
2. Untitled // 2:52
3. Untitled // 1:48
4. Untitled // 4:37
5. Untitled // 1:06
6. Untitled // 8:40
7. Untitled // 7:26
8. Untitled // 4:35

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 8: Material Action for 2 Microphones

1981

Thrilling to hear Merzbow's future take hold on this disc. Both the tweeked high-end that was perfected on Music For Bondage Performance 1 & 2, and the the molten thunder that will keep the low-end pinned to the ground for years to come. Forward.

TRACK LIST

1. Hoochie Coochie Scratched Man // 25:31
2. Yumin, Non Stop Disco // 21:14
3. New Acoustic Music No.7 // 23:58

50 Days of Merzbow, Day 7: Paradoxa Paradoxa

1981

Lon Chaney seems to be hiding behind every door on this one, grinding away at something. More primitive drumming a la CAN that would later inspire O Yuki Congugate and half the acts on Cold Meat industry. By the 2nd track the Chaney-mood organ drone gets decidedly weirder and starts to feel more like all the incidental music for the circus horror classic, BERSERK.

TRACK LIST

1. Paradoxa Paradoxa Pt.1 // 46:14
2. Paradoxa Paradoxa Pt.2 // 26:08

50 Days Of Merzbow, Day 6 (5): Collection Era Vol. 2

6 (5)*

1981

Here Merzbow begins to pick, in earnest, at the tectonic plates. And he sounds giddy at the prospects of the Great Falling Apart. Furious sliding of all kinds for the duration. Sometimes it's the edge of a continent falling into an ocean, and other times it's a box of sharp knives spilling across a frozen pond.

TRACK LIST

1. Untitled // 5:17
2. Untitled // 5:59
3. Untitled // 10:35
4. Untitled // 6:13
5. Untitled // 4:53
6. Untitled // 6:51
7. Untitled // 3:14
8. Untitled // 22:52

50 Days Of Merzbow, Day 5 (6): Collection Era Vol. 3

5 (6)*

1981

Merzbow calls it Rock but it is definitely Rock of the funkiest order. The filthy beats remind me of Bloodrock, but the moves on top sound like the soundfield mined by the Bill Laswell/Otomo Yoshide project, Soup, 20 years later. Akita is so far ahead that he's ahead of the musicians and artists who are already pretty far ahead. The two "Gamlan" songs abuse the infinitely layered Javanese rhythms while Merzbow crowds the dinner table with heaping bowls of metal soto.

And I'm pretty sure Merz Scat is not referring to the Jazz singing style. Just sayin'. I'll meet you on the other side. Bring the Coil. I'll grab the staircase.

TRACK LIST

1. Merz Rock 1 // 1:58
2. Merz Rock 2 // 8:23
3. Merz Gamlan 1 // 15:54
4. Merz Gamlan 2 // 5:55
5. Merz Scat // 11:29
6. Merztronics Jazz Mix // 11:45
7. Merztronics Rhythm Mix // 11:17

50 Days Of Merzbow, Day 4: Collection Era Vol. 1

1981

Merzbow's interest in avant-garde Jazz drumming shows up for the first time in this sprawling set, an obsession explored and destroyed 18 years later on his Door Open at 8AM album. Merzbow gets a little funky during the second track, Untitled Material Action. Wasn't ready for that. Then he starts pulling in radio signals from Hell or thereabouts. The spirit of both the water drum and the spring (as in, like, BOING) fills the electronic pulse demons here. The tracks leap from one unseen stone to the next to get across this River Styx. This is an overflowing kitchen sink, flooding a room full of loose and live wires.

TRACK LIST

1. Electric Environment // 24:00
2. Untitled Material Action // 23:57
3. Telecom Manipulation // 18:18

50 Days Of Merzbow, Day 3: Remblandt Assemblage

1980

Akita gets his Dada 101 books out and goes to town. HaHa. "Remblant." So much anti-music starts here. But not to worry. "Scwitters" gets no respect either. I can hear Merzbow burrowing in for the long haul, aggressively plotting out his philosophy and approach to sound. Shadows of music's past appear only to be seemingly for the sole purpose of being rubbed out. It's like Django Rinehart on acid making a baby with Derek Bailey who is just plain drunk. It's all very dying cow.

TRACK LIST

1. Remblandt Assemblage // 9:44
2. Voice of Scwitters // 2:09
3. Theme of Dadaist // 9:39
4. Hans Arp // 1:47
5. Tape Dada // 5:52
6. Music Concret // 2:34
7. Prepare Guitar Solo 1 // 17:32
8. Prepare Guitar Solo 2 // 3:59

50 Days Of Merzbow, Day 2: Metal Acoustic Music

1980

Caravaggio. This is the horrible treble of Thomas' finger feeling its way around Christ's wound, groping for faith. Although, here it sounds like Thomas doesn't quite trust his own hand and has opted for a scalpel. Keeps hitting bone.

Also, BB King. Merzbow keeps doing that slam chord that BB King uses at the beginning of a song to slap his band onto the One. Except, tonally, Merzbow is closer to Albert King.

TRACK LIST

1. Balance of Neurosis // 46:59

50 Days Of Merzbow, Day 1: OM Electrique

1979

The first song is elastic and sequencer-driven. All junked up like Christ, this one. What a place to start. By track 2 the piercing begins in earnest. Remember those closely-miked albums from the 70s where you can hear the sound of the tips of the guitar player's fingers grazing the steel strings? It's like that only it's the tension in Masami Akita's ankle muscles coming through the effects pedals. It feels like Merzbow is scratching at the back of your skull from the inside.

TRACK LIST

1. OM Electrique Part 1 // 31:17
2. OM Electrique Part 2 // 7:55
3. Untitled Taped Drum Solo // 8:59
4. Untitled Guitar Solo // 10:25