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