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CSR 314CD
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$15.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 7/1/2022
Cold Spring Records presents the new studio album from Merzbow. As a life-long campaigner of animal rights, Masami Akita has delivered a brutal assault on those that cage and murder animals. Animal Liberation - Until Every Cage Is Empty is five tracks (49 minutes) of total noise assault that only the King of Japanese Noise can provide. "There is a theory that Covid-19 broke out from the poor conditioned wet markets where live animals are sold. If there were no poultry farms, there would be no mass destruction of chickens due to the spread of bird flu. Human beings' cruelty to animals, animal abuse and species discrimination are all adding up to a disaster for mankind and the whole planet. The pandemic is an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between animals and humans. Veganism is the future for humanity" --Masami Akita, 2021. The artwork is a reflection of the animal rights and anarcho-punk movements of the '80s. Proceeds from this release will benefit animal rights charities. Presented in a matt-laminate digipak.
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IMPREC 510CD
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First time on CD for this classic Merzbow duo album from 1983. Material Action is a favorite among early Merzbow free-music, junk-noise workouts. Psychedelic improvised instrumental energy abounds on this essential early recording that is PURE MERZ. Masami Akita plays tapes, percussion, electro-acoustic noise, organ. Kiyoshi Mizutani overdubs tapes, synthesizer, violin, machine noise.
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IMPREC 004CD
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Merzbow's Merzbeat is one the most unique and legendary titles in the artist's vast archive. This 20th anniversary repress is being issued at the same time as CD reissue of his 1983 album Material Action 2 (IMPREC 510CD) and a brand new collaboration with Arcane Device IMPREC 511CD), all on Important Records. Originally released in 2002, Merzbeat contains over 50 minutes of aggressive, psychedelic, organic, analog beat oriented Merzbow compositions. Drummed rhythms, massive looping samples, a punk spirit and a return to analog Merzbow. KID 606 called it "one of the greatest thing Merzbow has ever done."
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2LP
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UMA 158LP
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Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita was born in Tokyo in 1979. Inspired by dadaism and surrealism, Akita took the name for his project from German artist Kurt Schwitters's pre-war architectural assemblage The Cathedral of Erotic Misery or Merzbau. Working in his home, he quickly gained notoriety as a purveyor of a musical genre composed solely of pure, unadulterated noise. Embracing technology and the machine, first in an absolutely analog way and then welcoming digital innovation, Merzbow broke boundaries and pushed toward new territories of the extreme. Hybrid Noisebloom, originally issued by Vinyl Communications on CD in 1997, is the latest in this trilling bread crumb trail. It is also the first time that this seminal document from Merzbow's '90s period has ever appeared on vinyl. Composed and performed on EMS and Moog Synthesizers, Theremin, metal devices, noise electronics, and voice, all recorded at extreme volumes, Hybrid Noisebloom's five tracks present a fascinating sonic assault, heavily driven by the presence of electronic sounds, played against the sparse interjections of Akita's heavily processed vocals, that push toward new territories of the extreme, while subtly nodding toward historical gestures from the early years of the avant-garde. "Plasma Birds" investigates timbral relationships, the fragmentation of melody, and abrasive, provocative noise -- shifting from the sparse, airy, and restrained, to dance clusters of interplay and back again. "Minotaurus" finds a strange middle ground between the intuitive logics of their instruments; synth and electronics taking on decidedly percussive approaches, while metal device's fractured polyrhythms and beats often veer toward the presence of a notable tonality. "Mouse Of Superconcetion", formed by screeches and from swinging and chugging to stepped back and sparse combinations of rhythm and tone, moves from the lingering sensibilities of straight-ahead synth to radically out hard blow fire. Launching from a total wall of sound, "Neuro Electric Butterfly" takes the listening on an endlessly surprising journey through its devices' inner world, shifting between airy open passages that feature endless combinations of one or more effects, to furious moments of sonorous lashings where the sound falls in together in brilliant dialogical periods of conversant texture and psychedelic intervention. "The Imaginary Coversation Of Blue" embeds bristling fragments, percolating tones, and poignant dissonances within a sweeping field of echoes rumbles and drones. First vinyl release; edition of 299.
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2CD
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HOS 594CD
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Noisembryo definitively presented here with bonus disc titled Noise Matrix including unreleased material from the same sessions as Noisembryo and counterpart Hole and selected recording from the time period. The bonus disc alone makes this essential for any Merzbow fanatic as well as new listeners. When people ask where to start with Merzbow, this is the answer. The holy grail, not only of Merzbow's obsessive discography, but of the entire '90s noise movement. You've heard the stories surrounding the infamy of this release, but beyond that stands the depth and wild energy over two decades later that Noisembryo encapsulates. Velocity loops, roving automotive bass, and cacophonic drum machine gel together with the surprising inclusion of a sound rarely heard within Merzbow's many years... Masami Akita's own voice. Akita's surrealism of the past stands prominently relevant to this day. The original Noisembryo on disc one; disc two, Noise Matrix, includes: Track 1 - taken from original DAT tape which including Noisembryo recording on 1994; Track 2-5 - taken from original DAT tape which including Noise Matrix (in Hole) on 1994; Track 6 - a track recorded on 1995 for releasing Eskimo compilation; Track 7 - taken from original cassette tape which recorded on 1994 and remixed on 2019. Remastered in 2020 at Munemihouse, Tokyo. Deluxe foil stamped gatefold tip-on CD wallet cover with mini poster; includes art images from unseen classic paintings and collages of Masami from the original Noisembryo session; includes digital download code.
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LP
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RM 4147LP
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Flare Blues reimagines two of Merzbow's long out-of-print EPs from 1994, Flare Gun and White Blues. Revisiting the original pieces and adding previously unreleased materials recorded during these sessions, Flare Blues tethers together a set of Merzbow's most exploratory work, creating a visceral linkage between a pair of vital works. Originally recorded in June 1994, Merzbow's Flare Gun is a pulsating and hammering collection of pieces that grinds ever forward with a sense of bludgeoning determination. By contrast, White Blues recorded the following month (which draws its title from several of the samples used as raw material that originate from blues inspired British rock bands), maintains a more unsteady sense of movement and musicality, matching degraded samples against a flurry of theremin and electronics which are overdriven and saturated in ways that would later go on to become some of the trademark sonic actions of Merzbow's live performances. On Flare Blues not only are the pieces remastered by Merzbow, but they are recontextualized and when heard together with the previously unreleased bonus materials open up a new sense of his studio experimentation at the time. What marks these recordings as critical is they trace a line through a period of significant discovery and refinement for Merzbow. Having been recorded just months after Venereology, this set of works bares the marks of Merzbow's deepening awareness of extreme forms of distortion, compression and also his dynamic mixing approaches that simultaneously allow multiple or singular elements to occupy the entirety of the available sound spectrum. Ultimately, these works are morphic, often churning and erupting with a magma like quality. When they do fall into waves of pulse, those patterns are never held long and the intense sense of cutting into the sound creates a feeling of endless anticipation as Merzbow guides you through an ever-evolving sound world that is uncompromisingly restless and relentless.
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2LP
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UMA 149LP
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Originally released in 1995. Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. Inspired by dadaism and surrealism, Japanese artist Masami Akitatook the name for his project from German artist Kurt Schwitters's pre-war architectural assemblage The Cathedral of Erotic Misery or Merzbau. Working in his home, he quickly gained notoriety as a purveyor of a musical genre composed solely of pure, unadulterated noise. Green Wheels is Merzbow in its most straightforward, most genuine, most uncontrolled and refined form. Originally released by the legendary US label Self Abuse Records in 1995 on CD and 5-inch vinyl record, both housed in a foil-lined cardboard box with the abstract and impressive art work created by the artist himself, which has become another of the fetishist objects of Merzbow and now incredibly hard to find. Like all of his work since the early nineties, Green Wheels is an uncompromising cascade of brutal noise. In this album you find nothing of the minimalism of his early '80s, completely overwhelmed by synthesizers and handmade objects that become his unconventional weapons to create bursts of noise. The three tracks of the CD which are neatly reissued on the first three sides of the vinyl, radiate the listener from the rackets of a rain of nails on metal plates, the synthetic crashing of bombing, industrial percussion and the metal (green) wheels that roll and scrape. The last side of the record contains the two very short 5-inch tracks that hurt you with thousands of jabs in just a matter of minutes. Then closes with two unreleased tracks from the same fantastic mid-1990s period which can undoubtedly be considered two wonderful discoveries for their intensity and beauty; musical pieces that blend perfectly and complete the reissue on this double vinyl. When you get to the end of the fourth side, you will feel purified, once the granite landslide subsides. It is like mental liposuction, eradicating all anguishes and hesitations. Everything was perfectly recorded and mixed in March-May 1995 at ZSF Produkt Studio, Masami Akita's home studio from the late '80s to late '90s; the outcome it's warm and bright as the bare steel of Shinjuko skyscrapers under the (rising) sun of hot Japanese summers. Of all the incredible artists to have emerged from Japan's thriving noise scene, it is hard to call to mind a figure as iconic, visionary, or influential as the composer and performer Masami Akita. Edition of 299.
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2LP
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UMA 144LP
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Urashima reissue Merzbow's Rainbow Electronics on vinyl, originally released on CD in 1990. Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita was born in Tokyo in 1979. Inspired by dadaism and surrealism, Akita took the name for his project from German artist Kurt Schwitters's pre-war architectural assemblage The Cathedral of Erotic Misery or Merzbau. Working in his home, he quickly gained notoriety as a purveyor of a musical genre composed solely of pure, unadulterated noise. Originally released on CD in 1990 by Alchemy Records as part of the Good Alchemy Series, Rainbow Electronics marks the pinnacle of Merzbow's late '80s noise phase. Selected and transformed from about 21 hours tape of primitive raw material recorded during three years (1987-1990) in 14 fragments lasting about 74 minutes, this monumental work is an aural trip through a cold plotted universe of intergalactic space ships and golden celestial bodies. Remastered in December 2019 and split into four parts directly by the artist for the double vinyl version it opens up with a slow, kind of creepy tempo, reaching from dirty harsh noise flows coupled with eerie reverbed screeches and scrapes of iron objects. Noise and blasts come from every angle, and all you can do is sit and take it. Then continues with solid drumbeats briefly emerging from the static and disappearing just as quickly, again long stretches of subdued electronic drones buzzing along sleepily and the occasional sudden shift of noise into something more violent, though it all happens kind of slowly and gradually. A truly mesmerizing and immersive body of sound and its intense finish is something of pure artform. Gatefold cover, faithfully reproduces the original art work plus a 12" size insert; edition of 299.
Translated from Japanese liner notes of Alchemy Records CD by Toshiji Mikawa: "I don't need a lot of words about Merzbow. All you have to do is immerse yourself in the sound."
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CD
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RM 4148CD
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Scandal collects together three newly unearthed and revised pieces from Merzbow recorded between 1992 and 1995. Each of the pieces here typifies work that sits at a nexus between the experimental cassette and electronic collisions of Masami Akita's late 1980s works and the emergent noise language that resolved into a series of now legendary recordings completed during the mid-1990s. Scandal marks out a decidedly tandem path and acts as a critical linkage, forging the trajectory of Merzbow's music across that decade. One critical aspect these recordings capture, in a very essential way, is the role that field recordings and tape manipulation play in his music. Throughout the 1980s, cassettes, tape editing and found sound played a significant role in the development of Merzbow's sound. On "Tokyo Blue Sky", Merzbow collates a series of field recordings made around his home during a period of construction in his neighborhood and merges these with sampled recordings from various ritual records. In these recordings are striking, hammered blasts that feel innately tied to the aggressive metal percussion work that was featured heavily on numerous live recordings during this time. They also maintain a sense of dynamic eruption that characterizes the shifts between states of intense noise that are the core of Merzbow recording strategies. The editions final piece "Evening Scandal" was originally released in 1992 on RRR as part of their recycled music project; a project that sought to reuse thrown away cassettes, re-recording over them with various recordings including some of those heard here. "Scandal" bares the marks of its medium, tape wow and flutter flicker across various sections of this piece, revealing a tactile relationship with the medium. The version collected here is different to that which was released in 1992, this version being uninterrupted by the pop song from which it borrows its name. This piece, in moments, maintains a decidedly minimalist compositional form, using repeated single strikes as a means of creating a deep sense of unease and recurrent tension. It's a technique later deployed with devastating ferocity later in the 1990s. This edition is also published with a special fold out poster featuring a previously unseen collage from Masami Akita.
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LP
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UMA 137LP
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Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita was born in Tokyo in 1979. Inspired by Dadaism and surrealism, Akita took the name for his project from German artist Kurt Schwitters's pre-war architectural assemblage The Cathedral of Erotic Misery or Merzbau. Just as Schwitters attacked the entrenched artistic traditions of his time with his revolutionary avant-garde collages, so too would Akita challenge the contemporary concept of what is called music. Merzbow would draw further influence from the futurist movement. Not only would he embrace the futurists' love of technology and the machine civilization, he would push their fondness for noise to the very boundaries of the extreme. Working in his home, he quickly gained notoriety as a purveyor of a musical genre composed solely of pure, unadulterated noise. By 1990s, Merzbow had a significant underground reputation for creating harsh and power electronics album. Dadarottenvator was released in 1995 by the magnificent German label Praxis Dr. Bearmann in a limited edition of 175 hand-numbered copies, pressed on green vinyl, and housed in a wooden box. The tracks fall right in-between the atmosphere of Merzbow's early '90s work and his more hyper-aggressive mid-90s power electronics work and it's a charming mix, presenting the listener with some of the best elements from each phase of his evolution. Along with Noisembryo (1994), Venereology (1994), and Pulse Demon (1996), it represents the top of the immense artist's production. All tracks performed using cheap electronics and junk, no use for synthesizer and midi sampler. Remastered at Munemi House in 2019 by Masami Akita. 140 gram vinyl with full color label and sleeve plus poster everything housed in wooden box. Artwork by Masami Akita.
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CD
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RM 4131CD
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Room40 continues its series of archival releases from Tokyo noise maestro Merzbow with an unreleased work originally recorded in 1997. EXD is like some kind of pulse driven industrial electronics experiment. It grinds with an uneasy sense of determination, rupturing outward into caustic waves of Merzbow's trademarked harsh noise. Across the middle years of the 1990s, Merzbow (Masami Akita) refined a stochastic language for harsh noise that had emerged from his studio experiments at the beginning of that decade. This technique, which involved a combination of self-made instruments, synthesizers, tabletop effects and, in the case of EXD, drum machines, often recorded at incredible levels to create a uniquely visceral distortion, has essentially become the benchmark for noise music in the 21st century. A devout archivist, Merzbow's unreleased works from this period are finally getting the attention they deserve. Editions like Noise Mass, issued by Room40 in 2019 (RM 4108CD), are amongst a growing number of releases that document the gradual unfolding of his signature approach to overabundance of frequency and ceaseless sonic chaos. Recorded at the end of 1997 and early 1998, EXD owes its title to the Bias Rockaku-kun EXD 5ch analog drum synthesizer. It is an exercise in maximal minimalism. Using repeated phrases, atmospheric, but reductive drum patterns, and tightly wound pulses, Merzbow calls up a vision proto-industrial technoscape. Bathed in white noise, it is a music in which the reassurance of the kick drum is largely torn away, sending the music into an uneasy orbital decay. It's the sound of warning systems onboard a satellite as it begins to burn up, falling back to earth. An exquisite sonic evisceration. What makes EXD quite unusual is it reveals, in part at least, some of the skeletal structures Merzbow deploys in the creation of his works. It's especially revealing, as this period is mostly recognized for its unending shower of brutalizing harsh noise. On the title track "EXD" a Roland TR-606 drum machine folds into and out of focus. Its grooves ruptured by, and then become gradually consumed in, a field of phasing noise and distortion. Includes poster.
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CD
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EDRM 428CD
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In June/July 2019, Masami Akita, better known as Merzbow traveled to Australia to take part in Room40's Open Frame festival. Across a week he delivered a series of performances to sold out audiences in Sydney and Melbourne. The performances were viscerally explosive, a channeling of intensities of frequency and volume -- the kind of trademarked bodily affective noise Merzbow has become renowned for. Between the concerts, Akita spent his days visiting a variety of forests, spending time with legendary Australia fauna icons like the Australian White Ibis, Little Penguins, and various other native species. As a vegan, his affinity for the natural world is unconditional. With this in mind he has announced all profits from this edition will be donated to assisting wildlife recovery in the wake of the Australia bushfire crisis of the past few months. Room40 will be matching all money raised. StereoAkuma is a live recording made on Friday July 5th 2019 at The Substation, Melbourne.
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4CD BOX
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USHI 010CD
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Urashima present a reissue of Merzbow's Metalvelodrome, originally released in 1993. Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita was born in Tokyo in 1979. Inspired by Dadaism and surrealism, Akita took the name for his project from German artist Kurt Schwitters's pre-war architectural assemblage "The Cathedral of Erotic Misery" or "Merzbau". Just as Schwitters attacked the entrenched artistic traditions of his time with his revolutionary avant-garde collages, so too would Akita challenge the contemporary concept of what is called music. Merzbow would draw further influence from the futurist movement. Not only would he embrace the futurists' love of technology and the machine civilization, he would push their fondness for noise to the very boundaries of the extreme. Working in his home, he quickly gained notoriety as a purveyor of a musical genre composed solely of pure, unadulterated noise. By the '90s, Merzbow had a significant underground reputation for creating harsh and power electronics album. Metalvelodrome was released in 1993 by the fabulous Japanese label Alchemy in a four-CD box. The tracks fall right in-between the atmosphere of Merzbow's early '90s work and his more hyper-aggressive mid-90s power electronics work and it's a charming mix, presenting the listener with some of the best elements from each phase of his evolution. Along with Noisembryo (1994), Venereology (1994), and Pulse Demon (1996) represent the top of the immense artist's production. All tracks performed using cheap electronics and junk, no use for synthesizer and midi sampler. Remastered and revised without the two tracks live and with four bonus tracks at Munemihouse in 2019 by Masami Akita. This reissue comes in a silver wooden box with laser engraving of original artwork cover on front (and inside) and Urashima logo on back. Each single CD inside wooden box comes in cardboard wallet with new artwork by Masami Akita; includes foldable and individually numbered certificate; edition of 500.
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CD/BOOK
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RM 4108CD
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Noise Mass matches previously unavailable Merzbow works from 1994 with pieces from the limited-edition Hole album of the same year. This new edition charts the through line between records such as Venereology (1994) and Pulse Demon (1996), and includes a 28-page book, with exclusive photographs, and a long-form interview with Masami Akita charting the continuum of Merzbow from 1979 to the present day. On Noise Mass in the late 1980s, Masami Akita's Merzbow began to shift from being a studio project into a fully-fledged performative undertaking. It was a decisive period that began opening up new possibilities for his very particular approach to sound. Across the first half of the 1990s, Merzbow began touring extensively across Europe, the United States, and also in his homeland. It was during this period that the dynamism of Merzbow exploded and the physicality of volume became a primary driver for the experiential capacity of the work. Simultaneously, Merzbow began developing a range of self-made instruments and techniques for exploiting found objects as sound sources, which he used in combination with amplifiers to create a unique spectrum of noise and feedback both in the studio and live. Noise Mass catalogs a critical period within the continuum of Merzbow. It typifies the radical approaches he developed not just through his music, but also through mastering, pushing the very medium of digital audio to its limit through extreme post-production approaches. Of Noise, Masami Akita remarks, "This was around the time Venereology was released from Relapse and the work of Merzbow became more well known to the world. Far greater quantities of that Relapse release were pressed, and much more promotion along with it. In other words, the image of Merzbow's music as it is best known in the world today came from this time. The music of Merzbow has always been a continuum, the piece added this time to Noise Mass, the revised version of Hole, is a work utilizing a voice similar in style to Venereology. Listening to both Hole and Venereology, one can appreciate how these works constitute a thread of continuity through this period." Noise Mass is just that, a ritual of intensity and ferocity that denotes the force that is Merzbow's approach to noise in the absolute.
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CD
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HH 4130739CD
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2013 release. "There is no argument; Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita has appeared on over four hundred albums since 1979. The name comes from German artist Kurt Schwitters' famous work Merzbau, in which he transformed the interior of his house with found objects. This is reflected in Akita's junk art / collage aesthetic. Other influences on the Merzbow philosophy range from ritualized eroticism (fetishism and bondage), surrealism to extreme metal and animal rights. Since the early 2000s Akita has been a vegan and dedicated animal rights activist. Many of his releases are dedicated to or about particular animals. Kookaburra documents a rare live appearance of Merzbow down-under, capturing his solo performance in Sydney, Australia, May 2012. Following a slew of archival boxset releases and a relative scarcity in new recordings, Kookaburra comes at an opportune time to showcase the current solo Merzbow live sound. Leaving aside the more melodic and ambient touches heard on recent studio albums, Kookaburra cuts straight to the chase with 60 minutes of blissfully dense noise, brimming with endless detail. Differing from previous Merzbow live albums, the trademark loops are now buried deep within a monolithic torrent of black noise, characterized by both analog and digital flavors. The world of Kookaburra is built upon impenetrably thick walls of low-end oomph and filled with relentlessly caustic textures from which distorted howls, wild oscillations and inexorable pulsations rear their monstrous heads. This monolithic single track is remarkable for its incredibly hypnotic journey along an enormous arc of sonic strata that is both glacial in its pacing and molten in its unyielding force. This is Merzbow at his most elemental and Kookaburra boldly displays the king of noise's most focused exploration of stunningly powerful noise in recent years." --Alex Pozniak Deluxe CD; limited edition.
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CD
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EDRM 419CD
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"I think the first time I heard Merzbow must have been 1994. I remember not really knowing what to make of it. It was effortlessly deep and aggressive, but also emotive and lyrical in the way the waves of sound would erupt and decay. It wasn't easy then to discover information about artists, but within a few months I had learned as much as I could. In the mid 2000s, I had the chance to meet Masami Akita, aka Merzbow and present him live when I was co-producing the What Is Music? Festival. It was a pretty special event; the first (sonic) meeting of Merzbow and Keiji Haino took place here in Brisbane. Merzbow's solo performance was as transformative an experience as hearing his music for the first time. MONOAkuma is a live recording made in Brisbane in 2012; this was the second time I had the pleasure to present him live in Australia. To me, this performance epitomizes the physiology of Merzbow's sound work. He creates in absolutes; sonically he generates a tidal wave of frequency that sweeps across the spectra with tireless frenzy. Merzbow's capacity to conjure a massive swirling mesh of analog and digital sources is without comparison; his work is one of intensity, a seething, psychedelic and utterly visceral noise-ocean. What MONOAkuma represents is a resolution of Merzbow's work across both analog and digital noise mediums. Here, he brings together his formidable pulsing analog noise and his more recent digital approach. On MONOAkuma, he resolves these modes of operation into an ontology of noise in the absolute. There is no question - this is about the body and the ears being overwhelmed. In those moments of being wholly consumed comes an incredible bodily sense of euphoria that is a truly unique and profound experience. MONOAkuma which epitomizes Merzbow's 40 years as the most important noise musician of our time, demonstrating the intense and complex audio world he's created. It's the perfect starting point from which to wade into the noise ocean that is Merzbow's vast output." --Lawrence English. All proceeds from MONOAkuma will be used to fund research and preservation attempts for the Tasmanian Devil; which in recent years has suffered greatly due to effects of a transmissible facial cancer.
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12"
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BDNOG 003EP
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Merzbow releases Tomarigi on Bedouin.
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CD
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DPROM 133CD
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Hyakki Echo is a brand new release from Merzbow and it sees a totally new direction for this true innovator. Whatever you may have expected, this will surprise and thrill. With much more of a foot in free improvisation than the more traditional psyched-out, extreme "noise" that you may have come to expect, Hyakki Echo is a masterpiece in experimental music. The format should surprise and intrigue too. One side is a three-minute piece that is a vinyl record, the other a full-length CD. The package comes with the necessary adapter you need to play the vinyl side. Artwork by Masami Akita (Merzbow). The set is packaged in a die cut digipak sleeve. Note: This disc must not be used with a "slot-in" CD player.
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LP
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DPROM 126LP
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Merzbow's follow up vinyl album to 2016's Wildwood CD (DPROM 116CD). Two brand new tracks of psychedelic mayhem recorded, and to be played, at maximum volume. The perfect partner to the CD. The LP is packaged like a classic '60s vinyl, with a gloss front and matte back, complete with outside glue flaps. Edition of 500.
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2LP
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UMA 115LP
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Urashima present a reissue of Merzbow's Remblandt Assemblage, originally released on cassette in 1981. Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita was born in Tokyo in 1979. Inspired by Dadaism and Surrealism, Akita took the name for his project from German artist Kurt Schwitters's pre-war architectural assemblage "The Cathedral of Erotic Misery" or "Merzbau". Just as Schwitters attacked the entrenched artistic traditions of his time with his revolutionary avant-garde collages, so too would Akita, challenging the contemporary concept of what is called music. Merzbow would draw further influence from the Futurist movement. Not only would he embrace the Futurists's love of technology and the machine civilization, but he would push their fondness for noise to the very boundaries of the extreme. Working in his home, he quickly gained notoriety as a purveyor of a musical genre composed solely of pure, unadulterated noise. Consequently, in 1980 Masami founded the first noise label, Lowest Music & Arts. Remblandt Assemblage was recorded and mixed at his home in the same year and originally released on cassette the following year on his own label. For the recording of this tape, Masami used a wide range of instruments: tapes, prepared acoustic guitar, tabla, junk percussion, microphone, radio, egg cutter and noise. This is the very first Merzbow album to use tape manipulations. Only a few copies were made and distributed on cassette in 1981, it was otherwise not widely available until being partially reissued on the legendary Merzbox in 2000. For the first time, the complete 1981 cassette version is released on double vinyl here. No changes of pitch were made in the mastering process; digitally remastered from original cassette master for this reissue by Masami Akita in Tokyo, 2016. 140 gram black vinyl with black label and black inner sleeve; Comes in a deluxe silver silkscreen on black three panels cardboard sleeve with artwork of five original collages by Masami Akita (circa 1980); Edition of 199.
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LP
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UMA 113LP
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Urashima present the first vinyl version of Merzbow's Lowest Music.2, originally recorded and released on cassette in 1982. Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita was born in Tokyo in 1979. Inspired by dadaism and surrealism, Akita took the name for his project from German artist Kurt Schwitters's pre-war architectural assemblage "The Cathedral of Erotic Misery" or "Merzbau". Just as Schwitters attacked the entrenched artistic traditions of his time with his revolutionary avant-garde collages, so too would Akita challenge the contemporary concept of what is called music. Merzbow would draw further influence from the futurist movement. Not only would he embrace the futurists's love of technology and the machine civilization, he would push their fondness for noise to the very boundaries of the extreme. Working in his home, he quickly gained notoriety as a purveyor of a musical genre composed solely of pure, unadulterated noise. Consequently, in 1980 Masami founded the first noise label, Lowest Music and Arts. In this early period he released Lowest Music.2 on cassette using a 4 track reel tape recorder with different loops, recorded by a Mono-aural hand tape recorder. In 1990, Australian legendary label Extreme reissued a new version of the cassette, remixed by Masami Akita by itself and included it in an amazing 50 CD boxset titled Merzbox (2000). No changes of pitch were made in the mastering process. Pressed on 140 gram black vinyl with a black label and a black inner sleeve. Comes in a deluxe silver silkscreen on a black cardboard sleeve. Includes insert with original tape replica cover. Edition of 200.
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CD
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CSR 218CD
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Over an hour of the best analog material from the King of Japanese noise. Reissue of an extremely rare cassette, dating back to 1985, originally released in Japan by Merzbow's own ZSF Produk and in France by Le Syndicat. All tracks made for "Nil-Vagina Mail-Action February 85." Recorded at Merz-bau Studio, and not "live" as the title would suggest. All material taken from the original master tapes and remastered for 2016.
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CD
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DPROM 116CD
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The mighty Merzbow presents four tracks of blistering music recorded and to be played at maximum volume. This leaves the also-rans at the gate and is full of psychedelic twists and turns, with one completely guitar-based track. Incredible stuff from Masami. It's also a benefit release for the Wildwood Trust in Kent. All proceeds from sales will go to them, toward the care of two rescued European brown bears. For more information about this wonderful organization, go to www.wildwoodtrust.org. Comes in beautiful reverse board digipak.
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LP
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RAVE 004LP
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For The Death Of Rave, Masami Akita aka Merzbow submits two petrifying pieces of psychedelic, technoid sturm und drang. Harking back to the feral attack and pulsing rhythmic disciplines of his early work (recently collected on V-o-D's excellent Lowest Music & Arts 1980- 1983 box set), the howling 12-minute pummel of A-side "Grand Owl Habitat" appears on vinyl after release on Handmade Birds' Dark Icons series. An ecstatically abusive, furious maelstrom of colored noise is rail-eroded by a pistoning undercarriage that sounds like it careened out of mid-'90s Berlin into a noise-techno receptive 2013. The intent behind it is meditative malevolence, seeking to dilate and masticate mind and body to euphoric effect. The three-part, 20-minute B-side, "Obusuma" is exclusive to this release. Here, the roiling bass patterns are initially submerged, consumed by virulent squall and piercing, frightening frequencies in part one, before the lurching, elliptical chug surges forth to struggle against the consumptive, polymetric oscillations which rain down without remorse, culminating a final battle of apocalyptic sensation between primal pulses and convulsive noise. It ain't for everyone, that's for sure, but the most fearless DJs and those with a high tolerance for Alberich, Maurizio Bianchi, the most extreme L.I.E.S., Whitehouse or Prurient are urged to get a fix. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton at Alchemy.
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10CD BOX
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TOURETTE 032CD
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"Recordings from Masami Akita and Kiyoshi Mizutani. Kiyoshi was a member of Merzbow in the 80's and has made solo works since 1989, though main man Masami Akita has been the backbone of the band since 1979. These recordings are mainly from the '87-'89 era, but some of the earliest recordings were released in 1979. The first Merzbow tour abroad was in 1988 in Russia, featuring Masami Akita and Kiyoshi Mizutani. The second was in Europe (Holland, Germany, and France) in 1989 where Kiyoshi also joined some shows. During this period they were very active in duo sessions at local studios and made numerous recordings. Some of them were used as raw materials for Merzbow (solo works of Masami Akita) albums like S.C.U.M. (1989) but these original sessions had never been released until now. These recordings are also mirror works of solo recordings like Ecobondage ('87), Enclosure ('88), and Storage ('88)."
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