How many Merzbow albums do you physically own? (Merzbow thread)

[ASFTSN]

Not a thread for very important 'debate' about whether Merzbow is good and/or music for 'pseuds'. Not a general noise thread (Japanese or otherwise). Merzbow thread.

After combing through my record collection last night I apparently have five albums in the following categories:

OBVIOUS BIG LABEL MERZBOW FOR POSERS LIKE ME
Pulse Demon CD
Venerology CD

COLLABORATIVE MERZBOW
Rectal Anarchy CD (Gore Beyond Necropsy collab)
Megatone CD (Boris collab, apparently one of like 8 or something??)

OTHER
Frog LP

Ironically it looks like I don't own - or at least can't find - a copy of my favourite, the 1930 album. I thought I had some more but it looks like I might have ripped 'em and sold 'em. There's something about Merzbow that definitely feels better being on a physical format, seems to suit the slightly obscene feeling I've always got from his music, like it's improper for stuff sounding like this to have been pressed.

I was fascinated by Merzbow when I was younger and I think I want to start checking out some of the huge amount stuff I overlooked (ideally pre-laptop era) so would appreciate any in-depth reviews or chat about his work, especially the stuff around that 1930 time period, with a greater variety of clattering/junk tones and psychedelia. I put on Venerology while I was sorting through my CDs last night and there's something about his work when you're in the right mood that's so addictive and immersing, it felt like I had to force myself to turn it off and go and get some sleep.

[Pauline Walnuts]

1 earlyish 90s LP with Kapotte Muziek about 3 7", usually with a different act on the other side.




Always found him a bit 'meh' to be honest.




Is this a good place to ask how come 'experimental' music of a certain time all sounds the same?

[ASFTSN]

1 earlyish 90s LP with Kapotte Muziek about 3 7", usually with a different act on the other side.




Always found him a bit 'meh' to be honest.

Cool! I haven't even looked into his work on 7", I'd imagine it doesn't work as well without the opportunity to sprawl. Although I am curious about which other acts on the 7"s apart from the Smell and Quim one you posted.

Is this a good place to ask how come 'experimental' music of a certain time all sounds the same?

I'd love to read a thread about that but please keep this one Merzbow!

[jobotic]

None. Got a 7" of bands from Tokyo with him on and a split 12" with AMM.

I do own a Merzbow t-shirt though. What a fraud. Bought it for the design really but I've got drops of bleach on it.

Tried to buy the Frog album but too late. Have that and Hard Lovin' Man downloaded.

[Pauline Walnuts]

Cool! I haven't even looked into his work on 7", I'd imagine it doesn't work as well without the opportunity to sprawl. Although I am curious about which other acts on the 7"s apart from the Smell and Quim one you posted.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/12551-Merzbow?type=Releases&subtype=Singles-EPs&filter_anv=0

Knock yourself out matey!

Talking about which, T&A really do sell records don't they? At least to me

[ASFTSN]

Tried to buy the Frog album but too late. Have that and Hard Lovin' Man downloaded.

Sadly, despite the lovely concept (and "Frog coloured vinyl", even though I normally dislike whacky vinyl colours) I remember it not being particularly inspiring. When I get round to listening to it again I'll do so with an open mind though.

a split 12" with AMM.

I had no idea this existed, it makes perfect sense that it does though.

[purlieu]

Used to own 24 Hours: A Day of Seals (4CD album, laptop era, nice bleak moods) and 1930 (about as close to a 'classic' as he has, I suppose). Both went during one purge or another, probably when I used the criteria "get rid of anything you don't listen to at least once a year".
Agreed about the physical, though, which is something I have with most experimental and noise stuff: this isn't being made as an album in the traditional sense, I'm never going to go "ooh I really fancy listening to Hybrid Noisebloom today, I'll just pop it on Spotify," it's more a case of picking out something intense and focusing on it for a while.

I generally prefer the '80s tape & junk duo stuff to Akita's solo power noise of the '90s, but have never properly owned any. Been meaning to, but never get around to it. Maybe when my girlfriend and I aren't stuck in one room all day I'll feel more comfortable getting some.

[ASFTSN]

I generally prefer the '80s tape & junk duo stuff to Akita's solo power noise of the '90s, but have never properly owned any. Been meaning to, but never get around to it. Maybe when my girlfriend and I aren't stuck in one room all day I'll feel more comfortable getting some.

Is there a 'definitive' one of these as far as you're concerned? I'm not sure I've ever heard any.

[sevendaughters]

I listened to all of Merzbox (downloaded) and then bought my favourite one Live in Khabarovsk, CCCP – I'm Proud by Rank of the Workers

[ASFTSN]

Yeah, I feel like the thread will be completed if someone chimes in and say they own a copy of the Merzbox. I feel like it's always going to be available to buy because of just how dumb/expensive it is. Maybe one day...

[purlieu]

Nothing definitive, but the majority of the Merzbox is from that era, so it's as good a place to start I suppose. I've only heard bits and bobs here and there myself, and frankly can't remember what they were because there are so fucking many.

[Famous Mortimer]

There's an excellent podcast called "Immerzbox" where a couple of noise fans / musicians go through the entire 50 CDs. They just did 47, which has one track on it they really liked.

I have "Pulse Demon", somewhere, and that "Satanstornade" album he did with Russell Haswell. But I gave away almost all my records when I moved a couple of years ago, and I did have a few more CDs.

[Chriddof]

I think I still have "Satanstornade", it's the only thing of his which I've ever owned on physical media.

The thing that really beats out the Merzbox in terms of collectibles is the Merzcar - which for years was assumed to be bollocks, but was an actual thing:

"A while ago I had a Mercedes 230 that I didn't drive much. The police told me that I had to move it or they'd tow it away. Well, I didn't want to keep it and I didn't have anywahere to store it so I decided to use it for something else. I rigged the car's CD player with our latest release of Merzbow's "Noise Embryo" CD so that the music started when the car was turned on and it was impossible to turn it off. I put it up for sale as an extremely limited edition of the "Noise Embryo" CD but no one ever bought it, and in the end the car broke down. So we took out the CD and got rid of the car. Now I'm thinking about if it's possible to release a record in a Boeing 747..."

(...Wish I could afford to have a Mercedes that I didn't drive much...)

[ASFTSN]

There's an excellent podcast called "Immerzbox" where a couple of noise fans / musicians go through the entire 50 CDs. They just did 47, which has one track on it they really liked.

Thanks for this, it seems great. There was another podcast attempting the same thing, but they appear to have dropped the ball. Props to these two for sticking with it and being very unpretentious to boot.

I have a vague memory of Colchester Arts Centre playing the Merzbox in its entirety when it was first released as a kind of continuous weekend long 'club night', I'll have to see if I entirely fabricated that.

[ASFTSN]

(...Wish I could afford to have a Mercedes that I didn't drive much...)

Clearly you need to start a noise label, I'm sure the cash will come rolling in!

[chveik]

Is there a 'definitive' one of these as far as you're concerned? I'm not sure I've ever heard any.

this might be of help

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/phthora/the_merzbox__every_disc_rated_and_reviewed/

[Famous Mortimer]

Thanks for this, it seems great. There was another podcast attempting the same thing, but they appear to have dropped the ball. Props to these two for sticking with it and being very unpretentious to boot.

I have a vague memory of Colchester Arts Centre playing the Merzbox in its entirety when it was first released as a kind of continuous weekend long 'club night', I'll have to see if I entirely fabricated that.

It was called "Merzcast", but they quite quickly got bored with just doing Merzbow albums and branched out into any pre-2000 noise. It renamed itself "Noisextra" and is still going, but I dropped it a while ago.

[Greg Torso]

It was called "Merzcast", but they quite quickly got bored with just doing Merzbow albums and branched out into any pre-2000 noise. It renamed itself "Noisextra" and is still going, but I dropped it a while ago.

I listened to a few episodes of Noisextra a while ago, but also gave up on it. It's OK, they have some good guests on (Seymour Glass, GX Jupitter-Larsen) but it just didn't do it for me. Two of the presenters are the band Clay Rendering and one of them was in Hair Police and Wolf Eyes, so they know their stuff.

[Johnny Yesno]

I have Oersted and that seems like enough, tbh.

[Goldentony]

Pinkream. Pinkream is one of the funniest records ever made, relentless loud horrible shit for fucking houuuuuuuurs, this is Tuku Tuku and it opens the album -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lap4teH5oEo

[Famous Mortimer]

one of them was in Hair Police

Ooh, I like Hair Police. But I'm already listening to too many podcasts.

Pinkream. Pinkream is one of the funniest records ever made, relentless loud horrible shit for fucking houuuuuuuurs, this is Tuku Tuku and it opens the album -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lap4teH5oEo

Blimey, you're not wrong. The first two seconds of that album made my cat run away.

[Art Bear]

Got a 7" of bands from Tokyo with him on and a split 12" with AMM.

I have those two as well, and 1930 and Aqua Necromancer, which apparently uses samples from Van Der Graaf Generator and Soft Machine, amongst other proggers.

[purlieu]

Just remembered an experiment a friend and I did for AS Level Psychology, where we tested people's memories by asking them to read a list of words and then try and write down as many as they could. They would do it three times: once in silence, once soundtracked by 1/2 from Music for Airports, and once soundtracked by Merzbow's Cannibalism of the Machine. My overriding memory is of my friend John in absolute agony from laughter, I think he actually fell out of his chair at one point. I suppose if you've never heard harsh noise before and someone blasts that at you out of the blue it probably would be quite funny.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

i own none but i tried to give him a rose at a show at oval space about 7 years ago

[thenoise]

It was called "Merzcast", but they quite quickly got bored with just doing Merzbow albums and branched out into any pre-2000 noise. It renamed itself "Noisextra" and is still going, but I dropped it a while ago.

Thats not quite what happened.

GX talked about touring in Europe with Masami and him putting together huge boxes of obscure pornography to post back to Japan. Masami got embarrassed on twitter and insulted the podcast or something, as he is "straight edge"/vegan/anti porn for some time now and didn't appreciate having this part of his past discussed openly.

I have the merzbox, and I bought it as a student when I could ill afford it too. Basically was my single music purchase for about six months, and I listened to it many many times. I was a bit annoyed by the silly music journalist challenge of the time of listening to the whole thing in a mad marathon session - obviously not the way to appreciate this or any other music.

The highlights are mostly the LP reissues,as you might expect, and "Cloud Cock". The early tapes, which make up the majority of the box thankfully, are the most interesting. Later CDs are mostly "outtakes" from Merzbow albums proper of the 90s, and less good.

Got a load of other Merzbow which I'll count at some point. No vinyl though other than scum/steel cum 7" (which is a bootleg) and a few compilations.

[Famous Mortimer]

Thats not quite what happened.

GX talked about touring in Europe with Masami and him putting together huge boxes of obscure pornography to post back to Japan. Masami got embarrassed on twitter and insulted the podcast or something, as he is "straight edge"/vegan/anti porn for some time now and didn't appreciate having this part of his past discussed openly.

I knew he insulted a podcast, I just couldn't remember which one. Fair do's.

[Goldentony]

it was a great time when it happened though, remember? Two battling Merzbow podcasts at the same time and then the main man picks a side over a disagreement because of porno, truly the last great harsh noise kick off

[Dirty Boy]

They've long since gone to the charity shop, but i had Venereology and Tauromachine which i gather were from the more extreme end of the Merz-experience and  i also had the collaboration album with Mike Patton under the name Maldoror which was more cartoony than noisy. I went through a particularly mental insomniac phase where i listened to them a lot while in a feverish state at 2am, but can't say i ever really got into it.

I dabbled with stuff like Hanatarash, Masonna, Dissecting Table etc, but i found that Nurse With Wound was the furthest out i wanted to go. I appreciate it exists, but i don't enjoy it much.

[thenoise]

OK from the top of my head I have:

Age of 369 / Chant 2 2CD - early tape experiments
Music for Bondage Performance - film/theatre soundtracks from his pervy stage
Great American Nude/Crash for HiFi - American live tour 1990, harsh
Rainbow Electronics - a great reworking of early tape work on CD
Venereology - ultra harsh. I have the t shirt too, long sleeve variety with weird bondage images on the sleeves. Probably be worth a fortune if I didn't basically live in it during a low couple of months circa 2002.
Pulse Demon - blah blah
Akasha Gulva - live performance circa 1995 closest to HNW (harsh noise wall) that Merz ever got to on record. An immense 75 minutes of virtually unchanging vacuum cleaner hiss.
Space Metalizer - cut ups and loops, merzbow murdering his record collection
Vibractance - don't remember this too well, boring cover. Bit of an also ran maybe?
Aqua Necromancer - remember this one being good, but
Door Open at 8am - is the firm favourite of the Alien8 merzbow murders his record collection set. This one is jazzy jazz ala Merzbow. It works.
Merzbow/Genesis P Orridge - A Perfect Pain - depends on your tolerance for Gen's deliberately annoying vocals. Merz's work on this is similar to the bondage performance stuff, a more musical side. Apparently Porridge hated it.
Merzbox.
Merzbox extra - 2 CDs of cut up classical music, techno and skipping CD sounds. A bit tossed off to be honest, but fun to own.
Dharma - early laptop stuff, this is another very well played CD for me. Digital loops including piano and other weirdness and shimmering almost relaxing noise.
24 hours a day of seals - more laptop loops and experiments this time almost psychedelic with chopped up guitar noises. Probably murdering his record collection again.

That's about it i think. Apparently I don't own anything he's released since 2002, but I've seen some post laptop live gigs and they were very enjoyable, and a lot more fun than watching him sitting motionless behind a laptop. Any thoughts on his more recent work?

[ASFTSN]

^ winner!

Shows how much of a loser I am because I didn't realise he had a post laptop period. I'm glad to hear it! I also had no idea about that Genesis P-Orridge collaboration, I can't really see how that would work in my mind's ear. I'm sure I#ll get around to it eventually.

I've re-listened to everything but the Boris collab I posted since making the OP and I've enjoyed it a great deal, especially the GBN collaboration and 1930. I think I'll check out Space Metalizer next as the looped/cut-up stuff is a big draw to me.