Merzbow is the name used by Japanese musician Masami Akita (秋田昌美 Akita Masami) (born 1956) for most of his experimental noise records. He has released many CDs, LPs and cassettes since the early 1980s, and is regarded as one of the most important noise musicians working today.
Biography
Masami Akita was born in Tokyo in 1956. He listened to psychedelic music, progressive rock and later free jazz in his youth, and all have influenced his music; his album Aqua Necromancer, for instance, samples progressive rock drum lines, while Doors Open At 8am samples free jazz. Later he went to Tamagawa University to study art. It was there that he learned of Kurt Schwitters' Merz, or art made from rubbish, including Schwitters' Merzbau, or "Merz building". This the source of the name Merzbow.
Music
Early days
His earliest music was made with tape loops, and has been compared to Throbbing Gristle. He released his music on cassettes through his own record label, Lowest Music & Arts, which was founded in 1979. In the early 1980s, after met the italian avant-gardist noise artist Maurizio Bianchi/M. B. in Milano, he founded a second label, ZSF Produkt. Since then, he has released records on a large number of labels, including Mego and Tzadik.
Later recordings
He later began to use more electronic instruments and electric guitars, but his music still consisted of what most people would think of as "noise". In the past few years, Merzbow has begun to use digital technology more in his music. At a live performance these days, it is normal for him to produce all his music with two laptop computers. Though this has dismayed some of his fans, the resulting music makes more apparent his roots as an improvising jazz drummer.
In 2000, the Extreme record label released Merzbox, a 50 CD set of Merzbow records, 20 of them not previously released. The set also included badges, postcards, posters and various other Merzbow collectibles.
In 2002, he released "Merzbeat"; which was seen as a significant departure from his trademark abstract style in that it contains beat-oriented pieces. This has sparked some controversy among fans, though some older Merzbow recordings, including some discs from the Merzbox, are also rhythmically focused. Still, the album was more so than anything Merzbow released in the past 10 or 15 years, and was more widely available than the earlier recordings. 2004's "Merzbird" and 2005's "Merzbuddha" followed in a similar vein. Though his albums have frequently moved in themed stages (such as a group of synth-based albums, one of 'collage' music, one based on samples of rock and jazz records), Merzbow's most recent phase has an added political dimension, being explictly related to PETA and animal themes. He has even produced several works centered around recordings of his pet chickens.
Collaborations
Merzbow began as the duo of Masami Akita and Kiyoshi Mizutani (who has become an accomplished composer in his own right). Early collaborators include Japanese artists such as Reiko A., S-Core, Agencement, and most productively K. Kishino, aka KK Null of the bands YBO2, ANP and Zeni Geva. For studio recordings, Merzbow continued to be Akita alone, but for most of the late 1980s through the 1990s, Merzbow live was a trio including Reiko A. on electronics and Bara on voice and dance. Currently, Merzbow live is simply Akita alone again.
Some other artists who have collaborated with Merzbow include Zbigniew Karkowski (for a duo called MAZK), Consumer Electronics, Total, Genesis P-Orridge, Le Syndicat, Masonna, Smegma, Jazzkammer, Slugbait, P16.D4, Achim Wollschied/SBOTHI, the New Blockaders, the Haters, Eliot Sharp, Kim Cascone, Richard Ramirez, and Kapotte Muziek, among many others.
Partial Discography
- Rainbow Electronics (Alchemy 1990)
- Music for Bondage Performances (Extreme 1991)
- Batztoutai With Memorial Gadgets (RRRecords 1993)
- Venereology (Release 1994)
- Ecobondage (Distemper 1995)
- Rainbow Electronics II (Dexter's Cigar 1996)
- Music for Bondage Performances 2 (Extreme 1996)
- Oersted (Vinyl Communications 1996)
- Pulse Demon (Release 1996)
- Aqua Necromancer (Alien8 1998)
- 1930 (Tzadik 1998)
- Tauromachine (Release 1998)
- Doors Open at 8am (Alien8 2000)
- Dharma (Double H Noise Industries 2001)
- Frog (Misanthropic Agenda 2001)
- MAZK (with Zbigniew Karkowski) (2001)
- Amlux (Important Records 2002)
- Merzbeat (Important Records 2002)
- Merzbird (Important Records 2004)
- Partikel (with Nordvargr) (Cold Spring 2004)
- Sha Mo 3000 (Essence Music 2004)
- Bariken (Blossoming Noise 2005)
One of the most complete Merzbow discographies is available at this website.
Sound sample
- Media:Merzbow_Dharma.ogg - an excerpt of "I'm coming to the garden..... no sound, no memory" from Merzbow's album Dharma (2001) (ogg format, 12 seconds, 94KB)