The Merzbow Archive series by Slowdown Records, which has released thirteen editions so far, enters its fourteenth edition. This edition contains a collection of unreleased recordings from 2014 that were performed using a sequencer. Performances in this style are included in previously released works such as Nezumimochi (Cold Spring, 2014) and Wildwood (Dirter Promotions, 2015). The sequencer used is Dwarfcraft Devices' 8-step sequencer The Pitch Grinder. The six albums that make up the series are titled Double Beat Sequencer Vol. 1~6, where ''Double Beat'' is the name of Merzbow's favorite Roland AD-50 Wah Fuzz pedal.
This album, Double Beat Sequencer Vol. 5, contains two performances recorded in March and April 2014. The first track is a series of mprovisations that manipulate scratchy tone changes and zapping noise breaks over a simple sequence. The performance is over 20 minutes long, but the momentum is impressive, as if it runs through without a pause for breath. In the second track, the composition gradually shifts from a series of single notes to arpeggios with clear ups and downs in pitch, and the noise changes accordingly. In the middle part of the track, the AD-50, which is Merzbow's signature sound, is used to create a groovy swell of radical tone changes.
yorosz(aka Shuta Hiraki)
credits
released September 27, 2022
All Music by Masami Akita
Recorded at Munemihouse, Tokyo January & April 2014.
Recorded at Munemihouse, Tokyo March & April 2014.
Mixed at Munemihouse, May 2021.
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