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Environmental Percussion Vol​.​1

by Merzbow

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1.
EP22887 Mix 30:50
2.
EP87 Mix 23:39

about

The idea of "Environmental Percussion", which is the main focus of this series, has existed since 1982, when "Material Action for 2 microphones" was released. In concrete terms, it refers to acoustics obtained by tapping on the floor or walls of a room, or by picking up the sounds of various objects and small objects around us with contact microphones, amplifying them, and adding spatial effects such as reverb and delay.
The main materials used in this approach are Styrofoam chunks (used to hit the floor, etc.), plastic cassette cases and cards (played with a violin bow), rubber bands (pinched), toilet paper wicks (blown), gas stoves and table lamps (metal percussion), etc. Unplugged noises with subtleties and textures different from distorted effects processing noises are produced.
In "Material Action for 2 microphones", this technique was used to achieve a noisy sound, but in later works such as "Ecobondage" (1987) and "Storage" (1988), it was used in a more musical way, and most of the materials released in this series were recorded in 1987.
In addition, recordings from this period were made with a new home-made instrument, piano wire, guitar strings and springs inside a tin wardrobea, plucked by violin bow.
This instrument can be used to make metal junk sounds by placing various objects inside the tin box and shaking it, but in this period of recording, it was mainly used to produce string-like sounds. The final product is a timely mix of this sound, environmental percussion, electric kokyu, transverse flute, and vertical flute.
"Environmental Percussion Vol. 1" is a new 2-channel mix of the original 4-channel cassette master. In the mid-80s, Merzbow produced many works using detailed tape collage and distorted sounds, but this album is a clear attempt at the other side, with a strong unplugged sound and editing that uses a relatively long span of performances without cutting them up.

yorosz (aka Shuta Hiraki)

credits

released July 28, 2021

All Music by Masami Akita
Recorded at ZSF Produkt Studio, Tokyo 1987
Mixed and Mastered at Munemihouse, Tokyo 2018
Yasuyuki Nakamura (slowdown records) : A&R

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all rights reserved

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Merzbow Tokyo, Japan

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