In recent years, Merzbow has garnered a great deal of attention for his various collaborations, including his work as 3RENSA with Duenn and Nyantora, and the release of an album with Alessandro Cortini, a former member of Nine Inch Nails. He has also released impressive solo works such as "Kaoscitron" and "Hyakki Echo", and has been developing his activities in a powerful way that could be called a new period of fulfillment in his career. The year 2019, the 40th anniversary of his activities, will open with the simultaneous release of two new albums, as if to symbolize the tension in production that has not diminished at all. "Kaerutope" is a word coined from "frog" and "biotope," meaning "frog habitat". The title is typical of Merzbow, who became a vegan in 2003 due to his growing interest in and sympathy for animal rights, and has since actively used animal motifs in the titles of his works and artwork. The bit-drop texture of the noise and the sampled edits of the instrumental sounds like "Hyakki Echo" run side by side, and at times, the noise like a muddy stream is made to sound like a scene description, which quietly shakes the impression of Merzbow that is attached to a specific sound or genre represented by inorganic harsh noise.
yorosz (aka Shuta Hiraki)
credits
released June 25, 2021
All music by Masami Akita
Recorded & mixed at Munemihouse, Tokyo 2016-2018
Yasuyuki Nakamura (slowdown records) : A&R
Percussive, tin rattling aggression that melts into overblown electro-blitzkrieg & then a delicious bass drone-thumping, adding metallic noise & a crunching assault & briefly swirling whip & a beat-droning pulse & some helicopter flailing with titanium-aquatic slushes dispersed with bursts into shrill, brash scraping that ebbs & flows in gutteral squalls & alien demon vocalizations. Bonus tracks erupt in bubbling bass/swirl/scratch improvs that crush. MERZILLA
While still sounding harsh a lot of the time, this will not obliterate you like other Merzbow releases. Steady elements give a noob like me something to cling to amidst the chaos. Hans
The pulsing industrial sounds on the wonderfully brutal new LP from Tokyo group Rinsaga will be catnip for the black-glove-and-mesh set. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 15, 2022
Composer Eiko Ishibashi's soundtrack from "Drive My Car" is full of sweeping yet gentle melodies that rise and fall in romantic waves. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 3, 2022
CATalysis 4 into Hat 1046 is one of the most blissful noise experiences I've had in quite some time. Transcendent. Brilliant. Nice Finnegan the Fox samples on Haf 1046 (to my ears). Cute cats on the cover. Chef's kiss 100% andrewmeow