This work is a precious sounds. In a note I received from Masami Akita, he wrote "I remember that it was the sound source used for the Merzbow performance at Kichijoji Gatty. This is first time reissue." Yes, this is the first reissue of the album. The original recording was made in 1983 and released on Akita's cassette tape label, Lowest Music & Arts.
Kichijoji "Gatty", where the sound for this album was recorded, was a legendary live space that existed for several years in the 80s, and is known for the many avant-garde artists who performed there. In this sense, this work is a record in the history of Japanese avant-garde music. This work, however, is a somewhat unique sounds. According to Akita's notes, "Merzbow's performance at Gatty was not a live performance, but a slide show and tape performance, with the slides melted by heat. It seems that "Musick For Screen" was used as the sounds. The word "Screen" in the title means "slide". The two long tracks are "Part A" (30 minutes and 49 seconds) and "Part B" (9 minutes and 37 seconds), both tracks are bursting with intense, ear-piercing noise, a kind of nonbeat metallic Merz-Noise. In order to write the liner notes for the Mertzbow Early Archive Project, I've been listening to Merzbow recordings from the late 70's and early 80's, and I was often surprised to find that they were already practicing this kind of thing at this time! This recording is no exception. This recording is exactly the same.
Denshi note
credits
released June 16, 2021
Recorded and Mixed at Lowest Music & Arts, August 1983
Remastered from Original Cassette Tape on Feb 2018 at Munemihouse, Tokyo
Originally Released as Cassette on Lowest Music & Arts, Japan on 1983
Masami Akita : Tapes, Effects
Piano on Part A-Unknown
Yasuyuki Nakamura (slowdown records) : A&R
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