The Merzbow Archive series by Slowdown Records, which has released nine editions so far, enters its tenth edition. This edition contains recording material from 2004 to 2005. Merzbow was very busy during this period, releasing a huge number of works including "Merzbird", "Sphere", and "Turmeric", and performing overseas. As a result, there were not many sound sources that had been completed and unreleased, so this edition contains mainly edited rehearsal sound sources for live performances. The rehearsal sound sources were composed with live performances in mind, and included patterns that were used repeatedly in live performances at the time, but the overlapping parts were edited out to ensure the individuality of the work. Other than the live rehearsals, the album contains re-issues from the very few edition works at the time, long mixes of previously released songs, and outtakes. Merzbow started to use laptops as well as self-made instruments and analog equipment in his live performances around the latter half of 2005, so the period of this edition can be seen as the culmination of his laptop-only performances and productions that he have been attempting since 1999. In 2003, he became a Vegan in ideology, and the theme of his music production shifted toward Veganarchism (Vegan Anarchism), and many animal motifs appeared in his artwork and titles.
In this album, "Plasma Door", ducks and chickens' quacks are sampled in the first and second songs, which shows the influence of Vegan ideology on the sound. The third track is an outtake of "Deaf Composition" from the 4-CD set "Turmeric" (2005), and the fourth track is a live rehearsal recording from this period, using riffs from "Bariken" (2005).
yorosz(aka Shuta Hiraki)
credits
released December 26, 2021
Composed, Mixed, Performed by – Masami Akita
Recorded at Bedroom, Tokyo 2004-2005.
Remastered at Munemihouse, Tokyo 2020.
Mastered at Kentaro Hayashi, Osaka, Japan.
Yasuyuki Nakamura (slowdown records) : A&R
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
Culled from unreleased recordings from her recent "Light Sleep" and "Voice Hardcore" releases, Hiromi Moritani's latest showcases the softer, less harrowing side of Phew’s sound Bandcamp Album of the Day Sep 2, 2020