Merzbow

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Merzbow
Masami Akita 5267969.jpg
Masami Akita at Moers Festival 2007
Background information
Birth name Masami Akita
Born (1956-12-19) December 19, 1956 (age 67)
Tokyo, Japan
Genres
Occupation(s) Musician, graphic artist, writer, animal rights activist
Instruments
Years active 1980–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website merzbow.net

Masami Akita (秋田 昌美 Akita Masami?, born December 19, 1956), better known by his stage name Merzbow (メルツバウ Merutsubau?), is a Japanese noise musician. Since 1980, he has released over 400 recordings.

The name Merzbow comes from German dada artist Kurt Schwitters' artwork, Merzbau, where Schwitters transformed the interior of his house using found objects. This was chosen to reflect Akita's dada influence and junk art aesthetic. In addition to this, Akita has cited a wide range of musical influences from progressive rock, heavy metal, free jazz, and early electronic music[1] to non-musical influences like dadaism, surrealism, and fetish culture.[2] Since the early 2000s, he has been inspired by animal rights and environmentalism, and has become a vegan.[3]

As well as being a prolific musician, he has been a writer and editor for several books and magazines in Japan, and has written several books of his own. He has written about a variety of subjects, mostly about music, modern art, and underground culture. His more renowned works have been on the topics of BDSM and Japanese bondage. Other art forms Akita has been interested in include painting, photography, filmmaking, and Butoh dance.[4]

In 2000, Extreme Records released the 50 CD box set known as the Merzbox. Akita's work has been the subject of several remix albums and at least one tribute album. This, among other achievements, has helped Merzbow to be regarded by some as the "most important artist in noise".[5]

Life and career

Early life

Masami Akita was born in Tokyo, Japan on December 19, 1956. He listened to psychedelic music, progressive rock, and later free jazz in his youth, all of which have influenced his noise.[5] In high school he became the drummer of various high school bands, which he left due to the other members being "grass-smoking Zappa freaks".[6] By this time, he and high school friend Kiyoshi Mizutani had started playing improvised rock at studio sessions which Akita describes as "long jam sessions along the lines of Ash Ra Tempel or Can but we didn't have any psychedelic taste".[6]

He later attended Tamagawa University to study fine art, at which he majored in painting and art theory.[4] While at university, he became interested in the ideas of dada and surrealism and also studied Butoh dance.[6] At Tamagawa, he learned of Kurt Schwitters' Merz, or art made from rubbish, including Schwitters' Merzbau ("Merz building"), which is the source of the name "Merzbow".[7]

Lowest Music & Arts (1980–1984)

Merzbow began as the duo of Masami Akita and Kiyoshi Mizutani, who met Akita in high school. Akita started releasing noise recordings on cassettes through his own record label, Lowest Music & Arts, which was founded in order to trade cassette tapes with other underground artists. The earliest recording he made was Metal Acoustic Music. Various other early releases included Remblandt Assemblage and Solonoise 1.[8] The Collection series consisted of ten cassettes, the first five were recorded in a studio for an independent label called Ylem, which went defunct before they could be released. So, Akita released them himself, and recorded five more at home.[9]

Akita's earliest music was made with tape loops and creatively recorded percussion and metal.

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I threw all my past music career in the garbage. There was no longer any need for concepts like 'career' and 'skill'. I stopped playing music and went in search of an alternative.

— Masami Akita[10]

Early methods included what he referred to as "material action", in which he would closely amplify small sounds so as to distort them through the microphone. This method was used on Material Action for 2 Microphones and Material Action 2 N.A.M.. Among early releases like the box set Pornoise/1kg, Merzbow created artwork using photocopies of collages made out of manga and porn magazines he found in trash cans in the Tokyo subway. Akita explained this as trying to "create the same feeling as the secret porn customer for the people buying my cassettes in the early 80s".[11] In 1984, he founded a second record label called ZSF Produkt.

ZSF Produkt (1984–1989)

ZSF Produkt (pronounced Zusufu, from an ancient Japanese word meaning "magnetic")[10] was founded in 1984 to release music by similar artists within the industrial movement but eventually became the successor to Lowest Music & Arts.[12] Numerous Merzbow releases were recorded at ZSF Produkt Studio, Masami Akita's home studio.[13]

During this era, Merzbow found much wider recognition and began making recordings for various international labels.[14] He also started touring abroad with the help of various collaborators. First, Merzbow performed in the USSR in 1988, then, toured the USA in 1990, Korea in 1991, and Europe in 1989 and 1992.[15] Kiyoshi Mizutani left Merzbow after the 1989 European tour and continues to pursue a solo career.

Noise electronics era (1989–1999)

During the European tour in September–October 1989, Merzbow could only bring simple and portable gear; this led to the harsh noise style Merzbow became known for in the 1990s. Cloud Cock OO Grand (1990) was the first example of this new style, Merzbow's first digital recording (on DAT), and the first recording made for the CD format. It also includes live material recorded during the tour.[16]

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But when I started live in late 1980s I didn't like to use tape on stage. I like only live electronics. So, my studio works changed to more live composition style. I'm still using many tapes in studio works, but difference is I treat tapes and instruments. Before, I used tapes as overdubbing concept. But now tapes are crashing together, no static overdub. I found that style on Cloud Cock OO Grand.

— Masami Akita[16]

Beginning in the mid-1990s, Merzbow began to be influenced by death metal and grindcore.[17] Recordings from this time are mostly recorded at extreme volume, some mastered at levels far beyond standard (Noisembryo, Pulse Demon).[18] In 1994, Akita acquired a vintage EMS synthesizer. From 1996, plans were made to release a "10 (or maybe 12)" CD box set on Extreme Records.[19] In 2000, Extreme Records released the Merzbox, a fifty CD set of Merzbow records, twenty of them not previously released.

Throughout most of the 1990s, Merzbow live was a trio with Reiko A. on electronics and Bara on voice and dance.

In the early 1990s, Masami Akita composed the soundtracks to numerous kinbaku videos by Fuji Planning (不二企画 Fuji Kikaku?) and seppuku-themed videos by their sub-label Right Brain.[17] Akita would also directed Lost Paradise (失楽園　乗馬服女腹切り Shitsurakuen: Jōbafuku onna harakiri?) for Right Brain.[20] Some of this music was included on Music for Bondage Performance and Music for Bondage Performance 2, co-credited to Right Brain Audile. Director Ian Kerkhof would use a Merzbow track for his 1992 film La séquence des barres parallèles, and Akita composed original music for Kerhof's 1994 film The Dead Man 2: Return of the Dead Man.[17] Kerkhof made the documentary Beyond Ultra Violence: Uneasy Listening by Merzbow in 1998.[21] Akita also created music for Ilppo Pohjola's Asphalto (1998)[22] and Routemaster (2000).[23][24]

Laptop era (1999–2009)

Since 1999, Akita has used computers in his recordings, having first acquired a Macintosh to work on art for the Merzbox. Also at this time he began referring to his home studio as "Bedroom, Tokyo". At live performances, Akita has produced noise music from either two laptop computers or combination of a laptop and analog synthesizers/guitar pedals.[citation needed] Reiko A. and Bara left Merzbow during this time, Reiko Azuma now has a solo career. Since 2001, Jenny Akita (née Kawabata) started being credited for artwork on various releases.

Since 2001, Akita started utilising samples of animal sounds in various releases starting with Frog. Around 2002, Akita became a vegan, he stated how it began:

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I started raising four bantams, the little ornamental chickens. With this experience as a start, I gradually started to be concerned and care about chickens and all the barn animals I used to eat without giving it a second thought before. So I started reading books and researching on the internet about Animal Rights and that triggered an awareness of "evil" that human society has done.

— Masami Akita[25]

During this period, Akita also became a supporter of PETA which is reflected in his animal-themed releases.[26] An example of this is Minazo Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, dedicated to an elephant seal he visited often at the zoo and Bloody Sea, a protest against Japanese whaling.[27][28] He has also produced several works centered around recordings of his pet chickens (notably Animal Magnetism and Turmeric).[29]

Also in 2002, Akita released Merzbeat, which was seen as a significant departure from his trademark abstract style in that it contains beat-oriented pieces. This has sparked some controversy among fans,[30] though some reviewers pointed out that it sounded very similar to Aqua Necromancer (1998) which features samples of progressive rock drumming.[31][32] Merzbird (2004) and Merzbuddha (2005) followed in a similar vein with sampled beats combined with Merzbow's signature harsh noise.

Current era (2009–present)

In 2008, Masami Akita reintroduced the drum kit, his first instrument.[33] This could be heard on 13 Japanese Birds, a thirteen disc series recorded and released one-a-month throughout 2009. At this time he changed the name of his home studio to Munemihouse.

Starting in the mid-2000s, Akita began to introduce junk metal and effects pedals back into his setup. By the early-2010s, he was using a large number of pedals, oscillators and tone generators, and reduced to a single laptop running granular synthesis software.[33] In 2014, he toured without a laptop.

Beginning in November 2009, Merzbow started releasing archival material from the 1980s and 1990s, both reissues and previously unreleased material, several of which were released on cassette. The Blossoming Noise label has reissued five cassettes, and released Microkosmos Volume 1, which is a new recording on LP with collage artwork created by Akita in 1982–83. The Kibbutz cassette was reissued on vinyl by Urashima. Other cassettes of unreleased material include Untitled Nov 1989, 9888A, April 1992, and Variations for Electric Fan. Merzbow has also released several archival box sets; Merzbient, Merzphysics, Merzmorphosis, Lowest Music & Arts 1980–1983, and Duo.

Musical style

Merzbow's sounds employ the use of distortion, feedback, and noises from synthesizers, machinery, and home-made noisemakers. While much of Merzbow's output is intensely harsh in character, Akita does occasionally make forays into ambient music. Vocals are employed sometimes, but never in a lyrical sense. Contrary to most harsh noise music, Akita also occasionally uses elements of melody and rhythm.[34]

Akita's early work consisted of industrial noise music made from tape loops and conventional instruments. Similar to his present albums, he produced lengthy, disorienting pieces. He also became famous for the sheer volume of his releases.[35]

The avant-garde nature of Akita's work made acceptance by mainstream and unprepared audiences difficult. When he performed with Kiyoshi Mizutani in 1988 at the Jazz-on-Amur festival in Khabarovsk, the Far East of USSR, his improvised, experimental electroacoustic set was praised by fellow musicians as well as the festival's producer. The number of the - jazz-oriented (and - even just curious) - crowd, however, had been expecting a more traditional (and much-much more quiet) performance, and started walking out. Prior to his second performance at the festival — which was to be made to an even more conservative audience—[36] Akita was asked to play "more musically."[35] On that first stage, Merzbow used the finest example of "classical analogue live noisemaiking technologies" to display: untuned guitar, a drumset, various micro-objects, small springs centered in its shell baffles, large aluminium boxes with strings inside to be attacked with a fiddlestick, etc. along with multi- piezo-pickuping and close-miking techniques, live processing through vintage US fuzz, ring modulator etc. boxes, and quite vivid and spontaneous approach, backed by domestically supplied slide and light shows. These live recordings were post-processed/re-mixed and released as Live in Khabarovsk, CCCP (I'm Proud by Rank of the Workers) LP – and as the (once more re-mixed comparing to the LP) CD 26 of the Merzbox later on.[36]

During the 1990s Akita's work became much harsher and were generally mastered at a louder volume than usual. These were heavily influenced by death metal and grindcore bands of the time (a prime example is the Venereology album).[17] The mid-1990s saw Akita being heavily influenced by psychedelic bands and this was reflected in various albums.

Side projects

In addition to Merzbow, Masami Akita has been involved in a number of side projects and groups.

Aliases

  • Abtechtonics (or variations of this) was used by Akita for his artwork on Merzbow releases and his books.[6]
  • House Hunt Hussies is credited for a track on the Sexorama 1 compilation. ZSF Produkt listed as the contact address.
  • Pornoise was a mail art project Akita had in the 1980s where he made collages using discarded magazines – in particular pornographic magazines – taken from the trash. These were then sent along with his cassettes, the idea being that his art was like cheap mail order pornography. Pornoise/1kg was released as part of these activities.[6][7] Pornoise was credit as the artist for a track on the Sexorama 2 compilation and co-credited for artwork on Scissors for Cutting Merzbow.
  • Right Brain Audile is co-credited on the two Music for Bondage Performance albums, as they're soundtracks he did for several S&M and faux-Sepukku films produced by Kinbiken/Right Brain. The abbreviation RBA appears in track titles on Merzbient, which features recordings from this era.
  • SCUM was a project where Akita made new releases out of previous Merzbow sessions using cut-ups, effects, and mixing.[6] SCUM is an acronym, standing for something different on each release, including "Society for Cutting Up Merzbow" (a reference to the SCUM Manifesto), "Scissors for CUtting Merzbow", "Steel CUM", etc.
  • Zecken was used for two solo synthesizer performances in 1996.[35][37]

Groups

  • Bustmonster was a "conceptual death metal" group (because they couldn't play death metal)[38] with Tetsuo Sakaibara, Fumio Kosakai, Masahiko Ohno, Shohei Iwasaki, Maso Yamazaki and Zev Asher.
  • Flying Testicle was a trio with Yamazaki and Asher.
  • Merzbow Null was a collaboration between the groups of Merzbow and Null. In addition to Masami Akita and Kazuyuki Kishino, it featured several other members of both groups such as Reiko Azuma, Asami Hayashi, Kiyoshi Mizutani, Yushi Okano, Ikuo Taketani, etc. They did many improv performances during 1983–84 and released over a dozen cassettes.[39]
  • Tibeta Ubik was a duo of Akita and Kishino active at the same time as Merzbow Null.[35][39]
  • True Romance was a performance art project in the early 1990s with Tetsuo Sakaibara (who became a live member of Merzbow) and Toshiyuki Seido. The performances included fetish equipment, simulated gore (including autopsy), mechanical devices, nude models, etc. It was inspired by Viennese Actionism. Masami Akita was a performer in addition to composing the backing music.[38]

Other groups include: Commando Bruno Sanmartino with Incapacitants and Violent Onsen Geisha,[40] Kikuri with Keiji Haino, Maldoror with Mike Patton, MAZK with Zbigniew Karkowski, Melting Lips with Hanayo,[41] Muscats with Hanayo and Masaya Nakahara, Metalik Zeit with Aube,[42] Merz-Banana with Melt-Banana,[43][44] Satanstornade with Russell Haswell (they later released an album entitled Satanstornade under their real names), Secrets with Tetsuya Mugishima (aka Seven),[45] and Shalon Kelly King with Fumio Kosakai.[46]

Masami Akita played drums for Hijokaidan during the early–mid 1990s.

Balázs Pándi has played drums for Merzbow at several concerts since 2009, and they released several albums.

Discography

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Main article: Merzbow discography

Bibliography

After completing his degree, Akita became a freelance writer and editor for various magazines in Japan. He frequently writes on a variety of topics such as sexuality (including pornography, S&M, and Japanese bondage. Excerpts appear in the Music for Bondage Performance album notes), underground and extreme culture (including music and art), architecture, and animal rights. None have been published in English.

Year Japanese title English title Title translation Publisher ISBN
1988 倒錯のアナグラム　周縁的ポルノグラフィーの劇場
Tōsaku no anaguramu: Shūenteki porunogurafī no gekijō		 The Anagram of Perversion Anagram of perversion: Theatre of fringe pornography Seikyūsha ISBN 4-7872-1005-X
1989 異形のマニエリスム　「邪」の民俗
Ikei no manierisumu: "Ja" no minzoku		 Mannerism of heterodoxa: "Perverse" traditions ISBN 978-4-7872-3022-5
1990 フェティッシュ・ファッション　変貌するエロスと快楽身体
Fetisshu fasshon: Henbō suru eros to kairaku shintai		 Fetish Fashion Fetish fashion: Transformation of eros and body play ISBN 4-7872-1010-6
1991 セックス・シンボルの誕生
Sekkusu shinboru no tanjō		 The Power of Goddess of Love Birth of the sex symbol ISBN 978-4-7872-1011-1
1992 ノイズ・ウォー　ノイズ・ミュージックとその展開
Noizu wō: Noizu myūjikku to sono tenkai		 Noise War: Noise 10 Years Noise war: Noise music and its development ISBN 4-7872-7035-4
1993 快楽身体の未来形
Kairaku shintai no miraikei		 Terminal Body Play The future of body play ISBN 4-7872-1018-1
ボディ・エキゾチカ
Bodi ekizochika		 Body Exotica: Sexual Atrocity ISBN 4-89176-288-8
1994 スカム・カルチャー
Sukamu Karuchā		 Scum Culture Suiseisha ISBN 4-89176-303-5
性の猟奇モダン　日本変態研究往来
Sei no ryōki modan: Nihon hentai kenkyū ōrai		 Modern Sexuality Bizarre Modern bizarre sex: Japanese abnormality research textbooks Seikyūsha ISBN 4-7872-3087-5
1995 裸体の帝国　(ヌード・ワールド Vol.1　ヌーディズムの歴史 1)
Ratai no teikoku (Nūdo wārudo vol. 1: nūdizumu no rekishi 1)		 Nude Empire Nude empire (Nude world vol. 1: History of nudism 1) Suiseisha ISBN 4-89176-312-4
1996 日本緊縛写真史
Nihon kinbaku shashinshi		 History of Japanese bondage photographs Jiyu Kokuminsha ISBN 4-426-73800-8
1997 アナル・バロック
Anaru Barokku		 Anal Baroque Seikyūsha ISBN 4-7872-3134-0
1998 ヴィンテージ・エロチカ
Vintēji erochika		 Vintage erotica ISBN 4-7872-3149-9
1999 女陰考　性学古典より
Nyoinkō: Seigaku koten yori		 Think Vagina Vagina thoughts: From sexology classics Outou Shobou ISBN 4-7567-1131-6
ストレンジ・ヌード・カルト　不思議の裸体天国 (ヌード・ワールド Vol.2)
Sutorenji nūdo karuto: Fushigi no ratai tengoku (Nūdo wārudo vol. 2)		 Strange Nude Cult Strange nude cult: Mystery of nude paradise (Nude world vol. 2) Suiseisha ISBN 4-89176-313-2
2000 ラブ・ポジション
Rabu pojishon		 Love Position Outou Shobou ISBN 4-7567-1141-3
2005 わたしの菜食生活
Watashi no saishoku seikatsu		 Cruelty Free Life My vegetarian lifestyle Ohta Publishing ISBN 4-87233-979-7

Note: English title refers to English writing on the cover, sometimes it's a translation of the Japanese title, or a completely different phrase.

References

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  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.</ref]}
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Masami Akita's vegan origins, taken from interview released in January, 2011
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Boris A. Podkosov, esq., the JOA's producer ["Merzbow at JOA'88: Eastern Noise of Perestroika"], manuscript, June 21, 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

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External links

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