A few months back my friends at to Be magazine asked me to write a piece about Merzbow. The text titled Outside Utopia, can be found in issue #2 of the magazine.
As a part of this project they also invited me to make a mixtape, merging many of the Merzbow threads that have inspired and provoked me, in equal measure, over the years. This is an intense collage of Merzbow's noise universe. It is available only on cassette - no digital will arrive on this one.
Here's a little note included in Outside Utopia...
“I first met Tokyo musician and artist Merzbow (Masami Akita) in October 1997. We were introduced in a carpark out the back of a venue, The Capitol, in Brisbane. Akita was on tour with Mike Patton, performing a series of improvised concerts that would later accumulate into a duet recording as Maldoror. This concert was one of a few performances during that decade which categorically forged my interests in experimental practice, Noise and the capacity of sound to be a physiological experience. It was the first time I experienced music that was so unruly, free and unconstrained in every way imaginable.
This formative encounter is one I am sure I share with a generation of outlying musicians here in Australia, whose way through the darkest stretches of music-making were illuminated by the eruptive light of iconic artists such as Merzbow.”
credits
released January 12, 2022
Collage realised by Lawrence English at Negative Space 2021.
supported by 12 fans who also own “Merzbow // Mixtape”
Easily one of my favourite Merzbow records and one of my favourite noise records in general. Expertly crafted and blisteringly hot sonically, it's definitely not one to miss. heckicus_doomicus_wizardus
supported by 12 fans who also own “Merzbow // Mixtape”
The darkness of this album along with its name is not nonsense, but has a lot to do with what you are going to find when you listen to it. A perfect ambience that gives you chills just trying to imagine what the "Black Crow Cyborg" coming towards you would be like. Two legends together on the same LP, you can't ask for more, LISTEN IT NOW! kato09
supported by 10 fans who also own “Merzbow // Mixtape”
Noise can be blissfully calming and invigorating at the same time. Listening to this album is like getting a massage from an industrial hurricane.
Bursts of raw static are blended into thundering, shadowy beats. The squeals are like cars sliding down metal railings in the most epic of chases.
Merzbow takes the idea of industrial music and pure noise, sews them together and adds the spark of life. Michael Mueller
Acclaimed ambient artist Lawrence English and Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart plumb the liminal zone between sleep and waking. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 19, 2021
Noisy, unsettling experimental pop in turns touching and political. From now until 3/5, 50% of proceeds go to Planned Parenthood/ACLU. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 8, 2017
The 20th anniversary edition of this classic album—remastered by noise master Merzbow himself—features four new tracks and new artwork. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 14, 2023
supported by 10 fans who also own “Merzbow // Mixtape”
Pulse Demon is a great harsh noise album that paved the way for the genre. Not only was it ground breaking but was also different at the time, this is why I respect the album so heavily. Luke