I'm finally giving Merzbow a good listen, and based on what I've heard so far from the 1930 album, this is pretty damn cool. I'm really enjoying this. Does anyone have any recommendations for other Merzbow material?

P.S. I know that this doesn't fit into the "indie rock" category, but I wasn't sure where else to post it.

quote:

Originally posted by Portable Joystick:
I'm finally giving Merzbow a good listen, and based on what I've heard so far from the 1930 album, this is pretty damn cool. I'm really enjoying this. Does anyone have any recommendations for other Merzbow material?

I gave some recommendations in the "Avant-Garde" music thread, which occasionally deals with noise music among other experimental genres.

Unfortunately Merzbow has a massive discography and so I haven't even begun to penetrate a lot of his material. Still, from what I have, these are my favorites:

Pulse Demon (the very first noise record I purchased and still one of my favorites of all time, this will blow your skull open guaranteed)
1930
Dharma
Sphere
Hybrid Noisebloom

There are a lot of other great releases but those are the ones I come back to again and again. Also, if you can get your hands on a copy I would highly recommend Akita's "The Prosperity of Vice, The Misfortune of Virtue." Though it isn't under the Merzbow name proper, the sound is very noisy industrial clanging, sub-frequency manipulation, sound collage and all other sorts of goodness.

Enjoy the pain!

quote:

Originally posted by CouldBAnyone:
I gave some recommendations in the "Avant-Garde" music thread, which occasionally deals with noise music among other experimental genres.

Unfortunately Merzbow has a massive discography and so I haven't even begun to penetrate a lot of his material. Still, from what I have, these are my favorites:

Pulse Demon (the very first noise record I purchased and still one of my favorites of all time, this will blow your skull open guaranteed)
1930
Dharma
Sphere
Hybrid Noisebloom

There are a lot of other great releases but those are the ones I come back to again and again. Also, if you can get your hands on a copy I would highly recommend Akita's "The Prosperity of Vice, The Misfortune of Virtue." Though it isn't under the Merzbow name proper, the sound is very noisy industrial clanging, sub-frequency manipulation, sound collage and all other sorts of goodness.

Enjoy the pain!

Cool, thanks! I will check out the suggestions if they ever show up on Soulseek.

BTW, since you seem to be fairly informed on the topic -- are there any other noise artists whose music you would suggest? Besides Merzbow I'm only familiar with a few like Wolf Eyes and Hair Police...

quote:

Originally posted by Portable Joystick:
Cool, thanks! I will check out the suggestions if they ever show up on Soulseek.

BTW, since you seem to be fairly informed on the topic -- are there any other noise artists whose music you would suggest? Besides Merzbow I'm only familiar with a few like Wolf Eyes and Hair Police...

Well I have Soulseek and all the albums so if you have any trouble send me a message...

Also just a quick noise artist list to jot down (I second your mention of Hair Police, they are fantastic):
Prurient
Nautical Almanac
Hanatarash
The Incapacitants
Jessica Rylan (records as "Can't")
Gerogerigegege (I like his noise stuff, the stuff about masturbation is just kinda bland..haha)
Whitehouse (imagine the sounds of societies crumbling with the impassioned yells of an angry dictator screaming from a disintegrating pulpit - that is Whitehouse)
Masonna
Mouthus
The Goslings
Emil Beaulieau (self-proclaimed "Greatest Living Noise Artist")
The Dead C
Axolotl - Just got into this guy and posted in the avante-garde forum, ambient influenced noisey-drone...good stuff
Double Leopards
Yellow Swans
Mike Shiftlet - his stuff is harder to find, try using Soulseek as he himself distributes his mp3 's using that software. I actually tried to talk to him over Soulseek and get him to come to Arizona, he said he would consider (yes!).
To Live And Shave In L.A. (you might be repulsed by Tom's voice but give it a chance, I love it personally).
SPK

I just discovered the "Merzbox". 50 Merzbow cds for $500. I think thats the biggest box set I have ever heard of.

quote:

Originally posted by Sicnarf:
I just discovered the "Merzbox". 50 Merzbow cds for $500. I think thats the biggest box set I have ever heard of.

Haha. Yeah, it's insane! But I'd like to hear it someday. I wish I knew enough people who were into it that I could split the cost with or something.

My recommendations for Merzbow records would be:

Pulse Demon
Venearology
Tauromachine
Rainbow Electronics II
Aqua Necromancer
Dharma
Animal Magnetism
1930
Frog
Pinkream
Amlux
Merzbear

We're literally talking about someone that, as Sicnarf pointed out already, released a 50 disc boxset of stuff that wasn't already available. The guy has got over 500 releases under his belt. Many of the really good ones you can't even get anymore, such as Rainbow Electronics II. His new record Merzbear is incredible.

Oh sorry to double post but if you like his stuff then you'd do well to grab a copy of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music. It's great even though I pretty much hate the rest of his solo work. The last Skullflower record, Tribulation, is up there with some of Merzbow's harshest stuff as well. Easy to find and absolutely stellar.

jonathanbrisby, you like MMM, but dismiss most of his solo work?? That's seriously perverse mate.

quote:

Originally posted by jonathanbrisby:
Oh sorry to double post but if you like his stuff then you'd do well to grab a copy of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music. It's great even though I pretty much hate the rest of his solo work.

Yeah, I've only heard Transformer which I didn't like very much at all. But I am very interested in hearing Metal Machine Music.

quote:

jonathanbrisby, you like MMM, but dismiss most of his solo work?? That's seriously perverse mate.

I'm not dismissing his other work, it's just not for me.

That's not much of a defense, but I'll let it slide...

Lou Reed has a few songs in his solo career that I like but no other albums besides Metal Machine Music. I find Lou Reed to be a questionable individual for wanting to dismiss what I think is his best work with a quote like "Anyone that gets to side four is dumber than I am," or something to that effect. The man was in a band with John fucking Cale. Anyone who's familiar with Cale's 1960's works like Sun Blindness Music for instance should have the good sense to know that there is more thought and compositional skill that goes into music like that than just "making noise." Since Lou Reed and John Cale were in the Velvet Underground together, I would assume that unless Lou Reed is a clueless moron that he was at least familiar if not very familiar with those avant-garde works of his band mate. Anyone that then goes about making a record like Metal Machine Music after being involved with other musicians of that caliber knows exactly what they are doing. That being said, I think Lou Reed caught flack from a great deal of his audience for releasing something that was considerably more "difficult." Not wanting to offend them he makes this blunt and ignorant sounding statement concerning a significant work from the time that he should have been proud to have crafted. As such I have no respect for him as a person.

In addition to this, I would like to add that one of the first Merzbow recordings was entitled Metal Acoustic Music in homage to the Lou Reed album.

jonathan, your overview of Reed and MMM is sadly lacking in critical analysis. To state up front that MMM is his best work, beggars belief.

Firstly, MMM is in no way equatable compositionally, emotionally or in any other criteria with Cale's '60's avant-garde work. Those works are indeed serious forays into new frontiers. Reed however, was playing about when he made MMM, as he has said countless times.
You make hostile comments about Reed as a person, hiding behind what are in fact 'assumptions'; (I think, I assume). You are not in the know about how Reed and Cale agreed or disagreed on the relative merits of Cale's work prior to the Velvets.
On your point about Reed backing away from MMM based on audience reaction...well, I've heard it all now. Where are you getting this nonsense from? Reed has never exhibited the most partial deference towards his audience's expectations.
He isn't proud of the work,partly because it's not very good, and partly I would argue, because it is a conceptual joke; an artistic tradition that he had much experience with in his days with Cale and Warhol and the New York art scene of the late '50's and '60's.
I once spoke to Cale affter a gig in Brisbane, asking him about his old mate, and he laughed when we talked about MMM. He equally was of the opinion that Reed, the cantankerous old bastard was having a joke, and that it was in no way a serious effort to make avant-garde music, or at least a half-hearted one.
If you like the album, fine, thats great. It has its moments I guess, but your hatred of Reed's other work, save a few songs seems born out of piquancy, due to a desire to identify further with a genre you obviously enjoy.
Thanks for the debate. Most interesting.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kulturtrager,

Interesting comeback. Although Cale and Reed may have a good laugh at my and many others expense at how seriously we take Metal Machine Music, I still far prefer it to his other works. While in a compositional sense maybe Cale was more serious and thoughtful in composing things like Stainless Steel Gamelan and Sun Blindness Music, I personally find Metal Machine Music far more enjoyable and rewarding. If the record is a total joke, it doesn't matter to me at all. I think it is landmark recording even if done completely by accident or half-heartedly. Although I definitely enjoy noise as a genre, I wouldn't go out of my way to identify with a record that I didn't actually enjoy and feel strongly about just to make a point or be inclusive. I also don't mean to sound hostile regarding Lou Reed. I understand that a great many people enjoy his music and that I will have to agree to disagree with them. I guess I'll leave it at that to avoid a ridiculous argument that otherwise would have to be chalked up to differences in personal taste.

Other than that, this specific thread is probably not the best place for us to have a long-form conversation regarding Lou Reed since the topic is Merzbow. I didn't mean to get off topic, but it is educational to have friendly arguments I think and even though we disagree I've had a good time with it anyway.

Cool man, thanx for the feedback. I didn't mean to turn a Merzbow thread into a Reed one.
Re: Merzbow? Excellent work, me old china.

I'm on the first track of Pulse Demon and it's kind of ridiculous. I wouldn't even consider it music. I tend to enjoy rough, noise stuff but this is just pointless white noise.

Although it does get your pulse going. Is that the point? I feel like I'm missing some statement this is trying to make about music..

quote:

Originally posted by Jglass:
I'm on the first track of Pulse Demon and it's kind of ridiculous. I wouldn't even consider it music. I tend to enjoy rough, noise stuff but this is just pointless white noise.

Although it does get your pulse going. Is that the point? I feel like I'm missing some statement this is trying to make about music..

Your reaction is totally understandable for a first time listen. First off, to evaluate noise music of this intensity you need to listen to the details of the tracks. Oftentimes Merzbow will fall into a pattern or texture, only to come screaming out of it a second later. The changes in the song's "structure" are fast and furious and kind of overwhelming at first. Keep listening and after awhile the composition of the tracks will become more clear. And no, it is not simple white noise. There is much more going on here than could ever be achieved by tuning a radio in between stations.