Description
The Merzbow Archive Series by Slowdown Records, which has released 11 series so far, has entered its 12th edition.
In this series, the sound sources from 2008 to 2009 will be released.
Originally, Merzbow was a drummer who was greatly influenced by free music in the 70’s including psychedelic and progressive rock, but as Merzbow (duo era, with Kiyoshi Mizutani in the late 70’s and Merzbow Null in the early 80’s) This was the first time that a full-fledged drum was used in a work under the sole name of Merzbow.
The “13 Birds Series” (Important Records), in which 13 works were released over a year from 2008 to 2009, is famous for the works of this style of Merzbow, but it was launched in April 2008. It was a recording work for a new album scheduled to be released from Cold Spring in the UK at Tin Pan Alley Studios the day after the London performance. At that time, the technique of recording the live drums in the studio and synthesizing them with computer noise was taken, which was the beginning of full-scale drum use after that (this recording was recorded in “Anicca” (Cold Spring, 2008). After returning to Japan, the style of using this drum evolved into a combination of improvisational noise as well as computer sound sources, such as “Arijigoku” (Vivo, 2008), “Protean World” (Noiseville, 2008), and “Microkosmos” (Blossoming Noise, 2009).
Around the same time, Mr. Akita met Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi and began to perform frequently overseas in a duo with him. After meeting a drummer who was familiar with not only metal and grind core but also Sun Ra and free jazz, and who had many things in common with Mr. Akita in his musical background, this style became the drum performance that Merzbow has constantly sought out.
“Ensemble Drums” contains three different mixes of two records, “Protean World” and “Microkosmos” (one song from the former and two songs from the latter). The raw drums were recorded separately at the rental studio. The first song, which is a mixture of a drum performance that runs without hitting a standard beat and improvisational noise, is a drum solo performance that shows free changes while maintaining the time and groove to hit the beat firmly. The second and third songs, which are interwoven and gradually become more violent to join with the noise, and performances with different tastes are included.
– Shuta Hiraki
Track List:
01. Protean World Part 1 (1st Mix)
02. Microkosmos Part 1 (Test Mix)
03. Microkosmos Part 2 (Test Mix)
