Merzbient

Merzbient
Cover of the CD version
Box set by Merzbow
Released	October 26, 2010 (2010-10-26) (original) September 10, 2012 (2012-09-10) (reissue)
Recorded	1987–1990 at ZSF Produkt Studio, Tokyo
Genre	Noise, ambient
Length	610:20 (original) 683:13 (reissue)
Label	Soleilmoon
Producer	Masami Akita
Merzbow chronology
9888A (2010)9888A2010 Merzbient (2010) ZaRa (2011)ZaRa2011
Alternative Cover
Cover of the LP version

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Foxy Digitalis	[2]
Musique Machine	[3]
PopMatters	[4]
The Quietus	favorable[5]

Merzbient is a boxed set album by the Japanese noise musician Merzbow, it is composed of previously unreleased raw material recorded 1987–90.

The original edition sold out within weeks of its release.^[6] Merzbow and Soleilmoon later announced that Merzbient would be reissued in an expanded LP edition.^[7][8]

Two sets of unreleased raw recordings, Merzphysics and Merzmorphosis, were released in 2012 by Youth Inc. This time featuring harsh noise from the mid-1990s.

Background

The tracks were originally made as raw material for other releases and were not intended for release themselves. While working on cassette reissues for Blossoming Noise in 2009, Masami Akita rediscovered the original four track master tapes, and found that they could be considered "completed works of improvisation music" of their own.^[7]

When Merzbow started playing live internationally in the late 1980s, it required the use of simple and portable gear, which then influenced Akita's studio sound, leading to the harsh noise style he became known for in the 1990s. But he also continued to use junk and acoustic instruments in the studio for a couple more years, including a "big handmade junk instrument made from a metal box with piano wires" played with a violin bow.^[9][10]

"RBA" is an acronym of Right Brain Audile, a name used by Akita for his soundtracks to bondage films produced by Right Brain, the term appears on the Music for Bondage Performance albums. Many of the track titles were taken from the identification written on the tapes or their brand names.^[7] HD by Denon; AXIA by Fujifilm (some of which are label "For CD"); Capsule Cologne and UD II-S by Maxell. "Matehnas" was made as raw material for the collaboration with H.N.A.S. member Christoph Heemann.^[7]

Packaging

The CD version comes in a hardcover box. Each disc comes in a full-color sleeve with photos on both sides, when arranged together they form completed pictures. Also included is a die-cast metal medallion with the words "動物解放" (dōbutsukaihō) meaning animal liberation and a double-sided insert.^[9] The outside of the box depicts a forested mountain landscape with clouds, while the inside shows Japanese wisteria hanging on a trellis. The sleeves show the pond at Kawasaki Daishi on one side, and a close-up of hanging wisteria on the other.

The LP reissue comes in a pair of custom-made boxes, each holding nine LPs. Each disc comes in a full-color sleeve and has full-color center labels. Also included are three inserts printed on textured paper. It is limited to 222 signed and numbered copies, the first 44 copies are pressed on translucent dark-red vinyl and are only available from Soleilmoon mailorder, the rest are pressed on black vinyl. Three test pressings were also made available.^[6] The reissue has different photography, depicting mountainous desert landscapes and plants taken at Cederberg.^[11]

On the reissue, the original set is presented on LPs one to fifteen—with some of the tracks edited due to the limitations of the format—while previously unreleased material is presented on the remaining three LPs.

Track listing

CD version

All music composed by Masami Akita.

LP version

All music composed by Masami Akita.

Notes

CD version

• Digitally remastered from original cassette tapes March 2010

LP version

• LPs 1–15 digitally remastered from original cassette tapes in 2010, re-edited for release on LP in 2011
• LPs 16–18 digitally remastered from original cassette tapes in 2012

Personnel

• Masami Akita – various scrap metals, various metals/tin box with piano wires, various percussion by small objects, paper, stone, woods, kitchen objects etc., contact mics, audio mixer, motor, electric fan, gas stove, guitar, violin, thermin, various effects. etc. but no synthesizer^[7]
• Jenny Akita – photography on CD edition
• Charles Powne – photography on LP reissue

Release history

References