Re: [microsound] merzbow

[John Nowak <john_nowak@xxxxxxx>]

On Jul 7, 2004, at 8:28 PM, peewee wrote:

> and if u like something different u should try his releases on 
> important records
> in which he has rhythm and guitar like in merzbeat or amlux
> or maybe try 'ikebana : merzbow's amlux rebuilt' remixes also on 
> important (mouse on mars, kid 606, dj spooky, dj rupture, kk null, kim 
> cascone, john wiese, freiband, ...)

I own Ikebana (as well as Amlux, and two Important Records shirts... I 
was desperate for cheap clothes, and you can't beat $5 t-shirts), and 
I'd personally advise that you check all the artists before buying it. 
There are some great tracks on there from Negativland, Jack Dangers, 
and John Wiese. In fact most of CD 2 is quite good. CD 1 though you 
have to be in the mood for. The first two artists on the CD do have 
"DJ" in their pseudonyms after all. ;-) Then of course there's the 
track by Alec Empire, which is weak at best. Make no mistake, a lot of 
the CD 1 material is quite fun (I especially like the ones by Custom 
Drummer and Kim Hiorthoy), but just be sure you know what you're 
getting into. ;-) Also, I do not believe Kid 606 is on the album as you 
stated, but I'm not complaining...

Just a question... did anyone actually really like Merzbeat? I mean 
with the volume of work this guy puts out, a one-off with a different 
style is not only acceptable, its appreciated, and I did buy it. 
Perhaps I need to give it time to grow on me. :-)

It's amazing really... my music is in many ways the exact opposite of 
Akita's, but he's my favorite artist (in regards to music anyway). It's 
probably the same reason all my work is algorithmic, yet all my 
favorite painters are gestural expressionists.

Also, has anyone heard Yoshinotsune or Fantail yet? The samples on the 
C3R label (not to be confused with the lovely C5R Corvette) are 
stunning. (www.c3r.ca) He still has looped aspects, but unlike the ones 
he seemed to be using a couple years ago, they continuously vary like 
they did with his mid-90s analog work on albums like 1930, and aren't 
so "obvious". His works also sounds much more polished now (perhaps an 
odd thing to say for Merzbow). He seems to have full control over the 
process now with these two works, and is no longer partially affected 
by what the computer lets him do most easily, which I honestly feel he 
was for awhile, and is expected when you move to an entirely new method 
of producing music.

I wonder if he uses any of my Reaktor ensembles... does anyone know 
much about what tools he's using? I've heard Reaktor and Max/MSP, but 
I've never seen any concrete evidence. It definitely sounds like he's 
using a sequencer as well.

- John


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