New Arrivals / Today
Red Brick
Test mixes for Arijigoku (Vivo, 2008)—Merzbow's first full-fledged combination of live drums with improvised noise performance. Drums were recorded separately in a rented studio, then mixed with noise at a later date. This preliminary version offers vivid documentation of the trial-and-error process underlying a landmark release.
The progression across three tracks demonstrates the range achievable through drum-noise synthesis: from the opening track's carefully balanced spatial composition to t…
Ensemble Drums
Alternate mixes from two essential albums: Protean World (Noiseville, 2008) and Microkosmos (Blossoming Noise, 2009). Drumming was recorded separately in rented studio space, capturing Akita's return to the instrument after decades.
The first track fuses drumming with improvisational noise - drums rampage at high velocity without steady beat, pure kinetic energy. The second and third tracks reveal different performance flavors: gradually intensifying roughness merging with noise, interwoven with…
Drumorph
Primarily computer-based but incorporating sampled drums, this album documents the earliest experiments leading to the full drum integration that would define this period. Finely cut drum sounds ricochet through space in the first two tracks, with fierce original drum performances unexpectedly emerging between the processed fragments—allowing listeners to experience drums in multiple transformed states.
Recorded just one month before the Anicca sessions, Drumorph captures the pivotal moment when…