Edition of 199. Merzbow never stops, and thank goodness for that. Nine Studies of Ephemeral Resonance Volume 1-9 gathers the complete nine-volume series that Urashima has been rolling out since late 2024, now united in a single box that feels less like a reissue program and more like a finished sculpture. Twenty-six tracks of prime Masami Akita, where the harshness we know and love is filtered through something older and quieter: the Japan of haiku and ukiyo-e, of fleeting seasons and impermanent things.

Each of the nine studies works the tension between tradition and the present tense. Track titles read like a saijiki - "An Old Pond," "Scent of Plums," "Night Rain," "Star's Shine" - and the music follows suit, moving between meditative stillness and full-force electronic turbulence with the control of a master who has been sharpening these tools since the late 1970s. This is noise as contemplation, feedback as brushstroke. Serious listening, and seriously rewarding.

The object itself is pure Urashima devotion: a cardboard box with color laser print on the front, nine vinyl-replica cover CDs, and two Leporello inserts on fine Japanese paper, each unfolding to a full meter of ukiyo-e imagery and haiku poetry. Edition of 199 copies. For anyone who cares about where noise has been and where it can still go, this is essential.