Crash For Hi-Fi Tapes
A wry commentary on audiophile culture, Crash For Hi-Fi Tapes revels in deliberate destruction of fidelity. While enthusiasts pursue ever-more-transparent reproduction, Merzbow embraces distortion, clipping, and overload as expressive tools. The title suggests violence directed at the medium itself - tapes crashed, pushed beyond design parameters.
High-fidelity recording promised perfect reproduction; Akita responds by demonstrating that imperfection and degradation carry their own aesthetic val…
Cloud Cock OO Grand (Another Mix)
This alternate version of legendary Cloud Cock OO Grand material offers fresh perspective on one of Merzbow's most celebrated early-90s works. The title's surrealist absurdity reflects Akita's Dadaist engagement - language pushed beyond sense into pure sonic evocation. "Cloud," "Cock," "Grand" - the words resist logical combination, instead creating irrational poetry.
The existence of multiple mixes raises questions about identity and authenticity in experimental music. If noise is supposed to b…
Ecobondage (Another Mix)
The provocative title merges ecological and fetishistic imagery - characteristic Merzbow juxtaposition refusing easy interpretation. "Ecobondage" suggests nature constrained by human activity while carrying erotic connotations connecting to Akita's longtime engagement with transgressive sexuality through his Pornoise label and BDSM-influenced imagery.
Ecological themes would become increasingly central following his veganism adoption, but even here, years earlier, Akita demonstrates awareness of…
Material H2
Material H2 strips Merzbow's sound to elemental components - pure sonic matter awaiting transformation. The "H2" designation evokes hydrogen, the simplest element, suggesting return to first principles. Just as hydrogen combines to form more complex molecules, these basic sonic elements combine to create Merzbow's elaborate constructions.
Akita works with sonic substance like a sculptor with clay - shaping, texturing, building structures from raw matter. The "Material" series title acknowledges …
Crocidura Dsi Nezumi
The title references the Japanese white-toothed shrew (Crocidura dsinezumi) - an early indication of animal themes that would become prominent following Akita's veganism adoption in 2003. The shrew exists in perpetual urgency, eating constantly or dying - a quality resonating with Merzbow's relentless intensity. These tiny creatures live at the edge of metabolic possibility, their hearts beating impossibly fast.
This prescient animal reference - predating Akita's formal commitment to animal righ…
Environmental Percussion Vol. 2
Continuing the percussive investigations begun in Volume 1, this installment pushes further into the liminal space between rhythm and chaos. Where the first volume established the conceptual framework, Environmental Percussion Vol. 2 explores its implications more deeply, finding increasingly complex rhythmic patterns within seemingly formless noise.
Together, the Environmental Percussion volumes document Merzbow's engagement with rhythm and pulse - dimensions often overlooked in discussions of …
Environmental Percussion Vol. 1
The "Environmental Percussion" series finds Akita exploring the rhythmic potential of non-traditional sound sources - objects, spaces, and acoustic phenomena pressed into service as percussion instruments. These experiments anticipate the more overtly beat-driven work of later periods while connecting to musique concrète traditions of treating all sounds as potential musical material.
Akita transforms everyday acoustic phenomena into percussion, finding rhythm where conventional listeners percei…
Mother Tongue
A Senegalese Griot singer, an Amsterdam improviser and a Puerto Rican jazz drummer find eachother on an open playground, a stage build for improvisation, an old cinema now used for minute made story telling. Equiped with an m'bira, a xalam, a drumkit, a voice, percussion, house hold tools and an electric chlavichord on 220 volt, they sit down and take off: Wrrrrrraaang! Singer and percussionist Mola Sylla is in many ways a musical explorer. Born and raised in Dakar, Senegal, he grew up in the tr…
Extensions 2 (LP)
Two versions of Miroglio's excellent composition for percussion ensemble, performed by Les Percussions de Strasbourd and released on Philips' silver covers "Prospective 21e Siècle" series. Black labels.
La Guerre Du Feu (LP)
Original soundtrack to the 1981 film by Jean Jacques Annaud with avant-garde elements performed by Les Percussions de Strasbourg. With poster and cover art by Philippe Druillet.
Espaces (LP)
Great avant-garde percussion music by a composer mainly known for his library work, a 1978 album on the short-lived Arc En Ciel's "Espaces" experimental music series with embossed sleeves.
Muir
Tip! *60 copies limited edition* kalimba snare towel homemade drum ceramic paper chain bells shakers skewers stick drums broken cymbal bass drum guitar string thing coolie hat bustelo cans concrete floor psaltery pianolette door chime washer drum metal chair elbows snare pinecones snare manual tape handheld aluminum sample hands pine cone washer drum bowls superball bow brushes kit chopsticks spatula stickerball spent drumhead snare skewers table tines bent cymbal hands pot lids water and stuff,…
Ancient Moment Part 1
With centuries of history, traditional instruments carry physical vibrations shaped by human breath and touch. In contrast, electronic music generates vibrations through inorganic principles such as electrical signals and circuits. When the subtle tremors of traditional instruments resonate with the intricate tones of electronic sounds in an improvised dialogue, performers from distinct realms expand each other’s languages, creating a new sensory experience. The project album Ancient Moment mark…
Best Wishes
Following years of activity in the UK scene and beyond, and a debut tape in 2020 on don't drone alone, Rekem is proud to present the new release by Leeds based artist, Helen Papaioannou.
Kar Pouzi is Helen Papaioannou’s solo project of electronics, baritone saxophone and vocals. Best Wishes, spans the past two-three years of Kar Pouzi’s output, featuring both longer standing pieces from her live sets alongside new tracks. The album reflects Kar Pouzi’s fascination with repetitive tasks, sounds, …
Selected Works 1985-2005
Selected Works 1985-2005 by Gabrielle Roth & The Mirrors assembles eleven transformative pieces from two decades of percussive ambient innovation. This 2025 repress captures their hypnotic blend of ceremonial rhythm, improvisation and deeply spiritual overtones, threading together global traditions and ecstatic energy to create immersive soundscapes meant for both movement and contemplation.
Mirante
Mirante, the ninth album by Nick Storring, is an impressionistic, multi-instrumental homage to Brazil. Across seven movement-rich tracks, Storring weaves liquid ambient textures, intricate rhythms, and a panoply of both Brazilian and experimental influences, forging an album that balances celebratory groove and lush introspection.
Microphonies 21
Microphonies 21 by Marc Billon is a long-form electroacoustic exploration centered on the resonances of a tam-gong. Blurring the line between acoustic gesture and electronic transformation, the work unfolds as a slow, tactile meditation on vibration, decay, and the physical act of listening itself.
Ratsnake
Ratsnake by Chloe Kim is a daring solo percussion suite that channels years of improvisational research into a visceral, highly personal language. Produced by Randall Dunn after Kim’s formative New York sojourn, the album fuses jazz-rooted control with exploratory vulnerability, establishing Kim as a bold new voice in solo drumset music.
A Fool's Guide to Reality
Edition of 400. Belgian percussionist and composer Karen Willems presents her debut solo statement with A Fool's Guide to Reality, a work that transforms everyday objects and chance encounters into transcendent musical exploration. Released on Fanny Chiarello & Valentina Magaletti's Permanent Draft label, this album represents Willems' most personal artistic statement - a fearless dive into uncharted sonic territories where convention dissolves into pure experimentation. A serial collaborator wh…
En Chute Libre
*2025 stock* ET\OU arose from the convergence of two giants of current Canadian music: Martin Tétreault, a dazzling turntablist of international renown; and Michel Langevin, the famed drummer of the legendary progressive metal band, Voivod. For this promising duo’s first LP and CD, Oral and Minute have teamed up to introduce this unique partnership to all lovers of thundering sounds and electrifying performances. The intensity of their studio compositions and wide-open dialogues are unique and u…