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Post by andypandy380 on Oct 30, 2013 17:14:20 GMT -5
not entirely sure I understand. If you have a look on the Merzbow Discography wikipedia page, I think pretty much everything after year 2000 was produced/recorded with laptops. Of some of the more obviously digital/electronic sounding ones, A Taste Of, Scene, Tamago and Zophoros are among my favourites.
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Post by neokorosu on Oct 31, 2013 18:24:52 GMT -5
By the way, does someone know why Merzbow has changed to computers? Was there a specific reason? I think his step to computers is very interesting, because it is a total different way of making music. Making music with a computer is an extreme abstract process, it can't be compared with his earlier working methods, like with analog synthesizers or other electronic devices. Computers are the only instruments, which are mostly controlled by the mind. The motorical interaction between the body of the musican and the instrument is not visible. So I can understand when people say, that this is not "handmade music". But I wouldn't say that "handmade" is always a sign of quality. I'm excited what kind of new instruments and playing methods Merzbow will use in the future.
To come back to the thread: Like andypandy380 said, I also don't think it would make sense if someone here would make an extra list of the laptop period, since there is a perfect discography on wikipedia.
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Post by acsenger on Nov 1, 2013 13:59:22 GMT -5
I think in an interview in The Wire (which I'd love to read again) Akita said one reason was because it was cumbersome to travel with and set up analogue gear at live shows. Further, the new possibilities of using a computer were exciting to him. It's interesting, by the way, that I believe the majority of noisicians hasn't made the switch to digital (either partly or fully). Another interesting thing is that according to the label text about Merzbient, the reason Merzbow's style changed to really harsh in 1990 was due to the discovery of simpler analogue equipment than what he'd been using until then and this discovery was prompted by his increasing number of live gigs (especially abroad) and thus the need to be able to travel with light gear.
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Post by neokorosu on Nov 1, 2013 17:48:36 GMT -5
Aha, so the reason of changing to computers was more from a practical point of view. I think, that this behaviour is showing us very good Akita's way of thinking about instruments. So he is choosing his instruments only according to sound criteria and doesn't pay attention to the "image" of an instrument. Every kind of instrument is never unprejudiced and people tend to link sounds of instruments to specific non-musical things. For example, when we are hearing an organ, we are immediatley thinking of religion or when we are hearing a ukulele, we are thinking of hawaii etc. And it is the same with electronic instruments, in this case computers and (analog) synthesizers. There are some people who are tending to a dangerous black-and-white-thinking and are despising every form of digital sound synthesis. I think the fans who were disappointed when Merzbow started using computers, are belonging to this group. And like you've said, that other noise musicans were not using computers, because the image of computers just don't fit in their concept of noise music.
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Post by acsenger on Nov 2, 2013 18:21:28 GMT -5
Yes, many people simply don't like digital sound. Another reason many don't like computers I think is that they feel the way of making music is too detached, too "clinical" with laptops (where one is just clicking with a mouse and in a concert, many feel, might as well be playing solitaire) as opposed to analogue equipment where there's more bodily interaction (and indeed things can get quite destructive in concerts). With Merzbow, aside from concerts, a lot of former fans just didn't like the music he started making with a laptop because it was (digital sound aside) different from his previous, analogue work, and many felt it was worse. This is a well-known and often discussed opinion, of course. I personally still don't know what to think (although to reject everything he's done post-2000 is dogmatic in my view), not being too familiar with Merzbow's laptop period, but it's certainly true that I've heard weak post-2000 albums by Akita.
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Post by neokorosu on Nov 2, 2013 19:44:39 GMT -5
Well, I think I like both periods, the analog and the digital. All laptop albums I have listened so far, I do like very much. But I must admit that I have started with albums after 2000 and there are only very few albums from the pre-2000 period in my collection (but I want to get more into the 90s albums from time to time). I think it is just a question about personal taste, if someone do prefer laptop or analog works.
It was not only because of the change of the instrument, it was mostly because Akita had changed his mind, thats why many fans had lost their interest in to Akita's work. In the early time, he had more the reputation of a "destroyer". All the bondage content and so on just fit in to the (dark and agressive) image. But later, he had become a vegan and animal rights are now the focus of his work. And these two images are totally different and are staying in conflict to each other. I think this was the main reason why so many former fans had jumped off. These fans were expecting a specific kind of image, but Akita had changed it too drastically. Somewhere I had read, that Akita isn't interested in to the noise scene anymore, he is just doing his own thing. Isn't that weird? Although he is the most influential exponent of this genre. But this is the right way, it is also the only way when he wants to unleash all his ideas, because he is not tied to expectations of a group.
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Post by acsenger on Nov 3, 2013 6:19:08 GMT -5
Interesting view. I've never thought of the different themes of Merzbow's different periods as conflicting, but perhaps some people see it that way. I would argue the statement that Merzbow used to have a dark image though. I don't think the covers or (song) titles of his releases suggest that, except for a few (like Venereology or Metalvelodrome). I've also read that Akita's distanced himself from the noise scene and after all, he's the only one from the Japanese noise scene who's gained recognition beyond that scene, but I think Merzbow's always been different, both in "image" and music, from other noise bands/musicians.
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Post by neokorosu on Nov 3, 2013 7:30:49 GMT -5
I also think that Merzbow has still a dark image. I think, that people from the western part of the world see veganism from a different perspective, than people from Japan. I don't know, but maybe veganism in Japan is socially not so accepted like in western cultures. So, fans from Japan and fans from the rest of the world could have very different images of Merzbow. It is true, that there is a very strong western influence in Japan, but this country has still its own characteristics.
That's also a very interesting point. Usally, musicans from a scene are makeing music for a specific audience. This applies to every genre, from Jazz to Punk Rock. Some musicans don't even have the intention to make music only for one scene. They say, that their music is for everyone, but nonethless their music don't make it to jump out from this drawer and so they have to stay in this audience circle. But Merzbow's music is listened by people with very different mindsets. In a interview he mentioned, that "normal" people and people from various underground scenes are visiting his concerts. Of course, he don't have many fans compared to more popular musicans. But he has done a connection to people with different (musical) mindsets.
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Post by yantramusk on Nov 3, 2013 7:32:59 GMT -5
"I think Merzbow's always been different, both in "image" and music, from other noise bands/musicians". I agree, his sound/Image seems rooted in surrealism and psychedelic cultures not the hard and brutal realism or "reportage" of other early Industrial/noise artists. a release through sound as opposed to a negative oppression.
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Post by neokorosu on Nov 5, 2013 17:01:32 GMT -5
I think this is one essential attribute for me, that Merzbow's style is more in a surrealistic corner, than in this "brutal and gruesome". I'm not very familiar with other noise/industrial artists, because I don't like their idea behind the music. It is a trivial idea to use disgusting photos of dead bodys as a cover artwork, just to act "brutal" in some way. I think this is just vulgar and I see there no artistic deepness. It's hard for me to take such artists serious. I think it is just about provocation, the music itself is not the main thing.
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Post by acsenger on Nov 6, 2013 16:13:09 GMT -5
You're probably referring to classic industrial music and power electronics, where the use of extreme images and topics was/is quite common. Noise is different though, it's usually abstract in terms of images too.
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Post by neokorosu on Nov 7, 2013 15:02:36 GMT -5
Yes, I have meant these two genres. Sorry, if my message was too widely, but I have only rudimentary knowledge about this music.
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