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Post by acsenger on Sept 14, 2015 7:23:00 GMT -5
So this CD is apparently out in early October and the label has put it up for preorder on Discogs: www.discogs.com/Merzbow-Shinji-Miyadai-Music-For-Urbanism/release/7465950. It ain't cheap, and after listening to the very short sample on Soundcloud, I'm not exactly tempted to order it. It's a live recording which I tend not to like, plus I have no idea what Miyadai's contribution is: since he's a sociologist, does he do some sort of spoken word? Or does he make noise too? Or something else? The sound sample sheds no light on this whatsoever, and at the moment I can't be bothered to copy and paste all the Japanese text into Google Translate in order to (maybe) find out. If anyone buys it, I'd love to read a review!
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Post by andypandy380 on Sept 15, 2015 14:09:44 GMT -5
From what I can gather, there was at some point a 'seminar of Merzbow' in Japan. Miyadai is described as a 'sociologist of noise music'. So I assume Merzbow performed a set, and then there was some discussion. The release comes with a 24 page booklet, so I think basically it's a Merzbow live album accompanied by an academic sort of text written by Miyadai. Not really sure what to think of it, although I am kind of intrigued to hear it in full so I may wind up getting one. Not sure whether the book would be written in Japanese text or in English (or both?)
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Post by acsenger on Sept 16, 2015 1:21:24 GMT -5
Yeah, that's a valid question. Maybe send the label an email?
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Post by andypandy380 on Oct 25, 2015 17:39:56 GMT -5
Also ended up getting one, basically just out of curiosity... The booklet is indeed all in Japanese text, so that could sway your decision one way or the other if anyone was on the fence about buying a copy. I did use a nifty little app on my phone in an attempt to translate some of it, got a very very basic gist of what was being said. Mentions of societal norms, and peoples preconceptions of different things. I think there was some quite in depth discussion about Japanese popular culture and also the idea of consumerism/commercialism in the USA. The idea I got was about noise being something that allowed people to 'escape' from what is written in society, that kind of thing... Obviously due to the language barrier that might not be accurate at all. There were also sections I wasn't sure of at all that seemed to explore sexual love and also suicide, so obviously I don't want to jump to too many conclusions without fully understanding it in context. I admit I didn't have the highest of expectations for the live recording, but I thought it was pretty good all things considered. The first half is actually quite interesting, very layered, nice timbres... but it get's rather more intense, walls of sound, one continuous piece that gradually builds in intensity. Admittedly it does begin to go on a bit... So I don't really know, kind of don't have too many strong feelings one way or the other, I doubt it'll be an album I revisit too often but it's alright.
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