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Post by Bucketfel on Oct 8, 2011 2:55:17 GMT -5
I was wondering, has anyone ever seen one of the books written by Masami? or has one??
The Merzbook doesnt count Shapedges ;D ;D
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Post by sharpedges on Oct 8, 2011 17:23:48 GMT -5
awwww I've heard that none are translated into english, but I'm not entirely sure this is true.
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Post by bariken on Oct 8, 2011 22:56:16 GMT -5
There is a chapter on Merzbow in Paul Hegarty's Noise/Music: A History which is worthwhile getting hold of.
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Post by Bucketfel on Oct 9, 2011 1:31:29 GMT -5
There is a chapter on Merzbow in Paul Hegarty's Noise/Music: A History which is worthwhile getting hold of. you know what. There is a copy on the public library, ill snatch it soon ;D ;D
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Post by japanesebird on Nov 6, 2012 16:38:53 GMT -5
come on guys, we need to get some translations of these books. i'm especially interested in reading "my cruelty free life", although I would love to read every book he has written. he should make the vegan book available in english for his non-japanese fans who are interested in the subject.
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Post by Bucketfel on Nov 6, 2012 16:59:51 GMT -5
I dont know any japanese so were kind of screwed here.
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Post by ashessehsa on Nov 6, 2012 20:06:01 GMT -5
Yeeeah, I'd like to read them out of curiosity, but I don't expect it to happen any time soon.
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Post by acsenger on Nov 6, 2012 23:14:53 GMT -5
I have two of his books: one is Noise War, the other is Scum Culture. They're both in Japanese.
Noise War I believe was published in 1992 and judging by the pictures (there are lots of them: record covers, some band/musician photos, manifestos etc.) and the record list at the end of it (which is in English), it deals with noise from the second half of the 70s to the very early 90s.
Scum Culture deals with cultural topics of extreme nature. It's split into separate articles, each complete with very interesting pictures. From what I can tell, some of the topics are: Satanic metal music, SPK and Throbbing Gristle, strange & deformed humans, serial killers etc.
Being the collector that I am, I'm happy to have these books, but at the same time it's quite pointless as I can't read them and I don't know any Japanese who could translate for me. Getting a professional translator would be really expensive, so most likely I'll never know their content. It's quite frustrating...
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Post by andypandy380 on Nov 7, 2012 14:35:50 GMT -5
I'm interested to know he's written about Throbbing Gristle, I find their music fascinating, and what iv'e seen from documentaries online, the history of the band is perhaps even more surreal and other-worldy than their music. I think they released their own book i might have to check out... I'm a bit squeamish towards their previous performance art side of things though
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Post by trollh on Nov 7, 2012 22:10:36 GMT -5
Stucked at the first kid-steps: Anyone has the Merzbook in PDF or in other scans? Ive just found 1 -2 pages...
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Post by ashessehsa on Nov 7, 2012 23:25:07 GMT -5
PDFs would be pretty amazing, even if I couldn't read them.
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Post by whatjames on Nov 8, 2012 6:39:25 GMT -5
Wreckers of Civilisation is the name of the book, i read this while listening to the merzbox for the first time, it went very well together, remember coming accross a few akita books on ebay about 5 years ago, hind-site i should of grabbed them just to have in the hope of finding someone willing to translate them, just the topics could be a bit awkward I'm interested to know he's written about Throbbing Gristle, I find their music fascinating, and what iv'e seen from documentaries online, the history of the band is perhaps even more surreal and other-worldy than their music. I think they released their own book i might have to check out... I'm a bit squeamish towards their previous performance art side of things though
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Post by acsenger on Nov 9, 2012 0:09:38 GMT -5
You can buy a lot of his books on the Japanese Amazon. But yeah, even if you know a Japanese who could translate, the topics would be pretty awkward. Topics like porn or at least some form of eroticism, noise music or Satanic cults would probably not go down very well with the average person... I got my Japanese then roommate to translate a bit (although I didn't get much out of it since his English wasn't too good) and he must've thought I was a weirdo (and he was probably right too .
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Post by japanesebird on Nov 10, 2012 15:47:21 GMT -5
merz should just make his own english translations. his english doesn't seem too bad in the interviews i've read.
anyone read this - freakyjapan.com/2007/10/22/the-history-of-sm-in-japan.html ? is this a translation or something he wrote in english? because there's nothing wrong with the english in this article so i don't see why he couldn't translate his own books. it's fascinating anyway.
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Post by acsenger on Nov 10, 2012 17:13:46 GMT -5
The link to that article doesn't work for me, but is this a text taken from one of the Music for Bondage Performance CDs? If so, then it's a translation from Japanese done by someone else.
From what I've heard, Akita's English is not too good, and if you want to see his unedited (unlike the interviews on the net) writing, read the notes for each CD in the Merzbox in the Merzbook -- based on that, he could hardly do a good enough translation.
I heard when Noise War was published, Achim Wollscheid wanted to have it translated, but he gave it up due to the high translation fee.
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Post by japanesebird on Nov 21, 2012 16:36:26 GMT -5
the link works for me. but here is some copypasta. you'll miss the pictures just reading the text.
Masami Akita aka Merzbow wrote this great piece on Japanese S&M – read the whole essay! ***
S&M art has taken many forms in Japan and this relates directly to the history of Japan. One established genre of S&M is what is known as the Joshu or female prisoners stuff. When we say “female prisoners” or “Joshu” stuff, we generally refer to those picture of torture from the period between the battle of Onin (1467) throughout Sengoku and Edo periodes to Meiji. Sengoku period is noted for it’s cruel methods of torture, fire, knife (to cut of parts of the body), tattoo, rocks, boiling water, divining blocks and rocking horses, and so on and so on. The most brutal forms of execution and torture were employed during this period of hell on earth. The methods of torture and execution used against the christians were most barbaric. It should be noted, however, that there is nothing uncommon about brutal religous prosecutions throughout history. Elsewhere the believers of ‘wrong’ religions have been treated separately from the rest of the population. Christians in Japan had their ears, fingers and noses chopped off, which were originally punishments for those committed the crime of treachery and deceit. It was meant to give maximum public humiliation by physical deformation.
The Tokugawa government laid out in 1742 the foundation of crime laws, which spelled out seven different types of punishments. Death, Exile, Slavery, forced labor and so forth, as well as four kinds of torture.
- Whip (mutchiuchi). - Pressing stone (ishidaki). - Bend by rope (ebireme). - Hung by rope (isu zeme).
It has to be noted that all four official methods of torture from this period are still considered the mainstream torture patterns in the S&M art today. You could say the foundation of today’s S&M art was laid down then. The other interesting aspect of punishment in this period is public disgracing. Public disgracing of criminals and public execution was common before a Yamato dynasty was set up in Nara in 794. The execution of women was not open to the public then but became acceptable during Edo period. According to “History of Punishment in Japan” (Takigawa Masajiro), criminals were tied to a horse and dragged around the city with a note describing the crime, the author noted that women criminals aroused the perverted interests among the male on-lookers.
satna148 The History of S&M in JapanThe purpose of public disgracing was to deter ordinary folks from committing crimes by indicating the consequence, as well as to humiliate the criminals to the maximum. Women suffered more from public disgracing, which is a dominating theme behind today’s bondage art. Japanese society became more stable following the reign of Ietsuna and Tsunayoshi, fourth and fifth Tokugawa shoguns, and acts of punishment became more theatrical. At the height of Edo culture, depiction of punishment had become a genre and punishment became increasingly popular as a form of mass entertainment with a ting of agitation. The artistic characteristics of today’s S&M, especially Joshu stuff and bondage, stem significantly from this period. The actual act of torture and punishment is almost always carried out by the lower class officials. During the Edo period, when the social hierarchy was established, catching the criminals was the job assigned to the lower class officials such as Yoriki and Doshin. Meakashi and Okappiki who are frequently featured in today’s period novels were private detectives, official status being “merchants”, employed by Doshin. Binding up with rope was the art developed and maintained by Doshin, because different roping was required for people from a different class. Roping up wrongly would embarrass not just the criminals but also the officials.
The History of S&M in JapanSome roping techniques have only been handed down orally or were kept secret. Public humiliation and the authorities there is a element of public ridicule of authority in the S&M art, take an exemple of a pre-war picture which depicts the wife of the reactionary man being tortured and – raped by a police officer. One from the Edo period shows female prisoners shamed by a local constable. A more modern example shows a male department store attendant toying with the body of a school girl who was caught shoplifting. Another shows a female office worker getting raped by a station master who caught her fare cheating. In these pictures, the act of raping and torture is “justifiable” because their victims did wrong. You can say there is a tinge of sadism involved. The victims accept the crime and punishment, yet still tremble from the sheer humiliation. The social position of women in these pistures is so fragile that it amplifies the power balance between the aggressors and the tortured. The frailty, weakness and these characteristics of women are presented here many times multiplied. They arouse the sense of shame even more and stimulate the masochistic appetite. S&M art could attain this. Still, you coulsd not categorise all people who get excited by these pictures as sadists. They mite be excited by sympathising with tortured and rapedgirls in these pictures. In other words, they might feel satisfied with sharing the trembled of the body, an accelerating heart beat and wet crotch from the fear. This does not mean that they are all masochistic either. Indeed, this is where the fine line between S&M lies. The History of S&M in Japan S&M magazines during the Post war period.
“The only recognition I ever received, as a person who has studyied bondage since 1908, was the pervert tag” said Ito Seiu in a article published in Amatoria magazine in 1953. During his time, the word S&M was not even in the public usage – it was all swept under the carpet, and the purveyors were called perverts. When Ito wrote this, in the early fifties, it was at the time when post-war pulp magazines were transforming into more mass market oriented erotic journals. It was indeed in 1953 when one of those pulp magazines, Kitan Club, transformaed into an authentic “abnormal” magazine. Kitan Club, when launched in 1948, was an ero-thetic magazine aimed at the “normal” people. The transformation was sparked by series of bondage pictures by Kita Reiko – who is also known as Suma Toshiyuki, the magazine editor of Kitan Club and Uramado, and a novelist under the name of Minomura Ko. He claimed to be the “last disciple of bondage master, Ito Seiu”. “Yomikiri Romansu” was another magazine full of b-grade erotic novels with the format similar to then popular “Married Couples” magazine. The Romansu magazine had bondage photos and pictures by the editor, Ueda seishiro, who was influenced heavily by Ito Seiu. Ueda was a regular at photo sessions organised by Ito. Many bondage photos from these sessions ended up on the pages of fledging S&M magazines such as Kitan Club and Uramado. You could say, the spirit of Ito Seiu, the great roping master, is handed down to the present day via these magazines of the fifties. The Uramado magazine was launched in 1955, initially a magazine of period novels, it transformed into an S&M magazine around 1960 due largely to the effort of Lida Toyokaru, ex-editor of Kitan Club.
hardredbondage The History of S&M in JapanLida later became the major contributor, known as master roper Nureki Chimou, to the golden days of S&M magazines in the seventies and to the rise of S&M videos later. With all new directions and designs, Uramado proclaimed on the cover to be “the most extraordinary S&M magazine in the country”. The magazine nurtured talented photographers like Yoshida Kyu and Fujisawa Shu and artist, Nakagawa Ayako. The magazine also printed lots of photos and pictures imported from overseas via Phoenix Co. Morishita Takashige of Phoenix had contacts with many “maniacs” and “collectors” of the US West Coast, such as John Willy and Fakir Musafar, then the publisher of fancy, the world’s first modern primitive magazine. Incredibly, Musafar had already paid a visit to Japan and was introduced by Kanta Mori (Morishita) as an exponent of anomalous piercing mania, in Fuzoku Kiton magazine. Unfortunately Uramado crached in the mass suppression of similar publishers in the 60′s. The demise of Uramadosignalled the end of a golden era of “abnormal” magazines in the post-war period. Maybe it was not acceptable yet to proclaim S&M media openly, the second heyday of the S&M magazines arrived in the early 70′s through to the eighties, which spawned out titles like SM Collector, SM Select, SM Kitan, SM Mania, SM Fan, SM Sniper and SM King. Pornography and S&M The subtle differences existing in the S&M art, and the differences in various magazines, is hard to explain to a novice. To the eyes of many they all look the same: victimasation of women.
ks maji10721a The History of S&M in JapanThey are roughly two streams in the S&M art in Japan: ones depicting the dark aesthetics of S&M and the others, much lighter and more pornographic. One should remember it was only since Dan Oniroku wrote a novel “Flower and Snake” that the vagina became more prominent and vibes and enemas for anal penetration were added to the S&M art. So-called soft core S&M and S&M clubs today are the products of the second stream. It is obsessed with vagina, cunt and anus, women’s private parts which were not regarded important in the traditional S&M art, in this newand popular form, “S&M” is just foreplay, downgraded to a mere entree to the maim act of sexual intercourse. It is certainly not seen as pirsuit of aesthetics. There is nothing wrong with physical intercourse, but S&M art is not a part of it. Popularised S&M is not the real thing brcause it does not thrive in the pursuit of the art of torture……
The History of S&M in Japan ***
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Post by qweasd on Feb 10, 2013 3:17:51 GMT -5
Yeah Masami's English isn't very good. Though it's hard to know that as he is a VERY QUIET person in real life. The interviews you read in English are translated somewhere along the way, at least that happened with one I did with him.
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Post by japanesebird on Feb 15, 2013 13:08:34 GMT -5
Yeah Masami's English isn't very good. Though it's hard to know that as he is a VERY QUIET person in real life. The interviews you read in English are translated somewhere along the way, at least that happened with one I did with him. so you were in the presence of the merzbuddha? did you feel an unmistakable buddha presence in his silences? does he actively dislike his voice or is it the act of speaking and expressing himself vocally that he dislikes? obviously he is not against use of language as he's written many works in japanese. in the documentary from the 90s he speaks but seems reticent.
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Post by japanesebird on Feb 15, 2013 13:18:03 GMT -5
we need translations of these damn books. want to read them so bad.
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Post by whatjames on Feb 15, 2013 21:27:04 GMT -5
qweasd do you have a link to your interview?
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Post by qweasd on Feb 15, 2013 21:48:25 GMT -5
qweasd do you have a link to your interview? Sure: earshaveears.tumblr.com/post/22502491004Perhaps not many stumbled upon this brief interview. It was from May/June last year, prior to his 2 shows in Australia. (NB. Questions came from various people with different perspectives on/familiarity with Merzbow).
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Post by qweasd on Feb 15, 2013 23:59:28 GMT -5
so you were in the presence of the merzbuddha? did you feel an unmistakable buddha presence in his silences? does he actively dislike his voice or is it the act of speaking and expressing himself vocally that he dislikes? obviously he is not against use of language as he's written many works in japanese. in the documentary from the 90s he speaks but seems reticent. It's more just the act of speaking and expressing himself vocally that he doesn't engage in much in social situations. He is reticent and shy in a way that may seem a little strange by Western standards but isn't that unusual in a Japanese context. He's not an awkward teenager however, so I'm sure he does not actively dislike his own voice
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Post by japanesebird on Feb 16, 2013 0:49:50 GMT -5
so you were in the presence of the merzbuddha? did you feel an unmistakable buddha presence in his silences? does he actively dislike his voice or is it the act of speaking and expressing himself vocally that he dislikes? obviously he is not against use of language as he's written many works in japanese. in the documentary from the 90s he speaks but seems reticent. It's more just the act of speaking and expressing himself vocally that he doesn't engage in much in social situations. He is reticent and shy in a way that may seem a little strange by Western standards but isn't that unusual in a Japanese context. He's not an awkward teenager however, so I'm sure he does not actively dislike his own voice im pretty sure ive read that he dislikes his voice, so fuck your wink.
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Post by qweasd on Feb 16, 2013 1:14:12 GMT -5
Wow.. So sorry I forgot to ask him if he liked his own voice; that would've been a very suitable question to the "unmistakeable buddha..." I'm sure he's had time to get used to using it where he needs to.
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Post by acsenger on Feb 16, 2013 17:18:01 GMT -5
Interestingly, on the NorNoise DVD you don't hear his voice when he speaks. There are English subtitles but his voice has been deleted. Everyone else in this documentary is audible, so I assume it was Akita's request.
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Post by whatjames on Feb 16, 2013 19:05:16 GMT -5
thanks for this, been wondering what sort of programs he uses and this gives info on where to start, good to see your doing a radio show too qweasd do you have a link to your interview? Sure: earshaveears.tumblr.com/post/22502491004Perhaps not many stumbled upon this brief interview. It was from May/June last year, prior to his 2 shows in Australia. (NB. Questions came from various people with different perspectives on/familiarity with Merzbow).
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Post by qweasd on Feb 16, 2013 19:05:30 GMT -5
Interestingly, on the NorNoise DVD you don't hear his voice when he speaks. There are English subtitles but his voice has been deleted. Everyone else in this documentary is audible, so I assume it was Akita's request. Hmmm... interesting... I"ll have to check that out.
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Post by Bucketfel on Feb 16, 2013 22:52:49 GMT -5
i saw that DVD just to hear Masami speak and left dissapointed but still funny that out of all people it would be him the one we cant hear. There is a dichotomy in there somewhere.
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Post by qweasd on Feb 16, 2013 23:02:18 GMT -5
thanks for this, been wondering what sort of programs he uses and this gives info on where to start, good to see your doing a radio show too No worries... some of the answers from Masami weren't bad. There are better and worse reviews out there (he tends not to reveal toooo much in any of them). Not my radio show, just to be clear and without revealing too much else, I just facilitated the interview and contributed questions. The interview was for the radio show and therefore took a more general approach re: the questions asked (whereas my interest is more specifically about creative decisions relating to the music itself). For more info on the gear used, check out the liner notes on the Turmeric release. Mentions some software and origins of sound sources. Won't tell you any real secrets, but that's a notable release for actually listing things other than 'MA: computer'.
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Post by qweasd on Feb 16, 2013 23:02:42 GMT -5
interviews* (not reviews)
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