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Post by roorookangaroo on Oct 2, 2012 2:36:03 GMT -5
What's the feeling among members about Merz releases featuring drums? I'm kinda cool with them myself; I went to the Sydney gig back in May and heard mutterings outside along the lines of 'I hope he's left the drum kit at home' ... they seemed indicative of a deep conservatism within certain segments of the <ahem> 'noise community' ... Any thoughts?
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Post by Bucketfel on Oct 2, 2012 12:17:22 GMT -5
I had no idea there was any kind of problem with the drums. I guess it makes sense that people clasify Merzbow's music in the real of computer generated sounds and that a drum kit does not fit the pattern but i guess i just embrace whatever comes up regardless of what instruments are played. As long as its engaging to me, ill listen.
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Post by ashessehsa on Oct 3, 2012 11:31:08 GMT -5
I actually can't get into a lot of his drum works. I dunno, I've liked some of them in the past, but they aren't really my thing. I can say I'd rather see the stuff with drums live than listen to it home, although I admittedly would prefer seeing Merzbow sans drums live myself.
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Post by andypandy380 on Oct 5, 2012 18:45:44 GMT -5
i started off with the 13 japanese birds series and i really liked them at the time, however since listening to a large amount of his other works i definitely prefer them without. many of the drum albums seem very monotonous to me, i do like drums if used sparingly, they work very well in ZaRa and a few others i cant think of off the top of my head, but... Anicca, i just don't like that album because of the constant "baddaabaddabumbadummbumbaddaa" its just drumming, if it was manipulated in such a fashion like the rest of his music it could be cool, but a lot of the time almost like listening to two entirely different works sandwiched together
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Post by ashessehsa on Oct 6, 2012 10:48:57 GMT -5
I totally agree. At times they almost feel like an afterthought (although they're probably not). And yes, they don't really work with the rest of the composition so much.
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Post by venereologist on Oct 13, 2012 12:53:46 GMT -5
Overall, I'm not too crazy about the sort of looped electronic beat sound he's used on albums like Merzbeat, but I really enjoy the way he uses "Jazzy", multi-tracked drum recordings (thinking of tracks 1 and 3 from Don't Steal My Coat in particular).
The rhythmic electronic beat of albums like Merzbeat just starts to become very monotonous to me... The album starts out good (Promotion Man is an undeniably abstract-but-funky head-bobber), but I usually lose interest and completely tune out halfway through that album when the incessant rhythms go on for too long... it's not the sort of album that's harsh enough to be really engaging/demanding or "mellow" enough to "trance out" with. As a result, it ends up just being sort of tedious background noise.
At the end of the day, it's got nothing to do with some idea of "noise purity" or any other kind of lame posturing, I just don't find all the beat-centric rhythmic stuff as appealing sonically.
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Post by japanesebird on Nov 6, 2012 16:34:27 GMT -5
i love his drumming style, especially on Anicca, Hodosan, Jap Birds 1 & 2. it is very influenced by the drummer of the Cecil Taylor Unit. Listen to this album - www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxvvHQjDk9A&feature=share&list=PLEBC16C0D8C8D4129 masami akita saw them live in tokyo in 1973 and i think this is probably the show he saw. it's awesome to listen to it knowing a young merzbow was in attendance being blown away. his drumming style is like a more intense and unrelenting version of Cecil Taylor Unit's drummer's style. i also love balasz pandi's drumming on "live at fluc wanne, vienna 2010-05-08". i think that is an excellent album, i love listening to it around sunset as the night begins.
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Post by qweasd on Feb 10, 2013 3:43:32 GMT -5
I felt seriously disappointed when the drum albums starting coming out one after the other and ended up skimming over them. I found them to have less detailed thought regarding the microstructure and moment-to-moment considerations, more broad brushstroke, less 'refined', more 'set and forget'.
But I find it interesting to compare from album to album and from era to era (or even year to year etc) how certain albums exhibit more or less of such moment-to-moment considerations. Ultimately I think it's an element that waxes and wanes and has probably created the most surprise across albums/eras for me. EG> when feedback returned with Turmeric and FID that hadn't been used in that way for some years. That required more space in his tracks and therefore loops where less important in the texture - things felt unhinged again. Then he resumed more control with albums like Merzbear and Coma Berenices etc. Then the drums came as another surprise of rhythmic-unhingedness. Yet then definite beats returned in some of the drum recordings of course.
In hindsight, I really do enjoy albums like Arijigoku and Hodosan (aside from the last track which adds little of interest to the Turmeric track it uses) as they show a less controlled and more improvisatory side to recent Merzbow. They show another approach to structuring time in the vast catalog of albums which is probably ultimately a good thing, even though they will never be among my favourite Merzbow albums.
Some of the loop album felt soooo crude back in the day. I'm thinking of certain tracks in particular. Parts of Puroland say. Some of Amlux which I really never enjoyed much at all. (That's one VERY overrated album in my opinion and the best part of it track 2 was done in better ways on other albums, Sha Mo 3000 being one shining example). But then again, SCSI Duck, which is loop city, is an ESSENTIAL album I think.
Loops of material and torrents of improvisatory sound. That is the Merzbow recipe with certain moments privileging more of one than the other.
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Post by madein on Jun 5, 2013 19:45:35 GMT -5
In my opinion, the drum works are one of the best things he made. My first merzbow album, annica, has just sucked me in to the merzbow cosmos with this intense drumming. I also like the 13 japanese birds series. Each album is following a very similar precept, but on the same time there are some tracks which go a very different way, for example on Yurikamome (Pt.3) the last track ''the angel of the odd'', is showing really clear lines.
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