Post pictures of your Merzbow collection

[diablocountach5]

Tentacle has a normal booklet, its not shiny or anything. The one without the cover is Merzbow / John Watermann ‎– Brisbane-Tokyo Interlace, the cover is to the left of it I just took it out of the packaging and put it in a jewel case, it looks like the packaging would possibly scratch the cd if I kept it in there.

[acsenger]

I really like the artwork of Tentacle -- I think all Merzbow releases on Alchemy Records look great/beautiful. The designer for, as far as I know, almost all Alchemy CDs was Masahiko Ohno who clearly knew his stuff and whose project, by the way, is Solmania. Anyone know him? He was part of the "classic" wave of Japanese noise (although he started in the mid-80s), although a bit less well-known, probably due to the small number of his releases.

[andypandy380]

There's currently a fella on the UK ebay selling a ton of Merzbow stuff, a lot of it is really very expensive (Vibractance for £150?)
I just thought it may be of interest as he has a copy of the incredibly rare 'Paradise Pachinko' CDr among other things. As I said, Very expensive, but open to offers. I managed to knock off quite a chunk for a few of his less expensive items, so you never know...

ascenger - I've not heard of Masahiko Ohno before, although now you mention it I'd agree that all the Alchemy records releases are pretty nice. Never really occurred to me before but they do all have a certain graphic style to them. I'll check out Solmania at some point

[neokorosu]

Wow, all of you have got so awesome collections!
I've started collecting in August 2012, so my collection is small compared to others. As you can see, I have sorted my CDs in chronological order and all albums in paper sleeves are protected by PE sleeves. In the next time I want to expand my collection with more albums from the 90s and to complete the 13 Japanese Birds series.

[andypandy380]

Had a bit of a binge on ebay/discogs last month...
Samidara finally arrived. People were beginning to kick off on the Placenta Recordings Facebook page, but whatever... That's the end of that chapter. It came with a handful of freebies, one of which was the cassette version of the album which I'm pretty chuffed about
Psychorazer came from the guy on Ebay who was trying to sell Vibractance for £150, strangely enough he sold me Psychorazer for £20...
I got the Magnesia Nova and Antimonument from a Japanese online record store, pretty cheap too.
I don't know if it's silly that I didn't want to open the sealed bag Black Bone Part 5 comes in. I ended up downloading it, and it's quite a blast.
Very Impressed with both Aqua Necromancer and Tentacle, both good albums. Aqua Necromancer has an unusual way with samples that I wasn't expecting, but it's pretty clever in the way it uses them.

[acsenger]

Some nice finds there, andypandy380! I wouldn't have thought you could still buy Antimonument and Magnesia Nova from a shop, let alone for a good price!
But the biggest surprise of all may be the arrival of Samidara! ;D

[diablocountach5]

Recent additions:






The Merzbow- Duo was a christmas gift, the Arbeit / Beauchamp / Palumbo – Torino 012010 and Marc Hurtado / Vomir - 2011 cds were free bonuses thrown in by Tourette records which is awesome, who doesn't love free bonuses, they look pretty interesting too. The Merzmorphosis and Merzphysics sets were from Indiemerch's sale, I opened them but on the top to keep them in the shrink wrap. Also got Antimonument from a Japanese seller and it is a bit scratched on the top, probably from the packaging although the case and booklet look mint, and Age of 369/ Chant 2.

[andypandy380]

That lot ought to keep you going for a while! 35 hours or so...
I also got the same free CDs when I bought my copy of DUO, although I admit I'm yet to listen to either of them.
I'm very very impressed with Merzmorphosis, I also got it from indiemerch. Managed to listen through 8 of the discs over Christmas, it's a remarkable piece of work.

[andypandy380]

More Merzbow junk

I've already given Merzmorphosis a whole lot of praise on here, but I really am genuinely impressed with it. Probably one of the best purchases for a long time. It's a collection of outtakes but really does sound like one cohesive Goliath-sized album. Remarkable set.

I'd been looking forward to getting the two Hospital Hill live albums for a long time. Don't like to say I'm disappointed after the wait, both are good, but I don't think they stand out from the crowd a great deal. I certainly wouldn't agree with reviews I've seen calling Kookaburra Merzbow's best work in years.
It's probably a really petty little thing, and I don't even know why it bothers me at all, but parts of Kookaburra almost feel... 'too obvious?' in terms of what sound source things come from. Much of the album is made of long passages of analogue scree, when the bubbly chirpy digital parts come in, (although they are cool sounds) it's obvious that they have been sequenced with the laptop, and then synthesizers come in later. You can probably tell that I'm having trouble explaining it, but something doesn't sit right, and it's not something that has ever occurred to me before with a Merzbow album. I don't know... it's just there nagging me When the synthesizer comes in it does give the album a bit of a shove in the right direction that I feel it needed a bit.
Cat's squirrel isn't bad, I like the album a whole lot more once it begins to strip back a bit with some really interesting tones and timbres. It's a bit odd the way it comes to an abrupt end just as I feel like I'm sinking into it and enjoying it.
Both are nicely presented in their book style cases, appealing from a nerdy graphic design point of view.

I've owned the slimline case version of Metamorphism for a long while, but always told myself that I'd get the real thing if it ever presented itself at a reasonable price... and a rather nice deal did come my way on Discogs It never became a favourite of mine upon first hearing it, but since listening to it another handful of times I've really warmed to it. Some of the sounds are pretty bizarre and I'd even go as far as to say there's a sense of humour in the way they seem to interrupt each other. (as if releasing a CD packaged in solid marble isn't enough of a joke )

I only got Rainbow Electronics today, so have only had a quick flick through it, but first impressions are very good indeed. It must be one of the earliest examples of Akita experimenting with the harsher side of things he became known for.

There was a battered up copy of Mercurated on Ebay for a long while, in the end it was auctioned off at a drastically reduced price so I went for it. I never thought I'd own a copy of it so getting my hands on it is still quite a nice feeling despite my copy being a bit scuffed of the surface. Musically it's very harsh, like much of the albums from the same period. This one is more choppy and pummeling, feels quite calculated and deliberate in it's ear-battering, constantly chopping and changing. I like the album, but my god getting through it is challenging!

Neither of the Balazs Pandi albums have done much to impress me. Of course, they have their moments and I do enjoy some things about them. Although I thought Cuts was an alright album, Pandi's drums aren't really to my taste on either of these CDs. The way they have been recorded seems to bury them underneath Akita's electronics, sounding sort of messy and subdued. I'd probably get a lot of flack for saying so, but I was almost calling out for a handful of syncopated beats or some 'rocky' drumming to make an appearance and hold it together or something. The freestyle stuff just wasn't doing it for me on this occasion. Katowice has some highlights where Akita unleashes some loud an downright evil sounding synthesizer parts. The packaging is weird, just a folded piece of shiny card with a CD spindle glued to it.

I listened to Synth Destruction last night. At first I felt it didn't stand out a great deal, almost too typical of a Merzbow sound. It does get a lot better as it progresses though, breaks into pure, rapid bubbly synthesizer noise, started liking it a lot.

Sun Baked Snow Cave kind of annoyed me at first, very minimal and it seems to take an absolute age to get going. Once that unearthly bass noise creeps its way in though, it's pretty damn infectious!
Haven't listened to all of Rock Dream yet. I think I enjoy it more as a fan of Boris than Merzbow. I saw Boris perform just over a year ago, and all the enjoyment from that show comes flooding back upon hearing this. It sounds just how a live album should sound, I'm a firm believer in live albums sounding as if your in the front row, all sweaty and gasping for air. (the Melvins album 'Live At The Fucker Club' is the perfect example of that) There is nothing worse than live albums that sound more compressed and weaker than their studio counterparts. Some of the more high energy rock tracks sound fantastic. However the drummer's constant "WOOOO, YEAH!, COME ON!!" gets tiresome a little quickly, sounds like a crazed fitness instructor or something. I thought he was quite an odd character when I saw them, like a Japanese David Lee Roth, constantly fidgeting and adjusting his hair and eyeliner.

The 7" is the RRR 100 compilation. It's very very odd, doesn't play like a record ordinarily would, but contains 100 locked grooves each with a different artist contributing a brief sample which repeats. You sit and manually skip between each groove. Doing so can be pretty amusing, going from a hellish drone, to a zany saxophone solo, to some minimal techno, to a bizarre spoken word sample "I've nailed one of his feet to the floor!"
Quite a fun little record. One of the tracks is credited to Merzbow/Potter. I haven't figured out which one yet, but I don't think it's one of the typical harsh noise sounding ones, surprisingly.

I also got a copy of the very first Agoraphobic Nosebleed 7". There is a thanks list on the back which says 'thanks and/or hello to ... Masami (Merzbow). I'm not sure what the connection was between the two of them that early on, unless he was just a massive inspiration musically speaking.

Didn't intend to write an essay... hope that wasn't too 'TLDR'

[neokorosu]

It is interesting what you wrote about "Sun baked snow cave"
I own only one Boris with Merzbow album, it is "megatone". And I noticed there a similar feeling like in your report.
It is also in "megatone", it takes so long to get started. But this is the reason why I like this album. The prologue is extrem long, but later in the end of the album, you can hear Merzbow's outbreak. I know nothing about Boris, but I find this collaboration quite interesting.
Someday I will buy "Rock dream", I have this album since a while on my mind.

And about writing essays: When you're in the right forum, it is hard to get TLDR

[acsenger]

Nice new acquisitions there, andypandy380!

Regarding Rainbow Electronics, I believe it was his second CD ever after Cloud Cock 00 Grand which is regarded (by Akita too according to his notes in the Merzbox) as his turning point towards his really harsh style. I wonder how big this change really was? I still haven't got to 1989 and 1990 in the Merzbox but I'm looking forward to hearing just how big a difference there is between whatever is right before his first CD and his first CD.

Regarding Agoraphobic Nosebleed, you probably know there's a remix CD where Merzbow is featured. Of course, it's from much later than their first 7". I have (amongst other things) this complilation: www.discogs.com/Agoraphobic-Nosebleed-Bestial-Machinery-ANb-Discography-Vol-1/master/113908 which has all their early material. It's a lot of fun . I think my favourite by them though will always be Honky Reduction.

[andypandy380]

I'd like to get a Merzbox someday, I very nearly did once, but I admit I was a bit of a whimp and decided against it (I still live with my parents who would be incredibly nosey if an enormous rubber box full of CDs and fetish/bondage pics arrived in the post haha) I think I'd learn a great deal from it though. I'm still somewhat unfamiliar with most things pre-1990, other than some that had a CD re-release. As A big fan of Nurse With Wound, what I have heard of the early Merzbow draws a few parallels with what Stapleton was doing in the 80s, but that may not be accurate on a large scale.

Yeah I have both of those. The Bestial Machinery compilation especially is fantastic, I'm slowly working my way through trying to collect the singles for real, some of them are really very difficult to find. Some of the later ones that don't appear on that CD, 'A Clockwork Sodom' and the split with Kill The Client are absolutely remarkable!
I never listened to 'Honkey Reduction' a great deal, maybe I should. If I picked a favourite it would probably be 'Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope' (what a name)
It's a real shame their output is a little slow these days. As far as I understand, Scott is busy touring with Pig Destroyer, They have a bass player now...

[andypandy380]

Managed to track down some real gems recently. I know it seems like all I do is spend money on Merzbow stuff at the moment... had to do a whole lot of haggling and making best offers to keep prices down. In all honesty I was surprised that a lot of my offers were accepted, some of them were literally £35 lower than what they were originally listed for! So pretty chuffed, cos honestly a few of these I thought I'd never own.

- Noizhead - Always had my eye on this, not entirely sure why as I had never listened to it before buying this copy, but I actually really like it... It's a live recording and has a lo-fi sound to it, almost like a bootleg, sounds quite distant. I can only assume the actual gig was deafeningly loud and intense, but the way this album sounds is almost relaxing, sort of washes over you. It's quite enjoyable.

- Noisembryo - Really very good indeed! Lots of chopping about, quite a lot of variety... upon first listening it reminded me a little of Green Wheels, I think there are some vocals in there... all very twisted. The one thing that stuck out to me was the use of stereo panning (if that's the term i'm looking for) ... drastically cutting and chopping between the left and right channels. If physical copies of this thing weren't as rare as hens teeth, I'd suggest every Merzbow fan ought to own a copy. It's a real gem.

- Paradise Pachinko - Signed CDr limited to 70 copies, a custom jewel case with metal plates stuck to it, quite unusual. Contains two long tracks of 'Untitled Raw Material' which, like the recent box sets, is surprisingly listenable and of very good quality. Starts out with a lot of scraping/squeaking... and I think there are some synthesizers in there. I got this as part of a job lot from the Korm Plastics webshop... (I later realized I was dealing directly with the fella out of Merzbow collaborators 'Kapotte Muziek')

- Cloud Cock 00 Grand - First ever Merzbow CD, definitely the moment where 'choppy/sampling Merzbow' had started to become 'deafening wall of noise Merzbow' Akita himself states that this was a big turning point for him. The album is quite distinctive in the way it sounds, I've only given it a handful of quick listens so far, but I think it's gonna be an album I'll grow to enjoy a whole lot. It comes in a slipcase and the plastic CD case has some printing/stenciling on it, a little odd.

- Offering - Somehow, I took an instant dislike to this album, and it's quite rare that I feel that way about this sort of thing... yes, there are times where I'm alienated by this sort of music, but I don't think I've ever known I don't like a noise album from the word go. Upon the first listen I thought everything was very 'mid range', no extremes one way or the other. Perhaps I'll come back to it in a couple of months time and instantly fall in love with it... there's something offputting about this album, and I can't quite put my finger on it.

- Merzbox Sampler, pretty self explanatory. Only listened to the first handful of tracks so far. They are very obviously from a different Merzbow era that I'm used to, but that's not a bad thing by any means! Feels refreshing to discover this side of Merzbow. On the whole, A lot more percussive/loopy, there's a humour and playfulness to some of these... you can just picture a younger Akita with all sorts of tape players and gadgets strewn across the floor going "I wonder what happens if I do this?"

- Vibractance - I'd been keen to get hold of this one for a long time, it sticks out like a sore thumb among the huge number of Merzbow albums. I listened to it when I was first discovering Akita's music and didn't really form an opinion of it at the time. Since then, I've heard some mixed reviews, but upon listening to it recently, I was genuinely amazed at how good it is! Honestly. It's very different, stripped back, The track names do a good job of indicating what kind of sounds are contained within this album (Vibrating Sand, Sonar, Flame, Wind/Reactance) Love it or hate it, I think it's one of Akita's most accomplished and realized works. It's wildly different, but it all seems to make perfect sense.

- Rectal Anarchy (With Gore Beyond Necropsy) - I actually really like this album, a lot. In a way it feels like I ought to hate it... I've listened to a bit of Gore Beyond Necropsy, and although I'd consider myself a fan of grindcore, those guys are the sort of grindcore I know I don't like a great deal. Unsurprisingly, the album is quite relentless and just all up in your face! Vocals are something that rarely appear in Merzbows work. The collaboration with Genesis P-Orridge has become a bit of a favourite of mine because the vocals turn it into quite a different animal, and the same applies here. Demonic roaring and howling, it's terrifying but a whole lot of good fun at the same time. I suppose some would dismiss this album as being ridiculous, but I think an album THIS ridiculous can only be applauded

- Tint - Very very brief, but it's good nonetheless. A whole lot of the time I'm a fan of the 'little and often' and 'cool things come in small packages'... that sort of thing. I'm more often than not, amazed by Merzbow singles, cramming the same quality into a 3 minute space. The only thing I will say, is that I wish it was accompanied by some nice colourful artwork.

- Hard Lovin' Man - I was pleasantly surprised by this, in all truth. Just a whole lot of nice timbres and tones. Apparenly it's a deconstruction of a Deep Purple song of the same name, I'll admit I'm unfamiliar with that particular one... I'll have to come back and listen to it. Never heard anyone give this album a whole lot of praise (I recall hearing people saying it was hardly worthy of being called a Merzbow album) but I went for a long walk with this in the headphones (as I often do) and very much enjoyed it!

- Oersted - Perhaps one of the definitive Merzbow albums of harsher 90's era? I keep listening to this album on and off, and at the moment it's in a weird sort of limbo. Some of the sounds on this album feel unlike anything, really bizarre and individual, but at the same time I don't feel like I'm giving it my full attention ...find myself losing interest, but I don't know why because I know some of the work on here is of an incredibly high standard among Merzbow albums. I think it'll be one that 'clicks' and becomes a favourite.



... Metalvelodrome is still that elusive piece of eye candy. One day... one day I'll get my grubby hands on it.

[acsenger]

Nice new items, andypandy380! Interestingly, the 2 or so times I've listened to Noisembryo so far, I was a little disappointed in that I didn't feel it was up to the level of Venereology or Pulse Demon. Venereology might be the best comparison in my eyes because they were recorded almost at the same time and both are iconic of the most extreme era of Merzbow. I happen to really like Venereology, I think you can hear that a lot of effort was put into it (I guess not the least because it was gonna be on a metal label, thereby potentially reaching a new audience), and after that album, Noisembryo kinda felt structureless. I know this almost amounts to blasphemy given the cult status of Noisembryo, so I might just blast it again today (no one will be at home, thankfully).
I'd like to hear Hard Lovin' Man as I know the Deep Purple song and used to really like it. From memory it's on their In Rock album which I was a fan of when I was still into 70s hard rock. However, a good while ago I just stopped listening to this kind of music -- it somehow lost its appeal due to its simple rock structures.
Yesterday I ordered some Merzbow stuff so when I get them, I'll post pictures of them along with my recent acquisitions.
By the way, Metalvelodrome has for me the best packaging ever: the pictures, the design -- it all comes together to express something primal about Merzbow that I think none of his other releases have surpassed. And the music ain't bad either .

[andypandy380]

Cool I'd be interested in seeing those pictures once you receive the stuff!
It's been a little while since I've listened to Venereology. 'Slave New Desart' was always a standout track, I remember liking the others while thinking they were seriously harsh on the ears. I think there are probably other albums from the same era which I prefer though, personally. Maybe Magnesia Nova and Green Wheels. I'm quite a forgetful person in general, and a lot of those 90s albums blur together until I sit down and rediscover them, and more often than not I'm blown away from the variety of sounds I forgot about, or didn't pick up on the first time round. I did that with Electric Salad the other day, lots of cool stuff in that one.
I think perhaps I'll listen to Venereology in the next couple of days...

I just gave Deep Purple's 'Hard Lovin Man' a listen, quite liked it, surprisingly, cos classic rock isn't really my thing a whole lot of the time. It has that Iron Maiden style gallop about it, and I like those dissonant keyboard parts... the lead guitar parts did very little for me though, but it's rare that sort of thing does (I'm more of a sucker for a heavy riff) The very first moments of the song are recognizable from the Merzbow album, the guitar noise/feedback is stretched out for a sort of ambience, and the pick scrape is looped into a rhythmic passage. I assume much of the rest of the song is manipulated, but it wasn't instantly recognizable.
Id be interested to hear Merzbow attempt a similar project again, using an entire album as source material. I understand Akita is an avid listener of some of the more modern death metal bands, would be interesting to hear that given the Merzbow treatment.

[acsenger]

I listened to Noisembryo yesterday and now it totally clicked. While being harsh, it could almost be called playful in that there's lots of stereo panning and interesting electronic sounds.
Yeah, I remember liking Electric Salad too, it has a lot of concrete music-style elements which make for a varied listen.
I think I've read that one of the Merzbow albums has a track which is based on a song from King Crimson's Islands album. I think it's Dharma. I'm not very familiar with that album, so I don't know if there are recognisable parts.
I just remembered there's a Merzbow track on a compilation called Morbid Angelfish that I should try to track down on Youtube or somewhere. I guess it's based on music by Morbid Angel... Funny song title in any case .

[acsenger]

The top left LP and the red 7" are the Merzbow/M.B. collaboration; the picture LP (in a protective sleeve, so it might look a bit strange) is Tamayodo. I'm pretty happy I managed to get hold of the 7" EPs: the one with "Scum" on the cover is a bootleg EP from 1992, I think, called Steel Cum. The 7" that says "Merzbow" is a split with Black Leather Jesus. The one with the dildos, distortion pedal etc. on it is Merzbow's side of a triple 7" compilation called Disco Mortem (the other artists being The Grey Wolves, No Festival of Light, Macronympha, Hands To and C.C.C.C.). The green bag holds the 3 EPs. The CD is by MAZK and the tape is Gman // HJYUGTF2.
I have to say I haven't heard about half of these yet, but I'll get around to them slowly.

[andypandy380]

Nice stuff
I'd quite like to hear those three LPs, They're recent ones I've missed out on simply because I've not found them at a price I'd be willing to pay (Overseas shipping costs being a bit of a pain)
Those 7" singles are nice too! I gave the split with Black Leather Jesus a listen on Youtube a little while back and thought it was quite good, not that I remember much about it other than I the fact I liked it. I know almost nothing about Black Leather Jesus/Richard Ramirez other than he's incredibly prolific and releases stuff left right and centre under various names.
The Gman tape surprised me, It's got a real variety of styles and sounds.
I'm largely unfamiliar with a lot of Akita's work with bands and under other names. What kind of music/style is that Abe Sada 7" and is it any good? That's some pretty striking cover art! haha

[acsenger]

Yeah, overseas shipping especially on LPs is nuts. There's quite a lot of stuff I miss out on because of it.
I'm the same with regards to Ramirez/BLJ: other than knowing he's got a million releases under heaps of different names, I don't think I've ever heard anything by him.
The Abe Sada 7" is one of those releases I haven't heard yet . I'll write a review about it once I've listened to it (I'll do the same with the M.B. collab). Abe Sada, by the way, was a Japanese woman with a not so average claim to fame/notoriety: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_Sada. I guess this explains the cover . By the way, I have no idea who the other half of Abe Sada besides Akita is; Discogs has some info but I'm still in the dark. Once I read it's Jarboe, but somehow I think if it was her, it would be known to at least an extent that she's worked with Merzbow (even if only on an obscure 7").

[andypandy380]

Been keeping my eyes peeled again... found some LPs and stuff at surprisingly good(ish) prices. Not the clearest of photos, sorry.

- Merzbox
- Continuum (with Kapotte Muziek)
- Live At 2000V 30 Sep 1995
- Freak Hallucinations (Split with Actuary)
- Hannover Interruption
- Uzu Me Ku
- Tamayodo
- Neo Orgasm
- Happenings 1000 Years Time Ago
- Somei
- Mort Aux Vaches: Locomotive Breath
- The Ten Foot Square Hut (With The New Blockaders)
- Live At Henie Onstad Art Centre
- MAZK (Collaboration between Masami Akita and Zbigniev Karkowski)
- Pusle Chicken T-Shirt

I'll keep it short this time since there are a few here I've not given a huge amount of listening time yet... I only got Uzu Me Ku and Freak Hallucinations in the post today.
I will say though, that first impressions of Hannover interruption are very very good indeed, It's quite a blast.
MAZK was a real pleasant surprise, had no idea what to expect and it's slowly becoming a bit of a favourite. Crystal clear sound quality/production and a lot of variation with some of the most bizarre sound I think I've heard ever.
Somei has an overall grainy/swampy sound about it which sometimes isn't the most satisfying of listens. It's primarily drum based but is a slight departure from 13 Japanese Birds etc in that there are a lot of 'actual beats' and changes of tempo, especially in the shorter final track which I've actually grown to like quite a lot.
The T-shirt is one of those from the Indiemerch store, I like it a lot, it's already beginning to fade though from where I've worn it so much
And I'm now a proud owner of the absolute beast that is the Merzbox. It's missing the T-shirt but everything else is there and in pretty good nick. Still roughy halfway through the 50 CDs, so far there have been a few gems but for the most part I've found it quite heavy-going. I think maybe I've become so familiar with the harsh noise that this is a completely new and alien territory that is occasionally a little hard to digest. It's a great set though, The book is pretty interesting and I'm looking forward to getting round to hearing the rest of it.

[neokorosu]

Very, very nice! Uzu me ku is a masterpiece! The music and the albumcover are incredible. Too bad that I don't own a physical copy of this one (yet ) I am also thinking about to buy the Pulse Chicken T-Shirt, altough I already own the Lop Lop and Merzbird T-Shirts, which by the way have a much better quality than my casual T-Shirts.

[voidsingularity]

My relatively small collection. Consists almost entirely of 90's works, and one or two post 2000 releases. The Merzphysics and Merzmorphosis sets are the most recent addtions; my current wishlist is getting the boxsets. I'm now saving for a Merzbox! (and after that Merzbient and Duo I hope)

[acsenger]

Nice! I'd like to have the Great American Nude CD -- I wish I could find it for an affordable price!
Andypandy380, nice additions too -- I'd love to have the Hannover Interruption LP, but since it's partly included in the Merzbox, I've given up on it (of course, never say never .
These days, I can't get rid of the thought of getting some rare Merzbow stuff like Project Frequency... Of course, they'd cost a lot, but I hope I'll be able to put up a surprise picture here in the not too distant future .

[neokorosu]

My recent acquisitions:



Fun fact: Eucalypse, an album about an ecological issue, comes in a quite wasteful packaging

[andypandy380]

Nice stuff. I remember puroland being quite an uncharacteristic and unusual album for merzbow, must give that another listen.
Always thought turmeric was pretty good. Id love to see some more releases of a similar vain, cohesive 3 or 4 CD albums, quite few came out around much the same time.
Eucalypse is a pretty strong album, musically I think its great. Its a bit of a boring/nerdy question... but what is the packaging like on your copy? My one has a really ill fitting lid with a gap between it and its near impossible to remove the disc and postcard things without damaging them

[neokorosu]

I have listened to all albums so far and I'm very satisfied with them. Beside the musical quality, I also like the design of turmeric. These colored discs and the clean white paper box look very beautiful. Even the concept of the track titles appeals to me: Black Flesh, Black Bone, Deaf Composition and Black Blood.

Good that you are asking about Eucalypse, my copy is also not in the best shape. The lid on my copy has uneven gaps, but it doesn't affect the closing mechanism in any way. My problem is another: It seems that the indentation of the case is quite too small. It is quite tricky to get the CD and the cards out, without damaging them. Perhaps only one millimeter more and it would fit in perfectly.

I have photographed my copy to show you the uneven gaps:

[acsenger]

I finally have one of the "holy grails": Project Frequency. I'll probably write a review of it shortly.
The tapes are Collection 4, Collection 5 and Normal Music.

Except for Project Frequency which was, of course, very expensive, I bought everything else surprisingly cheap. Endless looking at Ebay and tagging stuff on Discogs eventually does pay off every so often.

[andypandy380]

Niiiiice man!
Not seen that other LP before, is it a split or a collaboration?
I'd love to hear what you think of Project frequency! I've no idea what it sounds like but have found the copies on discogs pretty tempting.
Speaking of expensive Merzbow things, I ended up buying one of those limited Merzbow/MB 7" singles as they've started selling them off half price, still a crazy price relatively speaking for one 7", but every now and again you just have to think "ah sod it... why not!"

[acsenger]

The record with the green cover is Merzbow and Lasse Marhaug remixing (each on a side) Asterisk* material. So it's a split between Merzbow and Marhaug, but they both rework Asterisk*.

Yeah, I was like that with Project Frequency -- it helped that the morning I bought it I went to the airport by taxi and it cost me the same amount of money. I thought to myself: I paid the same amount of money for a trip that took me about half an hour and was just about moving from point A to point B that I would pay for a rare record that I could enjoy for the rest of my life, so why not? It's not gonna become a habit of mine to spend so much on a single release, but there are a few items I can see myself spending quite a lot on in the future (at the moment probably less than 5).

By the way, wouldn't it have been worth buying the Merzbow/M.B. LP with the 7" rather than just the 7"? Or it would still have been considerably more expensive?

[andypandy380]

ah cool, that sounds interesting. I quite like little projects like that, there are some cool split singles between bands covering/remixing each others songs, groups collaborating around a central idea and so forth.

Yeah, I had a similar thing when I went though a huge phase of collecting old Sega Games. I used to complain about some of the prices of the rarer items knowing that I spent my childhood buying games dirt cheap at bootfairs with my pocket money, but then it occurred to me that I didn't think twice about spending much the same amount of money on a round of drinks when I went down the pub! So it kind of seemed to make sense that spending a little cash on a collectible I could keep hold of wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Yes, it probably would have made quite a lot more sense to try get hold of the LP. I think, postage costs included, the LP+7" would cost roughly the same as what I paid for the single alone. However, I'm not much of a collector of LPs compared to 7" singles so the single with the signed cover felt more like something I'd enjoy owning as part of a collection, also since it's limited to sixty something copies it seemed like it might be worthwhile getting one while I still could (not that the label have even managed to flog those sixty copies!) but yeah, I dunno, its kind of a weird one... I get these impulse purchases every now and again, feel a bit bad about spending the cash as I'm doing it, but it's very rare that I'll regret it in the long run