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Post by acsenger on Aug 13, 2016 0:39:56 GMT -5
Couldn't find a thread for this, although I'm sure it has been discussed before: live albums/recordings by Merzbow. I think the quality of them varies a lot. Just now I listened to Live in Geneva, recorded in 2005, and it's great! Quite a lot of variation, which is what I miss in the lesser live recordings. This one samples Pulse Demon, Rattus Rattus and Space Metalizer, and I always like it when I recognise samples of other albums, especially when they've been put to good use like on this live album. Plus, the booklet says there was no editing done to the recording.
Some dull live albums/recordings that come to mind are the last (and only live) track on Fantail which I think could easily have been left off. I didn't think much of Synth Destruction, a live collab with Carlos Giffoni either; I think it's an average noise performance. Noizhead is not bad, but not outstanding. The live collab CD with Sonic Youth and Mats Gustafsson was downright terrible, more of a hipster thing than anything else in my view.
On the other hand, I really like Hard Lovin' Man, although it was later remixed in the studio, so who knows how it sounded originally (not that it matters). I remember the Mort Aux Vaches CD being good too, and I could think of a couple more examples. I'd love to hear the Live at 20000V 30 Sep 1995 single-sided LP again: I remember it as a good, solid live effort made special by screaming by Bara and Kosakai of Incapacitants ("Indian death voice" and "screaming mad voice" respectively, haha).
What do others think of live recordings? Any favourites/bad releases?
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Post by andypandy380 on Aug 14, 2016 9:21:20 GMT -5
On the whole, I think many of the live albums are very enjoyable. I'd agree with most of what you say about those you mentioned. I've not heard that Sonic youth album, or any of their 'SYR' series of albums actually despite being quite a big fan of the band... I had a run through Live In Geneva recently, and I too think it's a great Merzbow album, live or otherwise. - Kookaburra received a relative amount of praise upon it's release, there seemed to be a buzz around it, I think that's partly due to the accompanying video of the whole show... but personally I never felt it was an especially strong record, blends into the crowd and feels somewhat straightforward and uninspired. - I recall Live Destruction At No Fun Fest, Live Magnetism and Live at Henie Onstad Art Centre all being rather good, pretty solid all round. - The albums with Balasz Pandi probably aren't among the strongest, it has to be said... I feel the drums are always a little buried and subdued in the mix making for kind of an uncomfortable listen. There are highlights hidden in there of course... Having seem this live myself, I can say it was a good experience in real life, but it doesn't make great listening otherwise. - V by Merzbow/Pan Sonic is definitely worthy of some praise. A good collaborative effort. - I guess other notable live albums would include Live at Radio 100 and Live In Khabarovsk... both are a step outside of what you might expect to hear under the Merzbow name and pretty interesting because of it.
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Post by acsenger on Aug 14, 2016 19:39:32 GMT -5
Regarding Kookaburra, I was present at the show and I also felt it was quite uninspired. I would've liked to hear it again on CD, but it was very expensive. I didn't get around to watching the video either. I'm still kicking myself for missing the live show with Oren Ambarchi a couple days later, and again, due to its price, I never bought the CD, so I don't know if it's any good.
I listened to Live Magnetism the other day and I also liked it quite a lot. There was a sample from Yoshinotsune's first track, or rather the other way around, given that album hadn't been recorded yet. I also recognised another sample, but I could not figure out which album it was from.
I have the Ducks live CD with Pandi, and I recall I found it OK, but nothing special. Will have to listen to it again. On the whole, the albums with drums are still an unknown territory for me; I don't think I've heard any besides Ducks. It seems to me they're quite divisive, for what that's worth.
Pan Sonic/Merzbow: I should really give this one a proper listen. Have heard it once, but can't remember much. By the way, there's a new Pan Sonic album which is a film soundtrack and was recorded before they broke up.
Live at Radio 100 is interesting and unusual indeed, and so is Live in Khabarovsk which I really like. And I just remembered the last track on Hole is a live recording. From memory it's a solid blast. Then of course Venereology has a live track with death metal-style vocals, and it's a really good one. I remember liking the sound of that track too (probably has to do with mastering, since all of Merzbow's Relapse CDs sound really good). It's been a while since I heard it, but I recall the live track on Mercurated is surprisingly dark in atmosphere at times. And the "cover" of Suicide's Ghost Rider is the highlight for me of the split CD with Bastard Noise.
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Post by andypandy380 on Aug 15, 2016 15:07:44 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I remember you saying you went to the Kookaburra show. I always felt there weren't really enough interesting things going on. It introduces one thing at a time and doesn't really play about with it too much... just like this happens... then this happens... and so on. Cats Squirrel - the album with Oren Ambarchi is okay... nothing that remarkable. I recall enjoying it more once the walls of noise were stripped back a bit and nice tones and timbres came into play, It comes to a very abrupt end though which irritated me. I saw Oren Ambarchi play a free show with an organ player (i forget his name) which was really good actually... I didn't realise beforehand that he's a very talented drummer too.
I meant to check out that new Pan Sonic CD, I wasn't blown away by the samples I heard of it but I'll try to get the CD at some point
I hadn't realised there were live tracks on many of those albums you mention... or I just completely glossed over the fact that they were live. I'll have to give some of those another listen actually
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Post by acsenger on Oct 14, 2016 6:35:35 GMT -5
I've recently listened to a couple more live albums: Akasha Gulva, from 1996, is really good. A full-on blast of fairly metallic-sounding electronics, but it has enough variation (for a live album) to keep it interesting for me. At nearly 74 minutes, it's perhaps a bit too long, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
Next came the Eleven Live Collaborations CD with Achim Wollscheid, recorded in 1992. It works better as background music since basically all 11 tracks are the same: Wollscheid starts with a single pulsing electronic tone, then Merzbow comes in with his noise (which is more "active" than his usual live performances; it's more like his studio recordings from that era, but of course not as nuanced) while Wollscheid's tone continues in the background. It reminds me of the Organum/The New Blockaders collaborations: they follow the same pattern with Organum starting off with a monotonous electronic drone, then TNB joining in with their racket, and all tracks are essentially the same. So this Merzbow/Wollscheid collab is not exactly varied, but it's enjoyable for a couple tracks (and maybe as background music for its entire length of nearly an hour). I also liked the sense of space in the recordings.
A different kind of live performance is the MAZK album with the Asian lady on its cover (it doesn't seem to have a proper title, like that other MAZK release with Mount Fuji on its cover) since it was edited and "constructed" afterwards. It's a great album that demonstrates the freshness of digital tools at the time (1999/2000) and their possibilities that analogue equipment doesn't have. It's a very good, fairly varied, intense digital noise album.
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