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Post by andypandy380 on May 8, 2021 7:43:58 GMT -5
Sometimes when I'm at work I have the Masami Akita wiki page open an occasionally refresh it... and today under 'forthcoming' is '10x6=60CDBOX' via slowdown... I havent yet seen any other info surface online, but that sounds an awful lot like the first 60 archival albums are to be released as one monster box set, larger than the Merzbox, which you could say is quite a big deal, that is if I'm not just jumping to conclusions. It'd normally be questionable how reliable a source Wikipedia is, but the article has been edited by the same person who almost always updates it with new releases.
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Post by acsenger on May 8, 2021 9:58:33 GMT -5
If that's indeed a 60CD box, that's nuts, although it's not entirely unexpected that Slowdown would release their box sets as one massive box as well.
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Post by acsenger on May 8, 2021 10:49:18 GMT -5
My suspicion regarding the 'Green Wheels' vinyl reissue has been confirmed: as opposed to Urashima's description, one of the bonus tracks, 'Drain', is actually not unreleased, as it's on the Merzbow/MSBR split 7". The full reissue is now on Urashima's Bandcamp page, and I've just listened to that track. So those who, like me, have both the 7" and the original 'Green Wheels', will only miss around 10 minutes of new music if they skip the reissue.
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Post by davebowman on May 8, 2021 18:35:39 GMT -5
If that's indeed a 60CD box, that's nuts, although it's not entirely unexpected that Slowdown would release their box sets as one massive box as well. I wonder if they'll slip in an exclusive bonus CD to get people to buy the whole set again, like Important Records did with '13 Birds in a Bag'?
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Post by andypandy380 on May 11, 2021 3:37:51 GMT -5
It's confirmed that there will indeed be one enormous 60CD box set, limited to 100 copies. Looks like exactly the same ten box sets but packaged in a big colourful Merzbow shoe box. Its quite a pretty thing seeing them all together, but for the hefty price tag of a one-off purchase it's kind of a shame it doesn't come with an accompanying book or some sort of bonus material like the Merzbox did. www.soleilmoon.com/shop/merzbow-10x660cdbox/
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Post by andypandy380 on May 11, 2021 4:44:54 GMT -5
If that's indeed a 60CD box, that's nuts, although it's not entirely unexpected that Slowdown would release their box sets as one massive box as well. I wonder if they'll slip in an exclusive bonus CD to get people to buy the whole set again, like Important Records did with '13 Birds in a Bag'? Dont forget that it also came with 'an exclusive piece of Masami Akita artwork'... Aka a crumpled scrap of craft paper with metallic paint on it.
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Post by acsenger on May 13, 2021 2:24:15 GMT -5
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Post by andypandy380 on May 15, 2021 2:08:50 GMT -5
There's a new collaborative LP on the way between Merzbow and Hyrrokkin. I admit that Hyrrokkin are a group I'm not familiar with but turns out they're an American mathcore/avant rock band, thought they sounded pretty good from what little of it I've just listened to but honestly in the past I don't think some of these sorts of collaborations have made for some of the strongest albums. I hope it proves me wrong! sleepinggiantglossolalia.bandcamp.com/album/hyrrokkin-merzbow-faltered-pursuit
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Post by andypandy380 on May 20, 2021 7:57:41 GMT -5
There's a new Merzbow cassette album 'Kazakribane' on the way courtesy of Dinzu Artefacts, a Californian label that put out their physical releases exclusively on cassette, as well as digitally via bandcamp. Not many details other than the cover art right now, but it'll be interesting to see what it's all about in due course www.dinzuartefacts.com/
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Post by HaxanDub on May 21, 2021 7:51:36 GMT -5
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Post by andypandy380 on May 21, 2021 8:14:29 GMT -5
They seem quite expensive, especially once the extra tax and international postage costs are taken into account, I suppose the limited nature of them is contributing to that price but the digital files alone are getting on for £15. An edition of two or three hundred is pretty common but I'd say one hundred of each is unusual. I think the bonus tracks are exclusive to this rerelease though, couldn't seem to find any info that suggests otherwise.
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Post by HaxanDub on May 21, 2021 8:20:10 GMT -5
Yes quite expensive. I don't understand why you would release only 100 copies, there will clearly be demand for more.
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Post by acsenger on May 21, 2021 15:18:13 GMT -5
A couple things are strange about this release: the absurdly limited editions; the fact the download is more expensive than the tape; and apparently shipping for the tape is more expensive than for the record (to my country anyway). I’ve just emailed the label asking if any European distros will carry either format. Shipping from Mexico is just too much. I’d love to hear the bonus tracks though. I assume they’re from the same sessions. Some of the sounds (or rather, perhaps the way Akita’s gear sounds in places) on the original album are completely unique (save for the unreleased album from the same era that’s been put on Soundcloud recently, mentioned in this thread not long ago). They lend the album a special atmosphere in my view.
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Post by acsenger on May 21, 2021 15:43:38 GMT -5
Another upcoming tape: www.soundohm.com/product/triwave-pagoda. Strange how there are a number of tapes recently. If I remember well, it was around 10 years ago that there were a bunch of older recordings that came out on tape (such as ‘Variations for Electric Fan’ and ‘April 1992’), and then until recently there were almost no tape releases.
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Post by andypandy380 on May 21, 2021 16:11:40 GMT -5
Good to see even more new stuff on the horizon. The description of that cassette is pretty wordy without really telling us a great deal about it, but I'm guessing it is a new recording and I'd like to hear what it's like. Im surprised to see its coming out via Elevator Bath who brought us the Pulse Vegan 7" that supposedly funded a vegan food truck, I wonder how that went. I quite liked the 'Gman' cassette that came out shortly after that run of archival ones.
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Post by davebowman on May 21, 2021 20:55:32 GMT -5
A couple things are strange about this release: the absurdly limited editions; the fact the download is more expensive than the tape; and apparently shipping for the tape is more expensive than for the record (to my country anyway). I’ve just emailed the label asking if any European distros will carry either format. Shipping from Mexico is just too much. I’d love to hear the bonus tracks though. I assume they’re from the same sessions. Some of the sounds (or rather, perhaps the way Akita’s gear sounds in places) on the original album are completely unique (save for the unreleased album from the same era that’s been put on Soundcloud recently, mentioned in this thread not long ago). They lend the album a special atmosphere in my view. I'm not really keen on buying albums again for a couple of extra tracks, but seeing as how it looks like it's around 18 minutes of previously unreleased stuff, and this album has always been a favourite, I decided to bite the bullet and buy the cassette version. Regarding the limited edition amounts - yes, they are a bit on the low side, but not excessively so. Unless it happens to be 'Pulse Demon', then even releases in the 200 edition range don't seem to instantly sell out anymore.
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Post by acsenger on May 22, 2021 2:16:06 GMT -5
I'm not really keen on buying albums again for a couple of extra tracks, but seeing as how it looks like it's around 18 minutes of previously unreleased stuff, and this album has always been a favourite, I decided to bite the bullet and buy the cassette version. Regarding the limited edition amounts - yes, they are a bit on the low side, but not excessively so. Unless it happens to be 'Pulse Demon', then even releases in the 200 edition range don't seem to instantly sell out anymore. I'm the same: I didn't buy the 'Pulse Demon' reissue for a couple minutes' worth of extra music, nor will I buy the 'Green Wheels' reissue for a 10-minute track (especially since the original album itself is not that remarkable in my opinion), but 18 minutes of unreleased music in the vein of 'Door Open at 8 AM' certainly has me interested. I'm still on the fence about ordering the tape.
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emgee
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Post by emgee on May 22, 2021 8:20:05 GMT -5
I couldn’t stop myself and have ordered the Door Open vinyl.
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fred
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Post by fred on May 23, 2021 2:20:51 GMT -5
I couldn’t stop myself and have ordered the Door Open vinyl. So did I... I look forward to listen to the extras.
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Post by HaxanDub on May 25, 2021 9:28:48 GMT -5
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Post by andypandy380 on May 25, 2021 12:41:36 GMT -5
Received my copy of Scandal yesterday, and honestly thought it was a pretty good listen, despite not being particularly 'Merzbow-ish' on the surface. It's also a consistently muddy and lo-fi sound but I actually think that plays to the albums strengths. It gets off to a bit of a weird start with some lengthy, very grainy sounding field recordings of sounds captured around Tokyo and recordings of hammering/hitting things, not the most engaging but I think it serves as quite a good introduction to the album conceptually. The album seems to explore the journey of taking a field recording, turning it into a tape loop and manipulating it further. I often think experimental music is more about the process than it is the finished article and hearing some of Akita's experiments here is really kind of a joy. The more I listen to Merzbow, I find I can become a bit complacent in the whole 'harsh noise' thing he's known for - It's kind of refreshing, and sometimes challenging to hear an album like this, a fair chunk of it has some really bizarre manipulations and I've no idea where these sounds come from, I like the mystery in that! I'm pretty sure there is some prepared guitar in there however, I'm no noise artist or guitar player in any serious sense but I have been bored enough in the past to jam a pencil in between the strings and see what that sounds like amplified. I think the central part of the album is great, with it's whirlwind of fuzzed-out throbs and pulses. It wasn't until I just reread the blurb for this album on Bandcamp that I realised the final part is the same material used on Merzbow's Recycled cassette, which seems to further add to the concept of the album. It's one of those releases I've never got round to hearing so I'm not sure to what extent it is similar, I think part of the idea of the Recycled series was that each cassette varies due to the fact each of them is (perhaps poorly) recorded over something else. I don't really mind if this album serves more as a document of things Akita toyed around with that one time in the 90s, it's an odd one for sure but it's pretty worthy of having it's own album release. I'd love to know others thoughts on it.
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emgee
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Post by emgee on May 25, 2021 15:16:59 GMT -5
Thanks for the review.
Has anyone seen it yet at a UK stockist?
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Post by andypandy380 on May 25, 2021 15:56:39 GMT -5
No worries. Not sure whether I've seen any of Room 40's stuff out here in the UK. I've always ordered direct from the label's Bandcamp. They're CDs in card sleeves, albeit nicely presented ones so it might not seem the cheapest, but then again they're far from the most expensive either, they've had a great run of Merzbow releases and I've had no issues considering we're having them shipped over from Australia.
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Post by HaxanDub on May 25, 2021 17:52:24 GMT -5
I bought the last two Merzbow CDs on Room40 from Boomkat. I'm sure they will stock Scandal as they always stock other Room40 releases.
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Post by andypandy380 on May 26, 2021 2:37:56 GMT -5
Ah I never noticed they had them! Don't know how I missed that, I suppose I had already pre-ordered and didnt think to look.
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Post by HaxanDub on May 26, 2021 6:12:11 GMT -5
Seems to be a re-issue of Merzbow / S.C.U.M.* – Axx / Spooning cassette on SPH label. It just appeared on discogs but can't see anything on the label bandcamp page yet.
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Post by HaxanDub on May 26, 2021 14:30:46 GMT -5
Just heard back from the label and it doesn't look like it's going to happen as Masami is not interested. Don't know why they put it on discogs before it's confirmed.
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Post by andypandy380 on May 31, 2021 17:42:48 GMT -5
More Slowdown on the horizon. Series 11 is coming out as a box set called 'Arrangement'. This series focused on works from 2004/05 when Akita had become a vegan and had started introducing analogue equipment back into his live sets. The 13th series begins in July, bringing us outtakes from some of the synthy/drone heavy stuff from 2011 onwards. One CD contains material that was recorded the same time as Konchuuki from 2015.
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Post by davebowman on May 31, 2021 22:08:34 GMT -5
Huh - I presumed that with the announcement of that 10 boxset/60 CD 'collected collection', the Slowdown series had reached its end. Or was that only the halfway point? Could there be enough material for 20 boxsets? Will there be an even bigger 120 disc ultra collected set at the end?
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Post by andypandy380 on Jun 1, 2021 4:15:17 GMT -5
Yeah I've been wondering where it's all heading too, the 11th and 12th series'were already underway when the 10x6 box set was announced, so it's a bit of a headscratcher. If we're up to 2015, there must only be another box set or two in it surely, but somehow i cant see slowdown putting out one massive set and then leaving a handful of others behind... (Although the 3RENSA box doesnt include part 5 strangely, perhaps that was an afterthought) Maybe they have other big plans, perhaps they'll re-release all the Merzbow-Null stuff, maybe Akita has 30 more brand new albums lined up and ready to go, who really knows at this point... I suppose realistically they could put out Kaoscitron, Kaerutope etc out as a box too?
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