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Post by electricwatersheep on May 21, 2021 14:35:03 GMT -5
Have been a lurker on this forum for a while but have been a Merzbow collector of some kind since 1994.
Until about 2008 I made a reasonably successful attempt to collect all of Merzbow's digital (i.e., cd) releases and my collection was quite complete, including the Merzbox, Paradise Pachinko, Psychorazer etc. Then I decided to part with a lot of it and listened to almost all of them to keep the releases I liked best (and acquired some vinyl as well).
Recently I recognized that I still have too many releases to seriously engage with the best of them and started pruning again. Including the Merzbox I still have about 100+ releases on cd, vinyl etc.
At the same time I have not followed all of his output since 2008 and I am listening to some of it again to see what I like.
It is really a lot of fun to revisit the older releases again. I think I am generally more drawn towards the more electic releases with a bias towards the late 80s junk / scraping stuff, the more psychedelic noise output, some of the early laptop works, and releases that sound more composed than improvised.
Some of my favorite releases include Antimonument, Ecobondage, Space Metalizer, Hybrid Noisebloom, Tauromachine, Vibractance, Collapse 12 Floors, and Dharma.
One cd I have listened to a lot over the years is Sleeper Awakes on the Edge of the Abyss. Somehow this sounds like what it would be like to wake up and hear Merzbow in the far distance. One of the more original collaborations.
Kibbutz is a really underrated work, I think, and one of his darkest. The plain, white, vinyl, re-release is cool.
Another work that is quite dark, angry, and relentless is Proteanworld.
I will keep pruning away and see what gems will be left....
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Post by acsenger on May 21, 2021 15:25:23 GMT -5
I haven’t heard ‘Kibbutz’ in a while. From the reissues on Urashima, I remember ‘Collection 009’ being really bizarre (which is a good thing, of course). If you decide to part with some of your collection, please let us know here if you don’t mind. I have a couple releases on my wantlist.
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Post by davebowman on May 21, 2021 20:44:04 GMT -5
Good luck! I haven't done this with Merzbow, but I have 'pruned back' on releases from different artists, getting rid of entire bundles of albums etc. And in almost all cases, in 10-20 years time, I've suddenly found myself re-buying them back, as it turned out I missed them!
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emgee
New Member
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Post by emgee on May 22, 2021 7:57:20 GMT -5
Electricwatersheep - I love your list on RYM, especially your review of the Merzbox.
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fred
New Member
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Post by fred on May 23, 2021 2:47:10 GMT -5
One cd I have listened to a lot over the years is Sleeper Awakes on the Edge of the Abyss. Somehow this sounds like what it would be like to wake up and hear Merzbow in the far distance. One of the more original collaborations.
Sleeper Awakes On The Edge Of The Abyss is indeed a beautiful listening. Too short in my opinion. All this album sounds far more Christoph Heemannish than Merzbowish. As I love Christoph Heemann works for very long now that is good for me.
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Post by electricwatersheep on May 26, 2021 13:20:12 GMT -5
I listened to Sleeper Awakes On The Edge Of The Abyss again and I think this must be my favorite collaboration. It sounds like Masami sent him his "usual" harsh noise materials but then it was transformed into something really pastoral and mellow by Heemann. I am usually not a huge fan of collaborations but this was a fruitful approach. I have also liked what Autechre did with Merzbow on the re-mix cd, but then again, I like everything Autechre does ;-)
Re: emgee I am not the "electricwatersheep" on RYM, but thanks though ;-)
Yes, when I am further into my pruning I will let you know what I am parting with. I am definitely keeping Red 2 Eyes and Pinkream. Really liked listening to those again for the last few days.
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Post by andypandy380 on May 26, 2021 16:13:55 GMT -5
Good to have another Autechre fanatic here. They're a bit of a long-term favourite of mine too
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fred
New Member
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Post by fred on May 27, 2021 2:28:50 GMT -5
I listened to Sleeper Awakes On The Edge Of The Abyss again and I think this must be my favorite collaboration. It sounds like Masami sent him his "usual" harsh noise materials but then it was transformed into something really pastoral and mellow by Heemann. I am usually not a huge fan of collaborations but this was a fruitful approach. I have also liked what Autechre did with Merzbow on the re-mix cd, but then again, I like everything Autechre does ;-) You can listen to the Merzbow part of this project in Merzbient box.
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