You know, it feels kind of weird to be the first person on the entire internet to review something that has existed for quite some time and isn't something nobody has heard at all. There could be a review hidden somewhere in the depths of the Japanese internet, but even if I found one, that feeling would stay.

The compilation is split into two discs: The Relics Of The Past ～過去の遺物～, which compiles recordings from the late 70s and mid 80s under the name Contradictory Bridge ... read more

Another Satanicpornocultshop release found, fuck yeah!!!
The story goes like this: one of Satanicpornocultshop's members climbed onto a custom drum and destroyed it, so they made Custom Drum Destroyer as a reflection (it was included on the pope EP). A year later, they made a remix album to pay back the damages. While most tracks stay in the realm of IDM/Plunderphonics, there are some that stray from it, like Dag Shen Ma's 1st Custom, which is like this very weird sound collage, or ... read more

The most boob album to ever boob. An album by a JAV actress most known for, well, her boobs (plenty of videos mention those in the name). Besides the name and cover (maybe the booklet also), the album isn't very sexual. I mean, well, probably the lyrics and track titles have some stuff, but it's not like there's someone moaning into your ear for the entire duration (there's only some at the beginning of the first track, and it's really lo-fi).

ラス・メイヤー ... read more

Incapacitants might be the best noise group to ever exist.

If you haven't seen my reviews for Pariah Tapes and Box Is Stupid, I'll quickly fill you in, although I highly urge you to read the latter! Incapacitants is a duo of Toshiji Mikawa (of Hijokaidan) and Fumio Kosakai (a former C.C.C.C. member), but it started as a solo project of Mikawa's in 1981, as he wanted to concentrate on pure noise without the performance art aspect of Hijokaidan. Their goal is basically to be as ... read more

And with this, I have finished Alchemy Box Is Stupid! Mikawa is playing some kind of wind instrument at the beginning, but besides that, it looks like the equipment is not much different from other performances. He's also hitting the table with something later on. I don't know who is more physically active here, Kosakai or Mikawa, as both move around quite a bit. The noise is the usual (it's good), but I much prefer the Extreme Gospel Nights cassette.

I'll start with the visual side of things. The camera is a little shaky and moves between the two members, but for me that isn't a problem. There isn't as much physical action as I would've wanted (especially in the first half), but that's only a minor complaint (although it picks up near the end). Why? Because the set is great! Nice, loud, harsh, and crunchy walls for the entire duration—every piece of equipment blown out to insanity. The madness ends when ... read more

Similar, yet different from its predecessor. This time it's a 2019 performance (with an encore!). While employing a similar long wall of noise approach to it, there is much more happening here—metallic clanging, synths, and more all shine at times instead of merging with the walls of static—things actually change after some time. It's also got a muffled quality to the noise, but this time that fact doesn't hurt it. A much better slab of noise than MONOAkuma on all ... read more

A 2012 live performance at the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane, 50 minutes of analog+digital noise—a wall of static and other stuff. The muffled recording quality is both a good and bad thing. It gives the noise an ambient quality, but on the flip side, it doesn't allow the noise to shine. I guess MONOAkuma is an alright album to put on in the background, but Merzbow has better albums in this style of a not-unmoving-but-not-too-dynamic wall, not to mention other artists.

It's 2007, and these guys still got it. I'm really considering calling Incapacitants the best noise group ever at this point.

What A Stupid Bureaucrat!!! is a very intensive opener. When the noise entered my ears, I knew I was in for a good time. Please Don't Try This at Home (live at No Music Festival 20030926) starts off a bit restrained with its high frequencies and screaming, but after a while it turns into a brain massage with its rumbling—obviously, other sounds also ... read more

Live Incapacitants contains two live performances. I don't think these are the most essential live shows, but they're still pretty cool.

The first one is Incapacitants first overseas performance at the Music Unlimited festival in 1999 (curated by Otomo Yoshihide!). After a short introduction in German, chaos ensues. It's crazy; it's got a lot of things happening, it's a wall, and it's a good performance!

The second show is a collaboration with Tatsuya Yoshida, ... read more

Another tribute to Minazo, and an improvement from the first one. There's a big focus on the higher frequencies here—the blasts of feedback are like the screams of an animal. I think this album conveys pain much better with its walls of noise and the synths playing on top of them. The second track has a much bigger focus on the synths, but that sadness and darkness is still there somewhere. It's two tracks, and while there is an abrupt change between them (when ignoring the fact ... read more

"Minazo, an elephant seal, died at 5:15 pm on October 4, 2005. He was 11 years old, still young for an elephant seal whose life expectancy is 20 years on average. Whatever the cause of death, I feel sad and angry each time I hear about animals dying in captivity far away from their natural habitat.

Minazo was raised at the Enoshima Aquarium in Kanagawa Prefecture. With a strong build, 5 meters in height and 2 tons in weight, he was the only male elephant seal in Japan. Director Yukiko ... read more

Taste the Merzbow! A Taste Of... has a culinary theme going on in its title and track titles (it even has ingredient lists!), but it isn't something you'll get from the tracks themselves. It relies on looping and manipulation of said loops a lot; sadly, those loops also aren't anything to talk about, as usually they just go for too long, and sometimes they're pretty wonky, like on Turban Shell Blues (it uses the same sample as Shadow Barbarian from Merzbeat). I can't ... read more

Default Standard is an outstanding work, one that surpasses every prior release in the duo's entire discography. (We'll see how this statement holds up once I give As Loud As Possible a re-listen.) It's amazing that they named it "Default Standard"—oh, I wish this was the standard. Speaking of standards, can something like that even exist in the realm of harsh noise? The title is, of course, a reference to finance (a default is a failure to meet the conditions of ... read more

I could be rating the reissue due to Maki Miura and Shizuka Duo Session, but when looking at the cassette's inlay, it does have that track. III doesn't contain the noisy side of the band at all, leaving you with some really beautiful psych, with the sound quality making it ethereal. Just Shizuka's heavenly voice, and Maki's guitar.

Oh yeah, we're back to the good stuff! New Movements in CMPD is (according to Jojo Hiroshige) a set of live performances, and I can't complain because they're great. Well, Incapacitants live performances and studio material don't differ a lot anyway.

20 Years of Corporate (a very fitting title for a harsh noise track) surprised me with how dynamic the feedback wall is, considering this is Incapacitants we are talking about—there's quite a bit of stuff happening ... read more

"The retrospective CD "No Progress" shows that we have no intention to make progress from the beginning." ~Toshiji Mikawa

A compilation dedicated to Takuya "Synapse" Takaguchi, who requested it. He wanted it to be sold at a "salaryman discount" (Mikawa is a salaryman, so he made the price lower than usual) and made Mikawa talk about bars and wrestling in the liner notes. The first track is Long Awaited from Pallo 3, and it's a pretty solid noise ... read more

No geckos, and probably no raga too; Merzbow is a lying bastard! The tracks on here were created by overdubbing multiple performances. The title track is pretty noisy; there are some synths going haywire in the background, stuff like that, you know. Yamo 1737 lacks that noisiness, but it does have much more stuff in it as elements come and go. I guess you could call it a collage of various Merzbow fuckery with his synths, effects, and self-made equipment. Yamori Bit leaves the craziness, ... read more

Maybe not some kind of crazy release, but it was enjoyable. The background in the first track (wait, can I even call it that when sometimes it's the louder thing?) has this dark ambient quality to it, it's like a rumble or something. I don't know what to say about the foreground, it has loops, and it's glitchy at times. In the second track the noise is much more electronic sounding if you get what I mean. Am I going insane? Can I even properly rate anything at this point? ... read more

Space Metalizer is a pretty great late 90s Merzbow release, and with quite the variety too! Both parts of the title track are brutal with their dynamic attacks of walls of noise. Son of Zechen is quite stripped back—it gets a bit harsher in the second half but remains laid back. Efface is only slightly harsher. Hell, even the bonus track, Mirage, is pretty solid. There's even something beautiful and spacey about it. To wrap things up, this is another essential album, especially if ... read more