God damn! Even this far into his career, and with many albums under his belt, Masami can put out something pretty good. Dead Lotus is only 28 minutes long, but what a time it is! The first three tracks are quite harsh and dynamic with quite a bit of stuff happening in both of your ears; there's also a synth loop going on all the time. All Dead Lotus tracks are pretty cool (especially Pt. 3 with its textures), but it is the last track where things get really interesting. Spirulina Blue is ... read more

Yet another Merzbow collab with Gareth Davis. Broken Landscapes explores that theme of mechanical compression again. It's less intense than Atsusaku was (it's more droney), but it is darker. Yabata Frog is just Frog V3 from Kaerutope, I guess Masami felt it fit on here or something. Cool, maybe better than Atsusaku. I don't care, I got two much better Merzbow albums to review right now.

Another collab Merzalbum. The title refers to pressure or mechanical compression. Haihan is this droning synth-heavy wall of noise, and Kyouhan is where you can actually hear Gareth Davis and his clarinets (those apparently are present in the first track, they're just distorted to hell, suffocated) - the track itself is less harsh than the previous one. Overall, this is a decent album, but nothing essential.

Quietus can mean "death" or "termination of debt"; in this case, it also refers to "quiet us", which is obviously a joke considering this is a harsh noise album.

The first track is No Risk, No Return, and while there's a lot of things happening in its noise wall, it doesn't really fully grab me as much as some other Incapacitants tracks for its entire duration. Although the further I was in it, the better my opinion was, so I don't know what to ... read more

Yet another album on Alchemy Records, and the second one to feature Fumio Kosakai! (I don't really need to mention this anymore; they're still a duo even nowadays.)

Fabrication has two tracks: the nearly 16-minute studio recording that is Go Bankrupt and the 40-minute-long outside live performance that is Good Morning, Tajima.

Go Bankrupt is initially quite brutal with its use of what's probably contact microphones, fuzz pedals, and various electronics and ... read more

Feedback of N.M.S. is the first Incapacitants album to feature Fumio Kosakai. Full of high-pitched walls of feedback—it's piercing, it's swirling, it's evolving. My favorite has to be the live track, as Mikawa and Kosakai are bludgeoning you, and they scream quite a lot. That doesn't mean I don't respect the first two, though! The N.M.S. in the title stands for Nomura Management School, and there's something especially funny about it to me considering its ... read more

Repo is the last Incapacitants album to be a solo effort by Toshiji Mikawa. The cover is a chart of Japanese government bond futures, and the title, Repo, refers to repurchase agreements. Mikawa was dealing with bonds at the bank he worked at at the time. This also means that track 2, Reverse Repo, is yet another reference to finance and isn't just the first one in reverse.

Does this have anything to do with the noise itself? Well, that depends on how you view a banker's job. I ... read more

A split between two legendary noise projects, both containing Toshiji Mikawa!
Hijokaidan's track, Δ8000, is full of feedback via electric guitar mangling and electronic madness (they're a duo of Jojo and Mikawa here). Kinda wall-ish at times, but things change around. Incapacitants' track, Prelude to Pallo, is aptly named as it's something that could've been on Project Pallo '85. It's harsh, electronic, and has screaming - it's an ever-shifting wall ... read more

A re-issuing of Flare Gun and White Blues with bonus material, although Flare Gun Part 3 didn't make it on here and that's a shame as it was the highlight of that release.

The Flare Gun tracks are some really nice short harsh noise cuts with a style kinda similar to the one Merz had going on around the time of Venereology, the extra track is just more of that.
The White Blues tracks see Masami mangling blues samples into loop-based noise with its fair share of twists and turns. ... read more

🎉 200+ MERZBOW RELEASES DOWN 🎉
Masami mangles blues samples on this single/EP and creates some really cool loop-based noise. It's not really harsh but it has a fair share of twists and turns, making this a nice and short release.

Parts 1 and 2 are some pretty good short harsh noise cuts, but they're just appetizers for the main course that is Part 3. 20 minute of live Merzbow goodness with Bara providing guttural vocals, Seido playing guitar and Reiko Azuma on short wave radio (I assume) and also vocals. It's this evolving behemoth of a track, and those screams at the end of it are insane! Reiko must be doing those for sure, can't believe they ripped off Hijokaidan and Junko smh.

This bird themed vegan/laptop era Merzbow archival release is fire 🔥🔥🔥

If you don't know, Hemophiliac are a trio of John Zorn, Mike Patton and Ikue Mori. Patton's voice is a bit more in the background and quite often is ran through some effects, doesn't make it any less crazier though! He even burps on one of the tracks, and it still manages to be a good one. Mori brings some really cool soundscapes and noises into the mix, and Zorn brings alto sax insanity. Free Improv madness.

"In short, for me, it’s the ultimate rock n roll." ~Fumio Kosakai

As I mentioned in my review for Pariah Tapes, Incapacitants started in 1981 as Toshiji Mikawa's solo project, as he wanted to concentrate on creating noise without the violent and disgusting performances of Hijokaidan. He didn't really want to play solo live, but in some cases it was hard to decline, so he got someone else to play with him. He even played with Yamantaka Eye a few times! Mikawa moved to ... read more

Holy shit, that score is low! I'd say that this album is quite good, actually, with its droning and rhythm. Petara #2 has lots of these banging pulses; Hina Wave #2 has more rhythmic elements to it, but they're also more low-key, you know what I mean? The title track's noise is pretty dense and harsher overall than the other tracks, and the last track, Metalbolism #1, is probably the album at its wildest with its synth fuckery and beats.

I don't have high expectations for new Merzbow releases for obvious reasons, but this was a pretty decent album! Hatonal is full of screeching feedback and bleeps, and I think there could be some pigeon samples in this. Masami even managed to surprise me on Hatonal 1 Mix, when it turns just into these electronic sounds without all the noise for a while - not a mind-blowing moment or something, but still. I didn't expect such a dissonant release from the cover art, I guess it fits ... read more

Taking it's name from a Toyota showroom in Ikebukuro, it's fitting that Amlux feels like a big city at night. The noise takes a more dark ambient turn on this album and I'd even argue that it has an industrial tinge to it. There's a heavy emphasis on loops, and I'd say they are used here to great effect. The atmosphere on here is pretty good, same goes for the textures - overall, Amlux is one of Merzbow's best, no matter what era were talking about. Also, this ... read more

Merzbuddha's noise isn't really brutal and creates these white noise soundscapes, combine that with the bass loops that could put you in a trance and you get a somewhat meditative release. Masami was listening to plenty of dub up to the recording of this album, and while I can't say how much this has anything to do with that genre as I don't really listen to it, I can say with certainty that this is a pretty bass heavy and quite ambient noise release.

Being one of the earlier beat based albums (think Door Open at 8 AM or Merzbeat), Aqua Necromancer weaves progressive rock sample loops with the noise pretty well, giving you a pretty dynamic and interesting album. One of the more accessible Merzbow releases, and a good one at that!

It's not often that you get sound collages from later Merzbow, and I think it's even rarer to see Masami use a turntable! A single 42 minute track on which alongside noise made with electronics Akita and Co. mangle plenty of samples by distorting them and changing their speed. Pretty dynamic, and a release that deserves more attention for sure!