This is a temporary review so people can look at my progress, it will be deleted at the end and replaced with something that's more than a bunch of disc reviews.

/ OM Electrique (1979) / 60 /
OM Electrique is pretty much one of Merzbow's earliest recordings, having been recorded on December 27th, 1979. Like most of the project's recordings from this time period, it's closer to free improvisation than what most people think the noise genre is.

The first two tracks (OM ... read more

TOO MUCH GEROGERIGEGEGE REVIEWS I AM OVER

To close off this bonus disc spree, I'll be reviewing the most interesting (publicly available) one. Too Much Rare Tracks We Are Over is a bonus CDR for those who ordered Gerogerigegege's Senzuri Champion Revised, Cullcanecho's self-titled, and Haigan's Genocide Of The Good Friends at the same time. As the title suggests, it's a compilation of unreleased tracks by all the artists I just mentioned and a few others.

街 (Type-G) ... read more

Bonus disc only. A February 8th, 1990, live performance at Higashi-Jujo Gig Hall with a line-up of Jane on vocals, Juntaro Y on guitar, Horibe on bass, and Satoh on drums. Besides Juntaro, I don't know who these people are. It begins with what sounds like someone being interviewed by a sexologist, while Juntaro strums his guitar and the drummer hits something at times. This eventually turns into a fast, upbeat riff and steady drumming, with the band transitioning into Sexual Behavior in ... read more

Bonus disc only. Juntaro played a street gig in Shimokitazawa on September 29th, 2022. I don't know for how long or what he played, but he did certainly play Sexual Behavior in the Human Male! It's a nice acoustic rendition of the track. You can hear the sounds of the city, like people talking and walking by, riding bicycles (or something else is making these wheel sounds), and maybe some car sounds in the background too—I think these add to the recording. Despite the post-punk ... read more

Bonus disc only. If you were expecting any actual covers, get fucked. The track list only mentions two songs, but in reality there are seven! A Kayōkyoku song called Dancing All Night (written by Yoshinori Monta, but I don't know who is performing it here, maybe Hiroshi Itsuki considering Juntaro's obsession?) is sandwiched in between six loops reused from the Moenai Hara EP. It's a nice track, and there are fewer loops than that EP, so I guess this one is better. Classic ... read more

Bonus disc only. A December 25th, 1987 live performance at Niigata's WOODY by a cover band called 前科六犯 [Six Criminal Records]. They cover Hey Hey Hey by Kuro and Dokata Song by Swankys; the former is a banger and the latter is a bit faster and more upbeat sounding. Two good hardcore tracks, but the lo-fi quality is slightly hurting these in my opinion. Recorded by Juntaro, and maybe also performed, but the sleeve doesn't say anything about that.

Bonus disc only. A December 29th, 1987, performance at Baus Theater under the name オマエなんて知らない (roughly translates to I don't know you). At first they fuck around with a sample of radio hosts talking about The Gerogerigegege (mostly the part where they say The Gerogerigegege funnily) and some other sample of a Japanese man speaking (could be from a movie?). Later on they play a cover of The Stalin's Meshi Kuwasero—not much to talk about, it's close to the ... read more

Bonus disc only. Basically the same thing as every single All You Need Is Audio Shock-related thing: Juntaro says the track title, counts down, and loud bass rumbling ensues. The formula makes it more accessible than their other noisecore releases due to fewer high frequencies, but also less interesting as it's all just rumbles. This one is the most lo-fi out of them all, as Juntaro's vocals are quite distorted, and the bass doesn't have as much of a punch as on the other ones.

Bonus disc only. A December 3rd, 1988, live show at Oz, with a lineup of Tatsuya Yoshida on the drums, Juntaro Yamanouchi on guitar, Gero 30 jerking it, and Jun Konagaya on vocals. You won't hear Konagaya and Gero 30, though, as this is a performance of Senzuri Champion's title track (apparently the only one!). If you want to hear more of this show, check out 共産党にお願いします from the compilation Devil From The East: A Decade of Yoshida Tatsuya from 1994. A sample of ... read more

The cassette reissue of Moenai Hai is... interesting. Audio from an erotic tape is inserted into it—the same one as Naomi's Masturbation and Wakakusa Dormitory Guide RE-ISSUE, 5 years before it was released—I don't know what Juntaro's exact intention was. I mean, these "Secret Talks" were mentioned by Juntaro in a Facebook post, so it's not like you didn't completely know what you were getting. The "Secret Talks" themselves aren't ... read more

I haven't listened to a single Merzbow album in nearly 2 months. I wanted to listen to this on release day, but I just didn't. Sedonis is Merzbow's god-knows-which album; it doesn't really bring anything new to the table (hard to do so when you're pumping out albums for multiple decades, although Masami does occasionally do something surprising), but it does what it does well. The album has a slightly industrial, cold electronic atmosphere; the cacophony it brings is ... read more

Bonus disc only. One of the earliest post-hiatus Gero recordings, a rehearsal for a secret live show they did the next day. Maybe recorded during the Moenai Hai sessions? It's the good old post-punk of Sexual Behavior In The Human Male, but made really noisy. Basically the same thing as the original besides that and the lack of samples, pretty cool.

Bonus disc only. The last rehearsal for the track everyone loves, The Gerogerigegege. Juntaro and Dr. Euro jam out the riff and steady drums for 7 minutes. Is it as amazing? No, as it's not as excruciatingly loud and it doesn't have all the madness happening in it, but it's still good and noisy. There is still some kind of development on here.

Bonus tape only. More noise similar to the one on their self-titled release. A whirlwind of feedback and screaming that sounds like you're falling down a staircase; the entire thing cuts out and times. Is this The Gero's in their noisecore or noise mode? What is even being played here? Some dialog is sampled at the end. Side B is just Side A in reverse.

Bonus disc only. It's just Voracious from their self-titled release, 9 minutes of oppressive feedback blaring into your skull while piano(?) is played at times.

Another Nihilist Surfin' Group release. While it keeps the sound of Music for the New Yorker, it moves into a harsher direction; it's like the bastard child of that album, The Gero's self-titled album, and Nothing to Hear / Nothing to… 1985. Less creepy droning, more constant streams of noise, still as mechanical and oppressive. Titled Dutch pussy for some reason, did Juntaro have a trip to the Netherlands?

Nihilist Surfin' Group is one of Juntaro's side projects. Why did he need one? I don't know! Music for the New Yorker was recorded in 1986 and released in 1988, and unlike other Gerogerigegege album covers, this one has two bulky men, one sucking the other one's chest. It's similar to The Gerogerigegege's self-titled in that it's oppressive and mechanical, but different in that it's slower, less harsh, and more focused on the droning. Reverberating creepy ... read more

The Gero-P is a collaboration between The Gerogerigegege (Juntaro) and NP (Fumiyoshi Suzuki, who was a Gero member [later on at least]); it's one of the project's earliest releases! The first track, Theme, starts with the theme song for the 1968 anime Yokai Ningen Bem, just to punch you in your ears with feedback and screaming. If you've listened to Senzuri Power Up, you've certainly heard Gero-P 1985; this is the same track. Melody is just a whirlwind of harsh noise: ... read more

Juntaro does improvisation with an iron wire koto for nearly 22 minutes. It sounds like Pray Silently from Hell Driver, which makes sense considering he also used a koto on there; is it another recording of that performance (Shinbaishi Muse Hall, October 30th, 1995)? Is it from that same era, or did Juntaro whip out a koto 25 years later? Who knows; it's nice to hear something similar in higher quality. Side A has Juntaro torturing the shit out of the instrument: strumming, plucking, ... read more

It's 2020, and Juntaro decides to do splits like it's the late 90s again! This time with Slovakian noisecore band Sedem Minút Strachu.

The Gero side is a cover of 愛が止まらない ~ Turn It Into Love ~ by Wink, which itself is a cover of a Kylie Minogue song. Surprise, it's a pretty normal cover (for Gero standards); there's a basic dance beat, a nice female vocalist (probably a vocal track stolen from somewhere), some audio from old gay erotic tapes and a guy ... read more