11. MerzbowMerzbox
I can’t make a list like this without a Merzbow record. You look at the creative music scene, the noise scene, whatever you want to call it, there is so much stuff out there and I think the last ten years of noise changed the whole music scene, changed improvised music and the way we listen to it. There’s so much shit out there, bad noise music, but there’s a lot of great noise music too, so much research and experimentation, and that’s what you have to do as a musician. It takes a lot of time, and that’s why there’s a lot of crappy stuff in the beginning, but when you listen to Masami [Akita]’s stuff, it really hits you. When you go through the Merzbox, which is 50 records basically, you are pretty fried, but you’re a different person. It’s extraordinary the quality of what he’s doing, and still doing. How he can keep it on such a level is extraordinary. And on different tools. You go into his work and on the early cassette releases he’s playing only home-built instruments and junk and drumming. And then you compare it to the periods he had, like the whole laptop period, and now he’s back with a mix, where he’s using the old instruments. I’m totally fascinated by how he can make music on that level, with so many layers. In a way it’s like Derek Bailey, it’s as detailed, but with a completely different sound and tools of course. Many times I find myself comparing Masami’s music and Derek’s solo music and I find a raft of similarities, which is kind of weird. If you listen to it from outside, it’s very different, but I love those similarities. I’d recommend every person interested in creative music to buy the Merzbox. It will change you!
I really like the record you made with Merzbow, One Bird Two Bird. Some people might have expected it to be a really full on noise record, but it’s detailed and atmospheric.
Again it was a really nice situation in the studio, great equipment and really relaxed. It really went into territories that we didn’t expect. I’ve worked more with Masami since then [with Sonic Youth and Balázs Pándi], and now we know that it’s easier to go into more dynamic, sparse material. He’s a master of controlling that stuff. He’s a kick to play with.
