Some of you may have Merzbow fans pegged as masochists. Sure, serfsloyal to the noise king may find his prodigious output hard on both theeardrums and the wallet. And true, he has played with S&M themes onseveral of his releases — the 18 CD Merzbox is wrapped in kinky blackrubber, for crying out loud. But the pleasure of Merzbow is not justthe extreme volume and frequency with which he attacks—but the varietyof sounds he sets his cat o' nine tails to. To the casual listener, thecollective work of Merzbow may sound like a solid block of steel wool.I admit there are a couple of Brillo's in the pile, but no singleMerzbow release can represent the whole catalog. Take Amlux, forexample. While the trademark violent squall is still here, much of thisalbum has a more gradual pace, built heavily on samples and loops."Takemitsu" starts off as a ride inside a phonograph needle across ascratchy jackhammer lock-groove, while someone shovels snow in thebackground. It ultimately gets sucked through a jumbo jet engine, whichproceeds to jam up and disintegrate. The warm tar guitar lines of"Looping Jane" get whipped by sharp digital wires into a driving rockfrenzy. "Cow Cow" is Satan on CB Radio squelch through a teapotwhistle. The final track, "Luxurious Automobile," pits swirling loopsagainst chain rhythms, crickets, Star Trek consoles and Asteroids fuzz.It's almost danceable. If I had to pick out a good starting point forthe uninitiated, I might very well recommend Amlux.
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