The latest release in an impressive line of ‘Merz’ titled releases onImportant may prove to be Merzbow’s most easily enjoyable and finestbeat related work to date. Masami Akita continues to fight thegood fight on behalf of the animal kingdom though his arsenal of noise,static, fury and a trusty drum machine.Important Records
From the cheeky digital pig eating a human hand on the coverto the carnage of the inside artwork Merzbow hints at a context and afocus of animal domination/revenge for the abstract sounds. Althoughthe treble squealing whine on track 1 could never be heard asanything other than the sound of a fully trained up war pig on thecharge. All of the songs here rely heavily on beats and these vary inviolence and intricacy from the growing and ever modifying patternof track 4 to the more straightforwardly moving but complicatedbeat on track 2. The addition of a set structure to the usual punishingnoiseelements takes some of the fire from Merzbow but it also provides a bedfrom which to dig deeper and get lost in the manipulated frequenciesand washes of static. As these brief patterns loop they dig melodicfurrows from the squalls which he then discards with the flick of adial or the clicking of a plug in. Merzbow’s beat making abilities areimproving with every release and this evolution is madeexplicitly obvious on track 3, where the beat moves from a cheap Casioshape to a shuffling stalling dusty locked groove.
There are slightsimilarities in the combination of noise and percussion to the stylesof producers like El-P and Dälek and it can only be a matter of timebefore a Peta approved MC collaborates with Akita. Of course it wouldtake a quite exceptional vocalist to volunteer to attempt to ride themass of blasting sonic debris that is created here.But it’s not all drum and static heaviosity, as behind the black on thesecond and third tracks there’s something smaller and melodic going on.There’s a collection of sounds difficult to pin down in there thatmakes it look like he thought about adding a moreconventional melody to the songs and then just flicked it back into themix. These moments sound both beautiful and odd as they slip to and frothe overwhelming Merzbow abuse. Whether he takes this direction furtheror descends back into his experiments with noise isunknown but his insane work rate means that it won’t be long till it's found out.
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