Quote from: Fistfuck Masonanie on Today at 03:26:39 AMMerzbow & John Wiese - Akashaplexia
Finally getting around to listening to this anticipated and massive release.
The two artists share a number of releases together now, but they have all been mail collabs or live recorded performances to this point. Never an in studio release before. I'm very curious about what that process was like. What kind of concepts or boundaries did they discuss before hitting record, if any, or is it all off the cuff?
When I first read that this was recorded in a single day, I imagined the two sitting in a room and fleshing out a vision for an entire multi-disc album and completing it in that same day. Which seemed astonishing.
Now listening, what seems more likely, is that the two jammed in studio and then John took those recordings and edited or arranged them together for the final product. I would be very surprised otherwise with how highly articulate the sounds are and how they transition at what would be a "telekinetic" pace for a live collaboration.
Disc 1 | Garden Path Sentence:
Highly erratic and fast-paced audio collage. Many details flow in and out of focus, piano and percussive samples, manipulated tape warble, and/or vinyl tabletop abuse. At times, it reminds me of Masami's 80s output in the more dadaistic realm. There is a segment that feels like getting sucked into a tornado. Glimpses of voices cut through the wind, and great samples of glass shards and debris are flying about. As the 45-minute track progresses, it transitions flawlessly in and out of new segments. Some are harsher, some focus on looped and sampled elements from a wide variety of timbres and resources. It never dips into completely familiar or expected territories and kept me actively listening throughout. There are no lulls. Always something squiggling under the microscope to zoom in on. New details are being introduced and just as quickly and cleverly pulled away.
Disc 2 | Bleskam (Action Sphere / Maya):
This transitions nicely from the first disc. A little more subdued audio collage starts things off. Not as frantic and fast-paced as disc 1. Sounds like an old record needle jumping from vinyl to vinyl and catching small pieces of melodies, but never lasting long enough to identify a source. Actually reminded me of Max J Eastman a bit. It transitions into this Alice in Wonderland-like nightmare with chiming clocks, psychedelic bits, and a loop that sounds like it originated from the basement of an insane asylum. This disc feels strikingly similar in spirit to something like a modern-day Batztoutai with Material Gadgets, which I was really surprised to hear Masami do in this day and age. I really enjoyed this disc, and it's my favorite so far.
Disc 3 | Glass Has Vanished:
Disc 3 starts off ominous... a bass tone undulating at a low volume. Mechanical creaking loops in an unsettling fashion. What sounds like radio play creeps into the mix. This isn't the first time on this boxset either. I can't tell if it's tried and true old school radio play, or just the way samples are sliced and diced. It certainly replicates that feel, which is another factor of this release that reminds me of experimental 80s Merzbow like Batztoutai. From there, we get one of the rare instances of some sweeping noise filters or more traditional pedal like harsh noise. Not a lot of that across the discs so far. Everything I've described above has already happened in the first 5 minutes. While this disc is not a straight-up harsh noise track, it has the most harsh noise elements of any of the discs so far. My other favorite element on this particular disc is the haunting and dissonant use of church organ in the second half. Bizarre and fantastic.
Disc 4 | Higashiikebukuro Bouquet Divisions:
Bubbling, percolating, and squiggly synthesizer soup with white noise blasts. Easily the harshest start to any of the discs. The first two hours were just warm up! John and Masami start cooking with gas now. All of the previously mentioned elements through the discs, like loops, sampling, and other audio collage is still very present on this disc. Everything is just kicked up a notch on the harshness meter. It also really builds into a schizophrenic frenzy with how quickly the sounds are spliced in and out. There is also this screeching string instrument introduced that really cuts through the mix. At the peak of madness... it cuts out, and we get the closest thing to silence across the 4 discs yet. John and Masami tinker with more microcosmic details and mechanical jerky loops which build back up gradually into new frenzies.
I mentioned earlier, but I have been extremely impressed and surprised by this release. I wasn't sure what to expect and assumed it would be more of a collection of "live" long-form improvised pedal and laptop noise jams similar to the recent EKA Varna, but more thought-out and thematic than that release. However, what we get is a highly detailed, articulated, and meticulously arranged amalgam of audio collage. Somewhat similar to 80s Merzbow dadaist releases like Batztoutai. Very nice.
Quote from: Minus1 on January 26, 2026, 02:54:14 AMKnown Victims shows up here (on CD) as track 6 of 9. (It's a different placement on the LP, right?) I know that many dislike this 13min that "disrupts the flow/feel of the album". For me it's perfectly placed. I need a fucking break from "G.R." at that point. ("Break" might be the wrong word. Sorry.)
Quote from: host body on January 22, 2026, 10:12:30 AMKierrätyskassuissa ärsyttää että ne ei ole just tasan oikean pitusia, heh. Tää on oma viiraus jolla ei tietenkään ole paljon väliä.Nämähän tietysti leikellään ja teippaillaan itse oikean mittaisiksi. Aikanaan sain läjän kirjaston kassuja, joista osaan oli merkitty vaikka C42, joka helpotti duunia vähän, paitsi silloin kun olin mitoittanut puolet täsmälleen noin, eikä siellä ollutkaan 20-21 minuuttia, vaan tuuliin 19:30, jolloin se koko 20 minuutin nauhoitus meni vituiksi siksi, että outron häntä jäi pois, sitten kirottiin ja merkittiin oikea mitta kasettiin ja käytettiin seuraavan kerran sitten, kun sille mahtuva julkaisu oli käsillä.
