Most Interesting/Best Merzbow Collaborations?

[Balor/SS1535]

I have been going through a phase lately of collecting Merzbow collaboration releases, and, for the most part, I greatly enjoy all that I have come across (especially the recent one with Lawrence English and 2R0I2P0 with Boris).  I also find his forays into free jazz/improv quite exciting (see Cuts Open with Mats Gustafsson and Balazs Pandi).

What are your favorite Merzbow collaborations?  Most interesting?  Which push Merzbow the farthest from his usual approaches to noise?

[Marcellehanged]

Favorite?

"Become the discovered, not the discoverer" with Keiji Haino and Balazs Pandi.

https://merzbow-haino-pandi.bandcamp.com/album/become-the-discovered-not-the-discoverer

I enjoy the hard panning. Haino is really dicking around sometimes, but always serves the presentation.

[Krigsverk]

Alec Empire vs. Merzbow "Live CBGB's NYC 1998" is a nice one.

[burdizzo1]

Favorite?

"Become the discovered, not the discoverer" with Keiji Haino and Balazs Pandi.

Don't know this one, but I did see Merzbow live w/ Pandi one time. I remember Pandi did some really phenomenal drumming - the highlight of the show. Bought a collaborative LP they did, but it didn't seem nearly as good as what I'd seen in the flesh. The drumming was way too low in the mix, I think.

I liked the concept of the one with Ladybird: noise in one channel, disco-pop in the other. You can adjust the volume of the channels to suit the mood... But, to be honest, I don't really keep up w/ Merzbow, so I'm sure there's many better ones.

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Coronado with Sissy Spacek is amazing and the best thing I've heard from Merzbow in a long time. I think that has to do more with John and Charlie, but it's really punishing. 

Certainly not the best, but the Flying Basket collab with Akira Sakata, Jim O'Rourke, and Chikamorachi was interesting if you like noise mixed with free jazz. I love Sakata and Chikamorachi , but I was hoping for a little more out of this one.

[Zeno Marx]

The album with Christoph Heemann is good, but you also have to keep in mind Heemann got the last word, as you can see from the quote:
https://christophheemann.bandcamp.com/album/sleeper-awakes-on-the-edge-of-the-abyss

and this one with Wiese makes my teeth hurt (yes, I also said that about an Eric Cordier album this week, but that's coincidence.  not many albums make me feel like that).  This is also a great example that you can't write off computer noise.
https://helicopter.bandcamp.com/album/multiplication

[Balor/SS1535]

The album with Christoph Heemann is good, but you also have to keep in mind Heemann got the last word, as you can see from the quote:
https://christophheemann.bandcamp.com/album/sleeper-awakes-on-the-edge-of-the-abyss

and this one with Wiese makes my teeth hurt (yes, I also said that about an Eric Cordier album this week, but that's coincidence.  not many albums make me feel like that).  This is also a great example that you can't write off computer noise.
https://helicopter.bandcamp.com/album/multiplication

Multiplication sounds great!

[Marcellehanged]

Favorite?

"Become the discovered, not the discoverer" with Keiji Haino and Balazs Pandi.

Don't know this one, but I did see Merzbow live w/ Pandi one time. I remember Pandi did some really phenomenal drumming - the highlight of the show. Bought a collaborative LP they did, but it didn't seem nearly as good as what I'd seen in the flesh. The drumming was way too low in the mix, I think.

I liked the concept of the one with Ladybird: noise in one channel, disco-pop in the other. You can adjust the volume of the channels to suit the mood... But, to be honest, I don't really keep up w/ Merzbow, so I'm sure there's many better ones.

If Pandi's drumming was the highlight for you live, I think "Become the discovered, not the discoverer" will appeal to you. The drumming is crystal clear. If you end up enjoying the album and want more Pandi, go listen to "An Untroublesome Defencelessness", the first collaborative album from the trio. That one features Haino on guitar instead of bass guitar, but is otherwise mixed similarly, with Pandi in the center and the others panned left and right.

Wow, "Balance" is fascinating. I'll have to go play this one on the stereo and toy with the mix now.

[k.p.g]

The Meat Beat Manifesto collaboration was surprisingly well-executed, if you are looking for something recent.

In terms of interesting, I gotta go with the Ladybird collaboration.  How Merzbow plays so well off of Japanese pop music is beyond me.  Insanely cheap on discogs too.  I might just snag a copy later...

If we want to talk best, I'll get the Gore Beyond Necropsy collab out of the way; next level noisecore madness.
The Sniper collaboration with AMK & the Haters is one I find myself in awe of as well.

[moozz]

I was always under the impression that Ladybird was German. Interesting for sure but Ladybird is terrible :)
PGR/Merzbow/Asmus Tietchens CD Grav on the other hand is great. Sort of dark industrial/ambient that at times gets more noisy but never pure noise.

[jmsdgls]

the collab with Variat last year was incredible.

[Ivan Rex]

The first thing I can remember is the Merzbow / Kim Cascone collaboration - Rondo / 7Phases / Blowback. It was probably the first thing I heard from Merzbow and I was quite impressed by it. Very diverse and interesting work, despite its digital basis. The work with glitch-sounds and analog (?) noise is very organically combined here.

Now I decided to re-listen to this album and I think I rediscovered it. The unique atmosphere

[Bloated Slutbag]

The first thing I can remember is the Merzbow / Kim Cascone collaboration - Rondo / 7Phases / Blowback. It was probably the first thing I heard from Merzbow and I was quite impressed by it. Very diverse and interesting work, despite its digital basis. The work with glitch-sounds and analog (?) noise is very organically combined here.

Now I decided to re-listen to this album and I think I rediscovered it. The unique atmosphere

The parts "recorded and mixed" by Cascone are by far and away the better bits, 7Phases notably so and notably sounding not unlike Cascone's solo work. The abovementioned Grav on the other hand has been a long time staple and one where the more purely straight-ahead Merzmoments (especially the extended metal-on-metal Merzmoments) really light the (cold blistering) fire under the whole endeavor.

I seem to recall rather appreciating the fuller fat flatulent bodies of the remix one off with Slugbait, but perhaps hard to go wrong given the Merzyear of issue.

[Balor/SS1535]

Thoughts on the Satanstornade collaboration with Russell Haswell?

I guess it is technically not a Merzbow release, as Akita listed himself under his own name.  I don't see many references to it on the forum, but I relistened to it again today and I enjoyed it quite a bit.  It makes me think it would be the result of telling Merzbow to "play Whitehouse" at parts, with very harsh digital noise.

According to an old review (https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5242-satanstornade/) this was projected to be one of the most widely distributed Merzbow recordings?  Anyone know if this is true?  I'm certainly no authority on what was popular in the early 2000s, but I also don't think I ever hear about this being mentioned/played with any frequency at this point.

I'm also curious about why he didn't release it as Merzbow, if it was in fact going to get such a wide distribution.  Given the release date, I assume this must be one of the earlier computer-noise outputs, so maybe he's figuring out if he wants to use this stuff with his "official" project?

[k.p.g]

Stumbling back into this thread, forgetting I have already left a comment here once.  OP's comment about Boris collabs made me realize that I think the only time I really enjoy that band is when they are in cahoots with Merzbow.  I am not sure what it is, but he elevates a higher power out of them that normal records do not have.  In a similar vein, he got Full of Hell to write some of their best songs for their collaboration, which I think set a fire under that band's ass that still burns to this day.

Looks like there's no mention of the Smegma collaborations that Helicopter reissued on here.  I think Plays was pretty phenomenal.