Merzbow - Tentacle (Alchemy Records)
Venturing back to an early laptop-era recording to beat the summer heat today. The more I listen to Merzbow, the easier I find it to differentiate between the eras and how far into them the records are. Tentacle definitely has all the hallmarks of early laptop-era for Masami; tons of filter sweeps, glitch cuts that sound like a random tone generator and rhythmic passages that possibly overstay their welcome. It could sound like amateur hour based on that description, and well, it is! After all, this is some of the first stuff that he recorded upon transitioning over to the laptop. It wasn't like Sun Ra was an expert with the Moog upon unboxing, and the same could be said for Masami with the laptop.
Still, the amateur and rather primitive nature of releases like this make for a fun listen. They have their charm and by no means are anywhere near awful. Hell, there are moments like the end of "Stormy Tuesday" into the monolith that is "Stormy Wednesday" that could make a case for being among some of the best moments in his catalogue. I am referring to those moments of eerie silence, bordering on just pure dark ambient. Scary good.