The Summer Of Merzbox:

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Disc 18: Have we made it?  I think we made it.  Heavy industrial noise, and I like it!  I can't help but feel that we are missing out as listeners by not having some rough approximation of the original Pornoise packaging, though.

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Yes, a day missed... (I was on jury duty...)

But onwards to discs 19 and 20!

I am really tired today, so I guess this is probably more of a "me problem" than anything---but the loops just don't do much for me.  I liked the first disc the best so far.  In other news, I looked up the original packaging finally, and the pictures on Discogs don't live up to the image I had in my head!  I expected more literal trash...

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Disc 21: Back on track!  We are once again in the territory of industrial Merzbow.  At times almost like a harsher Throbbing Gristle.

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Disc 22: The Sadomasochismo side of this is among the best of the Merzbox that I have gone through thus far.  Dark, haunting, and atmospheric!  Here the oft-complained about sound collage elements take on a more expressive and content-communicating role.  It bears some similarities to the Music for Bondage Performance albums beyond just themes (which I now need to revisit again).  The second half of this disc was not as gripping, though I did like the bird samples on the last track.

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Disc 23: Merzbow truly evolves in a spiral.  Back again to collage-work, but also someplace new.  Rather than pure and simple Dada-juxtaposition, the samples and the compositions that Akita creates out of them are much more atmospheric.  While Merzbow has never been short on "themes" in his noise, this is really the outstanding era in which the form of his noise really coincides with some of the ideas he is expressing through it.  Dark, dissonant, but not fully harsh.  (Yes, I know that there is a larger, holistic project that is meaningfully reflected across literally all releases...)

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Disc 24: This one really spans some time.  1986-89?  As one might expect, the disc gets better as it goes on, evolving from industrial atmospherics to much harsher sounds.  Overall, this felt much "sleeker" than earlier collage-works.  He has clearly improved in his abilities to manipulate tapes---regardless of his dedication to trash.

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Disc 25: We are officially halfway there!  I really liked this disc.  Very atmospheric and droning, not at all what I would have expected given the list of "instruments" that seem to substantially include toys and other household objects.  Electronics dominate the found sounds and other collage elements, producing a dramatic whole that is dark and mind-bending.

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Disc 26: When I first listened to the Merzbox, this was one of my favorite discs---and it still is upon relisten (perhaps even more so!).  I love the sounds, and I love the story behind it (imagine Merzbow being told to be less noisy nowadays).  It's also interesting to hear Merzbow actually function as a band on the second half, easily fitting in amongst the likes of Naked City and so on.

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Disc 26: When I first listened to the Merzbox, this was one of my favorite discs---and it still is upon relisten (perhaps even more so!).  I love the sounds, and I love the story behind it (imagine Merzbow being told to be less noisy nowadays).  It's also interesting to hear Merzbow actually function as a band on the second half, easily fitting in amongst the likes of Naked City and so on.

Dude! I check here most days to see if anyone (other than me) interrupted the flow. 😂

You have my deep respect.

(I suppose my Knurlathon at S+W offers a very slight resemblance.)

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Disc 26: When I first listened to the Merzbox, this was one of my favorite discs---and it still is upon relisten (perhaps even more so!).  I love the sounds, and I love the story behind it (imagine Merzbow being told to be less noisy nowadays).  It's also interesting to hear Merzbow actually function as a band on the second half, easily fitting in amongst the likes of Naked City and so on.

Dude! I check here most days to see if anyone (other than me) interrupted the flow. 😂

You have my deep respect.

(I suppose my Knurlathon at S+W offers a very slight resemblance.)

haha  I just keep on truckin'... or merzin' (I guess).

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Disc 27: Nothing particularly of note for me on this one---aside from the engine-like sound that kicked off track #3.

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Disc 28: I will catch up by the end of the day, I promise!  This one, unfortunately, felt like a step in the reverse.  The Merzbook specifically points out how Merzbow uses studio panning to great effect on this one, and I made the mistake of listening to it with headphones rather than a speaker system...  Suffice to say that it made the first track especially hard to get through.

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Disc 29: This disc felt like moving backwards in Merz-time, but in a good way---as though it took someone else to come along and say "Hey Mr. Merzbow, take another look at these old sounds, there is something interesting here."  The early 1980s clatter is reframed in a mysterious and occassionally ominous way.  I like it.

Swimming Behavior of the Human Infant is definitely an interesting project name (one that I easily confuse with Sudden Infant---which is actually pretty similar as a project, from what I have heard), and it is really cool to see the Merzbox center a collaborative album.  According to the book, talks of reissuing this album is what led to the massive compilation of Merzbow that we are working through!

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Disc 30: I really like this one!  I remember reading years ago, before I had ever listened to any Merzbow, about an album that he supposedly recorded using only random household objects---and I guess this is probably it (or, at least, the first track is)!  The tribal-ish drumming is also really cool and makes for an interesting transition.  The last track really bursts onto the scene as well but develops into a stragely hypnotic reptitive structure.

Also, side note, Akita confusing the phrase "scientific name" with the "professional names of various rats" is my favorite mistranslation encountered thus far in this project.

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Disc 31: Though I liked the previous collab with SBOTHI (well, I guess this one is released under his own name now), I don't care for this one all that much.  That's not because of Merzbow, but rather the result of Achim Wollscheid's editing.  Initially, it added some dynamism to what sounded like yet another Merzbow-does-industrial recording.  As the CD progressed, however, the cuts became regular enough to be expected while simultaneously failing to provide any sort of rhythm.

I'm curious what tools Wollscheid used to do this, though.  The description of the event surrounding this disc sounds very interesting.  If anyone is interested in producing something similar, I highly recommend Jliat's automatic cut-up program!