Merzbow Monday: Merzbow – Paradoxa Paradoxa album review
On Live at Kid Araik Hall I, Merzbow reveals noise – alongside hip-hop and electronic music – reveals itself to be the spiritual successor to jazz. There’s not enough appreciation … Continue reading
Merzbow Monday: Merzbow – Material Action For 2 Microphones (1981) album review
Collected as part of the Merzbox, Material Action For 2 Microphones stands out in a nearly bottomless discography. Considering the project name’s debt to Kurt Schwitters, it’s easy to forget … Continue reading
Merzbow Monday: Merzbow – Green Wheels (Self Abuse, 1995) Album Review
Green Wheels is ’90s Merzbow at its purest – 70 minutes of dense, sprawling, relentless noise on unwieldy, cumbersome packaging. Knowing where to start with Masami Akita’s bottomless discography is … Continue reading
Merzbow Monday: Merzbow – Hybrid Noisebloom (1997) album review
1997’s Hybrid Noisebloom is a Long Dark Spin Cycle of the Soul, leaving you ecstatically exhausted, wrung out, and cleansed. Reviewing noise records is funny business. In a certain respect, … Continue reading
Merzbow Monday: Merzbow vs Nordvargr – Partikel III (Cold Spring) album review
Two masters of noise, experimental electronics, and dark ambiance come together for a third collaboration, a highlight of both of their monolithic discographies. Merzbow is often at his best when … Continue reading
Merzbow Monday: Merzbow – E-Study album review
Like walking through a forest of rebar, getting caught in the crossfire of some BB battle, 1981’s E-Study is about as far from Harsh Noise as you can get in … Continue reading
Merzbow Monday: Merzbow – Mukomodulator album review
Two tracks of raw, unfiltered harsh noise from the master Masami Akita, recorded live at a gallery in Tokyo in November 2020. For noise fans, we’ve heard the same tired … Continue reading
Subterranean Homesick Blues: Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones
In which our hero abandons his barfly beatnik persona to become the carnival barker of the damned, the poet laureate of sailors on shore leaves, of amputees and blacksmiths and … Continue reading
Alchemical Americana: Califone – Roots and Crowns (Thrill Jockey)
For their fourth proper full-length, Califone update their scrapmetal Harry Smith alchemical Americana with a bit of exotica, sparkle, and sheen. Califone are, to quote Grand Funk Railroad, an American … Continue reading
Lifestyles For Apocalyptic Youth: Drvg Cvltvre – Nobody Cares Forever (New York Haunted) review
On his newest long-player for the dependable New York Haunted label, Vincent Koreman, the prolific madman behind Drvg Cvltvre subverts lifestyle branding with subversive snippets of soundbytes, with a battery … Continue reading
