We could be Merzbow just for one day
 

My thoughts on Noise exactly.Post you ready made noise thoughts if you like.It took me the time of going to the shop and get something to eat plus checking that my washing was done to make it.Enjoy.http://www.badongo.com/file/1978795

Hah.

Now that you mention it though, imagine being him for a day. Just make feedback and make a living off of it.

im up to cd 12 of the merzbox at the moment. enthralling to say the least

That's an incredibly inaccurate summarization of Merzbow's music. There's a lot going on in his noise besides "feedback", and in fact I wouldn't even say that's one of his most frequent tools.

He's the master of modulation and texture,the lack of which bugs me a lot about a lot of noisemakers wannabes.

Exactly, he puts way more thought into every one of his pieces than most noise and power electronics fools put into their entire output.

you're very right about that. contrary to what most may say, there's much more to noise than just noise.

Oh, here we go.

Not to sound condescending, but I've probably heard just as much if not more noise than 90% of the people who post on this board. I've heard the entire Merzbox, so I know what I'm talking about here. I'm not trying to sound like a dick, but there really isn't much to what he does besides make feedback skronk and beat on metals and etc etc etc. Inventive, yes, interesting, yes, talented? Hell no. Anyone can do that shit, and he could do it while he was asleep. His releases lack any real progress (the last few years, he's been using a laptop and sloppily throwing drum beats behind his feedback -- OH MAN!!!!!!!!!) and he's done 50,000 of them.

Noise is usually more than just noise, but of all the noise artists I've heard Merzbow actually is probably one of the least interesting.

I'd say my favorite noise artist is Mammal, followed closely by Yellow Swans, followed closely by Roxanne Jean Polise. Also worth noting are the old stand-bys Hair Police and The Rita and LOTS of shit from Japan (Ryoji Ikeda, for example, uses the sounds of computers crashing and tons of glitching noises; he's not a noise artist persé but there's really not a lot "musical" about what he does and it's some of the best shit I've EVER heard). So yeah.

Oh really?Apart from almost single-handedly giving it some sort of exotic allure and meaning that is generally missing from it?If Mr Noise wouldn't mind,could we have proof of this statement?

I'm trying to close the can of worms here, but ...

Merzbow is AMAZING, rightly judged as a hero of noise and the inventor (well.. maybe not inventor but the one who gave it a face, a meaning, etc.). But I'm just saying.. compared to a LOT of other noise artists, his work just doesn't interest me anymore. I mean, another example is Wolf Eyes. Lots of really good releases actually, but man... I dunno. Overrated as fuck.

Merzbow is another one of those artists who could belong in a hall of fame somewhere, but as far as noise goes his skronk just doesn't excite me as much as other artists. That's what I meant.

"Make feedback and make a living off of it" is just a general summary of him, and I'm proud of what he's done and so on and so on but man... it'd be so fun to just record an hour of silence or an hour of one feedback tone or an hour of beating on random metals or an hour of fucking around with a casio keyboard "telephone" setting and ANY LABEL EVER would release it just cuz, hey, it's merzbow. Doesn't matter the quality behind it... it's merzbow. I just get a laugh out of that. Not trying to be insulting here, doods.

Also, we should keep this thread alive just so I can use "skronk" a few more times.

So,whose work rivals his then?

I already listed artists I enjoy more in noise a few posts ago.

Merzbow may be the most *important* but not the one I listen to the most. Okay?

Well,list them again as i seem to have missed it.I hope that list includes Marclay,Hussell and the like or you're in trouble.

Okay?

..................

Funny how i'd consider Hair Police more musical than Ryoji Ikeda but,then,who am i to know?

Depends on the Hair Police, I guess. But I mean, who really cares anyway? What's the debate here? Merzbow is important yada yada he doesn't interest me after hearing 70 or so of his albums yada yada the end.

Merzbow is pretty fucking boring most of the time. I own 8 Merzbow releases and I can only bear to hear 2 of them most of the time. I'm concurring with atsonicpark.

Oh, and FYI: Cancer Filth is the best noise group ever. They take skronk to a different level and put it under more layers of skronk.

FMI:Nah, i aint think so.Cunts,the lot of you.

Oh, it's obvious we're cunts. You trying to tell me something new?

Only just slightly, however.

I posted a full-length reply on my other replies on this topic, so yeah.

everything you're saying is pretty subjective, though. whether you like it or not, merzbow focuses a bit more on texture and concept more than most other noiseniks out there who tend to just wank around and twiddle knobs. whether you like his work more than other cats is one thing, but to discount his discography to making a living off of feedback is just plain silly.

there isn't much skronk in his work either. harsh walls of sound and pulsating pulsy things? yes. but skronk? no. sonny sharrock had the skronk. merzbow has the saurieowrpuopeuoiuck.

Okay, cool, allow me not to be subjective then: Merzbow has made a living making sounds that anyone in the entire world with no talent whatsoever could fart. He records toilets flushing, feedback, radio static, beating on metal shit, and rubbing his nipples, and people buy it in droves because it's merzbow. I DON'T DISLIKE MERZBOW. But I do find it HILARIOUS that he can just do any random boring bullshit, some people will hail it as genius, others hail it as shit, but when it comes down to it, no matter how interesting it is, it's really just.. well, noise.. and yet people spend tons of money on it. Crazy.

Subjectively, I'd gladly spend more money on interesting noise, since I own plenty of interesting noise releases. Merzbow is not very interesting to me.

[Same shit with mike patton though... love the dude, love his bands, but I mean, he could put out a cd of him farting and people would buy 100,000 copies... wait, that already happened! (adult themes for voice)]

And I hardly think Masami focuses that much on "texture". Maybe my definition of texture is different -- I'm thinking layers here. Pulse Demon, for example, is nothing but random noises cut up and spliced together forever. Not really textural, man. And the first 30 or so discs of the Merzbox are.. haha.. not textural at all. If anything is textural about him, it's his more recent (and least interesting) work with the laptop. Weird.

But you are right.. Merzbow definitely doesn't twittle knobs.

hell, anyone could've done what warhol did, but they didn't. all he did was use funny colors on soup cans and invert the contrast of marilyn monroe photos and he's hailed as a proprietor of pop art.

maybe i'm a nut, but it's not really expected that an artists earliest work be his or her best. it grows and hopefully matures over time and that's what his has done, i believe.

I think he got less interesting over time. But he's been doing at 30 years.

I dunno, I'm done with this thread, Merz is fine, just not my favorite. Yaay.

aww man. nobody even got to call anyone else 'ghey'.

wait, you complain about merzbow doing the same thing over and over... and then you name drop the rita?

you are either insane or deaf

Rest assured,atsonicpark,that with tons of realeses under his belt(and most certainly tons more to come) Merzbow has little time to ever think about yours,mine or anyone's internet thoughts.

Wrong again, Mr Marras. Mr Bow (or Steve as I know him) PMs me frequently. And he's bemused by what goes on. He says he'd like more pictures of balloons, if that's possible.

Mr Bowels?

Nah, he sends me pictures of the Christenings he hi-jacks with his neo-circus music.

Does this suffice, Mr. Bow?

youre all right but my opinion is merzbow tackles the noise thing with something a bit special. its consistently merz even though it is a painstakingly huge amount of noise he has released. im now on cd 16 of the box set and its getting better......

noise comes in different forms and obviously everyone wont agree.... wolf eyes are the most overrated noise band i think. i only really like about 2 releases and just got black vomit and its ok on first listen.

there is a fine line between being in the white house and being in the shite house and a lot, A LOT of noise acts cross that line a lot......... its just a matter of separating the wheat from the chaff, like all music!!!

haha I knew my name dropping of the rita would inspire controversy.

up to cd 25 now.......