Post by Halcyon on Mar 24, 2009 13:21:04 GMT -5
After four unsuccessful attempts to see Merzbow live throughout the last two years, it finally worked out last Saturday. Merzbow was playing a show at the Republic in Salzburg as a part of the Biennale. The Republic was easy to find as it was located in the city centre right across an Italian restaurant where I ate pizza a few years ago.
I think around 150 people were attending, but luckily I got a place in the center of the first row.
The performance started with a throbbing bass loop which set up things nicely and turned out to be extremely hypnotic (I constantly caught myself nodding my head to it). After a few minutes Akita slowly added other sound samples like those of chirping birds and scraping metal. This first part of the performance reminded me a lot of the Hard Lovin' Man CD, especially after the bass loop apparently turned out to be part of a guitar sample.
Around the ten minute mark, the loop disappeared and got replaced by a slow techno beat, comparable to the rhythm of the third track on Dust of Dreams. Akita then picked up his home made junk guitar and started to play it alongside the beat. Hearing this live sounded absolutely wonderful, but it would even get better...
After approx. 25 – 30 minutes, the techno beat stopped while Akita played on with his junk guitar, when he suddenly introduced one of his improvised free drum tracks to the mix! The drum speed constantly changed between slow rhythms and frenetic drumming, which brought to mind the first and last track on Somei. Honestly, hearing Akitas free drum sounds in a live context gave me a new understanding and appreciation of his current releases.
Near the end, the drums disappeared again and Akita added an electronic rhythm loop, which I immediately recognised from his live performance in London last year (the one which starts at 1:13 on this video www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkW3cQiH-pE). I actually hope Akita will use this sample on one of this future albums, as it sounds great in my opinion. Around the 50 minutes mark, the loop disappeared, leaving total sonic mayhem behind. Akita went on to create some fascinating sounds with his junk guitar before the show suddenly stopped.
Short silence, then big and long applause. Akita makes a quick bow, then hastily leaves the stage.
Absolutely wonderful show, and definitely worth every cent for me. The show was a perfect mixture of digital and analogue sounds, the free drum track was beautiful and the show was loud enough to make my whole body shake. Definitely a great night!
On a related note, the show by Otomo Yoshihide and friends was also beautiful. I can't recall it as much as the Merzbow perfomance, but it was sure worth its money. Haunting and atmospheric, with a great balance between silence and louder parts.
Oh, and Salzburg itself was lovely, of course!
I think around 150 people were attending, but luckily I got a place in the center of the first row.
The performance started with a throbbing bass loop which set up things nicely and turned out to be extremely hypnotic (I constantly caught myself nodding my head to it). After a few minutes Akita slowly added other sound samples like those of chirping birds and scraping metal. This first part of the performance reminded me a lot of the Hard Lovin' Man CD, especially after the bass loop apparently turned out to be part of a guitar sample.
Around the ten minute mark, the loop disappeared and got replaced by a slow techno beat, comparable to the rhythm of the third track on Dust of Dreams. Akita then picked up his home made junk guitar and started to play it alongside the beat. Hearing this live sounded absolutely wonderful, but it would even get better...
After approx. 25 – 30 minutes, the techno beat stopped while Akita played on with his junk guitar, when he suddenly introduced one of his improvised free drum tracks to the mix! The drum speed constantly changed between slow rhythms and frenetic drumming, which brought to mind the first and last track on Somei. Honestly, hearing Akitas free drum sounds in a live context gave me a new understanding and appreciation of his current releases.
Near the end, the drums disappeared again and Akita added an electronic rhythm loop, which I immediately recognised from his live performance in London last year (the one which starts at 1:13 on this video www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkW3cQiH-pE). I actually hope Akita will use this sample on one of this future albums, as it sounds great in my opinion. Around the 50 minutes mark, the loop disappeared, leaving total sonic mayhem behind. Akita went on to create some fascinating sounds with his junk guitar before the show suddenly stopped.
Short silence, then big and long applause. Akita makes a quick bow, then hastily leaves the stage.
Absolutely wonderful show, and definitely worth every cent for me. The show was a perfect mixture of digital and analogue sounds, the free drum track was beautiful and the show was loud enough to make my whole body shake. Definitely a great night!
On a related note, the show by Otomo Yoshihide and friends was also beautiful. I can't recall it as much as the Merzbow perfomance, but it was sure worth its money. Haunting and atmospheric, with a great balance between silence and louder parts.
Oh, and Salzburg itself was lovely, of course!
