| Project Name: |
Merzbow |
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| Album: |
Voice Pie (Split CD With Bastard Noise) |
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| Record Company: |
Release Entertainment / Relapse Records
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| Catalog Number: |
RR 6946-2 |
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| Year: |
1995 |
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| Categories: |
harsh, analog, metals, EMS Synthi 'A', psychadelic, pulse |
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| Line-up: |
Masami Akita |
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| Collaborators: |
A - Space Bass, on Ghost Rider. |
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| Track List: |
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| Related Albums: |
Venereology, Pulse Demon, Green Wheels, Noisembryo, Medamaya, Tauromachine |
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| Comments: |
Japan's god of noise squares off against Man Is the Bastard offshoot Bastard Noise in a live noise split release. This dual performance documents two perspectives of the international underground noise scene. Blessed with fantastic graphic design, this another of the five Merzbow cds that Release/Relapse released, Voice Pie is a split cd with California's Bastard Noise. The first 5 tracks are from Merzbow and the remaining 8 are from Bastard Noise. On vinyl, there are only four and six tracks respectively. The first four tracks were recorded at ZSF Produkt Studio, June 1994, while the fifth was recorded live at WKCR-FM, Columbia University, NY, September 9th, 1995. Apparently "Ghost Rider" is a cover of a song by Suicide, but you wouldn't know it from listening to it. The material is much in the vein of other cds from this era; this is a time of great prolific output in Merzbow's career and for most is the sound that defines what Merzbow is all about. Abrasive pulsing walls of brutal feedback and distortion in an unrelenting assault on the listener. It's funny, many non-fans dismiss Merzbow's entire catalog as sounding exactly like this, while a vocal segment of his die hard fanbase wished dearly that this misguided criticism was true, deeply resenting Akita's move to laptop-based sound design, or "craptop" as they tend to say. I bought this on vinyl back in 1996 or so and I have distinct memories of listening on a Walkman to a tape copy I'd made, walking around the campus of NJIT in the winter of early 1997. So these tracks have a certain nostalgic value to me, especially Voice Pie's unique squealing high end and the distorted drum loop intro of Aura. I'm not sure when I picked up the cd release, but I'm glad to have it as the long bonus track is both really good and longer than any 2 of the original tracks combined. The Bastard Noise material here is good, especially the opening track Native American, but not my favorite material by them; that would have to be the split cassette with Hermit, The Sources of Power From Another World 12" or the cd on Alien8. They're definitely not the most accessible act in the world, even to fans. Much of this stuff reminds me of my days messing around with circuit-bent tape decks, analog synths and home made 8 track tape loops, and the highlights are really strong and exciting to listen to. As with the Merzbow "side", the bonus tracks add over ten more minutes of B.N. material versus the 12" version, and the two tracks are really good lo-fi droning junk and feedback noise. |
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| Related Links: |
Release/Relapse Page, Digital Merzbow Page, Bastard Noise Discography Page, Suicide Fan Page with entry for this cd |
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| Reviews: |
None |
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| Images: |
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