Merzbow - Ikebana: Merzbow's Amlux Rebuilt, Reused And Recycled

The second CD is cool, but due to it's diversity, the first CD probably has all the highlights, save the brilliant Negativland remix, which uses Merzbow's teeth rattling assault to create a fantastic parody of those attack warning public service messages. Kurt Weisman's microsound mix is notably interesting, in how it manages to be incredibly muted yet still disorienting in the right setting. However, in the end, the last track of the first disc is the most surprising (even though it was released previously on the Merzbeat album), as Masami himself trades the entrancing drone of Looping Jane for a massively distorted, oddly looped drum track and rough ambience. A fascinating example of an artist radically recontextualizing their own work and stepping outside of their element.

i am still trying to get past how good the first four tracks are.... DJ Spooky is brilliant with his fucked up piece of tunage, Dj Rupture is good to but then Plug just blows me away with his Dnb bass mix, the best DnB track and the best Plug track i have heard in a long long time... then Alec Empire blasts some very nice noisy hardcore, much noisier then anything else i have heard from him of late... great album...

just look at the list of remixers on this and try and tell yourself this isn't worth buying. go on. a lot of the tracks sound quite different from what you might expect from the artists remixing. really really interesting stuff.