Merzbow – Merzzow

This might be his best, at least certainly one of the best!

Some people just love slowing shit down. It’s now an art form. Think DJ Screw, Chuck Persons, or any number of YouTube vids where everything from classical works to Aphex Twin is slurred to slug’s pace. ‘Merzzow’ is, in part, head-nod paradise, boasting several time-stretched knife-glint vapor rock blowouts but, really, they’re only half the story. The god of noise has long been a fan of electroacoustic and tape music, and on this 70-minute ride through ominous weather, static ruptures and caged disruptions, you can genuinely feel it. I mean, one track samples Schoenberg’s ‘Three Little Orchestra Pieces’, another is actually titled ‘Penderecki’, so connections to the avant-garde are clearly no accident here. So, yes, ‘Merzzow’ contains plenty of variety, but it all hangs together remarkably well (if restrained force and singed fuses are your thing).

'Humingbird' on the CD is the same recording issued on the LSD 7", not an alternate version.