Richard Pinhas And Merzbow – Keio Line

This collaboration between Merzbow & Richard Pinhas is aboslutely amazing. This 2cd set is a swirling mass of treated guitar, fuzzed out drones, and pulsating analog rhythms. That being said, this release wanders far from the standard Merzbow release of sheer blasts of aggressive psychedelic noise. Instead, it maps out new terrain that I hope Merzbow continues to explore in the future as a solo artist or as a collaborator.

Listening to Keio Line a few times more, I definitely change my mind on the harsh review I posted earlier. Merzbow's chilling ambience and synthi match Pinhas' guitar perfectly. A dark layered ambience, that just grows more and more intense, only to be broken by beautiful melodies on the guitar. Extremely soothing, while still retaining a certain dark mysterious edge. The atmosphere is so thick, comparable to even Darkspace. If you dug Merzbow vs. Nordvargr, you will totally dig this.

Alright, another CD another review. Found this in the record store while I was perusing, someone bought Dolphin Sonar so I settled for this. Packaging is sweet, double disc Merzbow anything is a plus, but honestly, I could care less if this release came out. Merzbow follows in the vein of his Boris collaboration "Megatone" by adding random electronics over Pinhas' guitar. But not good tape loop noise like Megatone, the repetative synthi noise that Merzbeat and Merzbuta are characterized by. The cover says that the collaboration is beautiful with harsh electronics. I agree with the beautiful, Pinhas' guitar sounds like an angel's harp with Merzbow just laying some electronics on top. It would be nice if there were more on Merzbow's part. Song titles kill though, really.