IDM Mailing Archive

I think I remember seeing reports about a year or so ago about Merzbow making the jump to laptop. Well, I don't know if one thing has to do with the other, but there are two new Merzbow albums which are much more in the glitch vein than just strictly noise. On Amlux and Merzbeat, both on Important Records, he combines his characteristic walls of white noise with some loopish drum patterns as well as some actual song structures. The songs are still too long in my opinion, averging between 10 and 15 minutes, with an occasional 20 minute song. Good news is that the best may be still yet to come- according to the press report, a remix/reinterpretation/reconstruction cd is in the works of the Amlux cd with contributions by- Jack Dangers Atom Heart Bola Negativland Dj Spooky Chicks on Speed KK Null Alec Empire Nobukazu Takemura Luke Vibert Mouse on Mars Hrvatski Kid 606 and some others The Jack Dangers remix is the 'hidden' track on the first pressing of the Merzbeat cd. It's not as rhythmic as you would expect, in fact it's less rhythmic and more noisy than the original Merzbow tunes. And it isn't a hidden track if on the liner notes it says in big letters "LOOK FOR THE HIDDEN TRACK: A JACK DANGERS REMIX OF THE SONG AMLUX AND IT'S TRACK NUMBER 66!" It sorta defeats the purpose of the whole thing (and what the purpose is of hidden tracks anymore I don't know either.) importantrecords.com