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Merzbow and Kim Cascone: Rondo7PhasesBlowback The mere presence of the word 'Merzbow' on a recording's sleeve can give pause to even the most courageous listener but, frankly, there's little cause for alarm here. Naturally, the Japanese terrorist provides a requisite number of cranium-shattering moments but they're leavened by Cascone's civilizing presence, making Rondo/7Phases/Blowback as palatable a Merzbow-related project as one might possibly encounter. On paper, it certainly appears to be a perfect pairing, as Cascone's microtonal experimentalism seems an ideal foil for Merzbow's extreme noisecore. For those new to the composers, Cascone is a microsound artist who christened his label and studio Anechoic, in reference to John Cage's anechoic chamber experiences where sounds emanating from his body prompted him to conclude that pure silence doesn't exist. Cascone is also known for his embrace of “residualism,” a principle of signal reductionism, and usage of the object-oriented audio programming language Max/MSP. In his Blue Cube Triptych (Ritornell), he used computer code to create the sounds in the first two parts Blue Cube and Cathode Flower, but in the third, Residualism, used Max/MSP algorithms to randomly combine individual parts from the first two into larger structures, a method re-applied to his pieces in Rondo/7Phases/Blowback. Merzbow (Masami Akita) would appear to be Cascone's diametric opposite. While there's clearly an intellectual foundation to Akita's work, the music has a visceral and raw, even irrational power. His allegiance to the irrational is borne out by the moniker itself, the named inspired by Dadaist Kurt Schwitters' The Cathedral of Erotic Misery—the very title a succinct encapsulation of Merzbow's sound. His music is surreal, too, according to Breton's definition of Surrealism: “Pure psychic automatism, by which it is intended to express, verbally, in writing, or by other means, the real process of thought. Thought's dictation, in the absence of all control exercised by the reason and outside all aesthetic or moral preoccupations” (Andre Breton, What Is Surrealism, 1924). For Akita, Surrealism's greatest idea is its embrace of the erotic, hence his obsession with erotic pleasure derived from noise. He also shares Dada's desire to abolish conventional art forms and reassess accepted definitions like “noise” as opposed to “music.” Rondo/7Phases/Blowback grew out of a remix Cascone produced using extracts from Merzbow's Amlux recording, with the final result three tracks, the first “Rondo” a gargantuan thirty-two minute epic recorded and mixed in Tokyo in 2003, the second “7Phases” half its length, and the third “Blowback” a mere two-minutes, the latter two recorded in 2004 at Cascone's San Francisco studio; presumably, Merzbow assumes a more dominant role on “Rondo,” with Cascone the larger presence on the other two. Cascone's tracks were created using tape editing techniques associated with Musique Concrete combined with Max/MSP algorithms. “Blowback” was produced using these editing techniques and then assembled via sound editor software. It's a mercurial, restless collage of whirrs, flickers, and static, like a blueprint set of sounds intended to be used as raw material. The middle piece, “7Phases,” adds algorithms to generate its seven sections, with a brief pause signaling transitions between them. The first features electronic tones smothered by static, fuzz, and whirrs, plus a grinding figure that emerges through the dense mass. In the fourth, clicking and low broiling tones become ripples and flickers that gather into a seething storm. The sixth sounds almost Ovalesque with its needling array of whirrs, crackle, and surges. Each phase exudes a slightly different character, but they're unified by the recurring motif of a mutating noise, similar to the sound of an overhead airplane sampled and extended into a grinding, droning loop. The relatively controlled results in these two pieces again suggest Cascone's greater involvement. “Rondo” is more daunting and reminiscent of Merzbow's style. It opens with rumbling thrums that begin unassumingly but soon intensify as industrial noise and croaking screeches are added that simulate the distorted revving of a motorcycle engine. Squeals explode intermittently until caustic grindings grow into a hellish wailing cacophony. The nightmare subsides, leaving loud chatter above looping see-saw figures, and then segues into quieter hum and hiss that builds to distorted loops and strangulated engine noises. Dense clusters lead into echoing strafings, until this alien noisescape expires with quiet, ghostly tones. Supposedly Cascone and Akita used each other's work as raw material for the collaboration, with the results subsequently exchanged and treated as either new source material or finished work. While it's possible that Cascone incorporated Merzbow material into “7Phases” and “Blowback” and Merzbow did the same with Cascone's in “Rondo,” the aural evidence suggests the dominant presence of one or the other in the three pieces. But it's hardly a crucial point, merely one of interest, as the musical results are thoroughly abstract throughout although obviously more violent in the first track. As with Merzbow's work in general, conventional assessments don't seem appropriate, given the degree to which his “music” seeks to undermine the notion of standard evaluative determinations. At the very least, the surprisingly listenable Rondo/7Phases/Blowback offers a bearable entry point for those seeking an introduction to Merzbow, as well as a more aggressive presentation of Cascone's normally more restrained style. August 2004
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