The cycle of the new and unknown becoming the old and mundane has been at work in culture for centuries, but it doesn’t stop folks from, each step of the way, finding the world’s imminent demise in those hallowed signs of a cultural apocalypse: sex and violence. But, unfailingly, yesterday’s taboos become today’s cultural currency, and the cycle begins again. In this sense, the career of Merzbow, Masami Akita, is an interesting study. Begun in 1979, Akita’s work as Merzbow has reached a mass of rather epic proportions, and the man who for years lingered on the fringes of public consciousness, known and loved largely by aficionados of aural punishment, has gained notoriety of somewhat of a godfather of noise, and while a Rolling Stone cover isn’t forthcoming, Merzbow is surely more of a household name than he likely ever expected, and while his hellish noise would likely still startle your next-door neighbor, to the knowledgeable music fan, noise isn’t the oddity it once was, and Merzbow, as an elder statesman, likely enjoys a broader popularity than ever. Now in his fifties, Akita hasn’t softened with age, and while his use of beats and conventional concepts of rhythm riled some fans, it’s nice to know that Merzbow’s still bringing it, almost thirty years later.
No Fun Fest has become somewhat of a convention for noise fans; it’s still a concert at heart, but the amount of merch selling (and trading, of course) and networking that takes place at the yearly event has certainly contributed to the growth of noise music in recent years. If the festival is a convention, then, Merzbow was 2007’s keynote speaker, and Live Destruction at No Fun 2007 relates his address to the delegates, a forty-minute onslaught that brings together well the two iterations of Akita’s music. This night, Merzbow married the analog and digital (amplified sheet metal and laptops, respectively) to deliver his usual cacophony with a certain new aplomb. The two methods mesh well, and Akita’s amalgamation isn’t one of stark difference. Beats do move by, buried deep under untold layers of sound, and unmistakably digital effects intrude from time to time, but unlike many who fall prey to digital technology’s siren song later in their careers, Akita has learned to use such new tools with a sensitivity to the music’s overall sound, and Live Destruction… is more in line with the classic Merzbow sound than many of his more recent releases. The disc avoids the monotony of constant, high-powered ear damage, and Akita works things along carefully, bringing sounds and textures in and out of the mix, kneading the music like a malleable lump of barbed wire, twisted metal, and broken glass.
Working more with animal rights and environmental causes (the disc’s cover features a colorful portrait of what is likely one of his beloved pet chickens), Akita has shown he’s not just the transgressive, bondage-inspired nihilist that some have made him out to be, but this disc proves that Merzbow, where the well-being of his listeners ears is concerned, is , luckily, as uncaring as ever.
