Merzbow

How does one describe noise? Static? It's easy to dismiss noise artists like Merzbow as simply that, noise. It's the most accurate word. Varying electronic distortion? Sound wave dissection? Whatever it is, Masami Akita, aka Merzbow, is the king of it. He's released over 300 albums and written over a dozen books. He has worked with a huge list of artists like Russell Haswell, Genesis P-Orridge, Alec Empire, Mike Patton and Boris. In general, his pieces are solid, wall-to-wall noise, with pulsing throbs of distorted bass loops and a million layers of white noise, always changing and growing ever more all-encompassing. When it all ends, the silence is deafening. His work is at times beautiful, at other times, awful, and that's exactly his point. Perhaps his approach is best summed up with this quote: "The effects of Japanese culture are too much noise everywhere. I want to make silence by my noise."