Merzbow

Merzbow and Keiji Haino (Kikuri) at Supersonic 2 years ago. I attended this.

When I think of Noise music, I think of Merzbow (real name Masami Akita). He is at the forefront of the genre pioneering and pushing the limitations constantly ever since he started recording in 1980. A full discography of his work simply does not exist because of the extensive amount of recordings he has made.

His music is generally, particularly in recent times, is extremely harsh which goes back to his inspirations from death metal and grindcore bands of the late 80's/early 90's, as well as psychedelic music he listened to in his youth. Merzbow's distict style includes distortion, feedback, noise from various synthesizers and noise machines. Of late, he has become interested in animal rights creating music using samples from different animals. Some recording examples of these are Merzbird and Merzbear.


Yellow Hyper Balls from "Pulse Demon"

Melt Banana

Another Japanese Noise Punk band I saw at Supersonic. Here is a video of their 8 short songs:



I remember the first time I heard Melt Banana, it was on a mix cd that my then boyfriend made me when I was 16, before I knew any better about music. I remember thinking this is the craziest thing I've ever heard! Even now, I still think their music is pretty crazy and as rad as they are, I still can't listen to them that often. I guess this is because, most times when I listen to music, I am drawing or working of some sort and I need a level of concentration that Melt Banana can't offer me. Saying that, I am listening to them whilst typing this!They have this pure noisey energy that shouts, HEY! We're in the room performing, LISTEN TO US!!" and you just can't ignore it. This is why they are so good live, even if you don't listen to them usually, because you just have to focus on them and be entranced by their madness.

Nisennenmondai

This a blog for me to research my interests in Alternative music including Drone music and Doom music, but also Noise, Ambient, Metal, Punk amongst other things.

So let us begin.



I recently went to the Supersonic Festival in Birmingham, which i have attended for the past 5 year now. In my opinion, it is the best usic festival this country has to offer because every live act you see there offers something original, challenging, stimulating, interesting and downright enjoyable. Every year, I am familiar with not even a quarter of the line up, but that's what makes it so good, because you experience new and amazing sounds and come away feeling educated and more knowledgeable about the world of alternative music.

NISENNENMONDAI (roughly translates to "Millennium bug")







I did film a few minutes of Nisennenmondai's set at Supersonic this year, but only on a shitty compact camera so I've found these videos instead.

This 3 piece lady Noise-Punk band absolutely blew me away. To me, they offer something more than purely Noise Music. Noise is there to be listened with your full concentration, letting it penetrate your ears and mind and sometimes take over the rest of your body (this depends on how loud it is). Nisennemondai, for me anyway, take it to a different level in that their 'Noise' has pace and rhythm, vaguely (extremely so) similar to Dance music, making you want to move, even if it is just bobbing your head.