Merzbow

Merzbow is the stage name of Japanese musician Masami Akita. Now, the first time I saw a YouTube video of Merzbow he was smashing his forehead into his stage equipment, screaming as if in agony, and thrashing about on stage yelling into a broken microphone.

At first I thought this might have been an odd night then I realized no... that's pretty much Merzbow. He's essentially the God of a genre of music known as harsh noise. Noise music is characterized by dissonant sounds, bizarre instrumentation, and cacophonous noises being used as tools to create what to some would be an abomination of music and sound, but to others is incredible in it's complexity and depth.

I'm still not sure which group I'm in.

Now, some people would ask "Is this music?" According to the textbook definition of music it is, music is sound arranged through time. Sometimes you have to suspend what you think you know about music and give something a shot. And with Merzbow you have a pretty big target.

258 studio albums
65 live albums
4 compilation albums
30 EPs
13 soundtracks
2 tribute and cover albums
221 compilation tracks
25 split albums
99 appearances with other artists

So stick that in your pipe and smoke it!