The year is 2016. Masami Akita, who we all know as Merzbow, is visiting London. The Cafe OTO in London gives him a stage for a day. And a PA system. It’s Saturday, October 1st. The day the earth trembled a bit. Because he did not one, but two sets that day. And Shaun Crook was there to record both of them. And now, seven years and one month later, both sets – 50 and 55 minutes – are released as a double CD on Cold Spring. The 2CD is simply called “Cafe OTO”, and Merzbow named the recordings “Untitled Knife” I and II.
So what can we say about it? The promo that was sent with the release speaks about ‘rhythm-driven’, and I still have to find those moments. I would have expected something more towards the 4×3″ ‘Timehunter’ when I read rhythm. This is a wall of sound with a pulsating drone in the lower regions of the frequency spectrum. In the first track, the pulse is like a randomized yet constant sort of arpeggiator layer (for freaks & nerds: it reminded me a bit of the structure coming from a MfOS WSG pitched down), while in the second track, that layer is a sine-wave LFO triggered sound. And yes, somewhere in the middle, the pulsating rises a bit from the lower regions towards a bit higher frequency where it kind of sounds like a rhythm, but don’t expect a drum loop or whatever. Over these dark layers is a constant harsh layer of sound that knows moments of stability but mostly moves all over the place. There is no rest for the wicked and definitely no rest for the audience.
The promo sheet also mentions a little quote from around then referring to the concerts: “The concert was very much about the physical impact of the sound”. And that’s maybe all that should have been written. Because it’s Merzbow, can Masami still surprise you after 400+ releases? Would you expect something other than a relentless performance from him? You can write something about the music, the conceptual approach, or the performance details (as done in the first paragraphs). But it’s Merzbow. It’s all about the physical experience, and this is a nice document of what happened that Saturday in October seven years and one month ago. Spoiler alert: It was loud.
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