Merzbow: Pulse Demon (Relapse)
Purchased new at Music Millennium in Portland, OR
I know myself well enough to know that if I'm flush with cash and go record shopping, it's more likely I'll buy something. I avoid using cards and apps unless necessary. Seeing my parents this past week or so, they stocked me with some hard currency. And you know, it was family visit/vacation, and I'm there at the great Music Millennium on Burnside, and feeling like I needed to make quick decisions. My nephew is currently on a major Beach Boys kick, and quickly made a decision for his CD purchase. I wasn't being rushed but I didn't want to keep him or his father waiting too long.
I've already written about one purchase, Ornette Coleman's Crisis on vinyl. There's another forthcoming. And this little monstrosity.
This has a vinyl release date of 2019, so there's a high likelihood I saw this on at least one prior visit to this store. I guess with money in hand, they made the sale this time.
I mention vinyl release, because there's a copyright date of both 2019 and 1996. '96 would indicate that this was originally a CD issue, something which discogs.com confirms. Meaning, a short double-LP. (Though actually, standard length CDs and double LPs run about the same length of time. Around the region of eighty minutes.)
Maybe I like the title, Pulse Demon. "Pulse" suggests something musical. Pulse demon? Something musical, pulsing, rhythmic, but nasty and evil too. Maybe.
Maybe the cover caught my eye, an op-art image with iridescent silver. And maybe I felt rushed and just wanted to make a decision.
Side one lists four tracks but everything runs continuously, as do sides two and three with multiple tracks listed. Side three does feel like it lives up to the title more than record one.
I wonder, are there obsessive Merzbow collectors? I imagine one or two at least. I ask the question because, even if you're a fan, do you really need more than one or two albums? There is some variety to be sure, but I think a lot of his output is similar to this: a wall of noise, with hard filter sweeps. Some pulses, some LFOs, flittering, details emerging and receding from/under the sheet of noise. It has more variety than some of the more recent hard-noise artists I've encountered, such as The Rita or a lot of Richard Ramirez' work.
Yet, despite my more youthful enthusiasm for early industrial music, I do question why I'm listening to this. Anything can have its place to be certain. Sometimes I need to listen to something extreme (like, when Donald Trump gets elected president). Right now I have it on because I bought it earlier this week.
If so many of Merzbow's albums sound like this, why release as many as he does? That answer's obvious: 1) they're relatively easy to perform; 2) someone wants to put them out.
I can't say for certain, but I don't know that I'll buy another Merzbow album unless I know there's something different that it offers. That's something I don't rule out.
A friend told me about the Merzcar: you could buy an edition of one automobile from Merzbow that had a Merzbow CD playing on the stereo constantly, that you couldn't eject or stop. I hope it's true.
A few more details: the vinyl is very attractive half black/half clear with colored streaks for each disc. Very attractive. the LP reissue was mastered by Jame Plotkin of Khanate. I'm certain he went for maximum confrontation without pinning the meters 100% of the time.
I'm sure I've written before that Merzbow + then wife Reiko + Ron Lessard/Emil Beaulieau/RRRecords stayed at my house. That's major industrial street cred in some circles. I know I've told this anecdote before: when introduced to Reiko she said, "He is like the oyster." I looked at her in complete confusion. "Oh, you don't have that saying. It means he is very quiet." The music was, and is, most definitely not.
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