Sphere
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CD Details
Composer: Masami (aka Merzbow) AkitaEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-04-26
Music Label: Tzadik
Soundtracks:
- Sphere Pt.1
- Sphere Pt.2
- Sphere Pt.3
- Untitled For Vasteras
Music reviews of Sphere
Music Review: Superb.
Rating: 5 Stars
Wow.
This CD is my first heavy exposure to Merzbow-- when I was in college I borrowed a CD from someone but wasn't quite ready to hear it. A new release on Tzadik seemed the ideal place to start, I've found the material on that label to be of consistently high quality. I certainly wasn't disappointed.
The CD is divided into two parts-- the roughly 37 minute three part "Sphere" and the half hour long "Untitled for Vasteras".
The title suite starts off with an opening percussion line, aggressive, pounding tribal rhythms, with electronics and patterned noise growing in the background until it takes over the piece altogether and the drums are barely perceptible (around 6min). As this climaxes, the second movement starts with a bass loop, sometimes accompanied by drums, often with noise on top. Curiously (for a Zorn fan), around 12min into the piece, what sounds like a sample of the breaking glass from "Never Again" on Zorn's "Kristnaacht" shows up on top of the bass loop. Around 14min into the piece, the bass loop all but evaporated, the drums suddenly slow down in rhythm before dropping out altogether for the third part-- an exercise in industrial noise. The rhythmic, almost "angry ambient" sound, pounds relentlessly in rhythm until it is joined by a feeding back guitar (about 5min) which duels aggressively with it. Largely this is the highlight for me, the sheer level of sound this generates is fairly impressive. About a minute before wrapping up, suddenly the drums return, although they are so well buried in there that they feel implied rather than actually stated.
The second half, "Untitled for Vasteras" is a bit different-- there's less sort of familiarity to the sound, with no bass, guitar, drums, or any sort of instrument sounds, just samples and noise. Largely the pattern is driven by what sounds like crushing leaves, but layer upon layer of sound, from the same sort of breaking glass effects to looped explosions to readily unidentifiable noises creep in. Remarkably, I've found this piece bizarrely relaxing, almost trance-like, though I can't speak as to why.
This is not music for the feint of heart, thats to be certain, and at around 70 minutes for the disc, it can be a tough listen-- "noise" is an adequate genre for this. But don't think of this as a criticism, its really quite a well structured and defined recording, and its clear, at least to me, that Merzbow isn't just twiddling dials and randomly generating noise. And for those of us who can digest this kind of stuff (and most people can't), its the kind of thing that should be heard. I'm glad I did, and I'm looking forward to checking out more of his work.
Now I've just got to start saving for that Merzbox...
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Description of Sphere
All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.Alternative Rock CDs
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