A certain magic floods the room when free improvisers of the highest
order get together to make music. And when said improvisers are also kindred
spirits who know and can anticipate each other's moves, a kind of wonderful
telepathy takes over. Such was the case when enigmatic Japanese noise legend
Merzbow (Masami Akita) got together in the studio with fellow countryman Keiji
Haino and Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi for Become The Discovered, Not The
Discoverer. For their second encounter for RareNoiseRecords, following 2016's
An Untroublesome Defencelessnes, the three intrepid improvisers explore a
threshold of sound so blisteringly intense, that it passes into a zone of
divine cacophony.
Comprised of four lengthy, uninterrupted suites, each
containing dense, sometimes harsh sonic onslaughts, BecomeThe Discovered, Not
The Discoverer is fueled by Merzbow's cathartic sheets of electronic sound and
guitar, Haino's slashing guitar, bass and vocal work and Pandi's pummeling
intensity on the kit. And as Pandi explains, "It was 100% improvised,
nothing added in post-production, just like every time we record together. No
limitations, no concepts, nothing. Just listening, and playing."
Merzbow has found a true kindred spirit in Pandi, who has
also become a kind of 'house drummer' for RareNoise. "The chemistry
between us was there right from the very beginning," says Pandi, who began
collaborating with Merzbow in 2009. "My way of playing fits his music
perfectly, as I play both improvised music that is changing shape all the time
and heavy amplified music. We don't have things anchored, we just have a
continuously expanding vocabulary and we pay attention to each other and find
immediate hooks in each other's playing."
The third member of this formidable triumvirate,
singer-songwriter-guitarist Keiji Haino, had previously worked with Merzbow
under the moniker Kikuri. "Keiji is like an infinite well of ideas,"
says Pandi. "It's incredible how he can push music and sounds into new
directions. Sounds coming from him have way more qualities than the ones coming
from most musicians, as he uses every possible way to alternate sounds and give
them extra qualities that people just don't know about."
For Pandi, this latest is also the fifth recently RareNoise
release involving both him and Merzbow, following 2013's Cuts (a trio with
Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson), 2015's Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper (a
quartet with Gustafson and skronk guitar hero and Sonic Youth founder Thurston
Moore), 2018's live Cuts Up, Cuts Out (a quartet again with
Gustafsson, and Moore) and 2016's An Untroublesome
Defencelessnes (as aforementioned, with Haino). And for the powerhouse drummer,
the thrill is definitely not gone. "It's been almost 10 years since I
first played together with Masami as a duo," he says. "That was a
string of four shows, and even on that tour there was a difference between the
first and the last gig. So its obvious that we continue to do different things,
and our relationship on a human and an artistic level also strengthened
throughout the years. For obvious reasons we can't play too many shows. In a
busy year, we have about a handful of shows, but it's always exciting to play
and we always discover new things within our music. Masami never uses the same
setup twice, and I always do my best to have something new to drop on him every
time we play together."
As far as the particularly intense nature of this latest
invocation in the studio with Merzbow and Haino, the drummer says, "All we
do is listen and play. Wherever we go with the music, the moment takes us
there. Even if we make a plan, we just go with whatever we feel like doing. Haino-san
decided on the spot to use the bass guitar, an instrument he never played on
previously on recordings, if ever. Also Masami plugged in a guitar he found in
the studio, so for a part of this recording we were a rock trio. The only thing
we talked about the night before was to do five to seven-minute takes, but then
the first take we actually did was over one hour."
While Masami and Haino strike such a seamless blend with
their electronic onslaughts, Pandi fuels the proceedings with his signature
skills, drawing on the power of grindcore and death metal while also listening
intently and reacting in the moment. "I just play whatever feels good to
play," he says. "It's funny that even though I try to not play in
tempo anymore and approach drumming more as coloring to give the music another
texture, this one turned out more like a classic rock record. And at some parts
I am even playing a backbeat kind of thing. So it's definitely more
straight-forward drumming than what I usually play these days."
"I basically grew up with playing and being surrounded
by all kinds of music.", continues Pandi, "Back then it was Morricone
scores, Verdi, Bill Haley & The Comets. One day I would play Dead Kennedy
songs with my high school punk band, the next morning I would play
"Slavonic Dance No. 8" by Dvorak on tympani. And still today, I have
varied music tastes. So whether I'm playing with Merzbow, Obake or Kilimanjaro
Darkjazz Ensemble, it's all music to me."
Like the music itself, the titles of Pandi's latest outing
with Merzbow and Haino - "Become the discovered, not the discoverer"
and "I want to learn how to feel everything in each single breath"-
are intriguing. "The titles came from Haino-san and are inspired by the
music," the drummer explains. "The titles, just like the music
doesn't need to be understood, or doesn't need a strict interpretation."
Born in Chiba, Japan on May 3, 1952, Keiji Haino has been
active on Japan's underground music scene since the 1970s and remains active at
age 67, ever-exploring on the fringes. His main instruments of choice have been
guitar and vocals. Known for intensely cathartic sound explorations, he has
lent his distinctive voice to recordings by a variety of groups, including
Vajra (with underground folk singer Kan Mikami and drummer Toshiaki Ishizuka),
Knead (with the avant-prog outfit Ruins) and Sanhedolin (with Yoshida Tatsuya
of Ruins and Mitsuru Nasuno of Korekyojinn, Altered States and Ground Zero). He
has also collaborated with such artists as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Loren
Mazzacane Connors, Charles Gayle, Makigami Koichi, Jim O'Rourke, Yamantaka Eye,
Fred Frith, Charles Hayward and John Butcher. He also appeared on John Zorn's
1993 album Painkillerwith bassist Bill Laswell and drummer Mick Harris.
Haino's initial artistic outlet was theatre, inspired by the
radical writings of Antonin Artaud. He had his musical epiphany after hearing
The Doors' "When The Music's Over" and immediately changed course
towards music. After brief stints in a number of blues and experimental
outfits, he formed the improvised rock band Lost Aaraaf in 1970. By the mid
1970s, he collaborated with psychedelic multi-instrumentalist Magical Power
Mako and in 1978 formed the rock duo Fushitsusha. The lineup expanded to a trio
and continued to perform, with shifting personnel, through the 1990s. In 1998,
Haino formed Aihiyo, which performed covers of tunes by The Rolling Stones, The
Ronettes and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, filtered through his ownunique
garage-psychedeliaprism. In recent years, Haino has made some of his most
profoundly intense musical statements in the company of fellow countryman
Merzbow and Hungarian drummer Pandi.
Merzbow's onslaughts of sound employ the use of distortion,
feedback and noises from synthesizers, machinery, and home-made noisemakers.
Utilizing two laptops, four stomp boxes and a homemade sound-maker, he creates
a world of sound ranging from ambient drones to fusillades of frightening
intensity. One of the most recognizable figures on the international noise
scene, he began his recording career in 1980 with Fuckexerciseand Rembrandt
Assemblage. He followed in 1982 with his landmark recording, Solonoise, which
incorporated tape loops and creatively recorded percussion and metal. He has
since released over 400 recordings, collaborating with dozens of musicians,
contributing tracks to compilations and making numerous guest appearances on
recordings by other artists. His stage name Merzbow comes from the German dada
artist Kurt Schwitters' artwork Merzbau, in which Schwitters transformed the
interior of his house using found objects.
Born in Tokyo on December 19, 1956, Akita listened to
psychedelic music, progressive rock and free jazz in his youth. He became the
drummer of various high school bands and shortly after began playing improvised
rock at studio jam sessions with high school friend Kiyoshi Mizutani. A graduate
of Tamagawa University, where he majored in Painting & Art Theory, Akita
commenced work as an editor of several magazines upon getting his degree. He
subsequently became a freelance writer for several books and magazines and has
written several books of his own on a variety of subjects, including music,
modern art and underground culture. His other interests include painting,
photography, filmmaking and Butoh dance. He has cited a wide range of
influences on his own music, from progressive rock, heavy metal, free jazz, and
early electronic music to non-musical influences like dadaism, surrealism and
fetish culture. His 2010 project, 13 Japanese Birds, was a 15-album series
highlighting his ongoing ecological and vegetarian activism.
The youngest member of this powerhouse improvising trio is
drummer Balázs Pándi. Born on August 6, 1983 in Budapest, Hungary, he has
worked and toured with various acts from all around the world including
Venetian Snares, Otto von Schirach, Last Step, To Live and Shave in L.A., The
Blood of Heroes, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and the Italian experimental
instrumental group Zu. His current projects include Italian doom band Obake,
Metallic Taste of Blood (featuring Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree, Eraldo
Bernocchi of Obake and RareNoise Records' resident keyboardist, Jamie Saft),
Slobber Pup (with Saft, guitarist Joe Morris and bassist Trevor Dunn)and the
black metal/punk band Wormskull. From 2012, he started to play solo shows at
festivals under his own name. Since 2009, he has frequently played drums live
with Merzbow, headlining at experimental music festivals around the world.
Pandi's muscular drumming style, marked by high-speed churning, intense
blast-beats and thunderous double bass drum pedals, has been informed by free
jazz, breakcore, doom metal and noise. It's always pedal to the metal with
Pandi.
Together these three intrepid explorers and noise renegades
arrive at some intense, harsh and ultimately compelling on BecomeThe
Discovered, Not The Discoverer, their latest RareNoise release.