Review: Merzbow + Xiu Xiu - Merzxiu
By Jordan Matthiass, Contributor
[Kingfisher Bluez; 2015]
Rating: 3.5/5
Key Tracks: “Merzxiu B”
Chainsaws rev. Patients flatline. Tortured masses cry out in anguish. And that’s just the first five minutes.
Depending on whom you ask, the genre of noise may or may not be legitimate music. Plenty of people treat harsh static as a healthy channel for expression--one that harnesses the raw power and inherent darkness of people into a near-unlistenable cacophony of metal clashing and circuits exploding.
However, it is more common to find people misunderstanding of harsh noise--fearful of it. This frightened majority shies away from works containing power tools, audible death and shrieks. Merzxiu is not for these people.
Merzxiu is a two-track collaboration featuring Japanoise demigod Merzbow, both a founder of the scene and the man whose name is tied most closely to its ideology, and L.A. experimentalist Jamie Stewart (of Xiu Xiu), somewhat popular in more mainstream circles for marring pop music with broken synths and screeching high-ends.
Upon first listen, both of these songs seem to be Merzbow-only efforts. Xiu Xiu’s poppy elements are seemingly absent, occluded completely by Masami Akita’s signature electronic tear gas. Once in a while, Xiu Xiu does indeed dash through the poison cloud to provide us with some identifiable hallmarks: demented wails, the bang of a damaged snare, and incongruously sunshiny keyboard fills.
Both tracks on Merzxiu are frightening constructions sure to scare your friends, but the true standout of the two is “Merzxiu B,” occupying the second side of the 12”. Whereas “Merxiu A” is the cut with a steady rise and fall and somewhat muted tone--yes, in noise, unadorned screaming is “muted”--“Merzxiu B” gets right to it.
“B” flares to life with a piercing, machinated cry that gradually collects ballast and bile until the whole thing starts to fall apart at the seams, elements subtly dropping off in a twisted, demonic fugue. Before it’s all over, though, “B” catches a howling second wind. A firestorm of distortion descends from the heavens and pulses throughout the width and breadth of the track’s second half, slowly dying a bizarrely calm death that leaves us with a single note held until the finish.
Noise is disarming by design. It is purpose-built to stop you in your tracks; to make you consider things at a level deeper than meets the eye. However, it’s not often that a work of noise is disarming in terms of its quality and the big names attached to it. Merzxiu, leaving us somewhere far past the comparatively digestible weirdness of Xiu Xiu but just before the doorstep of Merzbow’s staggeringly voluminous back catalog, brings new perspective to the structure of a noise release. Plus, it’s fun to play at parties. Make sure to fight someone for it on Record Store Day.
