Merzbow’s ability to distinguish himself in his work, is not achieved by the utilisation of

symbolic noises which inherently link to aesthetic parameters that fit Merzbows artistic

identity, but rather the fact that the compositions are treated as an embodiment and avatar

of the artist unconscious, seen in the ways Merzbows writings contextualise his work and

also how Merzbow is seen as a separate entity from the artists themselves , a prime

example being the constant use of 3rd person in his writing such as the quote “Merzbow is

erotic like a car crash”1, hence forth we can begin to see the compositions themselves as

inherently Merzbow avatars.

Our view of Merzbow being a state of the unconsciousness of Masami Akita, Is inherently

supported and linked to Akita’s own writings regarding the original idea of the project,

Merzbow as a project is the idea that “Noise is the unconsciousness of music, in the same

way that pornography is the unconsciousness of sex”1.

Deconstructing this quote inherently gives us the first evidence about Merzbow being the

unconscious state, if one views pornography as being the separation of sexual desires from

social norms and Merzbow himself draws the parallel between noise and porn. We begin to

see a dissociation of the social and cultural context of music itself in his work, hence these

values are echoed in Akita’s words “I was trying to create an extreme form of free music”1.

The question then becomes, what elements both compositionally and contextually support

this idea, In the interview for the documentary “Beyond Ultra-Violence Uneasy Listening”

Akita states that, Noise fits into an inherently anarchistic structure, and due to that “Noise is

inherently individualistic”, thus one can view these compositions as meditative.2

1
Chad Hensley, An interview with Masami Akita of Merzbow, Esoterra Magazine, Published 1999
2
Beyond Ultra Violence: Uneasy Listening by Merzbow, Directed by Ian Kerkhof (Netherlands, Allegri
Productions) 1999 VCR
The Composition “Cow Cow” is a prime example of this, through its use of layers of

distortion which blanket the listener and the interaction of different noises with said layer3,

and by being contextualised by his own writings “It's always so thrilling to see what emerges

after collisions of various sound elements”4 we can support the idea that the works are

meditative, and furthermore the contextualisation from his work supports a postmodern

identity, but due to the reduced listening format of compositions we begin to see that the

piece inherently only refer the composer and context that artist gives these works. 5

As such, the compositions in there reduced form inherently reference back to the contexts

and structures surrounding them, hence due to the use of third person language and view of

the work being individualistic, we can see Merzbow as representative of the unconscious of

Akita in the same way Porn is too sex.

3
Latartara, John. (2010). Laptop Composition at the Turn of the Millennium: Repetition and Noise in the Music
of Oval, Merzbow, and Kid606. twentieth-century music. 7. Pg. 102-103. 10.1017/S1478572211000065.
4
Fifteen Questions with MERZBOW, Lost and found, Fifteen Questions, 2018,
https://www.15questions.net/interview/fifteen-questions-merzbow/page-1/
5
Linda Kouvaras, “The Dawning of Australian Sound Art,” in Loading the
Silence: Australian Sound Art in the Post-Digital Age (Farnham, Surrey;
Burlington, VT Ashgate, 2013), 191–201.
Bibliography

Chad Hensley, An interview with Masami Akita of Merzbow, Esoterra Magazine, Published
1999

Beyond Ultra Violence: Uneasy Listening by Merzbow, Directed by Ian Kerkhof (Netherlands,
Allegri Productions) 1999 VCR

Latartara, John. (2010). Laptop Composition at the Turn of the Millennium: Repetition and
Noise in the Music of Oval, Merzbow, and Kid606. twentieth-century music. 7. Pg. 102-103.
10.1017/S1478572211000065.

Fifteen Questions with MERZBOW, Lost and found, Fifteen Questions, 2018,
https://www.15questions.net/interview/fifteen-questions-merzbow/page-1/

Linda Kouvaras, “The Dawning of Australian Sound Art,” in Loading the

Silence: Australian Sound Art in the Post-Digital Age (Farnham, Surrey;
Burlington, VT Ashgate, 2013), 191–201.