Major limited edition white vinyl reissue (hand-numbered edition of only 199 copies) of what was originally an ultra-limited 1983 ADN cassette that came packaged in a bloodied hanky: anyone who came up on the later Merzbow sides may be a little surprised at the improvisatory electro-acoustic nature of some of the amazing early jams, mostly cut in the company of Kazuyuki K Null or Akita’s high school buddy Kiyoshi Mizutani. Kibbutz is one of the hands-down highlights of Merzbow’s early crude psychedelic Industrial style, with the duo of Akita and Mizutani playing guitar, drums, effects and keyboards. At points the levels of string violence exceed your fantasy of a free-metal Cale/Conrad/MacLise summit with cluster-fucked bulldozing keyboard work and constantly fluxing drone, at others it feels like an iron-clad Sun Ra Arkestra travelling the spaceways. The drums/guitar work is truly punk primitive, with the atom-smashing style of The Dead C, Harry Pussy or The Blue Humans complete with cro-magnon rhythms, sudden dive-bombings solos and a liberated post-free jazz mindset.  If you’ve never checked in on the early Merzbow acid/industrial rock sound then Kibbutz presents it at an absolute peak, still one of the wildest and most formally fucked rock/noise of any era. So great to see this massive set on vinyl, highly recommended! 

Fantastic archival trove from Masami Akita’s Merzbow, restoring heady/ritualistic electro-acoustic works from 1981 in an edition of only 199 copies: this sounds nothing like the walls of electronic noise that constitute ‘classic’ Merzbow sides like Noisembryo and is drawn from re-processed live sessions from Akita and early duo partner Kiyoshi Mizutani that were originally presented as part of the legendary 10 cassette set, Merzbow – Collection. The effect is much subtler and more hallucinogenic than later works, with sound sources drawn from recorded tapes, audio feedback, percussion, metal and other acoustic instruments. Indeed the first side has a haunted basil Kirchin/early Nurse With Wound feel with a distant, forlorn piano dosed with high feedback tones and skittering tape edits including eerie snatches of opera song before bleeding into what could almost be a recording of Ornette’s Town Hall gig as recorded through six feet of concrete. There’s a hazy appeal to the recording that somehow softens the electro/acoustic barbarity and at points the improvised sounds are closer to something like, say, a Japanese take on the Music Improvisation Company than Violent Onsen Geisha. I still maintain that the early Merzbow acoustic duo sides are some of the most exciting and inventive of Akita’s career and this is a massively persuasive side, a potent combination of noise, free improvisation, electro-acoustic composition and industrial surrealism that at the time had little parallel outside of possibly Nurse With Wound. The set comes pressed on 140g vinyl in a black silver silkscreen sleeve on luxury 160g paper. Highly recommended.

"Total Head Crush Destruction from Mr Wiese (also of Sissy Spacek and LHD, works with Sunn 0)), etc,etc), if your head was made out of a boulder the sounds here enclosed are still designed to leave behind nothing but blood stain dust. Side A is the eternal acid rain that we all fear slowly melting your skin away and reminding of your insignificant humanity, Side B is a metallic behemoth continously punching you from all directions leaving you with just enough unbroken bones so that you can breath. Another No Fun Classic. Limited to 300 no re-press ever." - No Fun.

Classic ultra-fucked electrified noise barrage that seems to reflect more on the early-90s pornographic Merzbow sound et al than anything currently beating its head against a rock. Just chaos blurts of white noise catharsis cut up with quizzical gloops down the plughole where you feel like a cartoon roadrunner, still peddling in mid-air while rainbows explode into shards of glass and crystal. A fantastic blast of old school noise from these old school boize: John Wiese and Kohei Gomi aka Pain Jerk. Recorded by mail October 2005.

More evacuated noise tectonics from the dream-team hook-up of US noise wunderkind John Wiese and NZ sound-thinker and Dead C member Bruce Russell. Limited to 300 copies.