Merzbow, Spiral Blast and the Ecstasy of Sound Itself
John Latartara

The following essay is an analysis of Spiral Blast (Pulse Demon, Relapse Records 1996) by Masami Akita (Merzbow). With the increasing prominence of so-called "noise music", Akita has emerged as one of the most brilliant and prolific artists of this new genre. For the past twenty years, he has been mapping a new aesthetic of artistic expression, largely ignored until recently, which challenges the listener both viscerally and conceptually. Often, Akita's music raises more questions than it answers by exposing the paradoxes inherent in words/ideas such as music, noise, beauty, and art. It is hoped that this essay will contribute to, and expand upon our understanding of Akita's music and noise music in general. As always, much remains to be discovered.

Masami Akita (Merzbow)

Masami Akita was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1956 and began listening to rock and roll groups such as The Doors and Cream during his teenage years. He soon began improvising as well, reading authors such as Rimbaud and De Sade, and after high school, entered Tamagawa University as a painting and art theory major. It was at the University that Akita became exposed to artists from the Surrealist and Dadaist movements.

Akita was profoundly influenced by the Surrealist concept, "Everything is erotic, everywhere erotic", and, upon graduation from Tamagawa University, he immediately embarked on a search for a unique art form. As he states, "I quit rock and oil painting in the 70's and started making sound and visuals in a totally different way. My idea was to create something anti, but representing the brutal sound spirit of rock music."[1] At this time, Akita was also listening to electronic music by musicians such as Pierre Henry, Stockhausen and Xenakis. After starting his own label entitled Lowest Music & Arts, he began producing music with his friend Kiyoshi Mizutani using electronic equipment such as guitars, tape recorders, and feedback. Inspired by cheap pornography advertisements, Akita initially presented his music as a fetish for people through the mail.

The name "Merzbow" comes from a work entitled "Merzbau" by German artist Kurt Schwitters (1887 - 1948) and began to be used by Akita for his art in the early 1980's. This concept relates more to his early music, which was made from the sounds and noises that surrounded his life, and he admits that the name is not so important for his work now. In the early and mid 1990's, Akita's equipment and sounds consisted of feedback with filters, ring modulators, DOD Buzz Box, DOD Meat Box, and a Korg multi-distortion unit, but in the late 1990's, he switched from analogue equipment to digital computers to create his work. His output is immense, with current estimates (no one knows the exact number) at approximately 200 releases. Today, Masami Akita has reached unprecedented popularity and a 50 CD box set has recently been released of past and new material on the Extreme label.

Noise Music Genre

When we started playing our kind of music there was no recognition of noise music as a genre in Japan at all.[2]

Noise as music is not a new idea.[3] It was perhaps most eloquently and passionately proposed by Luigi Russolo in his Futurist manifesto "The Art of Noises" (1913) where he argued for a music composed entirely of noises (non-pitched sounds). As he states, "We are convinced, therefore, that by selecting, co-ordinating, and controlling noises we shall enrich mankind with a new and unsuspected source of pleasure."[4] This approach was highly influential for John Cage who, although aesthetically different from the Futurists, incorporated noises in his music beginning in the late 1930's.[5]

Noise music, defined as a specific genre however, has only in the past ten or fifteen years been recognized. As with any new art form which creates a new aesthetic, noise music has taken time to surface in mainstream and semi-mainstream publications as a genre in its own right. This genre, as well as most others, is often explained using "influence" or "evolution" models.[6] For example, noise music is frequently described as originating from a mixture of heavy metal, hardcore and electronic music. This type of explanation, of course, assumes that pre-existing musics are the most important influences in the creation of a new genre. Furthermore, this explanation assumes there is a homogeneous mixing of influences taking place.[7] While influence and evolution models are certainly a valid approach toward genre analysis, it is important to keep in mind these underlying assumptions.

Complex Waves and Technology

The noise music genre, in addition to these acknowledged musical influences, contains two crucial elements: a focus on complex waves and technology. Noise music, like a sonic magnifying glass, focuses on the complex, "noise-like" wave forms of sound. Complex waves or noise are defined acoustically as sound which does not reinforce a specific single frequency.[8] The simplest type of sound is a sine-tone which is comprised of only a fundamental with no overtones and heard as a single pitch. A harmonic sound is composed of two or more sine tones (a fundamental with one or more overtones), and is also heard as a single pitch. A complex sound is composed of many harmonic sounds which is not heard as a single pitch. Complex waves, therefore, are not absent of pitch, but rather are comprised of many pitches which do not reinforce a single pitch, and is perceived as noise. Along this sonic spectrum from simplest to complex sounds, noise music focuses on complex sounds.

In addition, noise music uses electronically produced sounds. It is, therefore, closely linked with technology and science. As shown by the progression of equipment used by Akita; before the advent of the digital computer he was using electronic analog hardware equipment. Now that the computer has become more useful and especially more inexpensive for musicians, Akita has begun to use computers and software for live performance and composition. These two factors, the focus on complex waves and utilization of electronic technology, are critical factors for noise music.

The Idea of Noise - The acoustics of Noise

There is no difference between noise and music in my work. I have no idea what you term ‘music' and ‘noise', it's different depending on each person. If noise means uncomfortable sound, then pop music is noise to me.[9]

If we abide by Akita's definition of noise as uncomfortable sound, then noise is a completely subjective concept. Only what is perceived as noise is noise.[10] The above acoustical definition of noise, however, creates a different perspective. By describing noise as an acoustical phenomenon, less reliant upon the subjective judgement of comfortable or uncomfortable, it allows for a more specific definition based on the physical attributes of the sound.

While all of these modes of investigation (influence, evolution, genre categorization and philosophical/semantic critique) are important contributors of understanding, this is often where mainstream music publication ends.[11] Almost every aspect of a piece of music is often considered, except analysis of the physical structure of the actual work. In the past this would have involved the analysis of a score, but with electronic music there is no score. Through the use of computer technology, however, it is now possible to create visual images of electronic works, allowing us for the first time with Merzbow, to delve into the sonic essence of the art itself.

Analysis of Spiral Blast [12]

Spiral Blast can be described and understood using a limited number of materials which function both within and across specific frequency spans.[13] It is this material which helps to define four sections.

The material which functions within specific frequencies are (M stands for material):

M1, 20 - 300 Hz; characterized by a consistently strong energy level throughout its frequency span with a fairly even distribution of energy.

M2 (upper), 2.0 - 5.0 kHz; characterized by an energy band which often leaps down to M2 (lower), 400 - 700 Hz. (M2 is not considered as functioning across specific frequencies because its material is limited to and defined by only these two upper and lower areas.)

The material which functions across specific frequencies are:

M3; characterized by a slowly ascending harmonic wave, more focused than the other materials, creating the sense of pitch. Between 5.5 - 20 kHz in Section 1, the fundamental of the pitch moves from approximately 5920 Hz (F#8) - 7040 (A8), and at 20 - 500 Hz in Section 3.

M4; characterized by a steady harmonic wave creating the perception of pitch. This harmonic pitch material occurs in a variety of registers.

Section 1

Section 1 lasts from 0'00" - 1'04" and is defined by the presence of M3 (5.5 - 20 kHz) which etches its line throughout the section in a series of repeating ascending lines. M1 and M2 are also heard at the beginning, but soon drop out with the emergence of a low M4, 49 Hz (G4) at 8" which is interrupted momentarily. The counterpoint between these two pitched elements, M3 and M4, is brief, but the spectral void created between them is a powerful sonic moment, one which highlights their registral difference, and foreshadows their ultimate union, and re-separation. This moment contrasts sharply with the massive spans of frequency activation which characterizes most of Spiral Blast. Section 1 activates the entire audible frequency range for humans, 20 Hz - 20 kHz.

As Section 1 progresses, M1 gains energy, M3 continues its ascending repetitions and M2 provides clear examples of its double frequency span. At 20" into the piece M2 (upper 2.0 - 5.0 kHz) leaps down to M2 (lower 400 - 700 Hz), and back up again to M2 (upper). In fact, this is the longest and clearest leap from M2 (upper) to M2 (lower) which occurs in the entire piece. This leaping back and forth between these two frequency spans is a constant presence in the work. Section 1 ends at 1'04" with the fundamental of M3 briefly splitting into two higher and lower frequencies.

Section 2

Section 2 lasts from 1'04" to 2'00" and is characterized by the constant presence of two basic materials which operate only within specific frequency spans, M1 and M2. With the disappearance of M3 at 5.5 - 20 kHz, the total frequency span of the piece has contracted from 20 Hz - 20 kHz in Section 1, to 20 Hz to 10 kHz in Section 2. As compared to M1 in Section 1, M1 in Section 2 has gained energy, now appearing blue, green and red, instead of just blue and green. This energy gain will reveal its usefulness in Section 3. Along with M1, M2 (upper) sounds with frequent quick drops into M2 (lower). Furthermore, the lower extreme of M2 (lower), 400 Hz, lies just above the upper extreme for M1, 300 Hz, creating perhaps a sonic link between these two materials. Out of the chaos of M1 a repetitive ascending harmonic sound gradually emerges which leads into Section 3.

Section 3

Section 3 lasts from 2'00" to 3'38" and reintroduces M3, but transferred to a lower region encompassing 20 - 500 Hz. At first, barely perceptible amidst the continuation of M1 and M2, this repeating ascending glissando gradually gains intensity. There are five partials which comprise this material. Spanning approximately a Major 9th, they reach their upper apex at the following frequencies:

589 Hz (approx. D5)
507 Hz (approx. B4)
338 Hz (approx. E4)
232 Hz (approx. A#3)
169 Hz (approx. E3)

As can be seen, the lowest pitch, at 169 Hz which is slightly higher than E3 in equal temperament, is harmonic in that the octave (338 Hz approx. E4) and fifth (507 Hz approx. B4) above are also present.

At the midpoint of Section 3, M2 drops out and M4, a steady harmonic wave, enters with a fundamental at 495 Hz (approx. B4) and sixteen overtones reaching up to 9.0 kHz. This harmonic pitch is intersected at its midpoint by M2. As both of these pitched materials are sounding, they produce a frequency close to B4. M4 sounds at 495 Hz and M3 sounds at 507 Hz. M4 can be heard as emphasizing the 3rd partial of E3. Furthermore, at the end of the steady harmonic sound, M4 slides upwards imitating the motion of M3. Therefore, through a similarity of not only pitch, but also of motion, M3 and M4 merge.[14]

After M4 disappears, M2 enters, drops out and then re-enters at 3'17", increasing its rate of change between (upper) and (lower). At the end Section 3, M2 flickers on and off as the rising harmonic line reaches its most intense dynamic appearing red and yellow, and for a fraction of a second, just before an intense stratification of register, there is almost complete silence.

Section 4

Section 4 lasts from 3'38" to 4'32" and contains some the most intense sounds heard in the entire piece. M3 returns with a vengeance creating a startling climactic moment, activating the highest registers (15.0 - 20.0 kHz), and undulating pitch in a wide vibrato so as to create complex waves above the fundamental. At this moment, M2 is heard in sequential pulsations shooting downwards linking it with M1; motion diverges, with material moving simultaneously upwards and downwards.

A delay effect is then used creating a repetitive pulsating passage using M1 and M2 (upper) which is soon combined with a sound, whose energy focus at 1.7 kHz, is somewhat in between pitched and non-pitched (perhaps a reference to M4). This frequency area around 1.7 kHz has been largely ignored throughout the piece, lying in between M2 (upper) and M2 (lower), until this moment. This leads into the works final transformation.

M2 (upper) then emerges with the most intense energy of any part in the entire piece, appearing green, yellow and red, rather than just blue and green. M1 drops out and only M2 (upper) remains, activating a frequency span from 20 Hz to 11.0 kHz, but with a concentration in the 3.0 - 4.0 kHz region.

Ecstasy and Sound

So, for me noise is the most erotic form of sound. Japanese Noise relishes the ecstacy of sound itself.[15]

Having separated Spiral Blast into four discrete sections and described its transformations through four types of materials, what does this tell us about the overall motion of the work? This piece has an overall trajectory of energy intensification and upward registral movement. M1 is gradually intensified reaching its apex at the introduction of the delay effect. M2 is intensified at the end, bringing the entire work to a close. M3 gains intensity immediately at the climax moment in the upper register, and, gradually over the course of Section 3, in the lower register. Finally, M4 moves from a low pitch at the beginning, to a higher pitch in Section 3, and if viewed as another appearance of M4, to a still higher pitch during the delay effect passage. Each material over the course of this work is either intensified or moves upwards - or both! If noise for Akita is erotic, so too is the structure of this work. Just as the sound continuously intensifies, so does the human body sexually aroused. Spiral Blast projects a sonic representation of erotic excitation.

The critical theorist Georges Bataille whom Akita admires states, "The inner experience of eroticism demands from the subject a sensitiveness to the anguish at the heart of the taboo no less great than the desire which leads him to infringe it."[16] Bataille relates the subjective experience of eroticism to the experience of taboos transgressed. The significance of the experience, however, comes only through the fear of the taboo, the taboo as something dangerous, which the person infringes.[17] Has "noise" not been the so-called taboo of music? Have people not been conditioned into thinking of noise as something "different" from music? In relation to Bataille's idea, Merzbow and noise music in general can be viewed as transgressing the musical taboo by using noise to create music. And, the more one fears noise, the more powerful noise music becomes.[18] Furthermore, Bataille also states "...but is it so decisively easy to grasp the difference between eroticism and poetry, and between eroticism and ecstasy?"[19] Noise, eroticism, transgression, ecstasy - all of these words/concepts collide forming avenues of thought and experience, and perhaps a link. Through noise becoming erotic, Spiral Blast is able to transgress music, bringing the art of Merzbow into direct contact with the ecstasy of sound itself.

Notes

1. Edwin Pouncy, "Consumed by Noise," The Wire 198 (2000).
2. Ibid.
3. In addition, noise in music is a constant element, from attack noise, to bow noise, to interference phenomenon such as beats and chorus effect.
4. Luigi Russolo, "The Art of Noises." Strunk's Source Readings in Music History Ed. Leo Treitler (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998): 1328 - 1334.
5. David Revil, The Roaring Silence (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1992).
6. One of the more popular music history books, Donald J. Grout and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001) clearly illustrates this influence/evolution approach.
7. This "mixing" of genre could be viewed as less homogeneous and more heterogeneous. As the literary theorist M.M. Bakhtin has stated in his essay "Discourse on the Novel." The Dialogic Imagination Ed. Michael Holquist (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996): 415., "...for in the novel there is no single language; there are rather languages, linked up with each other in a purely stylistic unity - not at all the same thing as a linguistic unity..." (Italics by Bakhtin).
8. John Backus, The Acoustical Foundations of Music (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1977). Backus uses the term "inharmonic" instead of "complex" for noise.
9. Pouncy, op. cit.
10. For an essay which deals specifically with theoretical issues related to the concept of noise see Paul Hegarty, Full With Noise: Theory and Japanese Noise Music (ctheory.net).
11. This type of analysis is what most new music (The Wire) and pop music (Rolling Stone, Vibe) magazines focus on.
12. The following color images use Fourier analysis to represent the entire sound signal, including all sine-tones, harmonic and complex sounds. The horizontal axis represents time and the vertical axis represents frequency. A color chart on the right shows the intensity level for each sound, with dark blue showing less intense sounds and red showing more intense sounds. These images were created using Sound Technology software.
13. For evidence on the way humans group musical material based on, among many other factors, frequency see Diana Deutsch, "Grouping Mechanisms in Music.", The Psychology of Music Ed. Diana Deutsch (San Diego: Academic Press, 1999).
14. Chad Hensley, The Beauty of Noise: An interview with Masami Akita of Merzbow, (Esoterra.com).
15. The appearance of M4 which initiates this merger of M4 and M3 occurs at the positive golden section of Spiral Blast (2'48").
16. Georges Bataille Eroticism: Death and Sensuality (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1986): 38-39.
17. Bataille disagrees with the "scientific" approach which categorizes taboos as pathological neurotic states, thereby diminishing the power of transgression. As he states in Eroticism on p. 37, "This way [scientific] of looking at it does not do away with the experience but it does minimize its significance."
18. A paradox, therefore, emerges. The more one objectifies and accepts noise, the less powerful the infringement. Has the above acoustic definition of noise and the analysis of Spiral Blast diminished the power of the work?
19. Georges Bataille, The Tears of Eros (Hong Kong: City Lights Books, 1989): 19.

John Latartara is Assistant Professor of Music Theory at The University of Mississippi.

Top of page