steadydietzine:

MERZBOW - ‘Kamadhenu’ CD (Hypnagogia GO01)

sample track ‘Churning Of The Cosmic Milk Ocean’

It’s been over a year since I last bought a Merzbow release - “Keio Line’, I think. He’s released a hell of a lot since then, especially the 13 Birds series. I decided to skip all that. Well, I’ve got over 60 of his albums, and quite a few I still haven’t got round to listening to. Not good at all. But there comes a time when another Merzbow release needs to be added to the collection, and that time is now. And I’ve made the effort to listen to it, which is usually a good thing to do. The last couple of years, Merzbow has been releasing animal centric albums (being a committed vegetarian and animal rights activist) - that’s where he feels his vocation lies- to bring awareness and celebration. ‘Kamadhenu’, is the celebration of the cow, through a Hindu perspective, that is, the cow as the emblem of the universe and the mother of all. But it’s not as straightforward as that in the Merzbow universe. While the intention is noble, the execution requires a little more consideration. The obvious aspects to look out for would be influences taken from Indian music or Hindu chants and ragas. In truth, the listener would be hard pushed to find any of that in the three lengthy pieces on this album. So much so, I sometimes wonder if there is a level of the arbritary in the way Merzbow approaches his subjects, that is, create the music first, then attach the idea afterwards. This can be confirmed by just listening to the music outside of the intended context. There is nothing here that is not interchangeable with anything else Merzbow has done over the years. Only the most pretentious of listener would desire to align this music to Hindu/Indian influences or philosophy. So how do we approach this album? Most obviously, outside of any intellectual context. Judge it for the music alone because Merzbow is about noise and the technique to make that noise be it digital or analogue sourced. It is at this level that ‘Kamadhenu’ is such a powerful release, with the trademark Merzbow mix of noise washes and subtle constructions or compositions. Each track is distinctive, from the hypnotic drone of the ‘pt.1’ to the chaos of the third track. Most importantly, this is another fine release that demands concentration, because god is in the detail. The first few listens will not yield anywhere as much appreciation as this deserves, but perseverance will unlock a universe that is as vast as the one created by the goddess Kamadhenu.

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