Ikebana: merzbow's Amlux Reb (2003)

Product Summary Label: Allegro Corporation UPC: 00793447501628 Release Date: 8/3/2004 Buy.com Sku: 61013717 Item#: MWVVVF Format:  CD Song Listing Disc 1 Song Title Sample 1. Takemitsu - DJ Spooky ~ Various Artists 2. In and Out of Institutions - DJ /rupture ~ Various Artists 3. Untitled - Plug ~ Various Artists 4. Digital Hardcore - Alec Empire ~ Various Artists 5. Cow Cow (Sheep Sheep) - Kim Hiorthoy ~ Various Artists 6. Testosterphone - Nau-Zee-AuN ~ Various Artists 7. Klunk - Bola ~ Various Artists 8. Spicy Water - Kurt Weisman ~ Various Artists 9. Merzwaltz - Atom ~ Various Artists 10. Luxus - Custom Drummer ~ Various Artists 11. Untitled - Raub Roy ~ Various Artists 12. Freq - Abstinence ~ Various Artists 13. Cho Nama Yo! - Chicks On Speed ~ Various Artists 14. Looping Jane - Masami Akita ~ Various Artists Disc 2 Song Title Sample 1. An Actual Attack - Negativland ~ Various Artists 2. Toru Pup - Hrvatski ~ Various Artists 3. Superstar - Mouse On Mars ~ Various Artists 4. Untitled - Cornelius ~ Various Artists 5. Available Memory - Jack Dangers ~ Various Artists 6. Merzmix - Freiband ~ Various Artists 7. Takemitsu - Sonic Boom ~ Various Artists 8. Decomposition - K.K. Null ~ Various Artists 9. Golden Cow On the Bridge, A - Staalplaat Sound System ~ Various Artists 10. Revolved Jane - Makoto Kawabata ~ Various Artists 11. Assembler Mix - Nobukazu Takemura ~ Various Artists 12. Takemitsu Unholy - Lasse Marhaug ~ Various Artists 13. Black Gun Red - Kim Cascone ~ Various Artists 14. Untitled - John Wiese ~ Various Artists 15. With CB - Zipperspy ~ Various Artists   Album Notes and Credits Notes & Personnel Info Personnel: Jenny Jones (cello). Remix albums come and go and, despite their different conceptual approach, Ikebana will suffer the same fate. Important Records' second release was Amlux by Merzbow, back in early 2002. Instead of shopping around for a bunch of remixes, the label approached 28 electronica artists and asked them to use the disc as an instrument for a new piece. So Amlux may be an inspiration for some, but it is mostly a tool -- one tool among each artist's favorite set-up at the time. The results are therefore closer to each person's style than to Merzbow's. And the palette is wide, from (understandably) noise to power-techno to experimental/ambient and even microsound. Chicks on Speed, Kid 606, DJ Spooky, Jazzkammer's Lasse Marhaug, Kim Hiorthoy, Mouse on Mars, Alec Empire and Acid Mothers Temple's own Kawabata Makoto are only some of the contributors to this two-CD set. As usual with such exercises, your openness to cross-stylistic exchanges will determine the scope of your enjoyment -- and even then, some artists went out of their way to come up with something unique while others just went through the motions. If you're partial to noise, the tracks by Negativland (a marvelously stupid take on the "homeland security" paranoia in the U.S. during the first months of 2003), Makoto, and Nobukazu Takemura have the greatest impact. Bola's "Klunk" also deserves mention: it is gentle, almost trippy; it moves far away from Merzbow's realm and yet manages to pay homage by keeping up with the ethos of his music. Jack Dangers' "Available Memory Edit" is a shorter version of his "Amlux" remix "hidden" at the end of Merzbow's Merzbeat. ~ Fran?ois Couture   Technical Info Release Date : 08/03/2004 Original Release Date : 2003 Catalog ID : 16 Label : Important Records Number of Discs : 2 Studio/Live : Studio Mono/Stereo : Stereo SPAR Code : n/a UPC : 00793447501628    Related Videos In Search of Solid Ground... Draw The Line: David Gray