Officially licensed from Irwin Chusid, who oversees the catalogue of the late Afrofuturist artist/composer/bandleader Sun Ra, Cold Spring negotiated rare and unreleased tracks from the Sun Ra archive to be remixed and treated by Masami Akita (aka Merzbow). The tracks incorporate the jazz power of Sun Ra with the brutal excess of the Japanese noise artist Merzbow.
Originally released by Cold Spring a decade ago and long sold out, the music was spread across vinyl and CD, with completely different music on each format. The tracks have now been collected together for the first time, using the original master tapes and presented in the order intended (the vinyl format dictated the order due to optimal sound quality restraints).
Included for the first time on any release is a bonus two minute track entitled ‘Granular Jazz Part 5’, a special composition created for ‘Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone’, a weekly radio show on BBC 6 Music in the UK. It was broadcast ahead of Merzbow’s live concert at the FAC251 venue in Manchester in September 2016.
The 2xCD edition is available with expanded artwork in an 8-panel double digipak with a booklet that includes a new essay by Gydja. Orders made directly from Cold Spring come with stickers of Merzbow and Sun Ra.
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2xCD | Bandcamp | digital
“The constant and destructive waves of noise make this decisively a Merzbow record, but its cosmic mood and rhythms prove that Sun Ra lives in its DNA” – PITCHFORK
SUN RA
Sun Ra (Le Sony’r Ra né Herman Poole Blount) was an American free jazz artist composer, bandleader, piano/synthesizer player and poet known for his experimental music, ‘cosmic’ philosophy, prolific output and theatrical performances. For much of his career, Ra led The Arkestra, an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up. Claiming to be an alien from Saturn on a mission to preach peace, he developed a mythical persona and an idiosyncratic credo that made him a pioneer of Afrofuturism. Over his career, he recorded dozens of singles and over 100 full-length albums, comprising well over 1000 songs, making him one of the most prolific recording artists of the 20th century. Born 22nd May 1914, Sun Ra died on 30th May 1993 in Birmingham, Alabama.
MERZBOW
Masami Akita, ‘the King of Japanese Noise’, was born in 1956 in Tokyo, Japan. He formed the premier Japanoise group Merzbow in 1979 and has released over 500 albums to date. Akita has had involvement with many different media in both directorial and soundtrack roles. He has also developed performance works and art installations involving Butoh dance and other Japanese cultural forms. Having collaborated with many of today’s most important recording artists, he continues to be one of the most prolific musicians alive. His artist name is derived from the installation ‘Merzbau’, begun in 1923 by the German artist Kurt Schwitters.