1930 (Album)

1930 is a studio album by the Japanese noise musician Merzbow. It was released in 1998 on Tzadik Records and is considered one of the most famous albums of Merzbow and style icon for the genre. The album was produced by the American sound artist John Zorn, which also includes the Tzadik label. 1930 was part of the New Japan Series of the label.

Cover

The building on the cover is an Art Deco installation on a Isetan department store. Isetan is a Japanese department store chain from Tokyo. The cover photo was shot by Masami Akita aka Merzbow himself, Ikue Mori designed the CD. The portrait photos of Akita in the booklet were shot by Don Lewis.

Reception

Joslyn Layne awarded 4.5 of 5 points at Allmusic writes:

" Merzbow, the leader of the Japanese noise, has learned how to use sound to doing your own on the brain of the listener. He uses sound frequencies imperceptible to poke needle holes in the eardrums and to let the preconceived notions of sound, music and how these interact with someone bleed. "

Tracklist

All tracks by Masami Akita.