This one-track, 52-minute disc is the document of a really quite unusual concert — a trio performance by Merzbow, Jim O’Rourke, and Carlos Giffoni, all of them playing analog synthesizers and noisemakers of various kinds. The music is generally arrhythmic, quite varied in texture, and not generally as abrasive or assaultive as one might expect given the participants. Make no mistake, though: this is noise. When pitches occur, they seem to be purely accidental. Variation is provided by shifting layers of texture and by the oscillations of squelchy, rubbery sine waves. Occasional hints of structure emerge, such as the drone that underlies an increasingly frantic pileup of car-engine revs and tortured-mouse squeaks at about 4:51, or the pulse that emerges briefly at about 35:00, only to dissolve into cacophony a few minutes later. Noise freaks and Merzbow fans will definitely want to check this one out, but most normal people will be able to live full and satisfying lives without it. – Rick Anderson
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