MERZBOW
Real Name: Masami Akita
MERZBOW was created in Tokyo in 1979 under the direction of Masami Akita. The name originates from MERZBAU, the infamous art project by German artist Kurt Schwitter in which he turned his entire household into a work of art. Akita studied art at Tamagawa University where he was exposed to Western art movements such as DaDa & Futurism, both of which involved artists working with audio (i.e. 'The Art of Noises' was released by the Futurist Luigi Russolo in 1913).
Merzbow is considered by many as the godfather of the Noise genre. While there were artists before him, Akita is unquestionably the most prolific, having released hundreds of compositions over the past thirty years. His discography contains over 300 separate releases, often in collaborations. In 2001 he released the highly acclaimed 'Merzbox', a boxed 50-CD collection of many of this earlier rare and unreleased recordings. To this day Masami continues to record and release music at an unmatched rate.
