Merzbow / Christoph Heemann "Sleeper Awakes on the Edge of the Abyss" Streamline 1003 (41:13)
Tunneling
(18:21)
Mandala
(9:48)
Eagle
(4:44)
Sleeper (1:24)
Doorstep (6:56)
In 1987 Masami Akita (aka Merzbow) mailed a cassette of sound material to Christoph Heemann (H.N.A.S., Current 93, Mirror, Mimir, etc.) which he then worked on for the next 6 years. The cd was originally released in 1993 (and has just now been reissued) by Streamline Germany. Heemann restrains and refines Akita's normally brutal noise and adds his own collage of sounds: drones, washes, electronics and samples such as metals and chirping birds. Heemann truly paints with sound and here the Merzbow material is just another shade of audio color for his abstract and impressionist palette. He then shapes it all into five pieces, each with a particular character all it's own, ranging from 1 and 1/2 to 18 and 1/2 minutes for just over 41 minutes total. The end result is the same as everything else I've heard that involves Heemann: utterly beautiful. Hypnotic passages of waterfall wash, layered electronic drone, metallic churnings, gurgling static and deep ambiance perfectly flow into one another. "Sleeper Awakes.." is superb and a very welcome reminder for me to get everything with Heemann's name in the credits from this day forward ...
Merzbow
at Extreme
Chrisoph Heemann
(HNAS)
Where did I get this cd? - mail order via Riouxs Records.