Batztoutai with Memorial Gadgets

Batztoutai with Memorial Gadgets is a double album by the Japanese noise musician Merzbow.[1] It was released in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. The album was later remixed and reissued in 1993 as Batztoutai with Material Gadgets. Full-length tracks were included in the Merzbox, along with an unreleased track from the sessions.

Batztoutai with Memorial Gadgets
Studio album by
Merzbow
ReleasedAugust 1986 (1986-08)
RecordedAugust–October 1985
StudioZSF Produkt Studio, Asagaya, Tokyo
GenreNoise
Length92:45
LabelRRRecords
ProducerMasami Akita
Merzbow chronology
Antimonument
(1986)		 Batztoutai with Memorial Gadgets
(1986)		 Econdage
(1987)

Background

The album is named after – and the title track samples – Battōtai (抜刀隊, Sword-drawing brigade), a Japanese military march composed by Charles Edouard Gabriel Leroux. Illustrations of the brigade are depicted on the cover, along with the Imperial Seal of Japan.

In an interview with Arthur Potter, Masami Akita explains how this LP and Antimonument were inspired by his native culture:

[...] musical composition and behavior are always related to the structure of one's own language and way of thinking. I'd like to use Japanese-like images and words on purpose, as a way of randomly mixing significant cultural details. For example I used the Imperial Crest of the Chrysanthemum behind another image on the cover of the Batz-Tou-Tai LP. [...] These were not presented directly, but as subliminal images. Of course, the Japanese did not respond to them in the context I placed them.

The reason those images were used was that I'd been researching misreadings of Japanese public history, and wrote about that in a book called Mannerism of Heterodoxa.

— Masami Akita[2]

Akita then explains how the sound of his music changed over time, saying that Batztoutai "uses lots of loops and cut-up sounds from other records".

The album samples many electroacoustic/modern classical works by artists including François Bayle, Conlon Nancarrow, Ivo Malec, and Luc Ferrari. "Junk Dahkini" samples the Rendlesham UFO tape, also used on Pornoise/1kg.

Track listing

All music is composed by Masami Akita, except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Uluk Constitution"3:43
2."This Dying Toad Become Forthwith Like Coal for Colour Black"9:33
3."One Eyed Metal"9:53
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Batz Tou Tai–The Nightingale's Song" (reference from Blue Courts Orchestra, music by Charles Edouard Gabriel Leroux)17:29
2."Junk Dahkini"6:13
Side three
No.TitleLength
1."Semykyoku"4:27
2."Anus Anvil Anxiety"7:05
3."Dahkini Disko"10:58
Side four
No.TitleLength
1."Mortegage"5:04
2."Wild Animals and Polyhedral Garden"18:20

Personnel
  • Masami Akita – performer
  • Ron Lessard – song selection
  • Ad Suprex – artworks, design
  • Maggie Whaley – visual interpretation for production
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References
  1. "Merzbow - 抜刀隊 With Memorial Gadgets (Vinyl, LP)". Discogs. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  2. Potter, Arthur (1989). RRReport. RRRecords (1). Missing or empty |title= (help)
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