Listen to the stunning ‘Slide (excerpt)’ below.
There are few artists as prolific as Masami Akita. It’s almost difficult to keep up with all of the releases from his pioneering noise project Merzbow, but the newly announced Kouen Kyoudai 公園兄弟 is noteworthy for a few reasons.
First, it’s a collaborative album with singer/songwriter Eiko Ishibashi, who has had an excellent run of pop albums on Drag City. Then there’s the fact that the LP is recorded and mixed by Jim O’Rourke (who made a return to pop last year with Simple Songs) and will be released March 17 via the great experimental label Editions Mego.
Finally, the excerpt of the new track, ‘Slide’, is incredible — a dense blend of jazzy drums and piano leads backed by a rush of electronics that flow between shimmering and searing. Listen to it below and pre-order it here.