V

V is the concert (a world premiere) Merzbow and Pan sonic played at the 2002 Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville. A highlight of that edition, the performance has been reviewed by many music critics, and it's funny to see how they split between two groups: those who think that Merzbow was maximizing Pan sonic's input and those who think Pan sonic were filtering Merzbow's harsh sound material. But on listening to the CD, it becomes obvious that it was wrong to try to find such a simple chain of action. It was also wrong to think that Merzbow had to be the one providing the concrete walls of noise and that Pan sonic had to be responsible for the more staccato glitches. In fact, the Finnish duo's collaboration with Peaches and Ilpo Väisänen's involvement with Schneider TM as Angel prove that they can get very noisy and brutal on their own. There is too much diversity, too wide a dynamic range unfolding on V to say anything specific about individual contributions. Despite the two-headed billing as Merzbow & Pan sonic, this continuous 68-minute improvisation features a genuine group sound that transcends either artist's persona, although one could say that fans of Pan sonic's more delicately pulsing works might feel a bit lost. The performance includes some very harsh passages but also some fascinating interplay at lower volumes. Recommended as a highlight in both artists' lists of collaborations. ~ François Couture, Rovi