masonna: masonna vs bananamara

Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé, the double-barreled name for Masonna, is one of most prolific, adventurous, and respected noise artists, making dozens of releases on his own legendary and astonishing label Coquette, presenting them in very limited editions, and reflecting his predilection for '60s psychedelic music revisited in its own very peculiar way. He transforms his voice into noise, feeding the microphone back through a process of extreme distortion. His shouts become clipped bursts of overloaded sound, doubled and extended by a delay that displace the sounds into stuttered blasts of static. Masonna claims that his interest in making noise is rooted in childhood encounters with the sounds of destruction on TV. Initially playing in Japanese punk band The Sadist, active since the mid '80s, as a vocalist under aliases of Rin with his buddy and guitarist Michio Teshima, who founded Vanilla Records in 1985 to release the band's works. In a very few years Michio's label will become a reference point for all Japanese noise projects, releasing artists such as Violent Onsen Geisha, C.C.C.C., Incapacitants, Solmania, Aube, Merzbow, and Masonna. In 1988, Masonna released debut album Like a Vagina on cassette by Coquette, an overdriven blast of psychedelia and harsh noise. Masonna Vs. Bananamara, Masonna's second release, was originally issued on Vanilla Records in 1989 in a tiny vinyl edition of 290 copies. Given its iconic status and rarity, it's little wonder that it currently commands heavy figures on the secondary market. In classic DIY form, it was recorded at home by Masonna on a variety of instruments, with hallucinatory vocals, and used no mixing and overdubbing, rendering a startlingly visceral and dense effect. Across the album's two sides -- containing a mind boggling 29 tracks -- Masonna transforms his voice into noise, feeding the microphone back through a process of extreme distortion. His shouts become clipped bursts of overloaded sound, doubled and extended by a delay that displace the sounds into stuttered blasts of static, heavily underscored by explosive blistering guitars, and cascades of electronic noise, culminating as one of the most striking and emotive gestures in the entire genre of noise. Absolutely incredible and visionary -- not to mention an engrossing, challenging, and thrilling listen -- Masonna Vs. Bananamara allows you to witness where it all began for a hugely important artist's lifelong commitment to an exploration of noise music. First ever reissue; edition of 299.