The Substation/​ Artist/​Merzbow (JAPAN)/

Merzbow (メルツバウ) is an extreme experimental music project created in Tokyo in 1979 under the direction of musician Masami Akita (秋田昌美) and is recognized as being one of the earliest projects in what has become known as "Japanese noise". Highly prolific, Merzbow has released hundreds of recordings since 1979.

As well as being a prolific musician, he has been a writer and editor for several books and magazines in Japan, and has written several books of his own. He has written about a variety of subjects, mostly about music, modern art, and underground culture. His more renowned works were on the topics of BDSM and Japanese bondage. Other art forms Akita has been interested in include painting, photography, filmmaking, and Butoh dance.