{{About|the album|the railway line|Keiō Line}} {{Infobox album | name = Keio Line | type = studio | artist = [[Richard Pinhas]] and [[Merzbow]] | cover = Richard Pinhas and Merzbow - Keio Line CD.jpg | alt = | released = {{Start date|2008|09|30}} | recorded = October 25–27, 2007 | venue = | studio = Peace Music Studios, [[Tokyo]], Japan | genre = [[Ambient music|Ambient]], [[Noise music|noise]] | length = {{Duration|m=109|s=07}} | label = [[Cuneiform Records|Cuneiform]] | producer = [[Merzbow|Masami Akita]], [[Richard Pinhas]] | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = Rhizome | next_year = 2011 | misc = {{Extra chronology | artist = [[Richard Pinhas]] | type = studio | prev_title = Metatron | prev_year = 2006 | title = Keio Line | year = 2008 | next_title = Metal/Crystal | next_year = 2010 }} {{Extra chronology | artist = [[Merzbow]] | type = studio | prev_title = Anicca | prev_year = 2008 | title = Keio Line | year = 2008 | next_title = Protean World | next_year = 2008 }} {{Extra album cover | header = LP cover | type = studio | cover = Richard Pinhas and Merzbow - Keio Line LP.jpg | border = | alt = | caption = Dirter Promotions version }} }} '''''Keio Line''''' is a collaborative studio album by the French electronic rock guitarist [[Richard Pinhas]] and the Japanese noise musician [[Merzbow]]. The album was released in September 2008, on double [[Compact Disc|CD]] by [[Cuneiform Records]] in the US and on triple [[LP record|LP]] by Dirter Promotions in the UK. It is the first of several collaborations between Pinhas and Merzbow.
==Background and recording== Richard Pinhas and Masami Akita (Merzbow) first met when Merzbow opened for Pinhas' 2006 show in [[Tokyo]]. Pinhas recalled that he was "astonished" when he saw Merzbow play, and that he felt an immediate connection with Merzbow. When Pinhas returned to Tokyo in 2007, he suggested a collaboration to Akita. As Akita had been a longtime a fan of Pinhas and his band [[Heldon]], he readily agreed.<ref name="Alarm">{{cite web |url=http://alarm-magazine.com/2010/richard-pinhas-merzbow-new-destinations-on-the-keio-line/ |title=Richard Pinhas & Merzbow: New Destinations on the Keio Line |last=Brady |first=Michael Patrick |date=December 20, 2010 |website=Alarm |access-date=July 18, 2015}}</ref> For the recording Akita used the vintage analog [[EMS Synthi A]] synthesizer, which he says has a "very spacey and somewhat mellower sound".<ref name="Musique">{{cite web |url=http://www.musiquemachine.com/articles/articles_template.php?id=150 |title=The Birds of Noise |last=Batty |first=Roger |date=December 20, 2009 |website=Musique Machine |access-date=July 18, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Metropolis">{{cite web |url=http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/recent/music_beat.asp |title=Japan Beat |last=Grunebaum |first=Dan Patrick |date=December 2008 |website=[[Metropolis (free magazine)|Metropolis]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216102811/http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/recent/music_beat.asp |archive-date=December 16, 2008 |url-status=dead |access-date=July 18, 2015}}</ref> He described the sessions as improvised and played "very spontaneously". Pinhas says that they didn't plan anything beforehand.<ref name="Alarm"/>
The album is named for the [[Keiō Line]] railway that took them to the recording studio, during which time they talked.<ref name="Alarm"/> Akita notes that Pinhas was involved in the [[May 1968 events in France|60s protest movement]] and worked with the philosopher [[Gilles Deleuze]]. They also discussed [[animal rights]]. They chose track titles relating to these concepts.<ref name="Musique"/><ref name="Metropolis"/>
The album was recorded during October 25–27, 2007 at Peace Music Studios in [[Tokyo]], Japan. Pinhas then mixed and remixed the material at Studio Ramses in [[Paris]], France, in December 2007.<ref name=albumnotes>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Keio Line |others=[[Richard Pinhas]] and [[Merzbow]] |year=2008 |publisher=[[Cuneiform Records]]}}</ref>
==Reception== {{Album ratings | rev1 = [[All About Jazz]] | rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name=AllAboutJazz>{{cite web |url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/keio-line-cuneiform-records-review-by-john-kelman.php |title=Richard Pinhas / Merzbow: Keio Line (2008) |last=Kelman |first=John |date=October 13, 2008 |website=[[All About Jazz]] |access-date=July 18, 2015}}</ref> | rev2 = [[AllMusic]] | rev2Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name=AllMusic>{{AllMusic | class= album | id=mw0000795033 | label=''Keio Line'' | first=Thom | last=Jurek | access-date=July 18, 2015}}</ref> | rev3 = Dusted | rev3Score = Favorable<ref name=Dusted>{{cite web |url=http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4682 |title=Richard Pinhas and Merzbow - Keio Line |last=Medwin |first=Marc |date=November 14, 2008 |website=Dusted Magazine |access-date=July 18, 2015}}</ref> | rev4 = ''[[Musicworks]]'' | rev4Score = Favorable<ref name=Musicworks>{{cite web |url=https://www.musicworks.ca/reviews/recordings/richard-pinhas-and-merzbow-keio-line |title=Richard Pinhas and Merzbow. Keio Line. |last=Kennedy |first=Chris |date=2009 |website=[[Musicworks]] |access-date=July 18, 2015}}</ref> | rev5 = Musique Machine | rev5Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name=MusiqueMachine>{{cite web |url=http://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=2030 |title=Richard Pinhas + Merzbow - Keio Line |date=November 3, 2008 |website=Musique Machine |access-date=July 18, 2015}}</ref> | rev6 = [[PopMatters]] | rev6Score = {{Rating|5|10}}<ref name=PopMatters>{{cite web |url=http://www.popmatters.com/review/71406-richard-pinhas-and-merzbow-keio-line/ |title=Richard Pinhas and Merzbow: Keio Line |last=Newmark |first=Mike |date=March 16, 2009 |website=[[PopMatters]] |access-date=July 18, 2015}}</ref> | rev7 = ''[[Washington City Paper]]'' | rev7Score = Favorable<ref name=Washington>{{cite web |url=http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/36244/ambient-noise |title=Ambient Noise: Reviewed: Richard Pinhas and Merzbow's Keio Line |last=Wu |first=Brandon |date=September 26, 2008 |website=[[Washington City Paper]] |access-date=July 18, 2015}}</ref> }} ''Keio Line'' was released to largely favorable reviews. Critics have noted that the album is less noisy than one might expect from Merzbow. Brandon Wu writing in the ''[[Washington City Paper]]'' writes that Merzbow's "grating noisescapes are, if not subdued, then at least submerged, like an insistent undertow lurking beneath the relative calm of Pinhas’ looping guitar." and that "There are no punishing gales of pure noise a la 1994’s ''[[Venereology (album)|Venereology]]'' ... Instead, Akita’s electronics emphasize subtle rumblings, vaguely rhythmic churnings that serve to provide texture and counterpoint to Pinhas’ extended ruminations."<ref name=Washington/> John Kelma, in [[All About Jazz]], notes the album's "element of interaction ... with Merzbow and Pinhas responding to each other, often with great subtlety, even greater unpredictability and consistently empathic results."<ref name=AllAboutJazz/> Both Kelman and Wu reference [[Robert Fripp]] and [[Brian Eno]]'s album ''[[(No Pussyfooting)]]''.
However, Mike Newmark writing for [[PopMatters]] was critical of the album's length, and felt that the music's ambient nature made it seem even longer. Newmark also felt that the sound of Pinhas' guitar and Merzbow's noise was dated and no longer innovative.<ref name=PopMatters/>
==Track listing== {{Track listing | headline = CD 1 | total_length = 62:35 | all_music = [[Merzbow|Masami Akita]] and [[Richard Pinhas]] | title1 = Tokyo Electric Guerrilla | length1 = 18:30 | title2 = Ikebukuro: Tout le monde descend! | length2 = 17:37 | title3 = Shibuya AKS | length3 = 26:28 }} {{Track listing | headline = CD 2 | total_length = 46:33 | title1 = Merzdon/Heldow Kills Animal Killers | length1 = 8:17 | title2 = Chaos Line | length2 = 21:46 | title3 = Fuck the Power (and Fuck Global Players) | length3 = 16:30 }}
==Personnel== Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.<ref name=albumnotes/> ;Musicians *[[Merzbow|Masami Akita]] – [[EMS Synthi A]], noises *[[Richard Pinhas]] – guitar, loop system ;Technical personnel *Souichirou Nakamura – recording engineer *Laurent Peyron – mixing engineer, remixing assistant *Richard Pinhas – mixing assistant *Duncan Pinhas – remixing *Brad Blackwood – mastering at Euphonic Masters ;Design personnel *Florence Lucas – cover art *Car Radio (Kuro Pipe) – photos of Richard Pinhas and Merzbow at Mixrooffice [CD version] *Duncan Pinhas – photo of Richard Pinhas with guitar [CD version] *Bill Ellsworth – design [CD version] *Florence Lucas – label photos [vinyl version] *Steve Pittis – sleeve design, layout [vinyl version]
==Release history== {|class="wikitable" ! Region ! Date ! Label ! Format ! Quantity ! Catalog |- | United States | September 30, 2008 | [[Cuneiform Records|Cuneiform]] | 2×[[Compact disc|CD]] | Unknown | Rune 278/279 |- | United Kingdom | September 21, 2008 | Dirter Promotions | 3×[[LP record|LP]] | 10000 | DPROMTLP67 |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Discogs master|16480|type=album}} *{{MusicBrainz release group|mbid=7bfef7ba-bba9-3393-b937-5227788f360c}} *[http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/pinhasmerzbow.html Pinhas & Merzbow] at Cuneiform *[http://www.richard-pinhas.com/keio-line/ Keio Line] at the official [http://www.richard-pinhas.com Richard Pinhas] website
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[[Category:2008 collaborative albums]] [[Category:2008 albums]] [[Category:Merzbow albums]]