Ten years after its original release, Strange City returns in a form that finally realises the ambitious vision behind one of the most unlikely collaborations in experimental music. Bringing together the cosmic free-jazz explorations of Sun Ra and the uncompromising sonic extremity of Merzbow, this expanded anniversary edition is far more than a straightforward reissue. By collecting the previously split CD and vinyl material onto a single release, restoring the intended running order from the original master tapes, and adding the previously unreleased “Granular Jazz Part 5”, Strange City now stands as the definitive version of an extraordinary meeting of musical minds.
Although separated by time, geography and even mortality, the partnership feels remarkably natural. Sun Ra, the visionary American composer, pianist and bandleader who famously claimed to have come from Saturn, spent decades redefining jazz through his Arkestra, blending swing, free improvisation, electronic experimentation and Afrofuturist philosophy into a body of work unlike any other. Merzbow, the alias of Japanese noise pioneer Masami Akita, has similarly spent more than four decades pushing the limits of sound itself, building a vast catalogue, some 500 releases and counting, that has made him one of the defining figures in harsh noise music. Both artists have always challenged conventional ideas of melody, structure and listening, making Strange City a collaboration that feels almost inevitable.
The project itself came about through Cold Spring Records, working with Irwin Chusid, who oversees the Sun Ra archive. Rare and previously unreleased recordings drawn from sessions connected to The Magic City and Strange Strings were licensed to Merzbow, who deconstructed, processed and transformed them using his unmistakable sonic palette. Rather than creating simple remixes, Akita effectively built entirely new compositions, allowing fragments of Sun Ra’s performances to emerge, disappear and mutate beneath vast layers of distortion and granular processing.
The album opens with “Livid Sun Loop”, a monumental thirty-two-minute journey that immediately establishes the dialogue between the two artists. Brief flashes of horns and percussion surface before being engulfed by Merzbow’s towering walls of electronic noise. Yet repeated listening reveals that Sun Ra’s rhythmic intelligence never disappears. Instead, it provides the hidden architecture beneath the apparent chaos, giving the piece a surprising sense of movement and purpose. That said, it is far from an easy listen and will require supreme levels of patience for those unfamiliar with the work of Merzbow.
The four “Granular Jazz” pieces continue this exploration from different perspectives. “Part 1” gradually unfolds from fractured textures into something almost hypnotic, while “Part 2” is arguably the emotional centrepiece of the collection, balancing dense electronic abrasion with ghostly traces of Sun Ra’s ensemble. “Part 3” becomes more turbulent, its shifting layers suggesting a collision between cosmic jazz improvisation and industrial sound sculpture, before “Part 4” closes the original programme with unexpected restraint, allowing space and atmosphere to become as expressive as volume.
The newly added “Granular Jazz Part 5”, originally created exclusively for BBC Radio 6 Music’s Freak Zone ahead of a 2016 Merzbow performance in Manchester, may only last two minutes, but it serves as a fitting epilogue. Rather than feeling like an afterthought, it provides one final glimpse into the fascinating sonic universe these artists inhabit together.
When Strange City first appeared in 2016, the CD and vinyl editions contained entirely different material because of format limitations, meaning no single version presented the full artistic statement. This reissue finally reunites every composition in the sequence originally envisioned before the constraints of vinyl production dictated otherwise. Enhanced packaging, expanded artwork and an informative new essay further reinforce the sense that this is the definitive archival presentation rather than simply another repress.
For newcomers, Strange City remains an extremely demanding listen. This is unmistakably a Merzbow record in its sheer density and intensity, but Sun Ra’s spirit is embedded in every shifting rhythm and every fleeting melodic fragment. The deeper one listens, the more the hidden conversations between the two artists reveal themselves. Rather than overwhelming Sun Ra’s music, Merzbow magnifies its adventurousness, exposing new dimensions within performances that were already decades ahead of their time.
Donnie’s Rating: 7/10
