Ultima 2026 / Japanese Noise / Merzbow

About

Noise at full force, and the strange clarity inside it.

Since 1979, Masami Akita has released music as Merzbow: a boiling ocean of merciless textures and grating sound that never stops churning. The sheer scale of the output, with more than 500 releases, works against any attempt to summarise it, and that may be the point.

Akita’s sound draws on progressive rock, free jazz, modern classical and musique concrète, but also on BDSM and Japanese bondage aesthetics, moving between avant-garde, industrial and extreme music. More recently, his work has been shaped by a commitment to animal rights and environmentalism, reflected in the album series 13 Japanese Birds.

Once your ears attune to his frequencies, the dense walls of sound often reveal an unexpected beauty and clarity within the chaos. Noise this focused is also a kind of vision.
Free pre-concert screening

Tokyo Noise
(Kristian Petri, Jan Röed & Johan Söderberg, 2002)
MUNCH, Amfi, 18.00–19.20
A portrait of the Japanese mega-city as seen through Tokyo’s legendary noise music scene. The film provides an introduction to Japanoise, the noise scene of which Merzbow has been one of the key figures. Positioned between the…

Source · Resident Advisor

What to expect

Expect a warm, easy crowd — busy enough to feel alive, calm enough to talk. It's built for meeting people — solo arrivals do fine here.

The essentials

Entry is cheap or free, and the event runs Fri 20:00. You'll find it at Munch — the surrounding blocks carry the same energy, so the night doesn't have to end at one address.

Location