13 Japanese Birds

13 Japanese Birds is a 13 CD box set released by the Japanese noise artist Masami Akita or also called Merzbow, released through the years 2009 and 2010, its also the second biggest box set released by merzbow besides the 50 CD box set Merzbox.

The box set consist of one album released each month, every album has only 1000 copies and it was sold through Important Records, each album refers to the name of a japanese bird and the cover of the albums was painted by, Jenny Akita. The concept of the album was inspired on Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux (although musically the set was not inspired by his music), the albums also features a return of Merzbow's usage of analogue sounds and a live drum kit.

The box set was made available also by subscription were you can get the CDs as soon as the album starts selling and there is another one where with an aditional ammount of money you could get a box that is hand crafted, numbered, screen printed and constructed of organic imported Moso bamboo. And with an additional fee Merzbow painted an original acrylic on bamboo box.On June 26, the label announced that all the bamboo boxes were sold out, and the acrylic paintings were received on September 9 by the label and were delivered to the subscribers with "Hiyodori".

The CDs were recorded on a monthly basis (one album each month) and released the last week of each month with the exception of the "Vol. 7: Kujakubato" which wasn't released on July (as planned), instead the album was released the first week of August. The next volume of the series "Vol. 8: Kokuchou" was released in the same month, the last week of the month like every other volume of the series. The release date of the album and the information about them has been posted on the Twitter the label had just created.

13 Japanese Birds Vol. 1: Suzume
See: 13 Japanese Birds Vol. 1: Suzume
 * 1) Red Bird Of Summer Part 1 - 19:42
 * 2) Fandangos In Space - 5:41
 * 3) Tori Uta - 6:24
 * 4) Red Bird Of Summer Part 2 - 17:06

13 Japanese Birds Vol. 2: Fukurou
See: 13 Japanese Birds Vol. 2: Fukurou
 * 1) Gorosukehoukou - 22:18
 * 2) Variation No. 1 - 9:51
 * 3) Variation No. 2 - 9:49
 * 4) Noritsukehousei - 16:49

13 Japanese Birds Vol. 3: Yurikamome
See: 13 Japanese Birds Vol. 3: Yurikamome
 * 1) Black Headed Gull - 31:42
 * 2) February 2002 - 13:33
 * 3) The Angel Of The Odd - 8:05

13 Japanese Birds Vol. 4: Karasu
See: 13 Japanese Birds Vol. 4: Karasu
 * 1) Argus - 19:40
 * 2) Stone the Crows - 27:35
 * 3) Morgue - 16:56

13 Japanese Birds Vol. 5: Uzura
See: 13 Japanese Birds Vol. 5: Uzura
 * 1) Requiem for the 259.000 Quails culled at a farm in Toyohashi Part 1 - 15:54
 * 2) Requiem for the 259.000 Quails culled at a farm in Toyohashi Part 2 - 27:37
 * 3) Requiem for the 259.000 Quails culled at a farm in Toyohashi Part 3 - 12:35

13 Japanese Birds Vol. 6: Kamo
See: 13 Japanese Birds Vol. 6: Kamo
 * 1) Bird Killer Governor Ishihara Deserves To Die - 16:44
 * 2) Wilderness In Akasaka - 19:39
 * 3) Heresy - 15:57

13 Japanese Birds Vol. 7: Kujakubato
See: 13 Japanese Birds Vol. 7: Kujakubato
 * 1) Wind of Pain - 7:50
 * 2) Pigeon Walk Part 1 - 10:15
 * 3) Pigeon Walk Part 2 - 7:58
 * 4) Dove Festival - 14:07
 * 5) Bird Droppings on your Head - 5:52

13 Japanese Birds Vol. 8: Kokuchou
See: 13 Japanese Birds Vol. 8: Kokuchou
 * 1) Mesmerism - 5:33
 * 2) Black Swan - 24:03
 * 3) Colored Rain - 13:22
 * 4) Ushiwaka 2 - 7:25

13 Japanese Birds Vol. 9: Hiyodori
See: 13 Japanese Birds Vol. 9: Hiyodori
 * 1) Hiyodori - 30:20
 * 2) Across The Earth - 16:18
 * 3) Purple Triangle - 17:45

13 Japanese Birds Vol. 10: Niwatori
See: 13 Japanese Birds Vol. 10: Niwatori

The track listing hasnt been revealed yet

Credits

 * Masami Akita - Music (on albums 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9)
 * Jenny Akita - Artwork (on albums 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9)
 * M.A - EMS Synthi 'A', EMS VCS3 II, Computers, Handmade Instruments, Various Effects (on album 2)