In Photos: Merzbow with Balázs Pándi + Nadja @ XOYO, London (27.10.10)

A bona fide Japanese noise legend - having worked with Boris and Sunn O))), among others - who's released somewhere between 200 and 350 recordings over the course of his thirty-year career, Merzbow (or Masami Akita, as he's known to Mrs. Akita) was in town to give the sound system at new London haunt XOYO a serious testing on Wednesday night. As an added bonus, Akita was joined onstage by Hungarian drummer/Flying Lotus collaborator Balazs Pandi. Promising Canadian duo Nadja opened proceedings, although their set was unfortunately cut short due to faulty gear.
 
Could it have been louder? Maybe so, but Tim Ferguson was there nonetheless with his camera and a set of (underused) earplugs. To view a slideshow of his shots, just click on any of the images below.