Masami Akita "the King of Japanese Noise" was born in 1956 in Tokyo, Japan. Akita formed the premier Japanoise group Merzbow in 1979, and has released over 400 albums to date. Akita has worked with many different media, both in the directorial and soundtrack role. He has also developed performance works and art installations involving butoh dance and other Japanese cultural forms. Merzbow has collaborated with many of today's most important recording artists and continues to be one of the most prolific musicians alive. The name is derived from Kurt Schwitters's artwork "Merzbau", and is pronounced the same way.