Richard Pinhas has been at the forefront of new rock music in France since the early 1970's, when he founded the band Heldon. Heldon was one of the first bands to meld rock music and electronics, releasing a number of 'classic' albums during the 1970's. He has long been recognized as a pivotal figure in the development of electronic rock music. His stature in France is roughly analogous to that of Tangerine Dream in Germany: the father figure of an entire musical movement. Active since 1979, Masami Akita, aka Merzbow, is considered the originator of Japanese noise music, a very influential and hip movement in sound. He has recorded and released nearly 100 CDs. Richard and Merzbow are both among the best-known figures in electronic rock music today. Despite coming from very different musical backgrounds, they had long expressed admiration for each other's work and this collaborative meeting, recording over two days in Tokyo while Richard was on his second tour of Japan was as inevitable as it is musically surprising and satisfying!