Sick electric funk and smoove jazz coexist on this new reissue on local label 4 Men With Beards. It comes chock full of fuzzed out guitar and chunky organ grooves along with slower romantic numbers that veer a bit close to cocktail lounge territory for our liking. Young-Holt Unlimited had hits like "Soulful Strut" for Atlantic and featured members of the Ramsey Lewis Trio. "Oh Girl" was produced by Michael Cuscuna, who produced the Art Ensemble's Bap-tizm (also reissued on 4 Men With Beards), and has string aranngements by Eumir Deodato, the guy who made a disco version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)" and produced Kool and the Gang. A very slick, jazzy instrumental rare groove classic. ----* ----* Nonesuch Explorer Titles! : ----* We just got the first batch of the Indonesia / South Pacific installment of Nonesuch's Explorer reissues, which total 12 in number. Ten of the discs are from either Java or Bali and just about each one features an entirely different form of gamelan. A Gamelan, as a cursory way of introduction, is an orchestra of primarily bronze (though bamboo gamelan are also common) percussion instruments -- metallophones, gongs, gong-chimes -- and drums. Quite often a gamelan will have a specific repertoire that it is exclusively built for the performance of, and certain ceremonial gamelan are limited to the performance of a single piece. On top of this, throughout Java and Bali there is an ever changing world of both village and court traditions which continue to defy definitions. These discs just in from Bali and Central & Western Java just scratch the surface of gamelan throughout Indonesia, but they're a fine introduction anyway.
The return of the orcs!!! Chapter two in the musical tale of Uglach and his band of orcs. Here's a little of what we said about chapter one (which we also have in stock):
"Much like a radio play, the whole drama is played out via dialogue, ambient sounds and incidental music....a musical story, utilising dark ambience, cinematic soundscapes, the sounds of life in the forest (sticks crackling, wind blowing, water splashing, swords clashing) and a litany of grunts and growls, which is the dialogue spoken entirely in orcish."
Chapter two is heavier on the music (not heavier mind you, but containing more music), with less emphasis on battles and dialogue, sounding much more medieval and almost renaissance faire-ish at times (although fear not, there is still plenty of orcish being grunted, as well as the occasional unsheathing of swords). Flutes, hand drums, jaw harp, and didgeridoos are woven into fantastical soundscapes, evoking forests, caves and times of yore. In fact, according to the liner notes, much of the record actually -was- recorded in forests and caves (as well as lakes, rivers and a castle). Those of you who need another Lord Of The Rings fix before film number two might find what you're looking for with Za Frumi. If you don't have the first one, you might want to start there, but if you're anything like us, you'll have to get both!!
Let me preface this review by mentioning that Allan has never read The Lord Of The Rings (even with his extensive D&D experience...hmmm).
Za Frumi is a group of Swedish musicians, disenchanted with the black metal scene, and the music scene in general, who were compelled to look elsewhere for the magic and mystery they felt was lacking in modern music. The result is 'Za Shum Ushatar Uglakh', a musical tale of a clan of orcs and their battle against a mighty vampire lord! That's right, orcs.
The story goes like this (from the liner notes):
"Join the epic voyage of the orc leader Uglakh and his compatriots. Their adventure begins in the deep lustrous forest filled with the sounds of the wild and the roar of a great fire. Around it sit the Uruki Uglach, awaiting the mysterious primal dance of their shaman. The morning after, the uruks, compelled by their mystic shamans advice to Uglach, attack an old castle. After the raid, the subservient Golug Fachtal and his more adventurous kinsmen Yagui forage the forest, and set out to build a watch tower. After a frustrated argument about a toadstool, the wet Yagul and the other orcs begin building a tower, while the dagalush Knish and his kapuli friend go further afield, and find a deep sea beach, where the melodious elves are making sweet music. Later, we join the clans march during a night filled with wonder. They press constantly on, sometimes marching, sometimes sneaking. After a short stroll in the forest, Uglakh and his clansmen happen upon the dark, brooding castle of the dreaded vampire Ismael. The journey through his dark castle has two parts, with mysterious subterranean chanting and majestic orchestral sounds. They face many perils there, and end in the final battle with Ismael in his greatest chamber."
Much like a radio play, the whole drama is played out via dialogue (more on that later), ambient sounds and incidental music.
So simply as a musical story, utilising dark ambience, cinematic soundscapes, the sounds of life in the forest (sticks crackling, wind blowing, water splashing, swords clashing) and a litany of grunts and growls, which is the dialogue spoken entirely in orcish (for real! -- a handy translation is included in the booklet for those not fluent in the tongue). It's really interesting and quite entertaining.
But the music, taken on its own, is quite an epic dronescape (albiet littered with very un-drone like segments). 'Za Shum...' is a strange mix of dark rumbles and throbbing pulses, simple clattery rhythms and tribal workouts, grunting and growling and roaring (that could be electronic rumbles or misplaced death metal vocalists if you didn't already know it was orcs) and the occasional folky flute interlude. Imagine the No Neck Blues Band jamming with Jonathan Coleclough or Andrew Chalk, with Chris Barnes (Cannibal Corpse) or Glenn Benton (Deicide)
grunting the dialogue with the Thai Elephant Orchestra as their rhythm section. It's that weird. It's that cool.
Drummer Tatsuya Yoshida from Japanese prog-crazies the Ruins teams up with Polish pianist Piotr Zabrodzki for these sixteen tracks of advanced "jazz" insanity, recently recorded in Warsaw. We'd never heard of Zabrodzki before, but he more than holds his own with the notoriously hyperkinetic Yoshida, playing distorted bass as well as piano (at the same time? sounds like it -- must be overdubbed, though you never know with a Yoshida project, as he's able to play, like, a half dozen instruments and sing all at the same time, so maybe his friends can too!). The duo's presumably improvised music wildly ranges along an extremely spastically noisy to almost classically jazzy continuum. They attain appropriately Ruins-y levels of Magmoid prog-ness (the throbbing bass pulsations! the octopoidal percussion frenzies!) punctuated with some gargling vocals from Yoshida. The ivories are tickled unto death by Zabrodzki, who plays with "Great Balls Of Fire" ferocity, fractured into the avantgarde abstraction of a Cecil Taylor. It's all very chaotic and complex, manic yet melodic. And meaningful? Maybe, we're puzzled by the African imagery found in the cd packaging, how does that fit with the quasi-scientific sounding song titles ("Permanent Beta Power", "Tri-Command Connector", "Oxymoron 9", "Micronode Examination", "Quick-Core", etc.), or the Poland/Japan connection also celebrated in the cd graphics with the flags of both countries? Who knows, but anyway Ruins/Yoshida fans should dig this, it's another in a long line of interesting, intense duets in which the drummer has taken part. Satoko Fuji is probably jealous.
More tradition-challenging avant-garde Jewish music on the Tzadik label, this project being by Parisian Yves Weyh and band (accordian, electric guitar, bass and percussion). ----* ----* Printed Matter : ----* COMETBUS #47 zine 2.00 The latest installment in the zine that started the revolution of personal diary zines. This issue, subtitled "Lanky", takes place in Albany, CA, and is a whopping ninety pages, "perfect" bound with a glossy cover! THE BROKEN FACE #10 magazine 3.98 This issue features interviews with Chris Knox, Cul de Sac, The Tower Recordings, and The Green Pajamas and a roundup of Terrastock Four, which took place in Seattle last year. A very striking similarity to Phil McMullen's Ptolemaic Terrascope, as far as content and artwork. Based in Sweden and edited by Mats Gustafsson, we're curious if it's the same Mats Gustafsson that performs regularly with Brotzmann and various Chicago improv circles, hmm... PREWITT, ARCHER "Sof' Boy Econo Combo Comic" (Fantagraphics) comic 5.95 I really cannot express the extreme jubilation-then-plummeting-bummerness I felt when I saw that we'd received a "new" issue of Archer Prewitt's brutally hilarious comic. But alas, it wasn't new at all! No, it's a special reprint of the first (and only) two issues together. Well at least for everyone who missed them the first time around, here's your second chance. Of course you may be thinking "isn't she over-reacting just a wee bit?" And well, all I can say is "see for yourself." Oh my, hee hee... Okay! COPPER PRESS #5 magazine 4.00 Interviews with and features on Lungfish, Pedro the Lion, Paul Newman, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, HiM, Damien Jurado, Jessica Bailiff, skateboarders Brad Staba and Jeff Budro, snowboarder Thayne Mahler, and much, much more. Tons of reviews and skate/snowboard ads. Nicely layed out, too. ----* ----* In Stock, No Chance to Review Yet : ----* ANOMOANON "s/t" (Palace Records) cd 14.98 CALL AND RESPONSE "s/t" (Kindercore Records) cd 13.98 CD_SLOPPER "SaskieWaxi" (Or) cd 15.98 CLOUDDEAD "s/t" (clouddead) 10" 9.98 COLDPLAY "Parachutes" (Capitol) cd 16.98 FETISH 69 "Dysfunctions and Drones" (Trost) 2cd 26.00 FRISELL, BILL "Blues Dream" (Nonesuch) cd 16.98 FUCK ON THE BEACH "Endless Summer" (Slap A Ham) cd 13.98 HIGH PRIEST "Ghost in the Drummachine / Stimulus Simulator" (Antipop Recordings) 12" 6.98 HIM "5/6 In Dub" (After Hours / Bubblecore) cd 10.98 IN GOWAN RING "s/t" (World Serpent) cd 14.98 IVAR "Debut" (Saas Fee) cd 15.98 KLEENEX GIRL WONDER "Smith Album" (MOC) 2cd 14.98 NOISEGATE "As We Were Talking" (Manufacture) cd 9.98 PARKER, EVAN "Strings With Evan Parker" (Emanem) 3cd 35.00 PHELPS, JOEL R.L. & THE DOWNER TRIO "Inland Empires" cd (Moneyshot) QUAYE, FINLEY "Vanguard" (Epic) cd 16.98 RIVERS, SAM TRIO "Firestorm" (RivBea Sound) cd 14.98 SCORN "Greetings From Birmingham" (Hymen) cd 16.98 SHIMADA, AIKO "Blue Marble" (Tzadik) cd 16.98 SILVER SCOOTER "Blue Law" (Peek-a-Boo) cd 13.98 SPRINGFIELD, DUSTY "Love Songs" (Rhino) cd 11.98 TORAL, RAFAEL "Cyclorama Lift 3" (Tomlab) cd 11.98 TRI-PINNACLE "Diagnol Ryme Garganchula 2.0" (Antipop Recordings) 12" 6.98 ULTRA RED "Plan de Austeridad - BBC Remixes" (Beta Bodega) 12" 8.98 V/A "I'm A Good Woman 2" (Harmless) cd 19.98 V/A "Substancia 3" (Quartermass) cd 7.98 V/A "Turntables by the Bay Vol. 1" (Hip Hop Slam) lp 9.98 _______________________________________________________________________ INSTORE ANNOUNCEMENT Britt Daniel from ---> S P O O N will play a free instore next Saturday March 3 at 6pm. (We'll send out a reminder email next week.) _______________________________________________________________________ LOCAL SHOWS CALENDAR ONLINE Local customer Squid has put up a cute website dedicated to shows happening locally. It's a nice resource. See http://www.playinginfog.com _______________________________________________________________________ THE FIRST EVER GUITAR GOD-A-THON AND WET SWEATPANTS COMPETITION!!
Satlah are a young NYC jazz trio led by Israeli immigrant Danny Zamir, a 19-year old sax player and composer. Championed by Tzadik-boss John Zorn (whose alto sax appears on three tracks here) for obvious reasons: Satlah aren't far from the sort of "New Jewish Music" epitomized by Zorn's own, reknowned Masada quartet. Allan had the pleasure of seeing these guys play a free show in the bar at the Knitting Factory in New York not long ago and declares that this recording captures the intensity, beauty and playfulness that the trio demonstrated live. Mixing traditional Jewish motifs (and instrumentation) into a hard-blowing jazz power trio format with great success, Satlah are of course recommended to Masada fans...
That's right - a John Zorn Xmas album!!!???
"Archery is Zorn's first large scale game piece and features an incredible all-star band, including, among others: Eugene Chadbourne, Bill Laswell, George Lewis, Bob Ostertag, Kramer, Tom Cora, Wayne Horvitz and of course John Zorn on sax and duck
Several respected chamber music ensembles put their strings to the test playing John Zorn's cartoon-music inspired music (disc one) as well as the even wilder and much darker compositions from Zorn's Naked City/"Torture Garden" period (disc two)!
A 20th-century (not 21st, as it specifically references Schoenberg and others from the 1900s) chamber piece composed by avant-jazz-maestro John Zorn in 2001. Scored for virtuoso female voice along with various combinations of piccolo, piano, flute, celeste, violin, cello, percussion (hi Willy!), organ, clarinet, etc. Conceptually, Zorn employs an Oulipo-inspired conceit here: each movement is prohibited from using a particular pitch, making a musical lipogram of sorts. Sonically, this is quite nice, if you're partial to soprano wordless aaaa-aaahh-ah-ah operatic type vocals continually soaring over mysterious horror movie strings, atonal piano, randomly struck bells, everything very ominous and dramatic and high-art beautiful. There's sound effects (wind machines??) and rustling percussion that add some pleasing "glitch" to the proceedings. Maybe you don't buy a 20th century classical disc everyday, but this would be nice one to keep your Jonathan Bepler "Cremaster" soundtracks company...
This does make us wonder, do academic composer aficionados feel about Zorn doing stuff like this the same way some of us felt about Faith No More's Mike Patton doing "Zorn" type stuff?
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For those of you who don't want the whole shelf-load of JZ's Filmworks volumes, a handy-dandy "best of" selected by the man himself. Maybe good starting point...
Organist Jamie Saft, clarinetist Chris Speed and percussionist Cyro Baptista play John Zorn's compositions (including a few from his Masada project) for this soundtrack to a documentary (controversial, we're told) about the Gay Hasidic Jewish community...
From the accompanying obi strip: "Hypnotic, sensual and evocative music for Martina Kudlacek's brilliant and detailed documentary on the life and work of underground film legend Maya Deren. Mixing myth and ritual with avant-garde dance and film techniques,
Alright, now that you've read all that, and if you're at all familiar with Zorn's Filmworks series, you probably know whether or not if you want / need this. I must admit, I didn't expect to like this disc, considering the high proliferation of compositions from Zorn in the past fifteen or so years. But the man always seems to come through somehow. One of the two major highlights of this disc are the subtle beauty in the performances of Erik Friedlander (actually some of the most touching and heartfelt playing that I've heard from him!). The other is the rare performance by Zorn on piano, beautifully rendered - a rare homage to his love of Feldman, maybe? There are moments of minimalist texture, however brief and overshadowed by Friedlander's sweet dynamicism. Always one to cross over styles and display technical virtuosity, this installment of Filmworks could do without the bongo drumming or faux-exotic parts, but then again, it is about Maya Deren whose films themselves included Haitian drumming in them. Overall a nice disc and one that almost lives up to its obi strip comments.
Here you go Zornophiliacs: the 11th volume in his filmworks series. We turn to resident Zorn expert 'obi' for this review: "The latest volume in a continuing series documenting Zorn's varied and creative work for film features one of his most popular ensembles: Masada String Trio. Their incredible rapport is at its best in this haunting score for Aviva Slesin's documentary film on Jewish children hidden from the Nazis during the Shoah. Orchestral arrangements, intimate improvisations, lyricism and a handful of new Masada tunes make this one of Zorn's most memorable film scores." In other words: if you have I - X, you might as well pick up XI.
This volume of the filmworks series collects Zorn's scores from three documentaries. Tzadik says: "A touch of minimalism laces the score to a film on the East Village dance scene. Haunting and childlike, the music for a documentary on outsider artist Morton Bartlett is tenderly scored for voice and cello. Finally, guitarist Marc Ribot goes head to head with chinese pipa virtuoso Min Xiao-Fen for a film on the lives of Shaolin Monks now living and teaching in America." ----* ----* Compilations : ----*
For the John Zorn fan who has to have everything. Yes, that means that we're now on to Filmworks #13 and it looks like there's no end in sight. So with a big thanks to Tzadik for supplying a glowing review in advance, we bring you the obi: "2002 proves to be a watershed year for Zorn, with this being his fifth film score in three months. Here, a taste of Ennio Morricone, Astor Piazzola, French musette and Nino Rota make up what is perhaps his greatest film score to date. At times bizarre, haunting, exhilerating and powerful, the lush sonorities of this dynamic group will surprise you as much as it did Zorn himself. A romantic new lyricism. A remarkable new direction. Unexpected, inevitable and absolutely..." okay, enough. We made some sound samples, so check 'em out.
Though a formally composed soundtrack to suit each step of its filmic events, Filmworks XV is fluid, engaging and emotionally moving. Zorn plays a moody and meandering electric Wurlitzer organ with master percussionist Cyro Baptista and bassist and oud player Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz. The result is a soundtrack that absolutely holds its own as an incredible composition.
Its framework is built upon melodic improvisation that is activated by a momentous balance of space and rhythm. Traces of folk music (from Hasidic to Yiddish) combined with the soul-jazz sound of the Wurlizter create an appropriately emotional mood for Protocols of Zion, a documentary about the rise of anti-Semitism following 9/11 by director Marc Levin. Truly amazing and moving. Each listen is more rewarding than the previous. Excellent!
add to cart [/images/addtocart.gif]/af4105.html It's hard to believe it's already been half a year since John Zorn's 50th birthday party. People are STILL talking about what a great party it was and what an excellent batch of new Tzadik releases related to his septuagenarian anniversary we've been blessed with. Wow. Wow! I mean WOW! And what more of a suitable way of kicking off the second half of this year's batch than with First Words. Recorded in the early months of 1955 by his doting mother (using a portable Wollensack recorder purchased at Sears) as he lay in his crib in his yellow and gray camouflage pajamas, the first track of First Words is exactly as one would expect: The very first words uttered by John Zorn! These two syllables, spoken in the interval of a major second, have mystified Zorn for most of his life. This kernel of music, this germinal source of inspiration, was it meant to lead into something, or was it a cadence? Frustrated in his attempts to understand the genius of his earlier self, Zorn went so far as to enroll in Columbia University's Ph.D. program in musicology in an attempt to analyze and break the code on the brief musical passage. The fruits of his labors resulted in the completion of his thesis: The Ontological Implications Of My First Utterance, which is included in hardback form in this limited edition first pressing. The remaining 11 tracks on the album are all compositions commissioned by Zorn and performed by the Downtown scene's greatest: Steve Lacy, Wayne Horvitz, Ikue Mori, Fred Frith, Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, Dave Douglas, Otomo Yoshihide and more!
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Willie Winant has a star turn here on the track "Gris-Gris" for 13 tuned drums.
A nice and pleasant record from the notorious John Zorn? Yes, and one that, in keeping with its title, could be the Zorn you might give to your mother, only perhaps not since the booklet has artwork by Trevor Brown (best known for the infamous Whitehouse album covers)! From Tzadik's obi blurb: "A beautiful and lyrical exploration of surf, exotica, easy listening and world beat, The Gift is an honest and heartfelt offering to music lovers the world over: an invitation to forget about the worries and cares of the world; to sit back and relax. Featuring Marc Ribot (Postizos), Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle), Cyro Baptista (Herbie Hancock), Jamie Soft (Bobby Previte), Joey Baron (Masada) and many special guests, this is the album Naked City fans have been waiting for. A side of John Zorn you've rarely heard, the music of The Gift is both relaxing and stimulating, like feeling perfectly at home in a place you've never been before. John Zorn 'for lovers only.'" Hmm.
The Zorn archival onslaught continues with another cd reissue of one of his many game piece compositions. 'Hockey' was recorded in 1980 and performed by an all-star cast of Downtown NY visionary improvisors. The composition itself, written in 1978, requires
In dedication to avant filmmaker Kenneth Anger (Lucifer Rising, Scorpio Rising, Invocation Of My Demon Brother, Fireworks, etc.), Zorn has composed "IAO", an epic seven-part suite inspired by the cult auteur's work as well as the Thelemic theology of Aleister Crowley. Through the seven segments, Zorn's latest masterpiece reflects upon the many facets of Alchemy, Metaphysics, Mysticism and Magick, dramatically shifting through newer, unexplored musical dimensions. With assistance from the talented crew of Jamie Saft, Mike Patton, Cyro Baptisa, Bill Laswell, Greg Cohen, Jennifer Charles, Rebecca Moore, Beth Hatton and Jim Pugliese, Zorn furthers his personal exploration of tenebrous sound. From minimalist generative electronic dronings to faux exotic percussive mantras, ritualistic pagan choral seances to full on death metal blowout, "IAO" is possibly Zorn's most ambitious work to date. And he succeeds in crafting a wicked mÈlange of alchemic erraticism, mystical beauty and diabolic witchery. Not since "Grand Guignol", maybe "Weird Little Boy", has Zorn spawned a torturous and stark behemoth of such exquisite magnitude. And I never thought I'd see a Tzadik record with a huge pentagram on the back! Fuck yeah!
What would a record exploring the worlds of magick and alchemy sound like? Well, if you're John Zorn, it apparently sounds like really intense horror movie soundtrack music. "Necronomicon" is a gorgeously anxious and frighteningly jagged piece for string quartet, that lulls you into a brooding, contemplative languor one moment, and sticks a knife in your back and sends you careening down the stairs into a zombie filled basement the next. Five movements of menacing moans, maniacal screeching and creepy pizzicato plinking that is as angular and aggressive as it is pensive and pretty. The final track "Sortilege", for two bass clarinets, sounds a bit like Peter And The Wolf (sort of unavoidable with TWO clarinets) but is a little more hyper and atonal, with didgeridoo like rumblings and rapid-fire bursts of shriek and skree.
Wow, wild and beautiful solo guitar interpretations of Masada tunes! The long-running, deservedly popular Masada project has perhaps been the most fruitful product of the convergence of two of composer John Zorn's deepest devotions: Judaism and jazz. (His interest in Japanese bondage, on the other hand, intersects with his music in Naked City and Painkiller, but not here). Probably the various Masada recordings would take a primary place among the prolific Zorn's many releases, were we writing his epitaph (or critical discography). And this new Masada disc is a fine addition to the canon. Here, three well-known, Zorn-connected downtown NYC avant-guitarists -- Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, and Tim Sparks -- try their hand at adapting Zorn's ancient-seeming melodies to their own arrangements and extended techniques. Alternating performances across the twenty-one tracks on offer here, these guitarists wring much emotion from their strings, but generally do so quietly and with care. Achingly beautiful, beautifully tangled. There are three distinct personalities playing here, yet this manages to flow together into one quite lovely whole. Maybe *too* lovely for some of us here who don't like their jazz so pretty...but we're pretty sure this is going to be a hit.
A Zorn-approved rock band plays Masada songs, that's right.
Reissue of the reissue. Previously an actual black box, with 2 cds, now everything fitted onto one disc. When these two Naked City records originally came out, it was before aQuarius had started doing our "list". But then Tzadik reissued 'em in The Black Box back in 1996, and we had a chance to review them... but all we said was: "Stars John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Fred Frith, Joey Baron & Yamantaka Eye. For their re-issue, Zorn has packaged these two albums in a black box, presenting all of the original, controversial artwork in the liner notes. Zorn gives a bit of history behind the graphics for Naked City releases. The albums, one fast and furious, the other slow and brutal, are without equal. They demonstrate the most aggressive sides of these incredible musicians."
True that, but there's more that could be said! Perhaps we figured, at the time, that everyone must already know all about Zorn and Naked City and there was no point in any extensive description. But, nowadays, there's gotta be people reading this who haven't yet experienced the mindboggling, genre-jumping musical mastery of Naked City, especially as intensely expressed on Torture Garden, originally released as a 45rpm 12" on the Shimmy Disc label in 1989, and if you're one of those folks, you're in for a treat - as long as you dig the idea of a "jazz" band playing almost every style of music imaginable, from lounge to country to surf to grindcore, in jarringly short, sharp stop on dime bursts, with Eye from the Boredoms vocalizing over top like a gibbering demon, screaming along with Zorn's saxophone, performing songs with titles like "Thrash Jazz Assassin", "Speedball", "Jazz Snob Eat Shit", "New Jersey Scum Swamp", and "S&M Sniper"! It's like the cartoon music of Carl Stalling meets Napalm Death meets, well just about everything else in the realm of music. Utterly insane and influential (though it must be said, Napalm Death was a HUGE influence on this). It's how we first heard about the Boredoms, too!
Blew us all away the first time we heard it. 12, 17, 28, 43 second songs that had more and better riffs in 'em than some ten minute Metallica epics. Well maybe that's exaggerating. But you get the idea. Amazing. And definitely Naked City's most "metal", grindcore-iest moment. Utter mayhem, with Zorn and Co. cramming a crazy number of changes into each track. Videos of them performing reveal a reliance on sheet music, but we don't blame 'em. That almost makes it more insane.
On this disc, the 42 tracks of Torture Garden (the longest of which clocks in at 1'19", but most don't come anywhere near the minute-mark) are followed by the single, 31'38" track that comprised the entirety of the 1992 Naked City album Leng Tch'e, long out of print, the yin to Torture Garden's yang for sure. Leng Tch'e is like the Naked City version of Earth or the Melvins, one long sludge trudge, super heavy and doomic and nightmarish. Again, Eye's vocals vie with Zorn's saxophone in emulating the screams of the damned.
If we had to choose our favorite Zorn album from amid his VAST discography (The Big Gundown? Spy Vs. Spy? Spillane? Bar Kokhba? Absinthe? Execution Ground?) Torture Garden would get a lot of our votes... it's certainly one of the most "extreme", though an argument could be made for Leng Tch'e too. No wonder they both belong together here (which also has something to do with the original, controversial cover art, necessitating the "black box" treatment). Nice to have 'em back in print, for the uninitiated, and also for old fans like us who had almost forgotten how incredible this shit is.
FYI some of the Torture Garden tracks also appeared on cd on the self-titled Naked City disc on Nonesuch (1989) and the Avant-label release Grand Guignol (1992).
Archival John Zorn reissue, recorded in 1980 (previously to be found in the massive "Parachute Years" box set). With Zorn on saxophones, clarinets, and his trademark (back then anyway) duck calls. Other players: Bob Ostertag (electronics), Charles K. Noyes (percussion), Mark E. Miller (percussion), and Polly Bradfield (violin). "Pool" is a bit similar to Zorn's later "Cobra" game-pieces. A rare false start version of Zorn's "Alchemy" is tacked on as a bonus. Zornophiles, line up.
Downtown jazzmaster cum avantegardist John Zorn plunges into the world of opera with Rituals, composed for the Bayreuth Opera Festival in 1988. At just under 27 minutes it has to win the Guiness Book of World Records award for the shortest opera. An engaging and mysterious work written for solo voice and 10 instruments, Rituals' strange orchestration includes Owls, Wind Machines, Gravedigging, and Ritual Magick! This recording of Rituals features Heather Gardner, Tara O'Connor, Mike Lowenstern, Peter Kolkay, Jim Pugh, Jim Pugliese, Stephen Drury, Jennifer Choi, Fred Sherry, Kurt Muroki and the inimitable Willie Winant.
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Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, Joey Baron, Jamie Saft, Ikue Mori... it's pretty extreme this one!
Zorn's latest venture consists mainly of tributes to twentieth century artists/visionaries. Zorn's homage to Harry Smith is his first attept at an exclusively electronic music; it sounds like abrasive short-wave crackle with twinkly star-trek video game
"The Big Gundown" is John Zorn's famed Ennio Morricone tribute album, wherein Zorn and his downtown cronies (Diamanda Galas, Fred Frith, Arto Lindsay, Vernon Reid, Ned Rothenberg, Christian Marclay, Michihiro Sato, and many many more) play the music of the Italian spaghetti western soundtrack master. Now it's been reissued 15 years later in a digitally remastered, expanded edition. Yep, there's six new, recently recorded bonus tracks (which feature another slew of notables, from Derek Bailey to memmbers of Masada and Mr. Bungle). Arguably one of the Zorn essentials, at the very least it, along with "Spillane", are the Zorn documents that point to his later fixation with soundtrack-music inspired compositions in Naked City.
Otherwise known as "Masada 10 Years Volume 3" this disc is the third in a series of covers discs celebrating a decade of jazz iconoclast John Zorn's Masada, the jazz-meets-Judaism project that in a lot of ways is his masterwork. What do they mean by "The Unknown Masada"? Well apparently the twelve tracks here are all Zorn/Masada compositions that have never before been recorded! The diverse lineup of contributors include the usual downtown NYC jazz supects, outsider avantgardists, some klezmer-oriented troupes, and prog rock weirdos. Specifically, this features Mike Patton's Fantomas (with easily the most frightening cut on here), Dave Douglas, Naftule's Dream, Eyvind Kang, Wadada Leo Smith, Eric Friedlander, Jami Saft, and others. Tatsuya Yoshida of Japan's Ruins contributes an amazing acrobatic progged-out track that's one of the disc's highlights. If you heard the previous "Voices In The Wilderness" double cd comp of Masada covers (vol. 2 in this series) this is quite similar, varied yet sounding "Masada" through and through (with the exception perhaps of that Fantomas cut). A worthy tribute, again.
The "Masada Guitars" disc from a few months back was but part one of Tzadik's 10th anniversary celebration of John Zorn's Masada group. Volume 2, "Voices In The Wilderness" continues the tribute, this time with two discs worth of catchy Masada covers by a host of musicians from downtown NYC and beyond. There's a lot of jazz and klezmer ensembles represented, as you'd expect, but also rock and electronica artists as well, many with previous releases on Tzadik. Some of 'em: Mike Patton, Naftule's Dream, Rova Saxophone Quartet, Satlah, Mephista, Pachora, Cracow Klezmer Band, Marc Ribot, Steven Bernstein, Jewlia Eisenberg, Tin Hat Trio, Kramer, Davka, Medeski Martin and Wood, and more. Definitely a lively crew! This is kind of the "party" Masada release as a result.
MPEG Download: PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER "Karaim" [/audio/masadapharaoh.mp3]
MPEG Stream: PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER "Karaim" [/audio/masadapharaoh.m3u]
Nothing can do better justice to a John Zorn release than his own obi (that chic Japanese-style paper card that fits over the spine), so without further ado, we give you the word from the horse's mouth: "This exciting release initiates a new series of CDs documenting the best of John Zorn's infamous game pieces, harnessing improvisers in complex compositional formats, combining the unpredictable edge of improvisation with the structural integrity of written composition. "Xu Feng" (shoo-fung) was composed immediately after "Cobra" and is the most dynamic and fast-paced of them all. Intense and violent, and featuring an extraordinary all-star band [Fred Frith, John Schott, Chris Brown, David Slusser, Dave Lombardo & William Winant], "Xu Feng" captures the exciting Kung-fu action of the martial arts for which the piece is named."
Italian hardcore jazz attack! We're big fans of these guys, and were happy to get to see 'em play in San Francisco earlier this summer. A super intense performance indeed, with the saxophone practically used as a percussion instrument alongside the thrashing drum battery, and the electric bass being utterly brutal, this nimble instrumental "jazz trio" was almost metallically heavy, and definitely were mindblowingly tight and technical. It's no wonder that the Steve Albini-recorded Igneo bears a dedication to The Ex. This new Zu is actually a 2001 album, at last brought out in the States by our pals at the Frenetic label, who have added on four bonus tracks, all of 'em creative remixes from a surprising quartet of remixers, from backgrounds as diverse as underground hip hop to experimental drone: DJ Olive, DJ Andy Moor, Dalek (who adds a rap vocal, that works in context), and Giuseppe Ielasi. Pretty neat. The album itself also boasts some heavy guests, well-known Chicago indie jazz cats Ken Vandermark, Fred Lomberg-holm, and Jeb Bishop. So if blitzkrieging (but beauteous too) free jazz / math rock is your thing (if you're a fan of the likes of John Zorn, Alboth!, and the Flying Luttenbachers) and you haven't heard Zu, this is the disc to get! And by the way, there's a song here entitled "Solar Anus" -- not a Skullflower cover, nor anything to do with the Japanese band of that name. Just another Bataille reference we must suppose.
There can really be no doubt any more. Zu are the heaviest, fiercest jazz combo ever. And to be honest, they are barely even jazz. They are more some sort of furious metallic math rock outfit that just happens to have a saxophone, and who just so happen to bee able to kick out some bad ass jazziness amidst all the pummeling and rocking they seem to always be doing.
This super limited picture disc, features two brand new tracks, both serious barnstormers. The first side begins with churning detuned bass which gives way to a super freaked out burst of psych spazz drumming and wild skronking horns eventually locking into a weird jazzy sci-fi krautrock groove complete with creepy Goblin-esque synth swells.
The flip side offers up more jazzy math rock weirdness, swinging wildly from spastic skitter to near-metallic groove sounding more like the Ruins than ever, although things are going on like crazy underneath the surface, pizzicato strings, backwards loops, weird ambient sounds, and brutal bursts of blast beat skronk.
Outrageously thick vinyl, a gorgeous picture disc with some killer creepy skull art on one side, and swirling psychedelic eye candy on the other! ----* ----* tUMULt: Back In Print And Back In Stock : ----*
How this one never got reviewed by us before, we'll never know. Two tracks from avant jazz heavies Zu, remixed and reworked by Phantomsmasher / James Plotkin. The already head shearing / ear drum destroying shred of Zu's unhinged metal jazz crush just gets more warped and wild and all gloriously twisted up. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, super swank packaging, colored vinyl in a diecut quarter sleeve, includes a download code as well.
Props to Brian Turner at WFMU for re-introducing us to this band. We always sort of dug Zu, a pretty cool weird sort-of jazz outfit from Italy. But hearing Zu's "Tom Araya Is Our Elvis" on the radio knocked our blocks off. Woah! What kind of jazz group could come up with a track like that. A skronking sludgy punch to the guts. Hypnotically repetitive and all right, we'll say it, HEAVY! Since when was it okay for a jazz group to channel Slayer and just CRUSH? Who cares! Zu is our 'heavy jazz' drug of choice now. And the title of the track that got us hooked? Perfect! Because Tom Araya IS our Elvis. This whole record is a dense tangled blast of downtuned artmetal deathjazz. Imagine Morphine, on, er, well, morphine. Dark and druggy, stumbling, convoluted and complex, a stuttering staggering drums, bass and horns battle royale. But this is not about skree as much as it is about the slithery lowslung skronk, liberally peppered with subtle scrabbly scattery percussive shuffle and moaning droning cello. So fucking great!
Props to Brian Turner at WFMU for re-introducing us to this band. We always sort of dug Zu, a pretty cool weird sort-of jazz outfit from Italy. But hearing Zu's "Tom Araya Is Our Elvis" on the radio knocked our blocks off. Woah! What kind of jazz group could come up with a track like that. A skronking sludgy punch to the guts. Hypnotically repetitive and alright, we'll say it, HEAVY! Since when was it okay for a jazz group to channel Slayer and just CRUSH? Who cares! Zu is our 'heavy jazz' drug of choice now. And the title of the track that got us hooked? Perfect! Because Tom Araya IS our Elvis. This whole record is a dense tangled blast of downtuned artmetal deathjazz. Imagine Morphine, on, er, well, morphine. Dark and druggy, stumbling, convoluted and complex, a stuttering staggering drums, bass and horns battle royale. But this is not about skree as much as it is about the slithery lowslung skronk, liberally peppered with subtle scrabbly scattery percussive shuffle and moaning droning cello. So fucking great!
A few weeks ago we listed the new album Way Of The Animal Powers by Italian "extreme" jazz trio Zu, which we really dug for its lowslung skronkiness. So we should definitely also give mention to the *other* recent Zu release, How To Raise An Ox, which sees 'em teaming up with Swedish sax terror and sometime Sonic Youth collaborator Mats Gustafsson, somebody with whom any avant-jazz hipster should be familiar -- most recently Mats graced our New Arrivals list with a couple of albums from his band The Thing, famed for "covering" the likes of The White Stripes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs free jazz style! So you can imagine that he's totally on the same wavelength as the maniacs in Zu, and this team-up certainly results in some definitely heavy-duty and freaked-out "jazz". Dark and intense, this is satisfying both when the band is squawking away full bore, and also when they back off from the near Borbetomagian noise assaults and venture into moodier territory. Zu's shuddering bass and splattering drums knock out fractured, seasick grooves whilst Mats' horn doubles the ensemble's saxophone firepower. It all fits together into more than the sum of its skronk. For fans of Combat Astronomy, Flying Luttenbachers, 16-17, and the more hardcore Zorn outings.
Italian aggro-jazzniks Zu join up with Chicago jazz/funk heavyweights Spaceways Inc. (Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake, Nate McBride) for some seriously dark and intense and fucked up outer space (is the place) exploration. The first four tracks find the three piece Zu turned into the Zu Quartet with the addition of Vandermark and the results are phenomenal. Rumbling, swirling, ominous creepy, and so fucking good. Wild octopoidal drumming wrapped in slippery slabs of crunchy bass, while the horns slither and shriek atop the whole chaotic tangle. Occasionally the chaos is reined in and the arrangements become short and sharp and ultra precise, like Naked City playing the Ruins but the feeling here is free and wild and strangely melodic. And so good. It's jazz, but it definitely has a rocking element. Imagine an instrumental Morphine if someone slipped them some Peter Botzmann cds and a couple hits of PCP. On the second half of the disc the newly formed Zu Quartet is joined by the rest of Vandermark's Spaceways bandmates to tackle a handful of stomping funky covers by Funkadelic, Art Ensemble Of Chicago and Sun Ra. On "Trash A Go Go" the original Funkadelic tune gets stripped down to JUST drums for the first portion, with a wicked double team on the skins, until the band joins in and stretches things out into a throbbing funk workout. Even the Art Ensemble cover is wild and funky, peppered with bursts of Zorn-like white noise skree. The disc closes with a Sun Ra medley: "We Travel The Spaceways / Space Is The Place", an epic eight minutes that goes from ambient clatter, to rumbling hypnotic drone, to boppish melodic funk. So fucking great!
