ZS Arms (Planaria) cd 10.98

ZS Karate Bump (Planaria) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Following their debut disc on the Mick Barr (Orthrelm/Octis) directed Vothoc imprint, here's an intriguing 2nd cd of hard to describe and doubtless hard to play music from this instrumental Brooklyn-based sextet, a double trio actually. Here's their formula: (tenor sax + electric guitar + drum kit) x 2. And yes, their music is suitably "mathy". It's not exactly jazz, not prog, not chamber music, but some sort of underground avantgarde amalgam of said genres. Imagine a blend of John Zorn (particularly with his Carl Stalling influenced stuff in mind) and a minimalist composer like Steve Reich, perhaps.
The disc opens with a synchronized swim through the watery rhythms of "Bump". It's chattering, breathing music that goes to extremes of repetition more than volume. There's two more tracks besides that one on here, totaling about 20 minutes overall, so I guess this qualifies as a just a "mini album" or ep. But playing this sort of precision madness is probably hard to keep up (or keep up with) for long, so the length makes sense.
MPEG Stream: "Bump"

ZS s/t (Troubleman Unlimited / Vothoc) cd 11.98
Those crazies over at Troubleman have done gone and let Mick Barr (Orthrelm/Octis/ex-Crom Tech) 'curate' a series of releases under the Vothoc moniker, devoted to obscure prog-core weirdness from the NYC underground. The first Vothoc release is also the first release from Zs, a mostly-instrumental very very very prog band not unlike a chamber-rock version of Orthrelm, with a lineup of two drummers, two guitarists, and two saxophone players!
The first three tracks on here are total herkyjerky, typewritery, stop-start stuff, with that 'cartoon mouse tiptoeing around' kinda feel to it. All the more impressive considering how together six musicians have to be to do this. Math for math's sake. Can't call it math-rock, even, 'cause there's not a lot of rockin' going on. Guaranteed to drive certain people insane, whilst simultaneously provoking twisted delight in others (you know who you are). But, after three tracks of this maniacally hectic stuff -- culminating in the under-2-minute frenzy of "Olympics" -- they calm down quite a bit. Track four, "Mimesis", is a slow, spacious 15-minute epic of mournful jazz-drone. Real nice n' spooky. And then they follow that with an album-ending track that's even mellower and prettier and features some sorta Brian Eno-ish singing! When that's over, even if the first few tracks annoyed you, they will be long forgotten... But the proper audience for Zs is folks who are gonna like both the mathy and the mild.
MPEG Stream: "Retrace A Walk"
MPEG Stream: "Mimesis"

ZU Igneo & Remixes (Frenetic) cd 14.98
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.
MPEG Stream: "Eli, Eli, Elu"
MPEG Stream: "Muro Torto"
MPEG Stream: "Igneo Giuseppe Ieliasi Remix"

ZU Observing The Armies In The Battlefield (Public Guilt) 7" picture disc 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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!

ZU Way of the Animal Powers (Xeng) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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!
MPEG Stream: "Tom Araya Is Our Elvis"
MPEG Stream: "Anantomy Of A Lost Battle"

ZU Way of the Animal Powers (Public Guilt) lp 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Long out of print on cd, now finally pressed on vinyl!!
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!
MPEG Stream: "Tom Araya Is Our Elvis"
MPEG Stream: "Anantomy Of A Lost Battle"

ZU & MATS GUSTAFSSON How To Raise An Ox (Atavistic) cd 14.98
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.
MPEG Stream: "How To Raise An Ox"
MPEG Stream: "Meat Eater, Solid Bird"

ZU & NOBUKAZU TAKEMURA Identification With The Enemy: A Key To The Underworld (Atavistic) cd 14.98
From the downright aggro get-go, it seems that Zu is the dominant force in this new collaboration with laptopper Nobukazu Takemura. The Italian trio's thick and heady free jazz muscles its way out of these eight glowering and at times violently dismembered pieces. On the other hand it could be that perhaps we're catching a frightful glimpse of Takemura's dark side as he takes the album's title to heart? Whatever it is, Identification With The Enemy: A Key To The Underworld is definitely a whole different beast from the pretty electronic effervescence of his solo endeavors. Bringing together such disparate styles, could be a recipe for confusion / disaster or it could make for a tightly wound intense work. We think the latter!
MPEG Stream: "Alone With The Alone"
MPEG Stream: "New Buddhas In Stock"

ZU & SPACEWAYS INC. Radiale (Atavistic) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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!
MPEG Stream: "Canicula"
MPEG Stream: "Thanatocracy"

ZUBI ZUVA Jehovah (Tzadik) cd 15.98
Yoshida of Ruins and 2 pals use only their voices to drive you crazy. Some of it is done -ketjak- style from Indonesia!

ZUKIE, TAPPA Dub Em Zukie (Jamaican Recordings) cd 14.98

ZUKIE, TAPPA Escape From Hell (Dub) Limited Edition (Trojan) cd 18.98

ZUKIE, TAPPA Horns Up! Dubbing With Horns (Jamaican Recordings) cd 14.98

ZUKIE, TAPPA Horns Up! Dubbing With Horns (Jamaican Recordings) lp 14.98

ZUKIE, TAPPER Man Ah Warrior (Trojan) cd 14.98

ZUKIE, TAPPER Tapper Roots (Virgin) cd 14.98

ZUMPANO Goin' Through Changes (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So by now everyone knows how great the New Pornographers record is. I mean, the label sold out of 'em in a matter of months, it got written up in the New York Times, and we've sold tons of it. And while some of the credit goes to Neko Case's sublime vocals, the songs, and the vocals of lead pornographer Carl Newman, remind us of a band we were raving about 3 or 4 years ago, and that coincidentally featured one Carl Newman on vocals and keyboards. Zumpano put out two records of absolutely perfect pop, with enough musical bite and lyrical savagery to keep it interesting, even after all this time. Unlike all the pop groups that stole liberally from the Beach Boys and the Beatles and Supertramp, Zumpano, while obviously indebted to the above, dug much deeper and/or much farther back finding influences in the Zombies, Kinks, Chicago, Redd Kross, Jimmy Webb and even Neil Diamond. Amazing musicianship, crystalline production, beautiful harmonies, and some of the catchiest kick ass songs we've ever heard. Here's what we had to say about 'Goin Through Changes' way back on AQ list 38:
"THE pop record of the year. An amalgamation of all those AM radio anthems you heard day in and day out as a child yet it's somehow still wholly original. A pinch of Jimmy Webb, a dash of Chicago, a little Kinks, a little Zombies. Horns!... Piano!... Harmonies!... Somehow it still rocks!... Andee and Byram swear by this record & even Windy loves it. Allan loves it too but Andee refuses to believe him."
All of you that love the New Pornographers record should definitely give Zumpano a try, if you haven't already!
RealAudio clip: "Here's The Plan"
RealAudio clip: "The Millionaire Poets"
RealAudio clip: "The Sylvia Hotel"

ZUMPANO Look What The Rookie Did (Sub Pop) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So by now everyone knows how great the New Pornographers record is. I mean, the label sold out of 'em in a matter of months, it got written up in the New York Times, and we've sold tons of it. And while some of the credit goes to Neko Case's sublime vocals, the songs, and the vocals of lead pornographer Carl Newman, remind us of a band we were raving about 3 or 4 years ago, and that coincidentally featured one Carl Newman on vocals and keyboards. Zumpano put out two records of absolutely perfect pop, with enough musical bite and lyrical savagery to keep it interesting, even after all this time. Unlike all the pop groups that stole liberally from the Beach Boys and the Beatles and Supertramp, Zumpano while obviously indebted to the above, dug much deeper and/or much farther back finding influences in the Zombies, Kinks, Chicago, Redd Kross, Jimmy Webb and even Neil Diamond. Amazing musicianship, crystalline production, beautiful harmonies, and some of the catchiest kick ass songs we've ever heard. While this record predates the AQ list, it's equally as amazing as recor number two, which we reviewed on AQ list 38:
"THE pop record of the year. An amalgamation of all those AM radio anthems you heard day in and day out as a child yet it's somehow still wholly original. A pinch of Jimmy Webb, a dash of Chicago, a little Kinks, a little Zombies. Horns!... Piano!... Harmonies!... Somehow it still rocks!... Andee and Byram swear by this record & even Windy loves it. Allan loves it too but Andee refuses to believe him."
All of you that love the New Pornographers record should definitely give Zumpano a try, if you haven't already!
RealAudio clip: "I Dig You"
RealAudio clip: "Platinum Is Best Served Cold"
RealAudio clip: "Temptation Summary"

ZUMPANO, JASON Room And Mansion (Inflight) cd-r 14.98
Jason Zumpano is perhaps most notable as the drummer and unmistakable namesake behind one of aQ's top pop faves of all time, Zumpano! Yeah, you've prolly heard us go off more that a few times gushing about the glorious pop greatness of that early '90s band, and pining for a reissue of their two albums. As many well know, their frontman Carl Newman went on to head the mighty New Pornographers. The rest of the band members moved on to more low key projects and lives. Mr. Zumpano for one has been keeping plenty busy with his piano'n'pop combo Sparrow as well as Attics And Cellars, Destroyer, and Loscil. Of course, aQ followers are probably already very acquainted with the latter two! Indeed, the Vancouver indie music scene remains very close knit even this many years down the line, playing together in a wide array of musical collaborations such as this one. Room And Mansion pairs Jason Zumpano's solo instrumental originals with the drawings of Ms Sydney Vermont (aka Mr Daniel Bejar's better half and partner in Hello Blue Roses). Zumpano's quite light on his fingers, gracefully weaving these lithe compositions of primarily piano with some cello and percussion embellishment. A lovely musical counterpart to Vermont's delicate color splashed, blue ink sketched figures. Limited edition of 150. Each copy includes two giclee prints.
MPEG Stream: "The Workman"
MPEG Stream: "A Red Spot Against the Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Some Run, Others Crouch"

ZUUL Out Of Time (Planet Metal) cd 10.98
Alphabetically, at the back of the pack, but in fact Zuul is definitely high up on our list of new n' true heavy metal bands that totally kick ass. Hailing from the very metal middle American town of Carbondale, Illinois, the young (but old school) heshers of Zuul deliver the goods with soaring melodic vocals (that sound rough n' ready too), raging riffing, and fleet-fingered leads. The album cover artwork features an axewielding headsman, which is always a sign of quality metal (and quality artwork). Or, at the very least, it'll give you an idea of the '80s inspired metal on offer here, making us think of Omen, although musically they probably owe the most to Iron Maiden, and various other NWOBHM greats, big and small. While death and warfare are Zuul's typical lyrical themes, they're really all about rockin' and having a good time, Zuul's heavy and speedy songwriting also possessing a definite "pop" edge, with "whoah-ohh-ohh-ohh!" bits, catchy choruses that stick in your head, and so forth (though they stay far away from ballads). And at least once on this album, they even sing about girls, that'd be the song "Ride Ride", with lines like "lipstick and lightning / standing there by the record machine / so enticing / know what I mean", that's classic, the term "record machine" probably ONLY ever used in song lyrics, are we right?
So if you're into the current crop of retro headbangers a la Enforcer, Cauldron, Wolf, Hot Fog, and these dudes' labelmates Harbinger, Zuul get the horns up from us. Good fun. And while they play it shreddingly straight (non-ironic) in their songs, it's not like they don't have a sense of humor. We like how the credits in the cd booklet helpfully note that "this album was recorded", full stop. And heck their name Zuul comes from the demon in the movie Ghostbusters!! Another nod to the '80s we guess. We want you on our team on trivia night if you already knew that. (By the way, while our website scripting doesn't support umlauts, Zuul of course have got 'em above each u in their name, depicted in their logo as little skulls.)
MPEG Stream: "Executioner"
MPEG Stream: "Backstreet Crawler"
MPEG Stream: "Ride Ride"

ZUUL To The Frontlines (Planet Metal) cd 10.98
Carbondale, Illinois's catchiest band of NWOBHM lovin' heshers unleash their sophomore slab of throwback metallic might. Ooooohyyeah! We loved their debut Out Of Time back in 2010 (which sounded like 1980 in Zuul years), and this one's another ripper specializing in '80s styled, speedy umlaut-laden metal with a definite pop sensibility, not unlike SF's own Space Vacation. Wailing and shredding and riffing and riffing and shredding and wailing, this 2nd effort fires on all cylinders, delivering the goods with, not inappropriately, songs about rockin', getting laid, and doing bloody battle in fantasy/historical settings (as per the wonderfully garish cover art). But it's not all fun and games and good times, there's some serious/somber sections too, ferinstance the acoustic strumming of majestic instrumental "Of The Fallen" which functions as an intro to the next track "Bounty Land", an epic both galloping and ponderous, getting into the real world of war and death, weighty with heartfelt emotion.
Effin' recommended to fans of the few other "modern" metal bands also operating in Zuul's zone of vintage metal revivification, like the aforementioned Space Vacation, Twisted Tower Dire, Cauldron, Bible Of The Devil, Midnight Chaser, and High Spirits (whose Chris "Professor" Black put out the cd version of this on his own Planet Metal label).
MPEG Stream: "Guillotine"
MPEG Stream: "Skullsplitter"
MPEG Stream: "Of The Fallen"

ZUUL To The Frontlines (High Roller) lp 26.00
Carbondale, Illinois's catchiest band of NWOBHM lovin' heshers unleash their sophomore slab of throwback metallic might. Ooooohyyeah! We loved their debut Out Of Time back in 2010 (which sounded like 1980 in Zuul years), and this one's another ripper specializing in '80s styled, speedy umlaut-laden metal with a definite pop sensibility, not unlike SF's own Space Vacation. Wailing and shredding and riffing and riffing and shredding and wailing, this 2nd effort fires on all cylinders, delivering the goods with, not inappropriately, songs about rockin', getting laid, and doing bloody battle in fantasy/historical settings (as per the wonderfully garish cover art). But it's not all fun and games and good times, there's some serious/somber sections too, ferinstance the acoustic strumming of majestic instrumental "Of The Fallen" which functions as an intro to the next track "Bounty Land", an epic both galloping and ponderous, getting into the real world of war and death, weighty with heartfelt emotion.
Effin' recommended to fans of the few other "modern" metal bands also operating in Zuul's zone of vintage metal revivification, like the aforementioned Space Vacation, Twisted Tower Dire, Cauldron, Bible Of The Devil, Midnight Chaser, and High Spirits (whose Chris "Professor" Black put out the cd version of this on his own Planet Metal label).
MPEG Stream: "Guillotine"
MPEG Stream: "Skullsplitter"
MPEG Stream: "Of The Fallen"

ZWAN Mary Star of the Sea (Reprise) 2cd 19.98
Zwan is the supergroup that Billy Corgan put together after the inevitable dissolution of the Smashing Pumpkins. The biggest surprise to us was that the line-up included indie-rock stalwarts Dave Pajo (Slint, Tortoise, Papa M, etc.) and Matt Sweeney (of Matador's former signees Chavez and one of Andee's all time favorite bands Skunk), whose albums were the antithesis to the overblown production that has polished all of the Smashing Pumpkins albums into MTV fodder throughout the '90s. Quite simply there's little in the music of Zwan that stands above Corgan's sensibilities which obviously carry over from the Smashing Pumpkins. So Slint and Chavez fans shouldn't get all that excited about Zwan. The only difference that Pumpkins fans will notice is the manifestation of Corgan's newfound optimistic world view in the form of more uptempo numbers, less caustic distortion, and a friendlier quality to the songwriting.
RealAudio clip: "Settle Down"
RealAudio clip: "Endless Summer"

ZWEISTEIN Trip / Flip Out / Meditation (Captain Trip) 3cd 88.00
Legendary lost krautrock treasure (so obscure that NONE of the krautrock obsessives here had even heard of it) originally released as a triple lp in 1970 and lost to the ages not long after. We weren't sure what to expect really, but the second we laid eyes on this, we knew it had to be good. The original elaborate mirror sleeve has been reproduced as a triple cd quadruple minigatefold, all the art metallic and reflective, the cover textured and trippy with a little eye-like mirror right in the center. Inside, lyrics, acid drenched landscapes populated by plastic toy animals, and song titles like "In - a) Beginning b) Analysis Of True c) To Hear Inside d) A Very Simple Song" and "Out - a) Misty Tour b) Water Sound c) Television d) Organ Dreams (A Very Simple Song)"... crazy long titles, but then the songs are crazy long as well, all in the twenty minute range, three cds, an hour and forty six minutes...
But don't be expecting that typical propulsive, motorik groove, nope, this is way on the other end of the spectrum, with one foot in the sort of drifty, abstract new age drift of groups like Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh, but with the other foot squarely in some other dimension entirely. A world of damaged, freaked out crumbling soundscapes, dense black holes of outer space FX, stumbling deconstructed folk and a lo-fi orchestra of tape experiments and druggy noisemaking.
The tracks are so long that it's hard to describe them individually, as each track is a series of parts, 10, 20, more, it's all like one huge twisting squirming living thing, changing shapes constantly, blurry and indistinct one second, sharp and crystalline the next, long stretches of hiss and thud and clatter, peppered with gorgeous little pockets of lilting fuzzy folk, only to be pulled apart moments later into shards of angular sound and chunks of smeared melody. The whole record is like navigating a wandering stream through some underground cavern, whirlpools of sound and abstract swirls everywhere, the listener floating dreamily as the sonic landscape subtly shifts and shimmers in the background. Random bits of echoey percussion underpin mysterious voices, singing, and chanting and groaning, long stretches of conversation and bits of found sound, chaotic squalls of caveman percussion all tangled up with detuned spaceship guitar, loads of microphone rattle and tape hiss, but the majority of the record is made up of abstract clouds of sound that drift and shift and subtly change over the course of minutes, the sounds of jets, running water, warbly organs, reverbed wheezes, voices chopped up and blurred into fuzzy streaks, dense clouds of crowd sounds, tape speed shifts and chipmunk like vocals, sweeping industrial soundscapes, children playing, backwards loops, everything dusted with a thick layer of FX.
Trip - Flip Out - Meditation is almost less music, and more some massive sonic experiment, a travelogue in sound, a crazy freaked out drug trip, captured and carved into wax, at once totally epic and ambitious, but at the same time totally primitive and childlike. Sure it's German and from the seventies, but this is a record that might appeal less to straight krautrock fans, and more to lovers of all things strange and wonderful and all fans of damaged outsider musical weirdness.
MPEG Stream: "Out"
MPEG Stream: "Point"

ZWEIZZ Black Necrotic Obfuscation (Vendlus) 7" 6.98
Weirdo black metal (?) from 2004, long out of print. How can you resist a song called "Black Narcotic Obfuscation"? The flip is "Birth, Sex, Death" so this pretty much covers it all. On Vendlus, also for fans of the left-field stuff on Garm's Jester label.

ZWEIZZ The Yawn Of The New Age (Vendlus) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "The Yawn Of The New Age"
MPEG Stream: "Raevkjort"
MPEG Stream: "Your System Sucks"

ZWISCHENFALL Heute (Dark Entries) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While revered by hardcore fanatics of '80s synth/dark wave sounds, none of us here were familiar with Zwischenfall, an early '80s band out of Germany with a Danish lead singer who made some totally engaging and compelling synth based sounds back int he day. What's striking us the most about this record which originally came out in 1983, is how organic it all sounds. Yes they were very interested in synthesizers and used them with amazing results, but they also incorporated acoustic and electric guitar, trumpet, and bass, years before others really grasped how to intertwine the use of electronics and more traditional instruments in a very fluid and moving way.
Some of the tracks come off like a less stiff Tuxedomoon or an electronic version of 23 Skidoo (the untrained post-Cosey trumpet blurting on "Heimatlose" lends to that reference). We are also reminded of Fad Gadget's synthetic quirkiness, and the early albums of Front 242, which makes sense as Patrick Codney of Front 242 was one of the band's biggest cheerleaders and producers.
There is a dramatic and emotional quality that makes us really fall hard for the songs of Zwischenfall. The emotive vocal delivery of Martin Urban was even compared to Klaus Nomi back in the day (we don't really hear that so much though) but it is for sure a strong and forceful presence that sometimes makes us think of the same kind of drama that folks like Japan were able to communicate through their music. Like all the great releases on Dark Entries the album is lovingly packaged, this time with the bands original press kit, and is quite limited, only 500 copies... so act fast!
MPEG Stream: "Atemlos"
MPEG Stream: "Millionen"
MPEG Stream: "Katastrophe"

ZYGADLO, RUDI Great Western Laymen (Planet Mu) cd 14.98
BACK IN STOCK!
We tend to check out most new stuff on Planet Mu, and we dig most of it, our recent Record Of The Week from Vex'd was on Planet Mu, the recent Starkey, Milanese, Distance, Legion Of Two, another Record Of The Week, there's also Boxcutter, Shitmat, Venetian Snares, Pinch, Virus Syndicate, we could go on, but the last thing we would have expected on Planet Mu was a POP record, but that's pretty much what this is. Sort of. It's definitely poppy, with hooks, and verses and choruses, vocals, the whole pop song nine yards, but it's all wrapped up in stuttery synths, thick warbling bass buzz, streaks of squelch and glitch, the opening track has all the makings of a killer dubstep jam, but then the vocals come in, and BAM, it's some sort of glorious new wave prismatic synth pop.
And that's pretty much how the whole record works, stripped of vocals, this would be some kick ass avant electro dubstep record, but the vocals transform it, allowing for strange arrangements, long stretches of tinkling piano and hushed vox, bumped up against, thick dubstep bass warble and lurching stuttering fuzz synth grooves, the vocals too are all over the map, pitched up into weird helium-ed falsettos, unfurled in dramatic breathy croons, or totally belted out, and the music reacts, slipping from slithery minimal drift to angular jagged electro crunch, to lumbering lowslung bass groove, to strangely orchestral abstract weirdness, to total eighties synth rock, to twisted lysergic synth-psych pop, and beyond.
And it's not just a case of throwing in some vocals, these are SONGS, POP songs, vocal driven in most cases, composed to be POP music, just strangely assembled into unlikely shapes and sounds, the hooks impossible to resist, the catchiness impossible to deny, this is easily one of the weirdest and coolest electronic pop records we've heard, a dizzying mishmash of various tropes from genres we love, dubstep, new wave, electro, synth pop, woven into a twisted sort of quirky dub-buzz-electro-synth-stutter-fuzz-pop that we just can't stop listening to...
MPEG Stream: "Manuscripts Don't Burn"
MPEG Stream: "Something About Faith"
MPEG Stream: "Layman's Requiem"
MPEG Stream: "A Room To Sing"

ZYGOTE / THE LUXURY TAX The Current/Future Transportation (split) (Under The Radar) 7" 3.98
This split 7" offers just a brief glimpse of these two SF experimental electronic artists, but perhaps it's just enough to whet your aural appetite! Both tracks are transportation themed (Zygote's "Monorail" and The Luxury Tax's "Van Conversion"), and are very much in the soothing and pulsing abstract variety. They just might stir you to sway gently, rather than get a move on. Really, it'd be great to hear both of these artists on a longer format, allowing them to stretch out and expand upon the sounds and themes (yes, transportation!) that they can only merely hint at on this little slice of vinyl.

ZYKLON Aeon (Candlelight ) cd 16.98
Second album from this post-Emperor supergroup, as good if not better than their debut.

ZYKLON Disintegrate (Candlelight) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "In Hindsight"
MPEG Stream: "Disintegrate"

ZYKLON Storm Detonation Live (Candlelight) dvd 14.98

ZYKLON World Ov Worms (Candlelight ) cd 16.98
Norwegian black metal supergroup featuring "Z"amoth and Trym of Emperor, and Destructhor of Myrkskog. Plus vocals by Daemon of Limbonic Art and Trickster G (aka Garm) of Ulver. Together they present the devastating debut of Zyklon, which they claim 1) is a new band, not a reformation of Samoth's old side project Zyklon-B and 2) refers in name not to that genocidal poison used by the Nazis, but is merely a cool alternate spelling of cyclone. Perhaps that latter statement is a pre-emptive attempt to dodge controversy, since some is sure to be headed their way due to the lyric-writing presence of the incarcerated murderer and ex-Emperor member Bard "Faust" Eithun, who along with Varg "Burzum" Vikernes is one of the more disturbing subjects of the "Lords of Chaos" book... Appropriately, this is assuredly a disc of punishing black/death metal, super intense and fantastic sounding, but (despite some techno/sample oriented interludes) is not far removed from the member's main bands (which, after all, is *really* why you'd want to buy this, despite hopes of startling originality and new directions in metal). Fans of recent works by Emperor, Mayhem, etc. should bow down now.

ZZ TOP Fandango! (Warner) cd 12.98

ZZ TOP Mescalero (RCA) cd 17.98
ZZ Top have been crankin' out their unmistakable signature bluesy boogie rock for well over thirty years now. A big ol' tip of the hat to them! With each of their fourteen albums, they've followed their own path while keeping a finger on the pulse of current trends. As a result they've certainly had their high points, bizarre twists and missteps, but you just know you simply can't mess with Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. You seldom if ever feel like these men are going through the motions. Hard roadhouse rawker or absurd synth rock turn, they deliver from the heart. This album proves to be no exception. In fact, a number of songs on Mescalero just might be ZZ Top at their most heavy, down-tuned and dirty. They sound really really grimy and mean! Gritty lung vocals, deep thumpin' floor toms, dank loose guitars... in less capable hands it could all add up to a big rock'n'roll mess, but commandeered by these rock vets, it, more often than not, falls into place for a mighty driving good time. Keep on truckin'!
MPEG Stream: "Piece"
MPEG Stream: "Tramp"

ZZ TOP Tres Hombres (Warner) cd 12.98

ZZZZ / UZ JSME DOMA split (PolyVinyl) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.