Catching Some Zzzzzzs

Thought I'd leave you with this last post before I go catch some Zzzzzzs. I set out to post musick from each letter of the alphabet & I finally made it to Z.

Since this is Zero_ii's blog & he's a Z, I thought I better end on a high note. Now I'm a Nothin', which is like a Zero. In fact I use the Ø as my symbol (NØ) & I did model my nom de plume after another Zero named Earl. But when I set out to accomplish somethin', well I see it through to fruition. Hence Nothin' Sez Somethin' or in this case, does. I finally got this alphabet thing licked (but man is my tongue dry). Without further ado...

Zru Vogue - Zruisms 1980- 1984

Zru Vogue is an American independent band composing, recording & producing ethno-electro avant-pop surrealist rock for postmoderns.

Zru Vogue formed in Palo Alto, California in 1980, when two musicians, Andrew L. Jackson & Rick Cuevas got together with friends Tom & Nancy. Their musick was inspired by pop, punk & dada. They began experimenting by mixing up: African tribal & Middle Eastern rhythms; ambient; British-influenced avant-garde rock; minimalist electronics; & funk-rock guitars.

Their name came from a ‘zine headline “Zero Risk Unobtainable”. Andrew wrote a song with that title, then another called “Z.R.U. Part Two”. Somewhat randomly the ZRU was coupled with Vogue, thus Zru Vogue.

Zru Vogue’s first single, Febuary 1981's “Nakweda Dream b/w Cumulonimbus” on San Francisco label Adolescent Records was critically acclaimed in the alternative press. Sub-Pop magazine named it the best independent single of 1981. The first 3,000 copies sold out within months, mostly by mail order & another 3,000 were pressed & distributed.

From 1982 to 1984, Zru Vogue released an album (Zru Vogue, The Album [1982]) & an EP (Zru Vogue Now! / Possibly Imagined / The Artist [1984]). In 1985, Zru Vogue disbanded. The core duo of Rick Cuevas & Andrew L. Jackson made solo records through the late 80s & 90s.

Relocated to San Francisco, Andrew & Rick resurrected Zru Vogue in 2002, adding drummer Patrick Coyne to the line-up. They have released four albums of new material since 2004: Beautiful Again (2004); Unlimited Enjoyment Instant Gratification (2005); The Exile (2006); & their latest, Eleven Eyes (2009).

Zruism 1980-84 includes the complete studio recordings of Zru Vogue from 1980 to 1984. The musicians here are: Andrew L. Jackson (known then as Andrew Finkle) - guitar & vocals; Rick Cuevas - guitar & bass; Tom Sanders - bass; Nancy Miller - drums, Max Tyrell - multi-instrumentalist, with Zelda Blue (80-81) & Lawan Angelique (83-84).

Year of Release: 1998
Label: Zru Vogue
Genre: Dream-pop, Art-funk

Tracklist:
Cumulonimbus
Nakweda Dream
Do the Zru
The Dream Stops
Loubella Extendables
Pretty Girl
Exploring the Underworld
For the Time
Ubuhuha
Big Fish Swing
Now!
Possibly Imagined
The Artist

Download: Zru Vogue - Zruism 1980-84
Download Size: 144MB (ripped at 320 Kbps)

Zmiya - Somamdenlo

Zmiya is a band from Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France. They began as a more basic French hip-hop electro unit before altering their sound, becoming a very Eastern & Arabic sounding band. Their music is a world musick mix of traditional influences & modern electronic rhythms. Most of their songs have a peaceful shamanistic feel. Zmiya blend ethno with electro, using a diverse range of traditional instruments from around the world, such as: oud; hurdy-gurdy; didjeridoo; balaphon; arghoul; & kora mixed with subtle electro beats & samples.

Somamdenlo was released in 2004 by the Prikosnovénie label, also located in Nantes. It is currently out of print.

Zmiya here are: Jerome Ettinger - vocals, arghoul (a double-pipe, single-reed woodwind instrument that consists of two tubes: a melody pipe with between five & seven holes & a longer drone pipe) & programming; Sebah - kora (African lute-harp), guitar, & programming; Julien Bonvoisin - bass; Matthieu Rousseau - drums; along with four musickians from Cairo on vocals, percussion, rababa, arghoul, & kawala. Female & male vocals alternate throughout the album.

Year of Release: 2004
Label: Prikosnovénie PRIK087
Genre: Tribal, Electro

Tracklist:
Somamdenlo
Magical Time
Desert
Douma
Al Mostafa
Zmiya
Terra Nova
Redjah

Download: Zmiya - Somamdenlo
Download Size: 71.4MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

Zillatron - Lord of the Harvest

The electronic spawn of Godzilla is about to funktify your fuzzface. Yes, indeed, it is none other than Bootsy Collins in one of his many various personalities...this time Zillatron Fuzzface Bootsy, the Lord of the Harvest (of souls, we might ask???).

Describing the musick on this album is no simple matter. There are elements of metal, funk metal, funk, hip-hop & some leftfield type stuff as might be expected with Bill Laswell, Buckethead, & Bernie Worrell having their hands in this album. This is one of the earlier projects featuring these cats, much in line with later releases by Praxis or other Bill Laswell releases. Fans of Bootsy's work with Praxis should definitely enjoy this, but it still packs enough straight forward funk punch for more diehard Rubber Band fans.

A great concept for Bootsy has him playing bass as only he can. The theme of paranoia, both from within & without, is excellent. An extremely ambitious project utilizing: some heavy HEAVY fuzz bass; funked up guitar sounds from Buckethead; vocal samples from the film Naked Lunch; & other high weirdness. Zillatron lays down a coherent (if chaotic) landscape of funk fused with almost industrial music. It is very futuristic-sounding 'Cyberfunk' with snatches of techno, rock, & spaced-out ambient sounds all vying for supremacy. All the weirdness is capped off by a real zinger of a song, the hauntingly beautiful finale "The Passion Continues", a song that reverently references some great lines from some great ParliaFunkaRubber songs of the past.

Take the time to really listen to this album, both musickally & lyrically. You will not be disappointed.

"This Record is Dedicated to Eddie Hazel - The Maggot Brain of Funkadelic"

Zillatron is: Bootsy Collins - bass, sampler, & vocals; Buckethead - guitar; Bernie Worrell - piano, organ, & synthesizer; Bill Laswell - noises; Brenda Holloway, Debra Barsha, Kristen Gray, Momma Collins, & Patti Willis - backing vocals; & Grandmaster Melle Mel & Umar Bin Hassan (of the legendary Last Poets) - rapping & chanting. Recorded at Greenpoint Studio & Bootzilla Studio.

Year of Release: 1993
Label: Rykodisc RCD 10301
Genre: Funk Metal

Tracklist:
C.B.I. Files (Central Bug Intelligence)
Bugg Lite
Fuzz Face
Exterminate
Smell the Secrets
Count Zero
Bootsy & the Beast
No Fly Zone (The Devil’s Playground)
The Passion Continues

Download: Zillatron - Lord of the Harvest
Download Size: 99.6MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

Zwell - Open Air

Zwell is the performance name for Jean Libert, of Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France & a constantly changing cast of supporting characters. Libert was born in Lille, France. He sang in rock bands in another life & now plays in his kitchen among pigs, dragonflies, & beer. He uses boom boxes, synths, guitars, bells, street sounds & vocals to create his own brand of outsider musick.

Here he gets by with a little help from his friends: Antonio Mas - Spanish guitars; Karine - vocals, bass & keyboards; Marc Dechaumont- mandolin; Gian Lucca Houalla - drums; & Yves Alain for all the rest.

This is all I know about Zwell, so just listen & enjoy.

Year of Release: 1999
Label: My Dining Room Records
Genre: Outsider

Tracklist:
A Fairy Tale
Beat Boxes
Colma Train
Dirty Tricks
Fly Even Higher
I Married the Sun
Open Air
White Shirts
Mezzo il Mare
Mumble Doll
Peeling the Lichees
Trini Lopez
In the Moon
Spin Doctors

Download: Zwell - Open Air
Download Size: 91.5MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

Zyce - Transgressive

Zyce is a progressive psytrance project created by Nikola Kozik from Nova Pazova, Serbia. Since he was quite young, Nikola was interested in music. He gained experience playing in numerous rock, reggae & metal bends in his native Serbia. After years of playing, Nikola found himself gravitating to electronic music.

Nikola is a prolific artists. Aside from Zyce, his progressive trance solo project, he is involved in: Vertex , a progressive house project with Slobodan Gacesa; Zyce & Fox, a psytrance collaboration with Petar Lisica as part of the Tesserac Tstudio organization; & Ectima, a progressive tech-trance unit with Dalibor Delic (aka Flegma). He has released musick on labels such us: Spin Twist Records; Mikrokosmos Records; IONO music; Blue Tunes; Plusquam Records; & Synergetic Records.

There is a very fertile Progressive scene of his home country Serbia. Although his first material using the Zyce name was released as recently as 2008, it stood head & shoulders above much of the other musick in its genre because of both its technical & creative skills. Now only two years later, he delivers his second studio album. I usually don’t post things that are this contemporary, but this is an artist who deserves to be heard.

Transgressive utilizes solid melodies while plowing a distinctive acoustic furrow, creating a very laid-back & dreamy atmosphere. Nikola plays guitar, bass, keyboards, & drums with equal ability. Far from being claustrophobic, the 10 tracks on this album feel like a tender spring breeze against the listener's face.

Year of Release: 2010
Label: Spin Twist Records SPN1CD034
Genre: Progressive Trance, Psychedelic

Tracklist:
Blue Body
Earth in the Flame (with Flegma)
Hush
Nemesis
Intoxicated (Zyce remix by Martin)
Off-duty
Basic (remix)
Wonderland (with Nok)
Absorb
Moon Riders

Download: Zyce - Transgressive
Download Size: 148MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

ZZZZZZ - Holeigans

ZZZZZZ is a musical project by the band's only member, artist Tomas Johansson of Stockholm, Sweden. The music had been growing for a few years as intangible ideas & thoughts in Tomas’ head.

At Liljevalch's (Sweden's most renowned art gallery) 2000 Spring Exhibition, Tomas Johansson was exhibiting three paintings: "Which hole is the way out?"; "Holeigan Spiral"; & "The Bump" which depicted holeigans sitting in their holes. They were large paintings with an alien character as central figure. The whole concept was built on a simple ‘expressionlessness’ which, in its simplicity, became extremely expressive.

This expressive expressionlessness became the central concept that led to the creation of this musick. These Holeigan figures also illustrate the cover. The music is not really about the holeigans, but was created in the holeigans spirit...minimilistic & clinical with a pinch of humor in a juxtaposed calming yet desolate feeling.

Tomas’ musickal background is as a bassist in Swedish heavy & death/trash metal bands, but his influences span over a much broader spectrum, including a heavy dose of German ‘krautrock’ such as Kraftwerk. This musick has in fact been described as ‘ Kraftwerk meets Monty Python.’

All the songs on the CD are produced, composed, arranged, performed & recorded by Tomas, except the final bonus track "ZZZZZZ (L’Babe remix by Lizette)" which is produced, arranged, performed & recorded by Lizette von Panajott. Lizett also is responsible for the mix of the album. Mastering was done by Henrik Jonsson at Polar Studios, Stockholm, Sweden.

Year of Release: 2004
Label: Blue Lemon International
Genre: Experimental, Electronic

Tracklist:
The Operator
Hole
The Bump
Love
Electromonominimilistic Dimension
ZZZZZZ version 2.0
Another Mind
Something Nothing
ZZZZZZ (I´Babe Remix by Lizette) - bonus track

Download: ZZZZZZ - Holeigans
Download Size: 141MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

So adios all my DM friends, bedwise is rightwise now, right right right.