If
the style of Zeuhl that does it for you happens to come from the pen of Jannik
Top then you're in for a treat with this little baby! More hommage stuff to
sink your teeth into. Here's the blurb from Musea :
Coming soon to a Tesco's near you is a quite wonderful Double CD project by a an amazing line up of artists paying hommage to the music of Christian Vander. Reworkings of all of Magma's chart hits are here! The release date will coincide with the Nancy Jazz Pulsations concert on the 9th and 10th October 2007.
The Artists, collectively known as Hamtaï are as follows:
AD VITAM, KLAUS BLASQUIZ, CERNUNOS (J.L. Chevalier), CONFUSION, eX-GIRL, PATRICK FORGAS, PATRICK GAUTHIER, KAFKA, KOENJIHYAKKEI, KOBAÏA/ËMGALAÏ KOLEKTIW, KRAMUS, LE GRE DES VENTS, DIDIER LOCKWOOD, MADAME, MATS/MORGAN BAND, NeBeLNeST, POST IMAGE, SIDJI MOON, STEVE SHEHAN, THOLLOT, JANNICK TOP, JOHN TRAP, TROLL, VITAL DUO, BENOIT WIDEMANN, ZAAR.
You can listen to snippets of these fantastic interpretations of Christian's
compositions by going to My
Space
You can Purchase the CD at Welcome
Records and at any good LIDL
supermarket.
If
the style of Zeuhl that does it for you happens to come from the pen of Jannik
Top then you're in for a treat with this little baby! More hommage stuff to
sink your teeth into. Here's the blurb from Musea :
Erik BARON is a bass player from Bordeaux, leader of the ensemble DESACCORDES.
After having paid tribute to Terry RILEY with "In C" (2005), the third
album or the band may cause some sensation to all lovers of Zeuhl Music. this
is revisiting Jannick TOP's magnum opus "De Futura - Hiroshima", initially
released on MAGMA's "Üdü Wüdü" (1976). The hommage
to the inhabitants of planet Ork has been divided in two parts, and four more
tracks were added: "La Musique Des Sphères" and four compositions
created by Erik BARON. Six bass players, six guitar players and a drummer reinvent
this classic with an exceptional intensity, but also with a real precision in
the dialogues between the instruments. Recorded by MINIMUM VITAL's Thierry PAYSSAN,
here's a great album for all Zeuhl fans. To be discovered !
1 - Pandora (3'01)
2 - La Musique Des Sphères (9'28)
3 - The Futura - Part One (12'55)
4 - Le Drône Du Milieu (4'21)
5 - The Futura - Part Two (15'27)
6 - De Profundis (2'32)
You can purchase this at Musea
Records
What is it about Sweden? Perhaps it's the water or could it be the daylight
hours or lack of them? Perhaps it's the exorbitant tax on alcohol ! If it wasn't
enough to have Sammla Mammas Manna, Lars Hollmer, Hasse Bruniusson, Panzerpappa,
Fortrangt Hushallsarbete etc. we've got Simon Steensland. Is he a Zeuhl artist?
How the hell should I know! Probably not and in other reviews of his work he
seems to be labelled as something between Univers Zero and Frank Zappa. What
I do know is that this is an absolute probably superb CD. Recorded live in January
2003 at Moment, Gubbangan and it is so under exposed. Simon is a versatile (understatement
of the decade) musician. On his other Albums The Zombie Hunter, Led Circus,
The Simon Lonesome Combat Ensemble and Phantom of the Theatre, he plays bass,
tenor and alto Kitchen Sink along with Drums, Percussion, Bass, Harmonium, Accordion,
Cello, Banjo, Quadraphant, Glockenspiel, Zither, Marimba, Flute, Cittra, Berimbau,
Mail Horn, Keyboards, Guitars and ... (life isn't fair!) He seems to concentrate
on Bass for this Album and his work on the brilliant "Absolute Probably
Mission" and "At the Movies" bring him the accolade of Zeuhl
Bassist Extraordinaire. There aretwo reworkings of previous material. "Parade"
from "The Zombie Hunter" and "The return of Instant Jesus"
which was a track featured on "Led Circus"
If you've never encountered the work of Simon Steensland then probably one of the studio albums would be the best place to start (leave Phantom of the Theatre until last) but should you jump in the deep end with this brilliant live offering you'll be snapping up the studio albums anyway. Simon Steensland is a totally unique artist and it's astonishing that he hasn't recieved more widespread appreciation. Currently there is no official website and no My Space or You Tube entries. Somebody should do something!
It
wasn't that Black Oni was at all bad.... well apart from the high pitched whistling
that made it impossible for me to listen to ... It was very much in the classic
Head Banging mode that Zeuhl fans have come to know and love from their earlier
work and of course the previously highly acclaimed Five Suns CD. The problem
was that it wasn't better than Five Suns and perhaps for Guapo to reach the
next level it needed to be a bit more varied.
Guapo don't have a vocalist and so perhaps their development will have to be sought in other directions. Daniel Sullivan and David Smith have much more up their sleeves (Check out the Aethenor CD in the recommended section) and to prove it, in the winter of 2006 they produce this brilliant 2 track CD entitled "Twisted Stems" A superbly crafted ethereal slow burner that will keep you reaching back into the CD pile for it time and time again. This is nothing like Five Suns or Black Oni and is a total breath of fresh air and a release that raises the bar once again for Guapo.
Not only does "Twisted Stems" broaden Guapo's C.V, as far as genres are concerned, but it also stamps a "personality" on their music. Something that was impossible all the time they were solely in heavy duty Zeuhl mode. The two track s on this Mini CD "The Heliotrope" and "The Selentrope" are pure Guapo no plaguarism can be aimed at these babies! Whether you like the direction or not, this is very original stuff indeed. Ethereal? Yes but also superbly dark and menacing ... in a soft way!
The next Guapo CD "Elixirs" is set for release in January 2008 on Neurot Recordings. I'm not sure if the tracks on Twisted Stems are a taster for this CD but regardless, the scene is set for Guapo to ascend to new musical heights. Roll on 2008!
And as if they weren't busy enough Daniel Sullivan and David Smith have been hard at work with another of their Zeuhl related projects, namely Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses. Miasma's first CD "Perils" was given the thumbs up as a softer alternative to Guapo, and this release, "Manfauna", or is it Latitudes? will, I'm sure, be of the same quailty. The only problem in the future is whether the boundaries become blurred for the evolvement of both Guapo and Miasma. If the "Twisted Stems" road is to be explored further then at some stage it could be argued that one path has become redundant.
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