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2LP
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EXRECLP 005LP
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At the heart of this double album, and amid the intense internal struggle between creative instinct and artistic reasoning, Ziggy has identified two key themes: inspire and radicalise. It is within this duality that the 15 tracks of this new work, recorded between Berlin and London throughout January 2024, take shape. Throughout its creation, the crew enlisted a familiar pallet of materials, seeking those obscure and vintage music-making machines, meeting a myriad of percussion and drums with the new addition of electric guitar as the band ventures into disco/highlife inspired territories. Bringing this ambitious project to life, Ziggy enlisted a team of forward thinking musicians across Europe and the UK alongside old friends and collaborators from the grassroots in Melbourne, Australia: Lewis Moody (Energy Exchange Records), Szabolcs Bognar (Abase), Eric Owusu (Jemba Groove), and Tom Varrall (Jamie Cullum) form the core rhythm section alongside a hefty list of guest appearances (from the likes of Oscar Jerome and Tom Driessler) making this truly the most ambitious and diverse incarnation of ZFEX to date.
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LP
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KRY 024LP
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After the albums of Berlin-based Greek harpist Sissi Rada (co-produced by Brian Eno), the krautrock collective Spiritczualic Enhancement Centerr, experimental drummer Niklas Wandt, and jazz/neo-classical genre stepper Ralph Heidel -- it is now time for jazz ravers Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange to take the center stage. The band around Melbourne born drummer and producer Ziggy Zeitgeist has been based in London for some time before moving to Berlin a few years ago. By now Ziggy and his crew have a big following in Berlin where the new jazz and soul-influenced dance scene is growing rapidly with many new spaces, clubs and radio stations. Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange is a collective that bring together UK jazz funk vibes that have been made popular by Kamaal Williams, Shabaka Hutchings, and Ezra Collective, amongst others with the energy of Berlin's electronic DJ music. In fact, head of the collective, Ziggy Zeitgeist, is a big fan of DJ tools which equally have a big influence on his music. His aim is to create a mix of jazz and tribalistic, electronic energies to create jazz raves that reflect a fresh modern touch of what could be a sound for the next years. Of course, many elements of their songs come from the 1970s -- the chord progressions, the fusion keyboard solos, the driving rhythms. But the general sound of the music and its straight electrifying energy create a new and unique futuristic sound. Sci-Fi Jazz Directions was recorded by the original trio of Ziggy Zeitgeist, Matthew Hayes, and Lewis Moody. After spending thousands of hours together making music on stage and in the woodshed, this album represents a turning point for the group and quite possibly the very nature of creative collaboration. This is an album of tunes crafted over "online jam sessions", as the trio were split between three corners of the world during 2020. Ziggy explains: "Our blessing and our curse is that we're adaptive creatures, we find a way, we adapt to the circumstance, and so as artists and as improvisers we found ways to connect and create in a virtual space." The trio continue to hone their unique brand of dance-floor focused "jazzrave". This album epitomizes the Zeitgeist of the time, the crucial meeting point of our organic selves with our technology.
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