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2LP
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IDA 134LP
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Double LP version. The Lyon band's recent collaborations with Virginie Despentes and Béatrice Dalle put them in the spotlight they deserved but this is just the latest chapter of a story started when they were young more than 25 years ago by Eric Aldéa and the drummer Franck Laurino. In the Deity Guns (89-93) and Bästard (93-98) and in a handful of albums (including productions by Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth or Andy Briant of Tortoise), they were simply the pioneers of post-rock in France. And yet the chapter that arrives today almost resembles the "debut album" of a young band shot through with a fiery and insatiable desire to take on the world. A complex, distressing and oppressive world which is nonetheless rich in its very confusion. "Isn't it all a bit of a mess?" seems to be suggested by the title of this new album Ain't That Mayhem and its striking post-apocalyptic graphic art. There are no limits and who cares what tools, sounds, and instruments are used... There is trombone on the insistent instrumental "We Blew It" and even a kind of liturgical organ at the end of "Five Vs Six". The whole album catches hold of you with its hypnotic layering ("Deranged", "Myself As A Fool"), a chorus in unstable equilibrium ("Fake From The Start"), an unstoppable rhythm ("Marathon Woman", "Walking Force"), a singular tone of voice (the almost blues-like "Alligator Wine" borrowed from Screamin' Jay Hawkins), a guitar riff as simple as a tree that hides the forest of variations, advancing from behind to play with neurons and sensations ("Recife, 1974"). Just like the old manor that serves as a backdrop to this record, you might wonder how it all remains standing.
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CD
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IDA 134CD
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The Lyon band's recent collaborations with Virginie Despentes and Béatrice Dalle put them in the spotlight they deserved but this is just the latest chapter of a story started when they were young more than 25 years ago by Eric Aldéa and the drummer Franck Laurino. In the Deity Guns (89-93) and Bästard (93-98) and in a handful of albums (including productions by Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth or Andy Briant of Tortoise), they were simply the pioneers of post-rock in France. And yet the chapter that arrives today almost resembles the "debut album" of a young band shot through with a fiery and insatiable desire to take on the world. A complex, distressing and oppressive world which is nonetheless rich in its very confusion. "Isn't it all a bit of a mess?" seems to be suggested by the title of this new album Ain't That Mayhem and its striking post-apocalyptic graphic art. There are no limits and who cares what tools, sounds, and instruments are used... There is trombone on the insistent instrumental "We Blew It" and even a kind of liturgical organ at the end of "Five Vs Six". The whole album catches hold of you with its hypnotic layering ("Deranged", "Myself As A Fool"), a chorus in unstable equilibrium ("Fake From The Start"), an unstoppable rhythm ("Marathon Woman", "Walking Force"), a singular tone of voice (the almost blues-like "Alligator Wine" borrowed from Screamin' Jay Hawkins), a guitar riff as simple as a tree that hides the forest of variations, advancing from behind to play with neurons and sensations ("Recife, 1974"). Just like the old manor that serves as a backdrop to this record, you might wonder how it all remains standing.
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CD
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IDA 116CD
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Ozkär Krapö on Zëro's fifth album San Francisco: "The first demo by Zëro - the reincarnation of Bästard!, a group which had its origins in the Deity Guns (initiators of the French post-rock movement) - is already ten years old and San Francisco is their fifth album. A red album- just like there have been white albums or black albums. A major album in a discography, in the history of a group. The style is the same as can be recognized in all the records but the total break with the past is fascinating. As is the image of the cover which shows three individuals sitting on a long seat with their faces erased, just merged together by the stains on the decrepit wall behind them. It's like a reverse image of the Greek Hydra - or rather of the Cerberus, the three-headed dog and guardian of Hell - with three bodies, three exceptional musicians who blend together and bloom into one sole head, one sound. Zëro now play as a trio and the group has gained in coherency. One after the other, the tracks flow fluidly together as a whole despite the complexity of the arrangements and the multiple cinematographic or musical references, with both sides of the record containing a mix of contained violence and tense atmospheres. All through this 35-minute trip, it is a pleasure to let yourself go taking in the explosive outbursts which have always been part of the group's identity and strike the ear in the same way as a stroboscope pervades the eye. But what is surprising about San Francisco is the tracks which are almost pop (in the best sense of the term, as The Feelies or Wire were immense pop groups) with their dynamic faux laidback nonchalance make you want to jump in the car with the radio on full blast and speed down an ocean road. Finally, cutting up, resolving or enhancing these tracks, the album's unity is above all derived from its passages of contained tension which are both psychedelic and noisy with menacing atmospheres harking back to their last appearances as a trio during readings by Virginie Despentes. Finally, it is perfectly natural that the trip should end in 'San Francisco', the title track of the album - a song which you would like to turn into a locked groove to indefinitely prolong this moment in which all the tension is resolved, stretched out and absorbed in a feeling of serenity and fullness."
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LP
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IDA 116LP
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LP version. Ozkär Krapö on Zëro's fifth album San Francisco: "The first demo by Zëro - the reincarnation of Bästard!, a group which had its origins in the Deity Guns (initiators of the French post-rock movement) - is already ten years old and San Francisco is their fifth album. A red album- just like there have been white albums or black albums. A major album in a discography, in the history of a group. The style is the same as can be recognized in all the records but the total break with the past is fascinating. As is the image of the cover which shows three individuals sitting on a long seat with their faces erased, just merged together by the stains on the decrepit wall behind them. It's like a reverse image of the Greek Hydra - or rather of the Cerberus, the three-headed dog and guardian of Hell - with three bodies, three exceptional musicians who blend together and bloom into one sole head, one sound. Zëro now play as a trio and the group has gained in coherency. One after the other, the tracks flow fluidly together as a whole despite the complexity of the arrangements and the multiple cinematographic or musical references, with both sides of the record containing a mix of contained violence and tense atmospheres. All through this 35-minute trip, it is a pleasure to let yourself go taking in the explosive outbursts which have always been part of the group's identity and strike the ear in the same way as a stroboscope pervades the eye. But what is surprising about San Francisco is the tracks which are almost pop (in the best sense of the term, as The Feelies or Wire were immense pop groups) with their dynamic faux laidback nonchalance make you want to jump in the car with the radio on full blast and speed down an ocean road. Finally, cutting up, resolving or enhancing these tracks, the album's unity is above all derived from its passages of contained tension which are both psychedelic and noisy with menacing atmospheres harking back to their last appearances as a trio during readings by Virginie Despentes. Finally, it is perfectly natural that the trip should end in 'San Francisco', the title track of the album - a song which you would like to turn into a locked groove to indefinitely prolong this moment in which all the tension is resolved, stretched out and absorbed in a feeling of serenity and fullness."
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