The Sound of Your Brain Unscrewing

Album: The Way of Animal Powers

Artist: Zu

Genre: Jazz/Punk

Year: 2005

Label: Xeng

Having never reviewed a Jazz album, The Way of Animal Powers is something of an odd place to start considering it’s by Zu. Let’s elaborate on that: Zu is a Punk Jazz trio from Italy and they create one hell of a racket. I discovered them through my research of the ATP Festival - they’ve been chosen by Mike Patton to perform at an upcoming date and I believe they recently signed to Ipecac records. Demented is the word to describe this band. This is what it would sound like if the warden of the asylum started a Jazz class for the patients. Schizophrenic and bipolar, they play to their hearts content, perfectly replicating their imbalanced minds with sound. Like some great lumbering beast, Zu constantly sounds like a giant bird trying to get off the ground and never quiet making it. But that’s the fun of Zu; their music takes the best elements of No Wave, Jazz, Punk and John Zorn’s brand of Sax and distills it into a cocktail of madness. In fact, I’m surprised that this band was signed by Patton and not Zorn, because this is right up his dark alley. Zu’s saxophonist plays a de-tuned instrument or it sounds like he does. Its skronky sound is vastly reminiscent of Zorn’s work. The bass grinds and burbles like some sludgy monster but it’s the drums that are truly of note as they rumble their way around your ears.

If drums and bass are the glue that holds the band together, Zu has quickly become unglued. This is not to say that the sound splatters, it doesn’t, and everything is very tight. It’s clear that this band is playing like this because they want to, not because they’re incompetent. Which is why it’s funny that track 2 “Anatomy of a Lost Battle” features a sample of a psycho-therapist explaining all the reasons that a saxophone player is mentally incompetent. He’s not referring to Zu’s player, but someone else. Regardless, it’s funny and the band plays one of their best and wonkiest tunes over the man’s ramblings.

The album is not an easy listen, but it’s a rewarding one. Its most accessible factor is that it’s only 25 minutes long and no track is longer than 4 minutes. At the risk of sounding hypocritical, this is a really good album. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Being something of an amateur sax player, I like finding recordings with unique or bizarre playing styles and Zu fit the bill quite nicely. So if you’re feeling adventurous (or insane) pick this album up and give it a spin.