Guns N’ Roses: Rusted and Wilted

Album: Chinese Democracy
Artist: Guns N’ Roses
Genre: Butt-Rock
Year: 2008
Label: Geffen

This was never supposed to happen. Guns N’ Roses was never supposed to release Chinese Democracy. I was never supposed to hear it. You were never supposed to hear it. Slash was never supposed to leave the original G N’ R. Axl Rose was never supposed to form a new band and call it G N’ R. Buckethead and Bumblefoot were never supposed to join. Dr. Pepper was never supposed to give everyone a free can if the album came out. Hell was never supposed to freeze over. But now it has, and now we have to live with the consequences.

On November 23rd, 2008 Chinese Democracy was released to the world after fifteen years of false starts, do-overs and anticipation. Fans and critics alike descended upon the album like a rabid hoard of Red Soxs fans that had waited years to see their team win. I was incredulous. As I said, this was never supposed to happen. Chinese Democracy is the first album of new original material that G N’ R has released since 1991’s simultaneous release of Use Your Illusion I & II. I was born in 1991 folks; it’s taken Axl Rose my entire lifetime to get around to this.

After fifteen years, numerous questions have arisen about the album. The main and most important one being this: Is it any good? If you like Butt-Rock, it will always be good. If you’re a G N’ R fan from way back, it might be good. If you love Axl Rose and still wear that shirt that he signed for you in 1987 at that one show in Seattle, you will adore this album like a nymphomaniac adores sex. You will put this album on and be transported to a world of guitar rock bliss that you haven’t felt since Appetite for Destruction was released in 1987. This album will be like a shot of heroin directly into your brain. For seventy-one minutes you will feel a high you didn’t think possible. After the album ends you will feel cold and shaky, everything will hurt and all you will be able to think about is your next fix. However, if you’re like me, then this album won’t make you happy, it won’t make you ill; it’ll make you blink and wonder what the point was.

Axl Rose is, and always has been, an absurd human being. He destroyed the original Guns N’ Roses and has been coasting on the profits reaped from Appetite for Destruction his entire career. He made his name synonymous with ridiculousness and now is asking us to take him seriously for the first time in over a decade. I just can’t do that. To call this album a Guns N’ Roses album is ludicrous as Guns N’ Roses have been disbanded for a long time now. This new band, Axl Rose N’ Friends, have released their debut album and are asking us to regard it in the same light as Appetite for Destruction. This is pure silliness and kind of insulting. Yes, Buckethead, Robin Fink and Bumblefoot are great guitarists but really, this isn’t a showcase for anyone but Rose and watching him run around felating his ego is the last thing I want to do. If you do decide to get this album, please consider that you are simply pandering to a man who has taken excess to new levels in a country where we are now in the greatest economic crisis since The Great Depression. If you must get this album, steal it.

Feelin' Dandy?

Album: …Earth to the Dandy Warhols…

Artist: The Dandy Warhols

Genre: Psychedelic Garage Rock

Year: 2008

Label: Beat The World

I don’t know what the Dandy Warhols sound like. Well, maybe that’s not true… I guess ultimately they sound like themselves, but coming up with some fancy metaphor for their sound is currently escaping me. A Psychedelic Garage Rock band, The Dandy Warhols have been recording and touring since the 90’s and have amassed a large fan base. They’ve been all over, toured with big names like David Bowie and the Rolling Stones but before this album I’d never heard them. Oh, I’d heard OF them, and people have told me before how much I’d like them, but I’d never managed to actually hear them till tonight. Weird. I guess they just weren’t on my radar. I don’t know why this is, as I quite like this album …Earth to the Dandy Warhols. It manages to scratch that itch I sometimes get for spaced out Psychedelic music. Actually, considering that modern spaced out Psychedelic music can often be turgid and uninteresting, the Warhols get a plus for managing to hold my attention through some of their more jam heavy moments.

These usually aren’t nice, tight little songs; there’s room for weirdness and freak outs. A notable exception is the first single off the album, the two minute long “Mission Control”, which is sort of an odd choice, considering that it doesn’t accurately represent the rest of the album. It’s a short little Garage rocker, and they are a Garage rock band, but it doesn’t quite show off the Psychedelic feel that most of the album conveys. I notice bands doing this a lot. Of all the songs on the album, they choose the one that most mis-represents them and use it as their first single. Beck did this with Modern Guilt, but with him it’s excusable because, really, no Beck songs sound alike. But I’m getting off topic.

Courtney Taylor Taylor, the Warhols’ front man, has a deep, slurred voice which causes me to picture him staggering drunkenly around the recording studio. It’s a very appropriate voice for the music as it gives the already warped songs an even more twisted atmosphere. He also usually sings through some kind of filter, which gives his voice a distant sound, taking the weirdness levels from X-Files to Doctor Who in short order. What this album failed to do is wow me, which is OK; I don’t expect everything to be Return to Cookie Mountain or the second coming of Jeff Mangum. The Dandy Warhols are in the end exactly what their name purports them to be - just Dandy and if you like them, Psychedelic music or Indie Rock in general you’ll probably like this album too.

Andrew goes on an Inhuman Rampage and Delivers an Ultra Beatdown on Dragonforce.

Album: Inhuman Rampage
Artist: Dragonforce
Genre: Quest Metal
Year: 2006
Label: Roadrunner/Noise

Early morning. The dew still sparkles on the leaves; the sun is just creeping over the horizon. And then, BOOM! A drum beats, then another and another, in triple time no less. Guitars sound, two of them, moving at lightning speed across the grassy plains toward you. You try to run but they move so fast, they’re inescapable. And then the voice-shrill, whiny, a higher pitch then anything you thought possible-coming from a male voice. But you’re too busy trying to fend off the guitars, which have you in their grasp. As they continue to play, they seem to get faster, each one trying to get ahead of the other. The sound they create is incredible, because to credit it with anything would be heresy. As the guitars take flight, your sense of self worth is torn from your body like a dragon would tear out your vital organs. You think “surely I can still be taken seriously in the musical sense of the word; surely this is not the end of my credibility.” But it is. Because the Dragonforce has got you.

Dragonforce is a sextet of Quest Metal-heads from somewhere deep in Middle Earth… I mean, England. I’ll get the good out of the way now. Dragonforce is obviously a highly technical group of musicians because to play that fast you have to have some skill. What’s unfortunate about Dragonforce is what they do with that skill. I have never heard more wanktastic solos in my life then the ones on the song Through the Fire and The Flames. All forty of them. The music they create is ridiculously self-indulgent as evidenced by songs with dozens of masturbatory solos, each one minutes in length. What’s worse is that all of their songs sound exactly the same, because Dragonforce suffers from what I refer to as “Nickelback Syndrome”. One of the things that could save Dragonforce is a decent vocalist, but frankly, they haven’t got one. ZP Threat looks like Kenny G and sings like his balls are in a vice that is being slowly tightened over the course of the song. The lyrics don’t help the situation as they sound like they were torn from the Lord of the Rings and early Dungeons & Dragons. I like Lord of the Rings, but when set to metal the whole thing becomes an absurd self-parody the likes of which I should not have to hear. Also, the band features some of the fakest percussion you will ever hear on a rock record. I can’t stand blast beats and they’re used (like everything else) with reckless abandon on this album, giving the whole thing a really false, pretentious atmosphere.

The single thing that prevents Dragonforce from being completely lost to the fires of hell is this: They don’t take themselves seriously. This is shown by their utterly silly music videos, in one of which the band is featured as playable characters in a Guitar Hero-like video game. But does this save them from my ire? Hell no. They still create the absolute worst kind of pretentious self-absorbed guitar circle jerking, and all their songs still sound exactly the same. I barely even sat through the whole album once and have no intention of ever doing so again. I gotta unclench my jaw now, excuse me.

Dark Art: The Madness of Zach Hill

Album: Astrological Straits
Artist: Zach Hill
Genre: Schizodelic/Experimental Rock
Year: 2008
Label: Ipecac/Anticon

Necromancy is an art form that has fallen out of favor in recent years. Most people frown on bringing the dead back to life as it’s unsanitary, frightening and generally just gross. But Zach Hill is bringing Necromancy back in style. According to the Dresden Files, to summon the dead, one needs a pulse, usually provided by drums. Zach Hill is a drummer extraordinaire and while pulse isn’t the correct word to describe his schizophrenic staccato beats, the kind of invocation it provides will certainly suffice.

For those of you who don’t know, Hill is the drummer for the possibly defunct Hella, a math rock duo that in recent years expanded its line-up and went “Mars Volta light” according to some fans. But to say that would completely write off the fact that Hill’s drumming makes The Mars Volta look like the White Stripes. I first heard about him as a member of Chino Moreno’s band Team Sleep. When I saw Team Sleep live, one of the major highlights was Hill’s performance. Watching the man is like watching a whirlwind with a thousand arms. It seems impossible that anyone could move that fast, that deftly and manage to make every blow count. There are no excessive hits with Hill, everything is ultra precise.

On Astrological Straits, Hill’s first solo album, a two disc set, he’s in top flight mode, banging, beating and otherwise smashing his merry way through an hour and thirty-three minutes of percussive madness. The drums are the leading instrument and main area of focus, but not the only presence. Hill, on many tracks, also sings and plays all the other instruments. God bless multi-tracking. And the album is not without structure; most of the tracks have very strong song structure, with the exception of tracks like “Street People” and “Uhuru” which are both drum solos, and even those are tightly composed. And there are guests: Chino Moreno, Les Claypool and the guys from No Age are just a few of the names on the album. The good thing is that, while these artists are all big names, they don’t steal the show from Hill. I didn’t even recognize Moreno’s vocals as he sings them through a voice distorter on his song. The album is not a showcase for anyone but Hill and he uses his time very well.

The second disc is even more ambitious than the first as it takes Hill’s foray into the dark arts even further then before, with his Necromancer composition. At thirty-three minutes long, composed for Drums and Piano, the piece is a marvel to hear. You think, “He has to take a break eventually, doesn’t he?” But no, he just keeps going. Hill is touring a solo show now, expressly to perform his Necromancer piece. Everywhere he goes the dead are rising from the grave, flocking to the venue of his performance and moshing. How Hill manages to keep this up night after night is beyond me, but I’m sure it’s spectacular.

Black Earth, Red Lights and a Saxophone

Album: Black Earth
Artist: Bohren and Der Club of Gore
Genre: Noir Jazz/Dark Ambient
Year: 2002
Label: Ipecac/Wonder

I’ve always had a fondness for David Lynch movies. The atmosphere, the cinematography and the bizarre and often deranged characters are all things I’ve deeply enjoyed. I especially enjoy the soundtracks. The music Lynch and his frequent collaborator Angelo Badalamenti compose for the films are always spot on in its mood, tone and overall sound. It’s probably for this reason that I like Bohren and Der Club of Gore so much. Listening is like being transported into a Lynch film, a dark and highly surreal experience. Bohren and Der Club of Gore sounds like Lynch’s dream Jazz band as it is ambient, filled with tension and gloomy beyond reason. It like staring into a dark void, an empty vista of nothing stretching out before you, then, from out of the void comes the sound, familiar, yet alien. The sound is the Noir Jazz that Bohren and his Club specialize in. It’s haunting and beautiful and unlike anything you’ve heard before. The tracks are long, many reaching and exceeding the 8 minute mark. But these are long pieces that need time to develop fully. The drums and bass are played by the most patient men in the world, their minimal sounds providing a foundation for the other sounds to build on.

Another piece of this foundation is the Dark Ambient samples that the band performs over. It is the combination of these Jazz and Dark Ambient that gives the music its unique sound. The most distinctive elements though, are the keyboards and saxophone. Jazzy, yet lilting, familiar, yet strange and dark, very, very dark. These men are not musicians but rather dark warlocks who work their arts through musical instruments rather then spell books. It is a sparse sound but a deep one none the less. As there are no words, the stories conveyed in the music are in the titles. These titles included pieces like “Midnight Black Earth,” Vigilante Crusade” and “Constant Fear.” This is music to be listened to late at night, with the curtains drawn and all the lights (except the red ones) out. The clubs this band plays in must be spooky places to be in. Though, I cannot think of anything more Lynchian then a club haunted by the sounds of Bohren and Der Club of Gore. This is for anyone who enjoys David Lynch’s films or music, Lustmord or Noir Jazz. Be afraid; be very afraid of the dark.

Obtain This!

Album: Obtainium
Artist: Skeleton Key
Genre: Experimental Rock
Year: 2002
Label: Ipecac

Eric Sanko, former bass player for the Lounge Lizards, leads the bizarre and eccentric Skeleton Key. Equal parts Primus, Tom Waits and Einsturzende Neubauten, Skeleton Key sounds like a junk yard crew would if they formed a band. The appeal of the group is its unique sound, which they achieve by way of ancient microphones, old guitars and junky percussion. The sound is actually fairly funky, all things considered. Sanko has been doing the music thing for a long time and knows how to play his instrument. The whole band is skilled and you’d have to be to follow Sanko’s eccentricities to the letter. The guitar sounds like it comes from archaic speakers and during some of the more blistering solos has a tendency to cut in and out, but it works to add to the atmosphere of the music.

The percussion is the real draw though. The drum set sounded like it was cobbled together from scrap metal and it probably was. Junky and cacophonous, it batters its way around the stage, knocking into absolutely everything. To see the band live must be something. Individual standouts are tracks like “Barker of The Dupes” which is probably the bands most junkyard driven track. Scratch that, this is the sound of the junkyard coming to life and attacking the nearest town within the vicinity. Sanko’s lyrics are also fun, especially on the Track “One Way, My Way” where he describes a man with a voice like a sheet of lead and tongue out of which grows a fist.

More standouts include “Kerosene” and “Roost in Peace” as they both demonstrate the bands junk sound to great effect. There is some weakness to the album, though. I would have liked to see more trash percussion here and there, and the tracks “King Know It All” and “That Tongue” could have been skipped all together. Another problem is that there hasn’t been a new Skeleton Key album in roughly six years now. Eric Sanko created something great and could still make something greater. But where is he? Who knows? Maybe King Know It All knows…

Modern Boredom and Pop Tatari

Album: Pop Tatari
Artist: Boredoms
Year: 1992
Genre: Psychedelic Noise Rock.
Label: Warner Music Japan/Reprise/Very Friendly

With the Boredoms, certain questions arise. Are three drummers really necessary? Does Yamataka Eye’s throat ever hurt? Do you really like this band or you just trying to be cool? That last one is probably the most important. Speaking for myself, I like the Boredoms. I think that they are completely fucking mad and would love to see them live. Legends say that their live shows are unlike anything you’ll witness, in this world or the next, and that watching them is similar to an out of body experience. These days the Boredoms are know as V∞redoms and have stripped down their ensemble to a trio of drummers and Eye, who conducts them from a synth or the guitar-neck-wall-thing. But we’re here to discuss the Boredoms of yore and that means noise.

I originally learned of the Boredoms from listening to John Zorn’s Naked City, a Thrash Jazz group that would make even hardened metal heads wet themselves. Yamataka Eye, leader of the Boredoms and all around mad man, provided vocals for the Naked City’s self titled album. Screams, gurgles, yowls, howls and babbles, anything but actual words. Eye’s voice is an alien and frightening thing that, in the hands of evil, could level civilization as we know it.

I was curious to see where this man had come from and ventured out to find an album by the Boredoms. I returned home with their album “Pop Tatari” and have been in love with it ever since. Noisy? Yes. Psychedelic? Very. Avant-Garde? Maddeningly so. This is the sound of the world being sucked into a black hole and then re-emerging as something completely different. It is destruction and creation, Shiva the Destroyer repackaged for the apocalypse fixated generation of the 90’s and it still sounds fresh today. Actually, it sounds like a thousand sheep dying in the heat of a great red sun, but considering that you’ll never hear that anywhere else, I’d say fresh is fair.

Very little music makes me want to dance, and this isn’t dance music, but “Bo Go”, the 4th track on the album, makes me throw myself across the room like an epileptic having a fit. Most people wouldn’t call this dancing, but when I hear that song, I just have to move. Eye is surrounded by an enclave of extremely bizarre and talented musicians, but I couldn’t begin to tell you who played what on this album. If I had to guess, it was a larger ensemble than the current V∞redoms set up, and it sounds more like a rock band then the modern tribal percussion group that they’re now. I’m not saying one is better or worse, I’m just contrasting the difference in sound.

Drums have always been an important part of Boredoms music, it’s just these days that it’s the central focus. Eye once cited Sonic Youth and Funkadelic as primary influences, but I can’t say that just because you like one of those you’ll like this. That would be greatly misleading. This is music for people who are curious about where to start with the Boredoms, or those with a taste for the Avant-Garde. Every Boredoms album is different though, so this listen won’t tell you the whole story, only part of it. Only for the open minded.

Dig Yourself!: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Live

Main Act: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Opening Act: Earth
Venue: Showbox Sodo

On a tired and cold Tuesday night, my friend Murren and I made our way to the Showbox Sodo to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Nick Cave is, of course, the greatest poet of our modern age and veteran Australian rock legend. He and his motley crew have been touring in support of their latest album “Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!” Their show, though not without flaws, rocked my socks off and delighted a hoard of tipsy Seattleites.

I really hate waiting and the hours before a band hits the stage for me have always been an excruciating exercise in patience and anticipation. This time around, those feelings were exacerbated by being cold, tired and subjected to Earth. No, not the planet, the band. Earth was added to the bill fairly late in the game and was not the best choice to open for The Bad Seeds. This is why: Earth is the original drone rock band. They play slow, repetitive songs that go on for ever and ever, into tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. They were, in fact, so slow that I avoided looking at my watch out of fear that I would see it counting backwards. They played for a good forty-five minutes, during which I left to use the bathroom, something I never do when a band is playing. But here’s the catch: They’re not a bad band; actually, under different circumstances, I could have enjoyed them a lot. But tonight, they were getting in the way of me and The Bad Seeds.

After Earth finished playing, the Bad Seeds waltzed out on stage and launched into “Night of the Lotus Eater.” Nick Cave himself entered and uttered the first words I’d ever heard him say in person: “Get Ready to Shield Yourself” and I braced myself against the waves. The Bad Seeds is a large band at seven members and they know how to rock out.

I was prepared for the two drummers; I was not prepared for how crazy Warren Ellis is. Ellis is the band’s Violin player but mainly played an electric mandolin. It made a noise like a car being shredded and blew me out of my shoes. He was so crazy he almost stole the show from Nick, and in fact did during “We Call upon the Author” when I looked over and saw him on the floor, ripping away at his instrument like an amphetamine-fueled wolverine. Cave’s singing and antics were at the heart of the show, of course. The man is incredibly energetic for being 50–something, and I hope I look that good when I’m his age. He danced and gyrated and threw himself all around the stage, frequently involving the audience in his music, even going so far as to change the lyrics of his songs to reference them. And let us not forget the lyrics; “Well, most of all nothing much ever really happens, And God rides high up in the ordinary sky, Until we find ourselves at out most distracted, And the miracle that was promised creeps quietly by.” Like I said, the man is genius with words.

They played the best of their catalog and most of their new album. “The Mercy Seat” is a song I never once thought I would hear live in my life, but there was the band playing away, and Nick Cave singing about how he’s not afraid to die. At one point Nick cried “Are you ready to get ready?” and the band blasted into “Get Ready for Love,” a favorite from Abattoir Blues. There were so many high points from this evening, I can’t just pick one, there was Warren Ellis and “The Mercy Seat” but there was also “Moonland and “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry.”

There were problems, like smelly drunk people and overenthusiastic super fans but they certainly didn’t ruin the show for me. Considering how quickly the show sold out, I count myself lucky to have acquired tickets at all. The two days of sore exhaustion that followed were well worth it.

Pusicfer: Not as Deep as the Luray Caverns

Album: V is for Vagina
Artist: Puscifer
Genre: Industrial/Trip-Hop
Year: 2007
Label: Sony BMG/Puscifer Entertainment

I’m in a bad mood. I misplaced my iPod device at my place of schooling and so I’ve been without my perpetual sidekick for the past thirty-six hours or so. This meant that I had to go digging around in the stacks of CDs that line my walls to find this fucking disc so I could review it. I’m not sure what inspired me to pull this particular album out and review it, considering that it’s about a year old now. But time has never stopped me before, and this album could use a little critiquing.

Puscifer is the project of Maynard James Keenan, the front man of TooL and A Perfect Circle. Deciding to take some of his unused ideas and make a multi-media circus, Puscifer entertainment is responsible for the making and sale of everything from shirts and hats to women’s… err… “Hygiene” kits. But it’s the music that I’m concerned with. The Puscifer album “V is for Vagina” is far different from Keenan’s usual Metal leanings. Indeed few Metal bands have followings like TooL, but Puscifer is not TooL and probably turned a few (pot) heads when it was released. Far more Industrial and Trip-Hop esqe then TooL, Puscifer is an electronic based project. More than that, the project originated with the idea of centering the music on Keenan’s impressive voice and going from there. TooL already is centered on Keenan’s voice so another group to do that is a little redundant, but then again, Keenan’s voice has never sounded like this before. For those familiar with his singing, Keenan has a beautiful voice. Whether you like metal or not, you can’t deny the power and range there. But with Puscifer, Keenan sounds like his voice is being processed and manipulated, which he claims isn’t the case, but it still sounds deeper and more… no, I’m not going to say, demonic, that would be dumb.

Anyways, another thing about this project is that it’s collaborative, with musicians like Lustmord, Tim Alexander and Jonny Polonsky all contributing their own parts to help Keenan build his ship. So with all this, the new sound, the warped vocals and the contributions from excellent musicians, this project should be a five star success, right? WRONG. The problem is this: the music is interesting, yes, but it lacks the energy that is inherent in Keenan’s other works. Some of the tracks are down right boring where TooL and A Perfect Circle rarely are. Also, one of Keenan’s major talents is his gift for lyricism. Puscifer’s lyrics just aren’t that inspired, and in fact can be fairly tedious. Keenan just doesn’t seem to be taking this project as seriously as he has other ones. Which is a shame considering the potential this album had, being self-released and produced. The potential was all here, but the execution was sorely lacking. This is not to say I hate it, it’s just not as good as it should have been.

Of course, I could be wrong about this entirely. The lack of seeming imagination could all be a colossal joke on you and me; the consumer public. Keenan is a known jokester and this whole album could be an extension of that humor… But wait just a second; a joke that’s intentionally not funny can still not be funny. The humor of this album, if it exists, fails, and therefore so does the irony of it not really being funny. OK, you’re probably scratching your heads now, let me make this concise: It’s a good album, not a great one. It SHOULD have been great but wasn’t. All the ingredients were there, it just fell short of the target put in place by the early singles. Maybe the Remix album will be better.

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.