As for solo stuff, I like some of Mark Spybey's stuff (although I don't know if he really counts as a member...). The Propeller CD (the one with the scrap metal sleeve) and Dead Voices On Air's Shap are great.
― James Annett, Wednesday, 25 September 2002 19:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
― brg30 (brg30), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 20:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Frühlingsj4n (Wintermute), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 08:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 08:55 (nineteen years ago) link
where can these be found? all i have is mp3s
― Ô¿Ô (eman), Wednesday, 20 July 2005 02:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 20 July 2005 02:29 (eighteen years ago) link
Wow, all of these were in print just a few years ago but it seems the CHARRM label that was rereleasing them has disappeared. So I guess its just used for now.
― mjfan, Wednesday, 20 July 2005 15:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― fe zaffe (fezaffe), Wednesday, 20 July 2005 15:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― fe zaffe (fezaffe), Wednesday, 20 July 2005 15:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Wednesday, 20 July 2005 21:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ô¿Ô (eman), Wednesday, 20 July 2005 22:11 (eighteen years ago) link
oh and there's a stomping track called "cad goddeu" literally stomping - the rhythm is like sped-up godzilla steps. i don't know what it's from. "eostre"? i don't trust these tags.
― Ô¿Ô (eman), Wednesday, 20 July 2005 22:14 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Zoviet+France
I think Collusion is their best album, even though its not a real album. All the tracks are strong, and it covers styles from their whole career. And its still in print.
― mjfan, Thursday, 21 July 2005 00:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― - (smile), Thursday, 21 July 2005 00:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pangolino 2, Thursday, 21 July 2005 01:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pangolino 2, Thursday, 21 July 2005 01:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ô¿Ô (eman), Thursday, 21 July 2005 02:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― bob snoom, Thursday, 21 July 2005 10:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 8 October 2005 21:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― fez, Friday, 5 May 2006 10:28 (seventeen years ago) link
decriminalisation of country music - c/d?
― am0n, Wednesday, 9 April 2008 23:54 (fifteen years ago) link
C
― sleeve, Thursday, 10 April 2008 01:10 (fifteen years ago) link
Decriminalisation of country music is fantastic!
― Dan S, Thursday, 10 April 2008 01:54 (fifteen years ago) link
I dunno, it's soooo front loaded - nothing approaches the awesome peak of Something Spooked the Horses. It's the only track which really takes on the country music conceit, and I wish they'd carried it forward more. I do like the other tracks but after that dominating slide guitar they all seem kind of hollow.
― ledge, Thursday, 10 April 2008 07:53 (fifteen years ago) link
Decriminalisation of Country Music is pretty damned classic, but I'd agree that it's a bit front-loaded.
Album reminds me of when I lived in Chicago and would walk around in the winter down by the lake.
― novaheat, Thursday, 10 April 2008 20:36 (fifteen years ago) link
DoCM is classic classic classic
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 10 April 2008 20:44 (fifteen years ago) link
There is another thread somewhere where I debate a bit with Mark Spybey concerning the merits of post-Storey Zoviet France. I could swear I read some interview ages ago where there was a reference to the band members having made some sort of lifetime pact to never break up or do solo stuff, which obviously didn't last and might be my imagination. I think later ZF work like Digilogue and DoCM and (ESPECIALLY) Mort Aux Vaches are really high quality, if a bit different in focus than the earlier classics. Less "ethnic music made by aliens" type stuff and more drone-bliss is just fine with me.
― sleeve, Thursday, 10 April 2008 23:34 (fifteen years ago) link
this was commissioned for the opening of a big arts space in glasgow called the tramway. they then performed an interpretation of it at the opening. it was wonderful.
― stirmonster, Friday, 11 April 2008 02:19 (fifteen years ago) link
They will do a live performance again, opening for Lustmord http://incubate.org/2011/artist/72/Zoviet+France
― nonobody, Friday, 10 June 2011 09:12 (twelve years ago) link
Live performances these days are rare but not unheard of, they played in London earlier this year. I say "they" but aside from Ben I have no idea who is in the line-up these days or even if it's more or less his solo project.
― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Friday, 10 June 2011 09:21 (twelve years ago) link
The string of albums from 1987 (A flock of Roations, Loh Land, Assault and Mirage) is one hell of a run. I cannot get enough of that stuff.
― windjamm voyager (blank), Tuesday, 21 August 2012 05:37 (eleven years ago) link
don't forget Gesture Signal Threat! Misfits/Loony Tunes always seemed a little less amazing to me though.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 22 August 2012 00:09 (eleven years ago) link
going through youtubes of the early albums I hadn't heard (I'd heard Garista, Gris, Oestre) and... this band sure was good
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 20 March 2013 19:39 (eleven years ago) link
pretty much everything they did after the Hessian/burlap record is essential imo. sucks that all of it is OOP and insanely expensive.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 20 March 2013 19:46 (eleven years ago) link
only heard DoCM but a great album.
― Poliopolice, Wednesday, 20 March 2013 20:56 (eleven years ago) link
How the fuck did I miss that Zoviet France has been podcasting. For awhile too!http://zovietfrance.podbean.com
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 7 July 2014 21:26 (nine years ago) link
tremendous show in SF on Saturday. maybe just rationalizing, but sorta glad that I'm not familiar with their recorded output, had no expectations going in. i was surprised by the hi-def sound palette (think I heard a peaceful forest at one point), less surprised by the droning overlay of dooooom.
― ugh (lukas), Monday, 15 September 2014 16:16 (nine years ago) link
their record output (the stuff i know anyway) covers a pretty broad sound palette tbf
― Daphnis Celesta, Monday, 15 September 2014 16:48 (nine years ago) link
I was at that show and "tremendous" was not the adjective I would use to describe my experience
― sarahell, Monday, 15 September 2014 16:56 (nine years ago) link
shouting @ the ground
― evangelos (am0n), Monday, 15 September 2014 16:58 (nine years ago) link
what'd you think of it sarahell?
i missed the openers btw, just caught last hour of ZF's set.
― ugh (lukas), Monday, 15 September 2014 17:17 (nine years ago) link
I am a pretty big fan, and I thought the set was outstanding. They could put it out without an edit. Doesn't sound like the 80's, but still has that aesthetic of muddying the line between acoustic sounds you can't quite identify and electronics.
Two nord racks, effects, field recording playback, and a table of tiny flutes / harps / noisemakers next to a microphone. Obviously totally improvised, but fantastic pacing with great builds & shifts & turning of corners. Great to get to see which sounds were being mixed, and which generated live, after years of listening to records where you often did not have a clue what was going on.
― Milton Parker, Monday, 15 September 2014 17:58 (nine years ago) link
who's in the z.f. lineup this month
― evangelos (am0n), Monday, 15 September 2014 18:02 (nine years ago) link
Discogs lists Ponton and a Mr. Mark Warren as the current memebrs
― sleeve, Monday, 15 September 2014 18:23 (nine years ago) link
I wish I could have seen this
Genuinely upset that I missed this.
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 15 September 2014 20:41 (nine years ago) link
If it makes you feel any better ... a friend of mine had a ticket and completely missed the show because he figured "oh, doors at 8, headliners won't go on until 10 at the earliest ... " nope.
― ugh (lukas), Monday, 15 September 2014 20:54 (nine years ago) link
in that case not really zoviet france imo
― ☝ (am0n), Monday, 15 September 2014 21:23 (nine years ago) link
wow, lotta stuff here for download as well as listening
https://soundcloud.com/zoviet-france
― sleeve, Thursday, 24 September 2020 21:44 (three years ago) link
A most useful tip! Pity I missed them in SF by a year...
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 25 September 2020 00:58 (three years ago) link
Wowowow, last week I came closer than ever to shelling out a fortune for Shadow, Thief so I'm so glad I saw this.
― ed.b, Friday, 25 September 2020 02:15 (three years ago) link
awesome, yeah get in here ILM lurkers and fans, these are gonna sell out soon
― sleeve, Friday, 25 September 2020 03:08 (three years ago) link
FYI the 1st "unreleased" album (The End Of Nothing, The Beginning Of Everything) is actually the previously-grey-area "Music For A Spaghetti Western" but it has been retitled and has actual track names now, and more tracks than the original 4.
― sleeve, Friday, 25 September 2020 15:09 (three years ago) link
That is great to hear. Any insights into "Russian Heterodoxical Songs"?
― stirmonster, Friday, 25 September 2020 16:50 (three years ago) link
not yet... hoping that isgenuinely unreleased. and to clarify above, what I mean is that the long track (Scene 2) appears to have been broken up into a bunch of individual tracks, there is no extra material but there are more tracks and they have new names.
― sleeve, Friday, 25 September 2020 16:56 (three years ago) link
Are you sure about the above, sleeve? Having now listened to The End... I don't think it's the same as Music from a Spaghetti Western.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Thursday, 5 November 2020 12:37 (three years ago) link
not 100%, but there's a sample in the latter that has the title of the former? my box won't be here for a while yet I assume
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Thursday, 5 November 2020 14:57 (three years ago) link
got my copy of Shadow, Thief of the Sun
yay
although
I don't understand why it's a 3LP with two blank sides, rather than the 2LP it claimed to be ...
― lukas, Wednesday, 18 November 2020 18:18 (three years ago) link
Mine is 2LP FWIW.
― Freeze Instr., Wednesday, 18 November 2020 18:36 (three years ago) link
That's strange that you got a 3LP version. mine is 2LP too.
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 18 November 2020 19:13 (three years ago) link
Yeah it's a 2LP with three sides of music and one blank side.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Wednesday, 18 November 2020 19:55 (three years ago) link
hoping this shows up on the West Coast in the next week or so
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Thursday, 19 November 2020 01:57 (three years ago) link
I thought maybe the two single-sided discs would be identical, but no. I'll post pictures of the label art later.
― lukas, Thursday, 19 November 2020 03:27 (three years ago) link
Did you order multiple records? I got two 2LPs but the 4 overall discs were split into 2 packages, one with 1 disc the other with 3. I panicked because I thought I was missing a disc and emailed VOD but figured out they just moving the v records around to cut down the shipping cost.
― ed.b, Thursday, 19 November 2020 12:17 (three years ago) link
ohhhh that could be it, yeah
― lukas, Thursday, 19 November 2020 17:49 (three years ago) link
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Thursday, November 5, 2020 4:37 AM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Thursday, November 5, 2020 6:57 AM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
I was wrong, and it isn't. totally riveted right now on my first listen.
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Thursday, 26 November 2020 04:58 (three years ago) link
Russian Heterodoxical Songs is astonishing, a worthy addition to the canon right in between JAI and LIM
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Thursday, 26 November 2020 22:40 (three years ago) link
Listen to Misteltan (Live Winter Solstice 2019) by :zoviet*france: on #SoundCloudhttps://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/4KEVjhands in the air ambient
― lukas, Tuesday, 21 December 2021 21:21 (two years ago) link
Châsse 3
<3 <3 <3
Most beautiful and integrated package so far, no oddball 7"s or blank sides, just eight gorgeous double albums
I had not actually caught up with 7.10.12 or Tables Are Turning so I am enjoying those a lot
unreleased 2LP "A Long Walk" is good as well
lots and lots of perfectly executed lock grooves this time around
― thinkmanship (sleeve), Monday, 14 March 2022 17:56 (two years ago) link
yeah the fact that they had done a Motorhead cover was an interesting discovery.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Monday, 14 March 2022 18:04 (two years ago) link
lol wait what? I missed that somehow
― thinkmanship (sleeve), Monday, 14 March 2022 18:05 (two years ago) link
Bomber, it's on the Third Collusion album that mops up various tracks originally released on singles, compilations etc.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Monday, 14 March 2022 18:09 (two years ago) link
Somebody on Discogs has uploaded pictures of this release which have me salivating. Way out of my price range unfortunately but looks magnificent
― I am using your worlds, Monday, 14 March 2022 18:20 (two years ago) link
my brain is exploding that they covered it, though listening now on YT and of course they "cover" it as only ZF could.
waiting for this still, but very, very happy that "The Decriminalisation Of Country Music - Themes For Tramway" is finally on vinyl. i was at the live performance they did of it in Glasgow.
i was hoping they would include "Patina Pooling" in this box so i could offload my copy as it is flaking bits of rust all over the place.
― stirmonster, Monday, 14 March 2022 20:19 (two years ago) link
xp the albums are being released as individual 2LP standalone as well, 24 euros + shipping via VOD website
― thinkmanship (sleeve), Tuesday, 15 March 2022 00:50 (two years ago) link
Their podcast, "A Duck in a Tree," is worth a listen.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 15 March 2022 00:52 (two years ago) link
absolutely
― thinkmanship (sleeve), Tuesday, 15 March 2022 00:53 (two years ago) link
lotta cool stuff on their Soundcloud as well
I loved Popular Soviet Songs and Youth Music from 1985, and the 2004 cd edition was fantastic, bound between two round gray felt pieces cut from black market Red Army caps, and held together with a Soviet military pin
― Dan S, Tuesday, 15 March 2022 01:17 (two years ago) link
Yes, including a 2018 live recording from Kyiv which they've made available free but are requesting donations for Ukraine disaster relief.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Tuesday, 15 March 2022 06:21 (two years ago) link
this is blowing my mind still, from the Rapoon thread:
Some of the late 80's - early 90's ZF records were Robin Storey solo with other members just contributing artwork... A Flock of Rotations, Assault and Mirage, Shouting at the Ground, Just an Illusion and Shadow, Thief of the Sun, at the very least.
really? is this confirmed anywhere? so ben ponton only contributed artwork to these???
― stirmonster, Wednesday, March 16, 2022 5:25 PM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink
Info was on the now-dead unofficial ZF website which had detailed music/production/artwork credits for the whole discography.
― atonar, Thursday, March 17, 2022 5:40 AM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink
Found it on archive.org:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120320095815/http://www.the-edge.ws/zoviet/disc.html
― atonar, Thursday, March 17, 2022 5:45 AM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink
Had also heard this at the time from the person who ran DOVe who released 'Shadow...' - arguments around credit and attribution were largely the cause of the fracturing of the group. In any case you can hear the pretty sharp change in sound from 1992 on.
― atonar, Thursday, March 17, 2022 5:50 AM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink
thanks for the link - fascinating!
93's What Is Not True is one of my very favourite ZF releases but it's undeniable that it is a radical change of sound.
― stirmonster, Thursday, March 17, 2022 6:13 AM (five days ago)
― thinkmanship (sleeve), Tuesday, 22 March 2022 16:02 (two years ago) link
Storey talks a bit more about it in this interview:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010218131126/http://www.pretentious.net/Rapoon/articles/tdr.htm
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Tuesday, 22 March 2022 16:36 (two years ago) link
lol what
I will prob never hear these, but it's a cool idea
via their FB:
Our first NFT (non-fungible tape)By speeding them up by a factor of several hundred and using extreme audio compression, we've discovered that the entirety of our unreleased recordings will fit onto this 3-minute loop cassette. This will be made available as a one-off exclusive release of its own that will be sold in a private auction tomorrow. The cassette will come with details on the the speed factor used and an explanation of how to decompress the audio. Once sold, these recordings will never be made available again.To register your interest in participating in the auction, please add your name as a comment on this post.
― thinkmanship (sleeve), Friday, 1 April 2022 15:12 (one year ago) link
dude, check the date
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Friday, 1 April 2022 15:41 (one year ago) link
ahahaha got me
― thinkmanship (sleeve), Friday, 1 April 2022 16:17 (one year ago) link