Zoviet France: Classic or Dud?

their record output (the stuff i know anyway) covers a pretty broad sound palette tbf

I was at that show and "tremendous" was not the adjective I would use to describe my experience

shouting @ the ground

what'd you think of it sarahell?

i missed the openers btw, just caught last hour of ZF's set.

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.

who's in the z.f. lineup this month

Discogs lists Ponton and a Mr. Mark Warren as the current memebrs

I wish I could have seen this

Genuinely upset that I missed this.

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.

Discogs lists Ponton and a Mr. Mark Warren as the current memebrs

in that case not really zoviet france imo

u think that w/o Robin Storey it isn't ZF? this band has basically been Ponton & accomplices since the mid-90's.

Guys in 85 or 86 I had a ZF cassette release that came in a kind of rectangular porcelain jug and included a dirty seagull feather. I can't remember what it was called, anyone know?

ew

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Soviet_Songs_and_Youth_Music

dammit xp

http://www.discogs.com/zoviet-france-Popular-Soviet-Songs-And-Youth-Music/release/100568

"Feathers collected from the shores of the Irish Sea, the most radioactive area of seawater on Earth."

i think that wd be it, i've never owned a proper copy, fucken great record tho

it really is, I have a 3CD reissue on Staalplaat

Yeah that's it. I chose to be skeptical abt the feather's provenance at the time

Things I wish I still owned chapter 9064

the reissue has a great package, brown felt with a soviet-era pin. It looks like it's still available from staalplaat

u think that w/o Robin Storey it isn't ZF? this band has basically been Ponton & accomplices since the mid-90's.

feel like the sound changed at that point from classic zf to ponton solo project. decriminalization of country music was good but can't bother with the rest of it

Mort Aux Vaches and especially Digilogue are favorites of mine, but I see yr point

these days all they put out is like 50-copy 8" lathe cut editions

feel like the sound changed at that point from classic zf to ponton solo project. decriminalization of country music was good but can't bother with the rest of it

I do hear what you're saying about the mid-90's run, it wasn't bad but zf went from full spectrum anything-can-happen-next music to solid ambient, precisely at the moment in history where there was so much ambient music coming out that you just needed a break. I thought it was interesting that after they had their first strong well-received post-classic-lineup album decriminalization, instead of flooring it they mostly stopped releasing CDs. Ben said they've been busy the last 10-15 years doing scores for dance performance, and choosing not to put those out. in any case this duo has been stable / playing for almost 20 years and I didn't think that concert embarrassed anyone by being called a zf show.

must admit though, last few days, loaded up my phone with gris / mohnomishe / garista. even on my phone, that music shouldn't exist

what's a good place to start with these guys?

shouting @ the ground

― evangelos (am0n), Monday, September 15, 2014 12:58 PM

ripe for a Vinyl on Demand box set of the 80s run

i don't think it will happen. former members don't want it. i tried to reissue mohnomishe and that was the reason i was given why it wasn't possible.

bummer! some of the most sui generis psychedelic music i've ever heard.

xp: yeah Ponton and Storey are not really on speaking terms or so I've heard

really wish these folks could come to terms on some reissues, it's such a shame that all of the old stuff is $100 or more for like a single CD.

also, has anyone heard this new-ish release?

https://www.discogs.com/zovietfrance-The-Tables-Are-Turning/master/625120

I haven't heard it, but I like the description on the Soleilmoon website: "Somewhere in the rainy, misty forests of the Pacific Northwest of America, three ladies have the unlikely task of sewing together the packaging for a new album by :zoviet*france:"

really wish these folks could come to terms on some reissues, it's such a shame that all of the old stuff is $100 or more for like a single CD.

discussed on the Vinyl On Demand thread, but putting here as well:

https://www.vod-records.com/-1-432-652.htm

(reissues of everything up to the Misfits/Flock/Gesture/Assault releases)

norsch is awful

it's not really very good, agreed, I feel the same way about "Hessian"/Untitled/burlap

props to brimstead for predicting this box set five years ago

"... the sheaves are gone" (xp)

...and I’m broke right now too! Oh well

I usually enjoy ZF tracks more in a mix with other stuff, but I do enjoy them

xp brimstead just go for the extended single-LP reissue of Gris, that's the only one with extra material afaict

norsch is the only one i've never heard and been excited to hear. sad to hear it is awful.

I might not say "awful" on reflection, but my first listen was definitely a disappointment

Was hoping they would have a bandcamp or something so I could buy FLACs. After not finding anything I read upthread and saw Stirmonster hadn’t been allowed to do a reissue. So I’m listening on YouTube instead.

i put ZF on in Glasgow a few weeks ago and was asking how the reissue had come about when there had been no consensus to do it previosuly and it seems that VOD had offered the former members an maount of £s that made it irresisitible.

wouldn't say Norsch is awful. they hadn't learned to mess with the drum machines enough which makes the sound closer to other industrial? I totally agree with VOD shoving Norsch & Hessian, two 25 minute EPs, onto one vinyl disc. Garista was the first one I bought after Shouting, and I remember just not being ready to walk that fine line between lo-fi mystery and wait-this-is-just-a-bunch-of-people-banging-on-shit-and-yelling, but I love it now

highly recommended to all fans of pre-Shouting ZF -- lo-fidelity concrete tape-manipulations of eastern classical instruments, from the 40s/50s. one of the few sonic precedents I can think of

https://www.discogs.com/Halim-El-Dabh-Crossing-Into-The-Electric-Magnetic/release/1286486
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/halimeldabh3

kicking myself for not investing in this box & rooting for second edition

US distribution through Forced Exposure, Swill Radio, and one other that I forget at the moment

oh, Soleilmoon

i put ZF on in Glasgow a few weeks ago and was asking how the reissue had come about when there had been no consensus to do it previosuly and it seems that VOD had offered the former members an maount of £s that made it irresisitible

Frank's FB page is quite illuminating, he doesn't talk about the €€€ for this box but he's been fairly open in the past about how much he offered people like Coil and Neubauten to do boxes for them, both of which offers were refused. With 600 copies of the :z*f: sold out on presale I estimate the gross at about €150,000 which should be enough to give the members a tidy sum and more than cover his costs on top.

Managed to acquire mohnomishe and it’s remarkable.