Zoviet France: Classic or Dud?

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.

yeah that's my favorite of the early ones

do any of you maniacs have this release in any digitized audio format? YSI?

https://www.discogs.com/Zoviet-France-Live-In-My-Livingroom/release/1472782

I didn't realize Robin Storey left before What Is Not True was recorded! It makes sense in retrospect, listening now. To continue my debate with amon (miss u) above, I think that one's a total classic for sure.

Managed to acquire mohnomishe and it’s remarkable.

i used to play chunks of it in the middle of dj sets at club nights during the rave era when 90% of the audience were extremely high. i'm not sure many people in the audience were digging it but i was getting the biggest kick from hearing it through giant pa systems. it sounded incredible.

i treated myself to the box which is by far and away the most i have ever spent on any release and which has subsequently caused me to endure massive post purchase dissonance.

it arrived and is a beautiful thing. the dissonance is abating slightly. i keep reminding myself it is tax deductible.

there are some incredible photos of the assembly of some of the early covers. i'm going to dive in now.....

gah, can't wait

has anyone heard the more recent (since 2005) Reformed Faction CDs, particularly "Vota" with the Storey/Spybey/Eardly lineup? I'm intrigued.

pmed you sleeve re Livingroom. 128, unfortunately

<3

wow that extra material on the Gris LP really hits the spot, a very very deep alternate version of the title track and what seems like an extended coda of the original.

amazing box of course, the deeply alien "band photos" are the icing on the cake.

upon further review, I have two more observations:

1. the remastering here is spectacular, I hear new details in tracks that I've been listening to for over 30 years.

2. following from #1, Norsch is in fact awesome, a worthy precursor to the huge leap forward that occurred with Mohnomishe.

Reissues

https://boomkat.com/products/monomishe

Genre: DARK AMBIENT / DRONE / METAL

lol

I’ve messed up that link but there’s other titles too

helpful note from Discogs:

Rest assured also that both tracks titled "Burning Bush" from Popular Soviet Songs And Youth Music are included, although only the second one is labeled in the track listing. The first one--the nine minute one that was the first track on side C of the cassette and track 2-12 of the cd--is here as the last track on side 4 of PSSAYM (i.e., side LP2-R), after "Fearn", right where it ought to be.

YES!! I HAVE $$ AGAIN

2nd box.

RELEASES SCHEDULED FOR LATE APRIL 2020

VOD 163: ZOVIET FRANCE 'Châsse Vol.2' - Recordings 1984-1996 16Lp Wooden Box (ltd. 400 plus 99 artists-editions in colored Vinyl plus 8 x Stand Alone Releases (ltd. 200 each)

Lp1/2: Shouting at the Ground 2Lp (1988)
Lp3/4: Just an Illusion 2Lp (1990)
Lp5/6: Look Into Me 2lp (1990)
Lp7: Vienna 1990 1Lp (1980)
Lp8/9: Shadow, Thief of the Sun (1991)
Lp10/11: What is Not True 1Lp (1993)
Lp12/13: Collusion Vol.1 2Lp (1984-1991)
Lp14/15: Collusion Vol.2 2Lp (1992-1996)
Lp16: Music for a Spaghetti Western (1986)

i hope this is an error that "Vienna 1990" and "What is Not True" are only going to be single LPs as that will mean they have been drastically edited if so.