ZEUHL

As far as the band name goes i'm not sure if it refers to the Stravisnky composition "Scherzo," the term which means a short composition only with an extra "o" or the Italian word "scherzo" which means "joke" or jest." Maybe none of the above! While the zeuhl elements are distinctly present in this all instrumental procession of six tracks that almost hit the 57-minute mark which includes the sprawling 19-minute plus closer "Voyage Au Bout De La Nuit," the album often jumps into moments of Present-like avant-prog and also leaps into the world of jazz-fusion but more often than not all these elements which include some of those warm Canterbury tones conspire to make a knotty frat party of all of the above making SCHERZOO's approach sound fairly unique.

This debut finds mostly new material that Thollot composed for the band however the two tracks "Ceux D'en Face" and "Enilek" were rewritten and rerecorded after appearing on Thollot's debut release "Ceux D'En Face" which was released in 2002. This lineup features François Thollot (composer, drums), Guillaume Lagache (saxophone), François Mignot (guitar), Anthony Béard (bass guitar) and Jérémy Van Quackebeke (piano) all of whom effortlessly navigate the hairpin turns and knotty compositions crafted by Thollot that can evoke mellow Canterbury jazz motifs or suddenly jump into guitar heavy moments of classic King Crimson or Anekdoten only brought to order by the martial bass thumping that keeps a zeuhl underpinning. The music is generally dark and brooding much like early Univers Zero or Present.

The music on 01 is definitely a difficult music adventure where the band lulls you into a lengthy improv session of RIO, jazz fusion or zeuhl but can suddenly erupt into a totally different soundscape and then carry on for minutes at at time. Composed somewhat of a classical nature where cadences and motifs are constructed and then fortified with a series of variations with the scales and stylistic effect coming out of the RIO playbook. Zeuhl rhythms keep it all from spiraling out of control and the presence of the saxophone and moments of escapism into the world of jazz and fusion keep the darkness from totally taking over the soundscape. SCHERZOO found its own distinct style right off the bat however the two solo albums of Thollot proved to serve as the warming up sessions which led to this band. A pretty decent debut if you like the world of dark, complex and filled with avant-angularities.

This Tokyo based band appeared mysteriously and dropped a couple albums in the first decade of the 2000s and then quietly disappeared. AMYGDALA originally only consisted of the two members Yoshiyuki Nakajima (piano, organ, keyboards, bass guitar, vocals) and Yoshihiro Yamaji (guitar, vocals) who crafted an entire band sound on the eponymously titled debut album that came out in 2004. While drummer Daniel Jeand'heaur would join the team on the band's second album "Complex Combat" in 2008, on this debut all percussive sounds are synthesized on a drum machine but despite that so uncool notion existing the world of prog actually ended in satisfactory results although there are moments when it's more evident the presence of a real drummer would've proven more dynamic.

The very term AMYGDALA refers to the almond-shaped masses of gray matter that are part of the limbic system which is where the emotions of fear and aggression are generated in the brain and indeed the sounds of AMYGDALA may produce the results of fight or flight as it's dark, dense and chock filled with crazy time signature changes. The comparisons to Univers Zero, Present and Jacques Thollot are well founded however if any band from the French scene deserves the most credit in influencing AMYGDALA's sound it would have to be Shub-Niggurath especially the demo and debut "Les Morts Vont Vite." The darkened soundscapes throb with adrenalized creepy tones and timbres.

This is one of those heavy feisty electric guitar oriented avant-prog albums with incessant King Crimson inspired discordant riffing courtesy of Yoshihiro Yamaji accompanied by the oft outlandish keyboard virtuosity of Yoshiyuki Nakajima who alternates between piano, organ and a multitude of synthesized sounds that emulate the bassoon, harmonium, vibraphone, xylophone and mellotron sounds. He also plays the bass however that seems lost in the mix of this one due to the bad mixing and production job which along with the rather disappointing artificial drum performances is one of the weak points to this album.

Like Univers Zero's earliest offerings, this one evokes those jellyfish propulsion techniques with oscillating trilling sounds overlapping a pulsating flow of the musical procession that allows various sound effects to sputter in and out of the sequence. While i wouldn't call the zeuhl aspects the dominate feature here, the steady martial rhythms drive that the bass line generates is certainly in that camp. Nakajima is the sole composer of these primarily vocal-free instrumentals so there is a nice uniformity to the album's run although i would have to call AMYGDALA a clone band when all is said and done given that this could easily pass as some inferior Univers Zero album of the past that simply got scrapped and salvaged for parts.

Overall AMYGDALA's debut is a compelling listen if you dig those early sounds of UZ, Present, Shub-Niggurath then you will certainly find this appealing but the fact that these guys haven't really given it the Japanese touch that had become all the rage by the 2000s coupled with the many instruments that were simply manufactured on synthesizers keeps this from being a top tier zeuhl album despite the amazing compositional fortitude that went into its creation. A pleasant slice of zeuhlish avant-prog emerging from Japan but woefully missing any creative infusion that Japan always dishes out in abundance especially in the more demanding complex arenas of experimental rock from Europe. A good yet non-essential addition to any zeuhl addicts arsenal.

This is high octane crazy zeuhl more in the vein of the noisy Japanese bands like Koenji Hyakkei, Ruins, Happy Family or Bondage Fruit's earliest material. HYPHEN delivers a healthy dose of zeuhl rhythmic drive infused with crazy brutal prog time signature bombast, noisy distortion and adventurous twists and turns that can turn from crazy punk rock sounding bombast to freaky psychedelic interludes more in the vein of some of those Mr Bungle albums. HYPHEN features 17 tracks but the album is only just over 30 minutes long so the tracks are short and to the point but packing an explosive punch with an excess of brutal prog elements such as relentless time signature extravaganzas, discordant King Crimson chord dissonance, frenzied tempos, erratic vocals that scream, shout and cause a major raucous.

While some would call this noise rock as opposed to zeuhl, PROTOPLASMA does incorporate enough of the Magma trademarks to quality at least partially as everyone's favorite Kobaian art form however while the martial rhythms keep it tethered to the Christian Vander camp, that's where the similarities end as this is a wild ride that finds as many ways to unleash noisy brutality along with segments of crazy psychedelic weirdness. The band also implements some moments of experimental electronica and touches of jazz with an occasional saxophone finding its way into the mix. Some motifs are more akin to math rock in their jittery jangle guitar effects and other times the band emulates anarcho-punk only on an acid trip! The liberties are more in align to Mr Bungle, Melt Banana's early days and a brutality that The Flying Luttenbachers would approve of.

This band is pretty much a mystery regarding it and anything about its history. Will another album follow HYPHEN or was this a one shot dealy-bop? It's anybody's guess but for my addiction of totally crazed and unhinged psycho-prog i have to say that i totally love this bizarre pyroclastic explosiveness of sound that at times sounds like an entire orchestra is playing 1000 different riffs at the speed of sound! It's as convoluted and nebulous as the album cover art at times but also has some nice moments of order and stability. The album starts out more "normal" and gradually descends into more free form chaotic uproars. This one is a must for lovers of noise and chaos that incorporate musical elements into its whirlwind delivery. Perhaps one of the most brutal zeuhl albums to exist and that's saying a lot after hearing a lot of the Japanese scene however keep in mind there are many moments where no zeuhl exists and the dissonance maelstrom of sound is pure noisy chaos.

To those who don't appreciate this album and had a one-star rate, I felt absolutely pity for that. This is the kind of masterpiece that prog lovers MUST ACKNOWLEDGED. You can't deny It makes massive contribute to the whole history of zeuhl.

As long as I got the original album, I was astonished by the huge golden spaceship logo on the sleeve and marvelous printing. On the back was some tracklists and credits as well as a brief description. Inside was a huge gatefold inner with a story the album tells so you can understand what they are actually playing. The design is very clean and tidy, which is pleasing and can't help but looking to it. 4.5/5

The album sounds astonishing too. Not to say the recording is good. With vocals filling the entire album, they constructed an epic chapter of Theusz Hamtaahk. The songs on A side as well as the others are strung together without pause, just like the other rock opera albums... The A side sounds kinda bizarre and not much serious, which is hard to chew and tasteless for the Earthmen but delicious for the kobaians. The third track was my favorite (Though I like them all) for it's outstanding vocals and drums. However, when it comes to the B side, things gone different. The atmosphere and rhythm suddenly became rapid and tense. Madness and Anger tear everything around, unknown roar and heart-rending shouts fill up your ears, consuming your sanity. And at last, all the emotions were relieved. The soft and powerful music makes you imagine the end of the legendary epic. I have goosebumps when heard "Nebëhr Gudahtt" every time. Magma truly built up a dark universe which is full of hatred, fantasies and Danger. Absolute 5/5.

Do you know why bands like ZAO, Bondage Fruit, Eskaton plays zeuhl so well? Because they are all kobaians! And honestly, I'm already kobaian. I don't speak to Earthmen :)

I will admit that I'm not the biggest RHUN fan, but I do appreciate their debut and feel it's a much better ride that what THE ORVALIANS created here. This album is really inconsistent in my opinion but there's one track that scratches that itch and that's the fifth track called "Whoze", especially those mellow sections where drums, bass and atmosphere lead the way. This gets heavy late though with plenty of insanity over the final two minutes. There are vocals and all four sing and they are very much hit and miss as well. We get eight tracks over 63 1/2 minutes. I had already gotten off of the RHUN bus, and I'm afraid my time on this ride was a short one. They named themselves by the way after an area in Northwestern France called Orval.

For fans of zany and humerous avant music. 3 stars is all I got.

The band started in 1982 and captured the world of avant-prog's attention with its 1986 debut "Les Morts Vont Vie" which deftly blended the zeuhl rhythmic forces of Magma with the creepy darkened avant-prog chamber prog antics of Univers Zero's "Heresie" era. Infused with an equal dose of 20th century experimental classical elements in the vein of Stockhausen, Ligeti, Cage and Varèse, SHUB-NIGGURATH constructed a totally new world of musical freakery with in a magnitude hitherto unknown in the world of avant-prog with some of the darkest and most sophisticated the genre had to offer. After this debut the band would lose both vocalist Ann Stewart and guitarist Frank Fromy leaving keyboardist Jean-Luc Hervé to take on the secondary duty of guitars. Newbie drummer Michel Kervinio also jumped on board.

The band followed with an even stranger musical specimen than what debuted even though that sounds very difficult to fathom. The band's second album C'ETAIENT DE TRES GRANDE VENTS (There Were Of Three Big Winds) seems to refer to the formless nature of the Lovecraftian deity for which the band was named and likewise this sophomore album reflects a more abstract ethereal noisy trip into the world of avant-garde infused 20th century classical music rather than anything in the world of progressive rock. Despite this stripping down of the prog elements and the inclusion of the new vocalist Sylvette Claudet for only a sole track, the album while more enthralled with minimalism and slinking processions of ambient sounds rather than zeuhl inspired rhythmic drives still exhibits scant relations to its predecessor from time to time with a few zeuhl moments as well as outbursts of heavy dissonant avant-prog.

The seven tracks on board seem to accent the art of contrast with eerie atmospheres finding freeform guitar dissonance and bizarre drumming sequences that ratchet up the tension until they reach a climactic meltdown of heavily distorted discordant guitar turbulence along with raucous percussive explosiveness sounding like a mix of the death industrial world of SPK in cahoots with Karlheinz Stockhausen's pointillistic surreality along with the remaining touches of Univers Zero or Art Zoyd. From the very first track "Glaciations," SHUB-NIGGURATH delivers a labyrinthine procession of tones and timbres courtesy of guitar feedback and droning with subtle percussive accents that culminate in a cacophonous uproar reminding of John Zorn's most spazzed out moments only in the context of a 20th century classical ensemble run amok. "Océan" is the closest remnant of the band's debut with the bleating of bass trombone sounds and a more rhythmic groove reminiscent of the zeuhl tendencies of album #1.

As the album continues it just gets more free form and more abstruse with irregular drum beats accompanied by impressionist guitar and bass arrhythmia. While the creepy piano spectral contributions still find their way into the mix, they are sparse and more scattered throughout the album's run. This is a noisy affair with seemingly little to latch onto as the debut at least offered the lifeline of zeuhl logic to forge rhythmic processions and the familiarity of Univers Zero avant-prog comparisons. C'ETAIENT DE TRES GRANDE VENTS on the other hand removes all training wheels and forces the listener to either run in terror or grasp to find the elusive underpinning of it all buried deep beneath the scattered sounds of the electroacoustic dark ambient sound effects that bath themselves in the nebulous nature of musique concrète or the recondite structuralism of Stockhausen, Schoenberg or Xenakis.

Definitely a harder pill to swallow, C'ETAIENT DE TRES GRANDE VENTS was the perfect way to alienate fans of the debut by taking them into a bizarre modern classical realm that they probably preferred not to be dragged into. Many bands that found a respected debuts have suffered this same fate whether it be Italy's Dedalus or Picchio dal Pozzo's bizarre sophomore release however SHUB-NUGGURATH took things even further with a sonic jungle so thick and so impenetrable that only the most dedicated intrepid musical explorers could find their way through the labyrinthine chaotic processions that navigated the 45 minute run. Personally i can totally understand why many did not warm up to this one as it is ridiculously tense and purposefully complex with the seeming intent to alien as many listeners as is possible but the music is actually beautifully designed behind its mirage of cacophonous clutter and will appeal to those who seek out the noisy shenanigans of Nurse With Wound, Controlled Bleeding or early Zoviet France. Personally i find this sort of mind [%*!#] music exhilarating and can totally hop on board this bizarre ride into doomsday. Not for everyone but rewarding for those who love these jittery rides into musical oblivion. This one will only appeal to those who have the patience and persistence to detect subtle musical developments in the midst of minimalism and chaos.

The band released its debut on Richard Pinha's startup Disjuncta label in 1973 and delivered a mix of Magma influenced zeuhl with a lighter breezier blend of jazz fusion more like The Weather Report. The band followed with its second album OSIRIS which surprisingly sold well but ended up out of print soon enough due to the Disjuncta label quickly going out of business. Between the debut release "Z=7L" and OSIRIS, there was a substantial lineup change, a trait that would dominate the band's existence throughout the 1970s. At this stage vocalist Mauricia Platon left the band and was not replaced by another vocalist but rather the vocal duties were picked up by Seffer and bassist Joel "DUD" Dugrenot.

While the rest of the band remained stable the addition of two extra percussionists added a bit more variation in the drumming department. Despite the changes, the second album sort of continues where the debut left off with a lighter delivery of jazz fusion mixed with occasional zeuhl elements most notably in the bass grooves, percussive hypnotism and occasional vocals reminiscing the days of Magma's earliest albums however the band was far from as adventurous or outrageous as the first two Magma albums and rather played it safe with an easier listening watered down version often sounding more like some of Soft Machines post "Third" releases rather than anything out of the zeuhl playbook.

While the bubbling bass thumping maintains a zeuhl flavor to the mix, the incessant saxophone solos and busy tribal drumming take this into a world of its own making which unfortunately doesn't come off nearly as original as what Magma was cranking out at the same time or even what the band presented on its debut album. With five tracks that feature two lengthy eight minute plus extravaganzas, the emphasis is on jazz improvisations rather than the hypnotic zeuhl effect that features vocal workouts and repetitive variations. The album comes off as a bit uneven because it can't decide if it wants to retain its zeuhl inspired origins or completely abandon them altogether for a dip into the English Canterbury Scene.

ZAO was never known as one of the exciting bands to fall off the Magma tree and although i found the debut had an interesting charm in how it was the first band to reinvent the world of zeuhl into something that would catch on with other acts to follow, this second offering that was the first to slowly shed the zeuhl influences and steer the band into a completely zeuhl-free form of jazz fusion just isn't as interesting and in many ways sounds rather generic when compared to other similar fusion bands that were around at the same time. A nice pleasant listening experience for sure but in the end not something that beckons return visits and considering it still features just enough zeuhl characteristics to squeak into that category, sounds a bit disappointing if you're expecting a greater emphasis on those attributes.

Pretty much a forgotten artifact of the 1980s and usually only mentioned as a mere footnote in the history of Eskaton as the band Blesing formed after leaving, FOEHN is one of the tamer bands to have emerged during this time and FAËRIA, the band's sole release features one of the worst album covers in all of rock history! And i thought some of the early Krautrock album covers were bad :D Unfortunately the music isn't much more exciting really. While pleasantly delivered sounding most like the 70s band Zao with lovely female vocals, stellar guitar work and a jazzier than usual flavoring, the album is a bit lackluster in the compositional department with most of the tracks coming off as OK but rather mediocre. Some though stand out such as "Licorne II" which features a beefed up guitar performance as it focuses on instrumental expressions rather than delivering vocals.

Strange for a zeuhl album, FAËRIA offers a touch of Brazilian samba mixed in with its jazzy approach. The fusion is stronger than on most zeuhl albums and the tracks are all on the shorter side without the sophistication and experimental excursions that many zeuhl bands explored. One could possibly even call this zeuhl light as it's a rather accessible style that offers a sense of crossover possibilities even though some of the bass grooves and guitar riffs are quite complex at time. The album was released once in 1985 and has never found a repressing and to be honest this is one of those forgotten artifacts that doesn't really need to be rediscovered. Zeuhl is a vibrant and energetic nook of the greater progressive rock universe and offers some of the wildest experiments that mix jazz and avant-prog that an adventurous musical explorer could hope for but FOEHN sounds more like the zeuhl version of the early Return To Forever albums with Flora Purim only without Chic Corea's majesty to animate it to a higher level.

Honestly Blesing should've stuck it out with Eskaton as that band was much more dynamic and although it started out more as a Magma clone eventually found its own unique take on the genre. This is one of the lesser releases in the zeuhl codex, a genre that was quite the rage of the French underground all throughout the 1980s before Magma would eventually reclaim the throne of zeuhl royalty. For those who are charmed by a light and fluffy version of zeuhl that makes Zao look like the most adventurous band since Captain Beefheart, then you might like this more than i do but when i seek out a zeuhl album i want it to be relentlessly experimental and take me places i never knew existed. This one is just too warm and fuzzy and too safe for its own good. The vocal jazz scatting sounds like some New York City lounge act a lot of the time and the actual zeuhl elements are rather tame making this more of a smooth jazz fusion album than anything in the Magma related camp. It's OK. Nothing unpleasant but doesn't get my juices flowing either.

Eventually Seffer would start his solo career beginning with his "Neffesh Music" series which included his first three albums. "Delire" from 1976, "Ima" from 1977 and "Ghilgoul" from 1978. What makes this compilation album "Noce Chimique" so important are the five unreleased tracks from the "Ghilgoul" period. Back in 1995 a similar compilation to this was released under the "Neffesh-Music" title. When they re-issued this in 2011 they decided to change the final three tracks along with the cover art and album title.

So we get one track from "Delire" which is awesome because one of my all time favourite drummers Jean-My Truong is on that one, and he of course is from ZAO. That song is "Orkana" by the way. The closer "Fifra-Variations" is from "Ghilgoul" and is something else. This is live, and the story goes that the Hungarian pianist and Hungarian violinist both told Seffer before playing this one that it was too difficult for them. And these two musicians are incredible by the way. So Seffer tells them both just to improvise while he plays the main piano parts. So a trio of two pianos and violin and you should hear this! It's just surprising the passion and power on display.

Dominique Bertram is the main bass player on this recording and from ZAO, along with the Margand String Quartet who also played with ZAO, and they are on three tracks. Finally we also get the great Maurica Platon adding her incredible vocals to that opener and some wordless stuff too elsewhere. This compilation is the perfect companion to that "Ghilgoul" record. In fact, if you include these two records along with a few of the early ZAO albums, you will have some of the best music ever recorded in my opinion.

That was my initial takeaway as I re-visited this all last week was that this music really is on another level compared to a lot of what I'm into. Seffer has a unique "sound" that's for sure when playing the sax. Ornette Coleman was one of his favourites and an inspiration to him for sure. This compilation really is a must in my opinion, and will be paired in my collection with "Ghilgoul" the prefect match.