Mojo Says: "Genre-slashing 'compositional workshop' led by NYC jazz heretic Zorn."
Album: Naked City
Artist: John Zorn
Year: 1990
Length: 55'14"
Track Listing:
1. Batman
2. The Sicillian Clan
3. You Will Be Shot
4. Latin Quarter
5. A Shot In The Dark
6. Reanimator
7. Snagglepuss
8. I Want To Live
9. Lonely Woman
10. Igneous Ejaculation
11. Blood Duster
12. Hamerhead
13. Demon Sanctuary
14. Obeah Man
15. Ujaku
16. Fuck The Facts
17. Speedball
18. Chinatown
19. Punk China Doll
20. N.Y. Flat Top Box
21. Saigon Pickup
22. The James Bond Theme
23. Den Of Sins
24. Contempt
25. Graveyard Shift
26. Inside Straight
Favorite Tracks:
- You Will Be Shot
- Demon Sanctuary
- The James Bond Theme
Worst Tracks:
None really stick out as bad, though the keyboards on The Sicilian Clan irritate me.
Is it weird?
It's Free-Jazz/Grindcore fusion. You tell me.
None really stick out as bad, though the keyboards on The Sicilian Clan irritate me.
Is it weird?
It's Free-Jazz/Grindcore fusion. You tell me.
Review:
Free-Jazz/Grindcore fusion.
It sounds totally unfeasible, but if you think about it, these two genres have plenty in common (especially Ornette Coleman-style free jazz, who John Zorn actually made a cover album of). They are both fast, aggressive, and make the intensity of the music more important than the listenability. The extreme nature of both make them seem to be kind of looking at their source genres (jazz and metal, respectfully) from a distance. This album, however, is pretty far removed from even those styles.
The entire record isn't as aggressive as tracks 10-17, but it is equally insane. It's produced in a way that you can appreciate the noisiness of John Zorn's saxophone without it being piercing, and it can still be chaotic without it being as bewildering and impenetrable as Zorn's Ornette Coleman cover album that he released the year prior.
While there isn't a whole lot that this album does wrong; it doesn't get lost in its own pretention, it stays moderately listenable even when it goes totally off the deep end, and the musicians involved sound very tight and together despite the chaotic nature of the music. However, at the end of the day, there aren't too many instances where I'm in the mood for free-jazz/grindcore fusion.
It sounds totally unfeasible, but if you think about it, these two genres have plenty in common (especially Ornette Coleman-style free jazz, who John Zorn actually made a cover album of). They are both fast, aggressive, and make the intensity of the music more important than the listenability. The extreme nature of both make them seem to be kind of looking at their source genres (jazz and metal, respectfully) from a distance. This album, however, is pretty far removed from even those styles.
The entire record isn't as aggressive as tracks 10-17, but it is equally insane. It's produced in a way that you can appreciate the noisiness of John Zorn's saxophone without it being piercing, and it can still be chaotic without it being as bewildering and impenetrable as Zorn's Ornette Coleman cover album that he released the year prior.
While there isn't a whole lot that this album does wrong; it doesn't get lost in its own pretention, it stays moderately listenable even when it goes totally off the deep end, and the musicians involved sound very tight and together despite the chaotic nature of the music. However, at the end of the day, there aren't too many instances where I'm in the mood for free-jazz/grindcore fusion.
Grade:
8/10
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