Mondo Bungle

maybe if you felt like following the thread then I could eventually make you a fanatic

I don't have high hopes for that though, or why someone would even follow a thread about an artist they don't like

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OccultHawk

OK

I do like Zorn. I also think that sometimes his presence is overbearing and it sounds like he’s too egotistical to listen and make space for his colleagues.

I’m going to follow your thread and learn more. He’s so prolific I’ve probably heard some stuff and even have some stuff you don’t so maybe I’ll have something constructive to add maybe or maybe I’m just a hater lol

I visited a record store he owned in Tokyo and learned that he’s beloved by the Japanese noise scene. The members of Melt Banana love him, for one.

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Mondo Bungle

Painkiller though

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Exo

I'm in. I've been getting into Zorn a lot recently and am eager to learn more. I'm partial to his masada work but pretty much everything else is right up my alleyway. The number of notable musicians he's worked with is also astounding.

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Mondo Bungle

John Zorn - Ipsissimus, 2010

Lineup:
John Zorn – alto sax, piano, composer
Joey Baron – drums
Trevor Dunn – bass
Mike Patton – voice
Marc Ribot – guitar

The shuffle begins mercifully, allowing me to revisit some Moonchild Trio, a sect of Zorn's work that contributes some of the most solid, singular, and approachable jams of his more extreme output. However that may be, the group is hardly a John Zorn showcase, in fact his presence on this album is very sonically subdued, while the others are shredding out a neck breaking brutal prog/no wave effort of great intensity. It recalls DNA and Massacre and the like, but always considerably more beefy than the no wave founding fathers.

I'd have to pinpoint each musician here as a force to be reckoned with, except Zorn, funnily enough, and although Mike Patton is my favorite musician I'm more or less indifferent to his gibberish squealing that can be found flaked all over the Zornography. Everyone here is striving to be as in your face and aggressive as possible and the album seldom ventures into the hastily charted waters of total free jazz. Trevor Dunn brings his usual master bass work, with very prominent lines that manage to be both oppressive and catchy, and he does the most to stabilize the music here while still taking many opportunities to noodle about. Joey Baron is in a constant state of full bodied cacophony, almost comically frenetic. And as if I even have to say it, Marc Ribot is still in top form.

From stop to start, Ipsissimus is hell bent on rocking, and even the occasional dynamic dip or textural trouncing hold high levels of intensity. Moonchild's music hardly ever features an overbearing Zorn element and that's no different here. Sure, we have his compositions, but more than anything here the band is the star. An insanely thick pairing of the rhythm section and guitar.

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Mondo Bungle

Locus Solus - 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 3, 2004

Lineup:

John Zorn – alto saxophone
Anton Fier – drums
Arto Lindsay – guitar, voice

I imagine there will be a good amount of albums along the way that I simply won't have much to say about. Not due to any quality issues regarding the music, but many things will surely fall under the category of "standard John Zorn fare." Like this here.

A trio from the original Locus Solus album is reunited for the birthday bash, spazzing away with a raucous set somewhat comparative to the original but obviously very stripped down to roots. Whether or not it's anything special within the Zornography, it's still a couple pals having a good time with their apoplectic jam sesh. Tight and off the sonic chain.

And you can always praise Arto Lindsay.

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Mondo Bungle

John Zorn - Songs from the Hermetic Theatre, 2001

Lineup:

Jennifer Choi - violin
John Zorn - electronic and computer music, bass, water, drum, flute, glass bowl, metal pipes, wax paper, mud, staple gun

Here Zorn may not be throwing in the kitchen sink but it's substituted for the staple gun. Much of this album is very quiet and minimal, an ensemble of hardware and ultra sparse ambience and not entirely engaging noise. There is gold to be found if you're willing to look, but the ratio leans in favor of minute nonsense.

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Mondo Bungle

John Zorn - Femina, 2009

Lineup:

Jennifer Choi - violin
Sylvie Courvoisier - piano
Carol Emanuel - harp
Okkyung Lee - cello
Ikue Mori - electronics
Shayna Dunkelman - percussion
Laurie Anderson - narration

It brings me a subtle joy that John Zorn can put to better use his implements of ultra scarce musique concrete and game piece composition, somewhere where they can add depth to a track instead of hopelessly trying to exist as the added depth itself and sounding generally uncool.

With Femina, Zorn acts strictly as a producer and writer, leaving the performance to a formidable lineup of females. While overall it's still much a classical/chamber work, you can hear many tidbits of the Hermetic Organ, but here it's just way more satisfying. Allmusic puts it pretty well so I'm going to plagiarize them.

It might be hard to discern but Femina is a tribute to the creativity of females. And they're on to something here. Ikue Mori is back in action with her noble electronic molestations. Trembling strings is also the name of the game, we've got Jennifer Choi and Okkyung Lee here after all,but layered upon the general indeterminacy of Zorn's compositional prowess. There's some really great passages here in the way of both the concrete and the classical, scampering off into minimal chamber grooves that can be heard on a significant amount of the Zornography's modern composition and easy listening branches.

It's not too huge and not so much a standout but nonetheless there's greatness to excavate.

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Mondo Bungle

Painkiller - Execution Ground, 1994

Lineup:

John Zorn – alto sax, vocals
Bill Laswell – bass, samples
Mick Harris – drums, samples, vocals

This album isn't even on the playlist because I've listened to it 4000 times and it's already the proud owner of a well cemented spot among my top 10 from the entire Zornography.

So Painkiller was Zorn's other jazzgrind band featuring grindcore patriarch Mick Harris and the ever talented Bill Laswell. After their first releases, just as Naked City would, they went ahead and began to explore more sonic ground that in theory would seem so vastly far from what they'd already done. Execution Ground is such a triumphant work that deserves to be heralded as such. It's also like a mad scientist, with its own agenda of shredding apart its test subjects/listeners to enact experimental methods of reassembling them.

I find dub music to be insanely versatile and cooperative with a wide variety of musical genres that might take very many Wikipedia links to connect. I could understand casual music people thinking it to be pretty samey or perhaps unexciting on its own, and I guess that's not entirely false, but I figure it functions much in the way ambient music does, working to swath the listener in a state of ever changing aural bliss and groove. It's truly amazing what dub music can do in any given context and never seem conspicuous.

So dub plays an important role, probably the most important in fact, in Execution Ground. The album starts out blasting, the necessary listener demolition of course, before getting into it, but when it does the chill sets all over the album no matter any given moment's intensity or calm. Dub itself is all about nuance, and this album doesn't intend to prove otherwise. Whether it be loud or soft, spooky or genteel, insane or extra insane, it's a world of smooth.

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Mondo Bungle

John Zorn - Salem, 1692, 2018

Lineup:

Trevor Dunn: Bass
Kenny Grohowski: Drums
Matt Hollenberg: Guitar
Julian Lage: Guitar

John Zorn seriously shreds when he doesn't even play on the album. Ever since the addition of the Moonchild Trio into his repertoire, he seems to have picked up an even greater fondness for brutal prog, and his modern output is stuffed with such monstrosities. Salem, 1692 is a straight prog-rock blitzkrieg delivered by a handful of master class musicians.

The album is an exercise in precision and ferocity, and rarely lets up the neck breaking tempo that prevails. There are occasional ventures into slower and more introspective territory defined by the usual jazziness and omnipresent chamber music elements.

The drums here are the MVP. Kenny Grohowski assaults his kit with such determination and vigor it's surprising his arms manage to stay in their sockets. When we reach the half-thrash half-sludge blocky closer, he veritably tears his set a new one in a frenzy you could liken to a hyperspeed Dale Crover.

High octane whiplash for the most part. Some of these fret board runs sound derivative, but it's still concise and extreme and an otherwise great listen.

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