Artist : Zoviet France
Album : Mohnomishe
Year : 1990
Genre : Avantgarde
Source : CD
Label : Charrm
Catalog : CHARRMCD4
Rls.Date : 2006-07-18
Bitrate : VBRkbps
Size : 70 MB
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1. Track1 5:35
2. Track2 4:44
3. Track3 6:30
4. Track4 10:05
5. Track5 8:23
6. Track6 6:23
7. Track7 5:31
8. Track8 14:48
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61:59
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Formed in Newcastle around the same time other English bands ù Throbbing
Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire and This Heat ù were discovering the beauty of
noise for its own sake, the reclusive and enigmatic Zoviet France started on
a path that combined abstract sonic collage and electronic manipulation with
a distinctly art brut sense of instrumental technique. Over the course of
20-odd years, seven (known) band members have evolved a music altogether more
luminous and intangible. Throughout, there is a marked ability to conjure
extraordinary, arresting and often unsettling landscapes out of pure sound.
From the outset, Zoviet France ù originally Ben Ponton, Robin Storey and
Peter Jensen ù were as interested in presentation as content. Most of their
early records were issued with bizarre handmade covers, using nontraditional
materials in lieu of cardboard, and many were accompanied with the kind of
abstract artwork that could just as easily have come from the hand of a
mental patient as from the wall of an ancient cave.
By the time of Mohnomishe (1983) and Eostre (1984) (both double-album sets
later made available as single CDs), the sonic focus had begun to shift, with
newer material virtually abandoning percussion in favor of dense atmospheres
and echoey ambient electronics, conjuring up images of thick fog. Packed in
masonite, Mohnomishe (which evinces a growing Can influence) sets you on a
coastal highway, propelled along by subtle sequencer action. As dogs bark and
cars drone by, repeating blocks of sound (mangled guitar?) emerge in hypnotic
waves. Inside the plastic and tissue packaging, Eostre traps the listener on
a dock as mammoth ships sail slowly by, clanking and rumbling through dense
sheets of mist; whoever's singing on the deck sounds awfully weirded out.
Great stuff.