http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3005 - ZU

The Band Zu comes from a deep Italian Prog/Avant-Garde feel. The Band is from Rome. They started the band in 1997 compiling the the ideas from composing and theatrical play. The trio consists of: Luca Mai - baritone Saxophone, Massimo Pupillo - bass, and Jacapo Battaglia - drums. 13 albums into their carreer the trio got to tour with the Fantomas-Melvins supergroup. With their genre inculding hardcore punk, noise rock, and free jazz, the band was sure to turn heads and be innovative. Even John Zorn complimented the band by saying, "You have created a powerful and expressive music that totally blows away what most bands do these days". Zu has 11 cd's along with 2 splits.

Bio written by The Shf (fungusucantkill)

http://www.zuism.com/ - http://www.zuism.com/

 

 

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3401 - ZS

To categorise these guys is about as difficult as the music they play. ZS’s music could be considered as a combination between Avant-Garde/Free Jazz and Math Rock, only with a clearly tidy and structured vibe to it. In addition, their music is also extremely dynamic but also repetetive and requires patience as the music can get frustratingly intense at times, but it’s all very energetic and fun to listen to. Their songs are loaded with odd meters and time-signatures and several “start-stop-start” sections are present and plays a significant role in their overall sound, something that could compare them to several bands labeled as Math-Rock. The melodies are often odd, dissonant and unpredictable with heavy minimalistic elements while also being tightly arranged. Stylistically they are looseley akin to Keith Tippett projects, such as Ovary Lodge and Centipede (minus the piano) and the sax playing at times has the stylistics of Elton Dean (from Soft Machine). The minimalistic tendencies are obviously reminiscent of Ennio Morricone and Philip Glass, but often with the more rock-orientated form of minimalism played by Third-era Soft Machine. The band currently consists of Charlie Looker (synthesizer/guitar), Ben Greenberg (guitar), Sam Hillmer (saxophone), and Ian Antonio (drums) although the group have gone through several line-up changes since their formation in 2000. This band is absolutely recommended if you like wacky and both technical and challenging music. Especially for fans of bands like Orthrelm, Ruins and Hella. They are not easy listening by any means but they are absolutely worth checking out if you are into stuff like this, although it may take some time to digest their releases properly.


===Written by Bj-1===

 

http://www.zzzsss.com/ - http://www.zzzsss.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zs, on the other hand, are great.  Arms was one of the highlights of last year.  Zu are good, but not competition for Zs.