RIO/Avant Drop-In Centre

You'll be blown away with those two, Pat!

avestin wrote: NaturalScience wrote: What do you (all that have heard it) think of October Equus?   Talented band with roots in UZ and Present camp, while being more rock-oriented. I'll be getting a promo of their new album soon which is to come out on RAIG. Their s/t is definitely recommended.

NaturalScience wrote: What do you (all that have heard it) think of October Equus?

NaturalScience wrote: I really enjoyed that, nice piece there Melissa.

Thanks Pat!

I am happy to report that it appeared to spark some interest in UZ from a music-aficionado acquaintance of mine.  (Given that he likes Guapo, Sunn O))) and various other dark-toned things, I would have thought UZ would be right up his street.  We'll see... )

James wrote: Univers Zéro is just a more advanced form of classical music to me, so I think those who are acquainted with the dark overtones of someone like Shostakovich or Bartók, should find Univers Zéro's earlier albums quite easy to listen to, even if they don't necessarily like them. The same applies for Present and Art Zoyd as well. Still, it's uncomfortable for newcomers, nevertheless.

Hahaha, be you callin' me the 'n' word, James?!

I don't think Univers Zero have any intention of being easy to listen to; that is their main selling point really!!  (Obviously, as you say, anyone who has 'got their ear in' with 20th century classical music will have a head start in enjoying it, or at least 'getting' it, but still...)  Or rather, to put it more clearly, even if you have no trouble discerning the structure or tracing the chamber music influences - even if you are not put off in the slightest by the technical/compositional intricacies of it - there is little likelihood that you would smile and tap your foot.  'Enjoyably creepy' is the idea, no?   Music to languish to, whilst wearing a black velvet jacket!

What do you (all that have heard it) think of October Equus?

Er, hello.

Time for some shameless self promotion.

I just put an entry on my blog which you might enjoy reading.  I absolutely love trying to describe music, and this is my attempt at pinning down Univers Zero...

Syzygy wrote: NaturalScience wrote: Has anyone ever heard of Francois Ribac?   No, never heard of him (them?). What are we all missing?

Found this on mindawn (hope they don't mind me reposting the summary):

Syzygy wrote: Man With Hat wrote: Speaking of the Cow...   TH's band The Work...thoughts?   Wayside makes it seem like greatness stacked on top of awesomeness inside of wowzawoo. It indeed sounds interesting and something I should like but I've never heard of them before so I thought I'd inquire to the experts.   I've always had mixed feelings about The Work. Tim Hodgkinson and Bill Gilonis did some interesting EPs prior to The The Work (collected on the excellent Woof 7" compilation), and I'd recommend them wholeheartedly. Then came Slow Crimes, which owed as much to the anarcho punk of Crass as it did to RIO. Nothing wrong with Crass, btw, but Tim Hodgkinson's lead vocals aren's up to much and (for me) the album doesn't really stand up to the test of time. Shortly thereafter was the lo-fi Live in Japan with Chris Cutler on drums and Amos (aka L Voag, Xentos etc) on bass. It's actually pretty good. Then there was a hiatus of several years, and they bounced back with Rubber Cage, which managed to deliver (finally) what the early Gilonis/Hodgkinson EPs promised.   Most of their output is available on emusic, which is definitely the best way to acquire it (especially Slow Crimes) if you're not sure about them.

Has anyone ever heard of Francois Ribac?

song_of_copper wrote: Does anyone here like Renaldo and the Loaf, I wonder?  (Not sure what category you'd put them in, but still...)

I have some on my computer... I'll try and give them a listen soon.