MARATHONNERRE I

ART ZOYD decided to do this 12 hour marathon of live, in-studio music called an "interdisciplinary performance". They began the non-stop playing at noon and ended at midnight in their own studio. They are down to a trio here for the first time, but what a trio. Gerard Hourbette plays viola, keys and percussion, while Thierry Zaboitzeff adds cello, bass, keys, vocals and percussion, and lastly Patricia Dallio on keyboards. The hour of music here is culled from the first half of the performance, while there was a second release called "Marathonnerre II" that was taken from the second half of the event.

This surprised me because I thought there would be a lot of improvs and long soundscapes, and maybe there was some of that, but on this record we get 13 tracks of composed music. And this my friends is a must have if your an ART ZOYD fan in my opinion. They are in their electronic phase still here in the early nineties but they do mix things up some, even having a catchy track or two on here. No it's not perfect, but it is ART ZOYD, and this is quite the performance.

The 6 minute opener "Complainte" is an interesting pick for the opener because it takes a while to get going. Quite sparse early on. Some male vocals after 3 minutes, then it starts to build a minute after that. So good! Hourbette composed "2. Szene" and "1. Szene" and the one I mentioned first is over 9 minutes while the latter is over 12 minutes and both are highlights for me. The atmosphere and suspense, plus those stark keys are so ART ZOYD. Some organ and piano on the latter. Over 20 minutes of bliss for me with those two but they are seperated by six songs, and not back to back, and starting with "2. Szene" with "1. Szene" coming late.

"Barbares" is only a minute long but it's dark with so much going on. "Alleluja" is catchy and out of character for the band. I like "Danse De Mort" for the many samples used and the dark atmosphere. "Firebirds" is another where there seems to be so much going on with the electronics and beats as male vocals arrive. "Fair Fair" might be my favourite, it should have been the closer but is the second last song. The bass is outstanding here. It turns more powerful around 3 1/2 minutes and vocals will arrive late as it winds down. There's a world music vibe on "Konzo Bele" which I'm not big on.

Easily a four star record and while it wasn't what I was expecting, it's also very much ART ZOYD save for a couple of tracks. Fantastic music!