Zoviet France
Soleilmoon Recordings
:Zoviet*France: is an idiosyncratic collective of anonymous postindustrialists, dronologists, and pseudo-ethnomusicologists. Their investigations have taken them into fictional cultures where nothing is easily located and reality often slips into the hypnagogic. Having secluded themselves in Newcastle, England since their inception in 1982, :Zoviet*France: have developed a radical relationship with the cheap technologies of old-fashioned tape recorders, homemade acoustic instruments, primitive looping and sampling devices, and basic dub trickery. From these machines, the collective has crafted a distinctly unique vocabulary of postindustrial sonic hypnosis. Just as :Zoviet*France:'s sound was alchemic reconfigurations of inexpensive technologies, their vinyl packaging literally covered their sounds with aluminum, roofing shingles, and porcelain.
In spite of the digital polish resulting from their usage of hard disk editing on their latest records, :Zoviet*France: has continuously fashioned a beautiful eeriness with unplaced signifiers, sonorous echoes, and hazy driftscapes. On the 1997 Digilogue album, :Zoviet*France: maps an unrecognizable psychic terrain with oblique references to American movies of World War Two battles. For "Alchemagenta," a few victorious horns blurt out of darkly shimmering drone patterns and decay, distorted by the trademarked :Zoviet*France: application of multiple long-delayed echoes. "Amber" delves deeper into the miasma of delay-heavy yet muted drones with miniscule pulsating clicks. As these pieces show, after all these years :Zoviet*France: is still one of the best things nobody knows about.
Jim Haynes
last updated:
09/12/01
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