@@CriticalReactions haha, indeed. Took me some time to appreciate jazz. There are some real gems. Mombu And Zu are two groups I'd highly recommend. Zu is heavier, while Mombu is heavily influenced by African music. Both share a common member.
John Zorn is the OG when it came to completely ignoring genre lines, form, or any other "rules" and just threw tons of ideas into a blender to see what came out. Cool thing about him is that even if you don't like what he's doing one moment, just wait 30 seconds and he'll probably change. TBH, I've only heard his stuff with Naked City (that's the name of the band, and their debut album), and it's all good, or at the very least interesting; but he has a massive catalog in a variety of genres including more traditional jazz, classical, ambient, noise, etc. Dude's insanely prolific and insanely varied. I've only heard bits-and-pieces of his stuff outside Naked City, but I should rectify that.
Zorn's incredibly prolific and continually involved in new and interesting projects. You never get an idea of what he does because he proves constantly that he'll do something you would never have expected. He has his own label, Tzadik, which is also unpredictable and has amazing artists. Alternative music. I always check out Tzadik releases when I can.
That's ultimately what I love about doing this, finding out that I've helped people find their own rabbit holes to fall down. I absolutely don't mind people just checking into the channel and enjoying my rambling but I love it when I can introduce something to others that just grabs them in a way that they need to explore it themselves.
Anyone strangely reminded of the band "The Locust", just absolute chaos? But somehow method to their madness? That reminds me, you should check out The Locust. Edit: Finished the whole video. The Locust has more method to their madness. Not that I can't appreciate this, but If I'm gonna listen to more chaotic music it would probably be The Locust or Psyopus. Ooo! React to Psyopus too!
Fred Frith is the bass player on this album; however, he is more known as a guitar player. He was in the English avant garde rock band Henry Cow from 1968-78. You might want to check them out if you haven't done so already. After the break up of Henry Cow, Frith migrated to New York along with a whole host of other European progressive artists to merge with the emerging punk/new wave scene during this period. This was where he met John Zorn.
Ah! The mad saxophonist! He worked with Mike Patton (from Mr Bungle ) on some tracks ! Since it is the non-metal Week, I'll suggest Snarky Puppy,and the songs "the curtain" or "lingus" . Beautiful compositions with excellent musicians !
I always considered avant-gard music the apex of extreme and technicality, only real music lovers can appreciate how much is embedded in this genre! One track score has a different type of music per measure, insane!!!
Let me first say that Naked City isn’t even a fraction of what John Zorn has accomplished. I love Naked City and all of their albums, but I’ve got probably over 150 Zorn albums and all of them are so different. He’s a composer/musician of many different cloths. I would check out the following: all of the “Filmworks” series, “Book of Angels” series, Masada/Electric Masada and Dreamers albums but, again, this isn’t even tip of the iceberg. Zorn is so prolific that I haven’t bothered of trying to keep up with what he’s doing, but just kind of picking and choosing what I want to buy. Good luck on your Zornian journey!
Another vote for checking out Masada / Electric Masada / Book of Angels and The Dreamers material. He has done a lot of stuff with Jewish music influences, and especially the Masada/BoA albums are all about that, which went on for many many years. These are his most universally liked material, (if i'm not mistaken) , and were the group(s) that toured the most across the globe. Zorn even has a "easy listening" side! Alhambra Love Songs is a piano trio album your grandmother could listen to. i.e. often Zorn is mentioned only when people are talking about "extreme jazz" (naked city etc.) but that really is missing a huge part of Zorn's other output.
@@phatthrak I saw Zorn several years ago in Holland at the Holland Festival. He played Naked City and he said, he was probably to old to play that stuff again, but since it was requested he'd do it. He had moved on. He's fluid in so many genres, that I think he's one of the most important Modern composers of this age.
John Zorn is great. I haven't checked out much of his recorded music, but have seen him live a few times, amazing everytime. That wailing is his sax, same with this gurgling noise he makes.
I saw this live, mayhem. John Zorn is something else. It's good to listen, but just see it live. The energy, but also the structure and discipline. Try electric Masada. Masterwork
Wow, you did it !!! ))) cool that you checked Zorn out. Not many others are eager to explore it with you though )))) He has been in a wide range of projects as a musician or composer - equally bizarre and beautiful at the same time. To appreciate Zorn you have to have a wide spectrum of musical interests, eager to get to the edge of aesthetic experience and welcoming fresh doze of chaos and humour. If you care for something similar but less extreme you can try Mike Patton’s project - MR. BUNGLE. This is musical illustration of postmodernist era where each style has rights, multiple views are equally true and all extremes coexist fruitfully.
So John Zorn is a long time jazz/experimental sax player/composer/band leader. Naked City was an album that he wrote when being influenced by grindcore, which is an extreme super fast subgenre of metal with extremely short songs.
One of my favorite albums by one of my favorite artists. As someone who knows Zorn's music and his approach to it, you pretty much nailed it when you described him. Hope you enjoy the rest of the album and let us know what you think. You're in for a treat when you listen to those short songs. ;-)
Hell yeah, this is what I'm here for. All the Naked City projects I've heard have been fire. On a related note maybe check out Boredoms. Their old stuff is kind of like this but rock based and their later stuff gets real psychedelic. It's all good and weird.
@@CriticalReactions ua-cam.com/video/sFLGQ6waxck/v-deo.html&ab_channel=SarahV See how he control the improv while fixing his sax. Then a nice flow, while still steering the flow of the song. He's not the best sax player, but conceptual his solos are second to none. This is not Cobra but a good example of the total control of chaos.
I absolutely love Zorn. Thank you for covering him. Would love to see something on James White and the Contortions. Now to check out your other videos :D
@@perenniallotus I don't know, to me it feels more like if Anaal Nathrakh played some Jazz between recording sessions. Especially the first song gives me hard "Eschaton"-Vibes.
@@ErikBAnderson Anything he did under the Masada umbrella and also the Dreamers albums. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zorn_discography edit: I haven’t heard everthing he did plus there are obviously many more in this vein; the music romance series for example
The high screams are himself on saxophone ... He is one of the most experimental musicians since the '60. Many of the other musicians also (like Fred Fith ... here he's the bassplayer but a very influentual experimental guitarplayer)
" Encapsulates the visual medium in his music ". I heard Zorn on a BBC radio program talking about His admiration of the composer Carl Stalling , who did a lot of the Warner Bros cartoons ; Bugs Bunny ; Elmer Fudd ; Daffy....etc , and the break neck changes the music had to make , using pro musicians from the Los Angeles Symph Orchestra , who were the only ones who could manage it . Clearly this is Zorn emulating one of his heroes in his own style .
As a contrast to the songs you heard - take a listen to "sicilian clan" from this album. It's a beautiful melodic piece with a nice soft groove - very different than the rest of the album.
You've picked a classic entry point into John Zorn. Considering his hundreds of works and many hundreds of collaborations, there is a whole lot of exploration.
I feel like this would come with a "Parental Advisory sounds may cause chaotic behavior and panic attacks" warning on it. It was fun but maybe in small doses for me.
I LOVE John Zorn. You should check out this Russian band called Vezhlivy Otkaz, the lyrics don't really matter (Гудериан и мороженое / Guderian And Icecream)
I am not convinced that you like this. You tried truly hard to come up with logical arguments to convince us that you "really connected with this album" but i can see you are petrified. Your voice almost cracks every time you talk, you look uncomfortable and you also look like you are lying. You are afraid to criticize this album because you know that the whole internet is going to come at you and call you "uncultured" and that "you don't get it". So you desperately trying to be the "high IQ guy that gets Naked City" while deep down you know that this album is literally garbage. We all know it. Like really bad. It's not even music. Just call it out bro and don't care if these midwit cringe hipster teens call you "uncultured". Enough of this joke...
I'm not quite sure where any of this is coming from but if you check out the rest of my channel you'll find that I'm not afraid to criticize any music, no matter how popular. I've upset Tool, Primus, and Babymetal fans before and I typically include aspects of the music that I don't like along with the positive topics I discuss. In fact, one the major reasons that I see people returning to my channel is that I'm sincere and don't pander to fans, that I have my own opinion about music and I'm not afraid to speak them. So no, my opinions in this video about John Zorn's music is 100% authentic. This sounds more like projection than any actual criticism towards my review of the song.
John Zorn is everywhere. He also holds the title for best track name I've ever seen: "Jazz Snob Eat Shit".
Can't argue with that. Art, man.....it's weird and I love it. 😅
@@CriticalReactions haha, indeed. Took me some time to appreciate jazz. There are some real gems.
Mombu And Zu are two groups I'd highly recommend. Zu is heavier, while Mombu is heavily influenced by African music. Both share a common member.
idunno man. "Igneous Ejaculation" is kind of a great fucking song title too though.
Dude you didnt even scratch the surface with zorn
Snagglepuss was a pink cougar Hanna-Barbara character, and I think this whole album might actually be cartoon backgrounds. 😄
You didn't even hear a song with the vocalist!!!! He is amazing!!!
yess!! mr.yamatsuka eye! ua-cam.com/video/UfwhG1KtQp4/v-deo.html
Definitely! Check out "Bonehead"!
But really for Zorn, his greatest achievement yet is Electric Masada, some of the best fusion stuff I've ever heard. Definitely check that out.
at the mountains of madness is transcendent
Zorns jazz was heavily inspired by Grindcore which is basically taking punk music and turning the speed and heaviness of it up to 10.
To think that this came out in 1989...
John Zorn is the OG when it came to completely ignoring genre lines, form, or any other "rules" and just threw tons of ideas into a blender to see what came out. Cool thing about him is that even if you don't like what he's doing one moment, just wait 30 seconds and he'll probably change. TBH, I've only heard his stuff with Naked City (that's the name of the band, and their debut album), and it's all good, or at the very least interesting; but he has a massive catalog in a variety of genres including more traditional jazz, classical, ambient, noise, etc. Dude's insanely prolific and insanely varied. I've only heard bits-and-pieces of his stuff outside Naked City, but I should rectify that.
Yeah dude's just freaking amazing!
Zorn's incredibly prolific and continually involved in new and interesting projects. You never get an idea of what he does because he proves constantly that he'll do something you would never have expected. He has his own label, Tzadik, which is also unpredictable and has amazing artists. Alternative music. I always check out Tzadik releases when I can.
@@musicantd I actually discovered John Zorn via Kayo Dot, were originally signed to Tzadik!
Some of his compositions are incredibly beautiful as well. I love the dichotomy.
Was intrigued by this so I checked out the playlist for the full album. Did not disappoint. Super interesting stuff.
That's ultimately what I love about doing this, finding out that I've helped people find their own rabbit holes to fall down. I absolutely don't mind people just checking into the channel and enjoying my rambling but I love it when I can introduce something to others that just grabs them in a way that they need to explore it themselves.
I don't know much else from John Zorn, but this is one of my favorite albums!
@@CriticalReactions listen to his filmworks (starting with The Big Gundown) and Masada groups
Anyone strangely reminded of the band "The Locust", just absolute chaos? But somehow method to their madness? That reminds me, you should check out The Locust. Edit: Finished the whole video. The Locust has more method to their madness. Not that I can't appreciate this, but If I'm gonna listen to more chaotic music it would probably be The Locust or Psyopus. Ooo! React to Psyopus too!
You should check out some of frank zappa instrumental pieces if you like organized chaos.
Zorn has made music in many different genres including contemporary classical (e.g. string quartets), modern Kleizmer music and jazzcore/jazz-noise.
Dude really you have to listen to more zorn.
Naked city - speadfreaks.
Anything by masada quartet live
Six litanies for heliogabalous
Bar kokhba
Fred Frith is the bass player on this album; however, he is more known as a guitar player. He was in the English avant garde rock band Henry Cow from 1968-78. You might want to check them out if you haven't done so already. After the break up of Henry Cow, Frith migrated to New York along with a whole host of other European progressive artists to merge with the emerging punk/new wave scene during this period. This was where he met John Zorn.
Ah! The mad saxophonist! He worked with Mike Patton (from Mr Bungle ) on some tracks ! Since it is the non-metal Week, I'll suggest Snarky Puppy,and the songs "the curtain" or "lingus" . Beautiful compositions with excellent musicians !
That mas saxophonist is the bandleader, John Zorn
I always considered avant-gard music the apex of extreme and technicality, only real music lovers can appreciate how much is embedded in this genre! One track score has a different type of music per measure, insane!!!
Let me first say that Naked City isn’t even a fraction of what John Zorn has accomplished. I love Naked City and all of their albums, but I’ve got probably over 150 Zorn albums and all of them are so different. He’s a composer/musician of many different cloths. I would check out the following: all of the “Filmworks” series, “Book of Angels” series, Masada/Electric Masada and Dreamers albums but, again, this isn’t even tip of the iceberg. Zorn is so prolific that I haven’t bothered of trying to keep up with what he’s doing, but just kind of picking and choosing what I want to buy. Good luck on your Zornian journey!
Another vote for checking out Masada / Electric Masada / Book of Angels and The Dreamers material.
He has done a lot of stuff with Jewish music influences, and especially the Masada/BoA albums are all about that, which went on for many many years.
These are his most universally liked material, (if i'm not mistaken) , and were the group(s) that toured the most across the globe.
Zorn even has a "easy listening" side! Alhambra Love Songs is a piano trio album your grandmother could listen to.
i.e. often Zorn is mentioned only when people are talking about "extreme jazz" (naked city etc.) but that really is missing a huge part of Zorn's other output.
@@phatthrak I totally agree with both of you guys! I adore Zorn!
@@phatthrak I saw Zorn several years ago in Holland at the Holland Festival. He played Naked City and he said, he was probably to old to play that stuff again, but since it was requested he'd do it. He had moved on. He's fluid in so many genres, that I think he's one of the most important Modern composers of this age.
I really enjoy Bar Kokhba as well!
John Zorn is great. I haven't checked out much of his recorded music, but have seen him live a few times, amazing everytime. That wailing is his sax, same with this gurgling noise he makes.
I saw this live, mayhem. John Zorn is something else. It's good to listen, but just see it live. The energy, but also the structure and discipline. Try electric Masada. Masterwork
Wow, you did it !!! ))) cool that you checked Zorn out. Not many others are eager to explore it with you though )))) He has been in a wide range of projects as a musician or composer - equally bizarre and beautiful at the same time. To appreciate Zorn you have to have a wide spectrum of musical interests, eager to get to the edge of aesthetic experience and welcoming fresh doze of chaos and humour. If you care for something similar but less extreme you can try Mike Patton’s project - MR. BUNGLE. This is musical illustration of postmodernist era where each style has rights, multiple views are equally true and all extremes coexist fruitfully.
So John Zorn is a long time jazz/experimental sax player/composer/band leader. Naked City was an album that he wrote when being influenced by grindcore, which is an extreme super fast subgenre of metal with extremely short songs.
Torture Garden is the album for me. It’s even crazier but has more styles in every song
One of my favorite albums by one of my favorite artists. As someone who knows Zorn's music and his approach to it, you pretty much nailed it when you described him.
Hope you enjoy the rest of the album and let us know what you think. You're in for a treat when you listen to those short songs. ;-)
I think "Cat O Nine Tails" is a very interesting composition that you could check out
Hell yeah, this is what I'm here for. All the Naked City projects I've heard have been fire. On a related note maybe check out Boredoms. Their old stuff is kind of like this but rock based and their later stuff gets real psychedelic. It's all good and weird.
Zorn directs the impro with his system called Cobra. It's a system of cards and rules. Very very interesting. That why his improv is so tight.
I definitely need to look into that. Sounds like a lot of fun ways to "randomize" improvisation.
@@CriticalReactions ua-cam.com/video/sFLGQ6waxck/v-deo.html&ab_channel=SarahV See how he control the improv while fixing his sax. Then a nice flow, while still steering the flow of the song. He's not the best sax player, but conceptual his solos are second to none. This is not Cobra but a good example of the total control of chaos.
I absolutely love Zorn. Thank you for covering him. Would love to see something on James White and the Contortions. Now to check out your other videos :D
these guys could play anything. literally.
That was interesting. Seems like he has a background in Grindcore or thinks about a Grindcore side project way too much.
Post grindcore in another universe.
@@perenniallotus I don't know, to me it feels more like if Anaal Nathrakh played some Jazz between recording sessions. Especially the first song gives me hard "Eschaton"-Vibes.
The best Zorn stuff for me is his melodic albums without any noise. He write some incredible melodies snd rythms
For example?
@@ErikBAnderson Anything he did under the Masada umbrella and also the Dreamers albums.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zorn_discography
edit: I haven’t heard everthing he did plus there are obviously many more in this vein; the music romance series for example
The high screams are himself on saxophone ... He is one of the most experimental musicians since the '60. Many of the other musicians also (like Fred Fith ... here he's the bassplayer but a very influentual experimental guitarplayer)
" Encapsulates the visual medium in his music ". I heard Zorn on a BBC radio program talking about His admiration of the composer Carl Stalling , who did a lot of the Warner Bros cartoons ; Bugs Bunny ; Elmer Fudd ; Daffy....etc , and the break neck changes the music had to make , using pro musicians from the Los Angeles Symph Orchestra , who were the only ones who could manage it . Clearly this is Zorn emulating one of his heroes in his own style .
As a contrast to the songs you heard - take a listen to "sicilian clan" from this album. It's a beautiful melodic piece with a nice soft groove - very different than the rest of the album.
You've picked a classic entry point into John Zorn. Considering his hundreds of works and many hundreds of collaborations, there is a whole lot of exploration.
This is such a fun album. A left field classic.
We need more Naked City reactions on YT!
You should check out some of his Madrigals
Peter Brotzman is another saxophonist that goes to extremes. I always love Ornette Coleman as well.
You should check out some of the first records of zorn's moonchild trio, with Mike patton. Unique stuff.
They laid this album down in one take sight reading.
I feel like this would come with a "Parental Advisory sounds may cause chaotic behavior and panic attacks" warning on it. It was fun but maybe in small doses for me.
an amazing album
I LOVE John Zorn. You should check out this Russian band called Vezhlivy Otkaz, the lyrics don't really matter (Гудериан и мороженое / Guderian And Icecream)
Every album of John Zorn can be totally different ... but each one always has an overall idea ... this one is mostly cartoons
*Cacophony* ❤.
zorn takes incidental music seriously
Since you're doing non metal, check out Clara by Scott Walker. You won't be dissapointed.
Nonononono you need to listen to bonehead. That’s the best one.
I am not convinced that you like this. You tried truly hard to come up with logical arguments to convince us that you "really connected with this album" but i can see you are petrified. Your voice almost cracks every time you talk, you look uncomfortable and you also look like you are lying. You are afraid to criticize this album because you know that the whole internet is going to come at you and call you "uncultured" and that "you don't get it". So you desperately trying to be the "high IQ guy that gets Naked City" while deep down you know that this album is literally garbage. We all know it. Like really bad. It's not even music. Just call it out bro and don't care if these midwit cringe hipster teens call you "uncultured". Enough of this joke...
I'm not quite sure where any of this is coming from but if you check out the rest of my channel you'll find that I'm not afraid to criticize any music, no matter how popular. I've upset Tool, Primus, and Babymetal fans before and I typically include aspects of the music that I don't like along with the positive topics I discuss. In fact, one the major reasons that I see people returning to my channel is that I'm sincere and don't pander to fans, that I have my own opinion about music and I'm not afraid to speak them. So no, my opinions in this video about John Zorn's music is 100% authentic. This sounds more like projection than any actual criticism towards my review of the song.
it is obvoiusly music
@@wsplatinum If 5 people playing random stuff can be defined as music in your head then I don't know...
@@antgeozzz yeah, you don't know
@@wsplatinum Imagine getting baited into feeling smart by listening to naked city.
NO