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Jim's Music Pages: :zoviet*france:
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In their 17 years of musical output, :zoviet*france: have become one of the most influential bands of the (post)-Industrial movement. Despite this, though, they have remained largely anonymous, playing very few live dates and generally avoiding over-exposure. Their music has been described as "a series of infernal soundworlds that wanders between organic, non-linear, lo-fi explorations and fake ethnicity, creating a world where nothing is locatable and everything is suggestion, awaiting responsive imaginations" (Phil England, The Wire). More recently, they have moved towards a more electronic sound, although still devoid of obvious reference points and still operating via the more subconcious channels of communication.
The :zoviet*france: homepage
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Untitled (1982)
Charrm CD2
Ritual
Mudbast Boys
Sem Boys
Bring Hessa
Mounw
Ji Boys
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Original LP came in a hessian sack.
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Garista (1982)
Charrm CD1
Scrama Mdags
Mosbas
Mama Piss
Nruknesh
Caarcuraz
M1 M1 M1
Rangmabasm
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"Primal" would probably be the single most appropriate word to describe :z*f:'s first recordings. Tribal, ethnic rhythms and vocalises are distorted by the rough DIY production - a home-made battering ram of sound.
The original cassette came with a noxious cloth insert which smelled of a petroleum product of some sort.
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Norsch (1983)
Charrm CD3
Norsch Tauss
Norsch Baelmaen
Norsch Virang
Norsch Imirsch
Norsch Vorvah
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Original LP was wrapped in aluminium foil.
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Mohnomishe (1983)
Charrm CD4
Eight tracks - no track listing
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Original LP came sandwiched between two pieces of board tied together with twine.
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Eostre (1984)
Charrm CD5
Shout The Storm
Cirice
Hymen
Gustr
Kirke
Pearroc
Regn
Bell
Cad Goddeu
Wajis
Angelus
Neptune
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The original double LP of Eostre came in hand-printed PVC and tissue paper sleeves.
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Popular Soviet Songs And Youth Music (1985)
Staalplaat STCD024
CD1
Tier Of Veils
Ram
Duir
Zone
Straif (La Mιre du Bois) Z Estrif
White Track Fire Frost
Veil
Pesach
Decoy
Yezidi
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CD2
Signal
Sidi
Birch Brake
Sein
Spin Hellisein
Tan-Tal
Ma-Ja
Whip
Veil
Fearn
Burning Bush
Sidhe Riuben
Marsh
Swine
Marsh
Signal Circe
Migration
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CD3
Burning Bush
Sheol
Veil Sloe Semen
Signal
Chirm Ela
Chirm Geis
Charm Aliso
Shewel
Yezidi Say
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With its wonderfully misleading title, exquisite packaging and nearly three hours of music from the hinterlands of dream-worlds, Popular Soviet Songs And Youth Music is :z*f:'s 1980s Magnum Opus. Less frantic and confrontational than the early releases, it nevertheless maintained the lo-fi approach while laying the foundations for the 1986/7 Charm, Ceremony, Chance, Prophecy series.
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Gris (1985)
No Man's Land 33NML8505
Moresca
Luft
Shekinah
Gris
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Original 10" LP wrapped in roofing shingle.
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Misfits, Looney Tunes and Squalid Criminals (1986)
Charrm CD8
Signal
Host/Blowing The Instrument
Signal
Flote
Signal
Gesture, Signal, Threat
Semasen
Rattle Stick Cruss
They're Eating The Passengers
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The original LP came in a gauze bag with a folded cardboard inset.
The first part of the Charm, Ceremony, Chance, Prophecy series sees the introduction of taped samples, murky electronics and atmospheric echoes. The final track, They're Eating The Passengers, is a chilling, soundscaped nightmare - one of the true highlights of :z*f:'s output.
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Gesture Signal Threat (1986)
Charrm CD9
Gote
Blow
Dhimmi
Signal
Bran
Glisten
Host
Signal
Signal
Threat
Signal
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Part two of Charm, Ceremony, Chance, Prophecy. The original cassette came in a cardboard box.
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A Flock Of Rotations (1987)
Charrm CD10
Io!
Drive
Skritha
Slide
Drifan
Mandrel
Skratte
Irken
Ions Collis
Luh
Luh Windan
Dream Hole
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Part three of Charm, Ceremony, Chance, Prophecy. The original LP was wrapped in cardboard and tissue paper.
The wild rhythms and distorted samples of A Flock Of Rotations are suggestive of earlier :z*f: releases, but this time the whole release seems broadly thematic. The sporadic reappearance of leitmotifs is a prelude to a hypnotic main theme (Luh) which is repeated through an electronic smog before the final, trance-like descent into the Dream Hole.
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Assault And Mirage (1987)
Charrm CD11
Siege
Frost Smoke
Fire Sticks
Mosland
Shimmer In The Shiel
Mana
Tocasenh
Beat Up Cut Branches
Scree Shift
Fountains Fell
Siege Retreat
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Assault And Mirage is the final part of the Charm, Ceremony, Chance, Prophecy series. The original LP was wrapped in a cardboard box.
The final part of the CCCP series and a masterpiece of lo-fi electronica. From the opening Siege to the final reprise via the wailing foghorns and bobbing boats' bells suggested by Frost Smoke, this is a partial glimpse of a landscape of strange, dark beauty.
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Loh Land (1988)
Staaltape STCD018
East Taunts West
Scacen
Notochord
Har Hou
Notochord
Shamble
Gygr Carlin
Al'Ud
Dust Deofol
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Nostalgie de la Boue
Trom Eldr
Vlaag
Reson Deaw Gwalch
Lang Mark
Film - Perversion of Magnitudes
Film - Fliorian
Vlaag Morgen
Gathering Nostoe
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The music on Loh Land is very similar to that on Popular Soviet Songs And Youth Music, which is unsurprising as it was recorded at roughly the same time, although not released until 1988.
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Shouting At The Ground (1988)
Charrm CD12
Smocking Erde
Palace of Ignitions
Come To The Edge
Revenue Of Fire
Dybbuk
Camino Real
Stocc Blawers
Fickle Whistle, Hand Over Your E
Carole The Breedbate
Marrch Dynamic
Wind Thief
Shamany Enfluence
The Death Of Trees
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Shouting At The Ground takes the ethnic rhythmic elements of Loh Land but generally in a more gentle, soporific fashion.
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Look Into Me (1990)
Charrm CD14
Cair Camouflet
LevenSwitch
At The Moment
Fidgety Foot
Low Creeper
Second Sight
Deekintaemae
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Kess Saffer Plaint
Melangell
Look Into Me
Scatter
Kinto-Me
Amadan
Surge
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Vienna 1990 (1990)
Charrm CD15
One continuous track
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Recordings taken from two performances at Szene, Vienna on November 9th and 10th 1990. These performances were part of the Ohrenschrauben Festival.
The first full development of :z*f:'s electronic sound, which was to continue into the 1990s. A wonderful, atmospheric creation.
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Just An Illusion (1990)
Charrm CD15
Lief Lulla
Nachtmaal
Wood Shock
Nature But Not
Obscurity On The Line
Ascend A Fall
Caught In The Square
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Rays Parallel
Swelled Out Downwards
Signing Papal Briefs
Is It?
Mute Moon
Suspicious Stare
Lief Kirn
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Original CD came in a hinged wooden box.
Just An Illusion represents a continuation of the "electronic" style of the late 80s / early 90s. Together, Acend A Fall and Caught In The Square comprise a hypnotic materpiece.
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Shadow, Thief Of The Sun (1991)
Charrm DOVeCD66
The Silver Gate
In My Secrecy I Was Real
Feel The Warmth
This Moment Obscure
A Democratic Amirk
Come Infinite
Thin Air
Cahl-Yn-Yan
Static Fields
Ciels Tιnιbreuse
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Deleted and difficult to track down.
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Collusion (1992)
The Grey Area Sion1
Ram
Sprey
Le Mur Mϋr Nu
First Vigil
White Dusk
Something This Beautiful
Fugitive
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A compilation of tracks from compilation albums. From 1983, through the proto-electronic landscape of First Vigil and the imprisoned Beethoven of Something This Beautiful, to the locked orchestral groove of Fugitive - a panoply of styles.
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What Is Not True (1993)
Charrm CD17
Public Service Announcement
Not Just What To Say
Cyclonic Sub Alien
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Recorded live at The Old Vic, Nottingham and The Leadmill, Sheffield (29-30 March 1993).
:z*f:'s live masterpiece, combining samples and atmospheric electronics into a work of what Phil England described as "unreserved beauty" (The Wire July 95). The extended, awe-inspiring Cyclonic Sub Alien, which accounts for two-thirds of the total duration of the CD ends the disc as it began - with a distant Shipping Forecast - over an endless, shifting drone: a truly transcendental experience!
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In.Version (1996)
Charrm CD24
No track listing - one continuous track
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Recorded live at The Urban Aboriginals Festival, Ballhaus, Berlin (26 March 1996).
Back to back live recordings (interleaved by a vinyl release of Digilogue) with a three year gap between, In.Version does not carry the emotional power or beauty of What Is Not True. Nonetheless, it begins to show a new development of live :z*f:, characterised by a seamless sequence of repetitive movements and a warmer, more analogue sound. Becomes more rewarding with successive listenings.
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Mort Aux Vaches: Feedback (1997)
Staalplaat No Number
Exform
Irsta
Ammor
Rydia
Degen
Ularhan
Kofca
Latst
Farasin
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Live studio recording by VPRO Radio in Amsterdam (August 1996).
Third live release in a row. An extension of the territories mapped out in In.Version, but with the introduction of more uncomfortable sounds in places. The dark landscapes of :z*f:'s earlier work can also be found and the whole experience ends, like Vienna 1990 (Fugitive from the Collusion CD) with a locked, distorted orchestra.
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Digilogue (1998)
Soleilmoon SOL62CD
Alchemagenta
Haze Polder
Soft Helion
Another Soft Helion
Angel's Pin Number
Carbon
Amber
Init
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Digilogue was originally released as a limited edition (801 copies) clear vinyl LP featuring Alchemagenta, Angel's Pin Number, Haze Polder, Carbon and a remixed version of Amber.
The pulsing rhythms underpinning many of these tracks add a new dimension to the :z*f: sound. Much of this music was recorded in 1995, representing a gap of four years since the previous studio release, Shadow, Thief Of The Sun.
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Sky Feathers & Horse Eggs (1990)
Hypnagogia
I Felt The Breath Of My Assassin
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International Objekt 4 (1990)
Ladd Frith LF67CD
Voice Print Identification
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Mind The Gap 3 (1993)
Staalplaat STCD083
Mir
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Table Of The Elements II - Earth (1993)
DOR Infinity ADOR193
With Us Today
Sucking The Instrument
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Ambient 4 - Isolationism (1994)
Virgin AMBT4
Daisy Gun
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Unentitled (1994)
These 11CD
Eleven Drops
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Out There - A Thread Through Time (1994)
Pi CD001
Synaesthesia
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Dissolve (1996)
Fused Coil
Soft And Close By Me
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Slumbermusic (1996)
Universal Egg WWCD019
As Falls Snoqualmie, So Falls Snoqualmie Falls
On The Treetop
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In Memoriam Gilles Deleuze (1996)
Mille Plateaux MPCD22
On The Edge Of A Grain Of Sand
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