Saturday 14 November 2015

:zoviet-france: ‎– "Mohnomishe" (Red Rhino Records ‎– REDLP 40) 1983


As previously mentioned,when buying a copy of "Norsch" back in the day; some kind/incompetent record shop employee,slipped this double album in the sleeve as well. Unfortunately, without the screen printed heavy cardboard and string masterpiece that was the cover to the "Mohmonische" 2LP set that I had accidentally acquired.
I now know that this album is Zoviet France's greatest work.Heavy on the repetitive tribal drum loops,and dense, dark ambient soundscapes.
I could listen to the variations of drum loop featured on track A3 all day. Sounding like ten thousand analogue electronic Zulu's approaching Rourke's Drift, as seen on a badly tuned cathode ray tube.
There's something about the trial and error inaccuracy of hand spliced tape loops that preserve that much mourned human factor. The real 'X' factor that has been lost in the post sampler,computer era. Each loop in the modern era can be tweaked and tidied until it becomes something akin to a musical plastic chair. In the old method,once that razor blade and splicing tape are applied,your loop is carved in stone; a child with a life of its own, born without genetic modifications. Digital music is the equivalent of musical eugenics,where everyone and everything is 'Beautiful', as dictated by the incumbent  'taste-makers' incarnate.
This album is ugliness redefined as Beauty......the true meaning of beauty in fact.

Track Listing:

A1
A2
A3
B1
B2
C1
C2
D1

DOWNLOAD this beautiful ugliness HERE!

21 comments:

Wreck said...

His kindness/incompetence, your delight!

Chris S said...

Best music critic ever!

icastico said...

Lovely. My first ZF buy was a cassette found at a Walgreens in Santa Fe NM tucked in between Buck Owens and Dolly Parton cassettes. Been hooked every since.

Jonny Zchivago said...

Thanks Chris,hopefully someday someone will gimme a job in the criticism area....especially love slagging off popular music.

Jonny Zchivago said...

Not sure how opposite on the scale DP and ZF are.They're both products of their environment I suppose,but they shouldn't really be face to face in any tape section.Maybe Dolly Parton is weirder? Dunno who Buck Owens is,but I can guess. We got a Walgreens here in France(not Zoviet france)...they rent out trucks.I'll ask if they have any old ZF cassettes in on the deal.

icastico said...

Buck Owens. Definitely the strangest of the three.

https://youtu.be/cYKVb7T1n2I

Jonny Zchivago said...

OMG!..what was he wearing!?....disturbing stuff indeed.

Alan Burns said...

This is absolutely fantastic. Thanks so much.

Jonny Zchivago said...

Indeed,wot a great record.

Anonymous said...

Not a big ambient fan, but these guys are wonderful!

Jonny Zchivago said...

It's a bit of an insult to label them Ambient i suppose, but this world needs pigeon holes,and there isn't one for ZF.

Anonymous said...

Dark ambient maybe? I don't know, I just avoid the mess by labeling it all "experimental" or "avant-garde."

Steve said...

greatest record(s) ever made

Jonny Zchivago said...

You know what Steve, you're not far off the mark there. It definitely ticks a lot of boxes, innovative,listenable, artistically, intellectually,and one that i play a lot....maybe scraping the top ten in my small world anyway.

Jonny Zchivago said...

I try and avoid experimental in my tags.....you could argue that Beyoncé was 'experimental'.....its too vague. so Dark Ambient/Industrial it is?

Anonymous said...

Dark ambient is the closest, IMO. Industrial is pretty vague as well, obviously Whitehouse is nothing like Nine Inch Nails, while they are both "industrial."

Jonny Zchivago said...

Well,the human need for labelling has reached its zenith in the last twenty years.Where there was once Industrial, we have power Electronics (Whitehouse),and Industrial Rock(NIN)....although i'd call NIN Naff american Gothic Rock. The sub-genres for Metal,however,are beyond a joke.

Anonymous said...

but bollocks to them for instigating and continuing to perpetuate the elitist and white middle class 'experimental' scene in newcastle-upon-tyne.

geordies are black AND white.

das fucking boot.

Unknown said...

i got the hardboard cover, but got given the EOSTRE double album instead

Jonny Zchivago said...

Well, glad to hear I wasn't the only victim of 'vague Record Cover Syndrome'! Although I think I got a better deal than you did.Mohnomishe is better than 'Eostre' and the 'Norsch' sleeve is better than Mohnomische.
One thing they all have in common though is a founder member of ZF moaning about me hosting their records!.....even got a DCMA complaint about 'Eostre'! These guys obviously don't want anyone to hear their music.

/][/ said...

Buck Owens is rad shit man. You hate country though huh? I mean even the good shit. You're missing out man.