Search - John Zorn :: Xu Feng

More challenging Zorn

mrbjt | Florida | 11/02/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"More twisted improv and chaos from the great John Zorn. When he's not examining the peculiarities of Jewish jazz with his band Masada, pushing the limits of modern composition with his on/off group Naked City or composing cartoon music for Japanese S&M films, Zorn amuses himself in this arena - sonic chaos and freeform avant garde improvisation. Fans of Zorn's experimental outfit Cobra might be drawn to this project - whose pieces were composed from 1977 to 1989 (picking up where Cobra left off). What Zorn does is "structure" the improv - though you would be hard pressed to tell there's a method to this madness. It's screaming freeform - with the players (including Chris Brown: electronics, Fred Frith: guitars, Dave Lombardo: drums & percussion, John Schott: guitars, David Slusser: electronics snf William Winant: drums & percussion) attacking their instruments with ear-splitting intensity. Arguably more agressive than Cobra - and, thankfully, not quite as fractured. Not for the weak at heart or newcomers to Zorn's world of music."

HARDCORE game piece

Mr. Richard K. Weems | Fair Lawn, NJ USA | 11/27/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The sounds of this particular game piece sounds like the[...] child of Naked City and Painkiller, and indeed NC alum Fred Frith plays.



The combination is intriguing--two guitarists, two percussionists and two electronicists (??), though evidently these game pieces could also be done with just six percussionists. The tracks here don't come across as stifling as other game pieces, but instead as a free-flowing thrash-improv by these six Zorn-picked artists into some of the dissonance and jazz power of Naked City and also the bone-gnashing belly flop of Painkiller. Aside from a lot of self-aggrandizing in the liner notes, Zorn also notes that the process of a game piece is as much involved in the choice of musicians as the structuring of the piece itself, and this particular go-round of the game piece seems to be more open in letting out these musical voices.



This may also be because these musical voices are so powerful--aside from Fred Frith, some other notable names are William Winant and John Schott. Possibly, these talents were a little too overbearing to be utterly controlled by Zorn and ended up creating their own sound. I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of Zorn's intentions in the game pieces, but this game piece is one that seems to actually work on that level. This effect may also come from Zorn's description of the process here being more like a Kung-Fu film, full of competition and conflict rather than subservience to its conductor/director/sensei. This CD is brash and full of bird-flips and face-kicks. Quite worth picking up.

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DEATHBLOW.

Lord Chimp | Monkey World | 02/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"_Xu Feng_ sounds like John Zorn meets _Thrakattak_ -- devastating structured improvisation of aggressive chaos, alien beauty, and extreme musical talent. The rules of this game and the chosen performers seek to emulate the high-speed intensity of the martial arts actress for which the piece is named. Zorn's six-man lineup is a little smaller than other game pieces, but the sonic depth is not compromised. On guitars, you have the mighty Fred Frith and John Schott, on electronics/computers you have Chris Brown and David Slusser, and on drums & percussion you have metal juggernaut Dave Lombardo and avant-garde genius William Winant. Under Zorn's conducting, this lineup navigates the most violent, intense game piece yet composed. From the crunchy, discordant assault of "The Valiant Ones" to the high-speed clamor and destruction of "Dragon Gate Inn" to the lovely underground alien-world sounding "The Beauty of Yang Hui-Chen" or the part of "Trouble at Spring Inn" where pure chaos turns into a spiky, stuttering blues chord with heavy, liquid percussion, every single track is completely satisfying. It is difficult to describe the music: imagine 90s King Crimson on a night of their most terrifying improv, unleashing a sonic fury that can rend the flesh off your bones and still delight you with the sheer joy of it all. Definitely pick this up."