Search - Zip Tang :: Luminiferous Ether

Strong Self-Produced Debut

Dave_42 | Australia | 01/12/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Luminiferous Ether" is the debut album from Zip Tang, a progressive group which blends, rock, jazz, and other influences to form a fairly unique sound on most of the tracks. The album is diverse and engaging for the listener. The group draws from a variety of influences, from the obvious Emerson, Lake & Palmer, to King Crimson, to Pink Floyd, to Frank Zappa, to more modern groups like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and more. Though one can play a game of trying to find groups who may have influenced them, other than their cover of "Tarkus", there is by no means a copy of anyone else.



The album opens with the odd and unusual "Tower of Tuna", which seems to borrow a bit of lyrical style from Zappa. It then moves on to "Missed The Beginning", a heavier piece, but still with strong saxophone. The third track is the softer and jazzier "Nothing Here", which is somewhat repetitive in lyric, but has some strong instrumental parts and provides some good diversity. Next up is "Doctor Plush", one of my favorites from the album, which starts off slow with the bass and drums taking the lead, and effects being provided by other instruments; this then builds and changes into a much louder and more driving piece, with the guitar taking over and keyboards filling in as well; it then switches again to something quite different as it finishes. "Like We Did Before" is the next track, opening with an acoustic part before turning back to electric, it is a nice piece and probably the most straight-forward on the album.



"Beta" is next, it is an instrumental piece in a sort of jazz-rock fusion, complete with a section which has people reaching for their cell-phones, which once again adds to the diversity of the album. "Searching for Treasure" is next and of the pieces which were written by the band, it comes the closest to sounding like another group, in particular ELP. The last of the group's original pieces is "With a Twist", which takes on almost a blues feel at times, and once again adds to the overall diversity of the album. The album closes with a cover of ELP's "Tarkus", which is pretty good, but doesn't offer anything new and doesn't really add anything to the album as they already included a piece which had a similar sound. At the same time, the piece is over 18 minutes long, so the album (at around 64 minutes) would be a bit short without it. At the same time, I would rather have heard more of their own compositions.



Zip Tang is a quartet consisting of Marcus Padgett (sax, keys, vocals), Percy Merritt (guitars, vocals), Rick Wolfe (bass, vocals), and Fred Faller (drums and percussion). This is a very unique and interesting album, especially for the pieces which were written by the group. It is very good album, and all the more impressive because it is self-produced.

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