Search - Zoviet France :: Just An Illusion

Industrial subconcious

Dano | fabulous Midway City | 08/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rummaging around in a chain record store in Hollywood I was fortunate enough to find this cd tucked away in the import section. Zoviet France is hard to categorize. I'd heard this band played occasionally on a local public radio program specializing in avant-pop and esoteric music and sounds, so I took a chance via a twenty dollar bill, and was I glad I did! It's audio noir -a melding of ambient, industrial, ethnic music and hypnotic sounds. Think Throbbing Gristle, Holger Czukay, Non, Eno -but really it's all it's own. Here, I'm taken from the furthest reaches of Tibet to the darkest recesses of the industrial subconscious. Kind of like Eraserhead one minute and Shangri-la the next. I've never heard anything quite like it. The band is shrouded in mystery. Hard to find much information except that the band members changed around a lot. (I use past-tense..are they still producing material?) The material here was done in 1989 so this was an early or middle period. Great for deep trance states or just washing the dishes, if you can find this, snap it up! Highly recommended for anyone with a taste for the far-out or scary. The more I listen, the deeper it goes... if you're brave enough, try listening with good headphones late at night in the dark. But don't fall asleep to this stuff -it could cause intense nightmares!"

Don't start here

P. Couture | Santa Cruz, CA USA | 07/18/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This was the first ZF album that disappointed me. Earlier releases felt like bulletins from a parallel world - this one sounds like creative people playing with new toys. The technology is way out front, calling attention to itself. Also, there's a reliance on harsh machine sounds looped endlessly for no reason. If you're new to this band, I'd recommend anything from 1983-1988:



MOHNOMISHE (83)

EOSTRE (84)

POPULAR SOVIET SONGS AND YOUTH MUSIC (85)

LOH LAND (recorded 85, released 87)

MISFITS LOONY TUNES AND SQUALID CRIMINALS (86)

ASSAULT AND MIRAGE (recorded 86, released 87)

A FLOCK OF ROTATIONS (87)

SHOUTING AT THE GROUND (88)"