Zeni GEva


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How To Kill (1987),
Vast Impotenz (1988),
Maximum Money Monster , 6.5/10
Total Castration , 7/10
Nai-Ha , 6/10
All Right You Little Bastards , 5/10
Desire For Agony , 7/10
Freedom Bondage , 5/10
Nai Ha , 5/10
NUll: Terminal Beach, 5/10
NUll: 0.0004 , 5/10
NUll: Gev , 5/10
NUll: Discoteca Plasma , 5/10
10,000 Light Years , 4/10
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I Zeni Geva sono la creatura del chitarrista Kazuyucki Kishino Null, dediti a un rock d'avanguardia (senza basso) tanto cupo quanto dissonante, nella tradizione di Swans e Big Black.

I primi album, How To Kill (Nux, 1987) e Vast Impotenz (Nux, 1988), il successivo Maximum Money Monster (Pathological, 1990 - Cold Spring, 2008), aperto dalla sterminata Slam King (sedici minuti), sono monumenti di suoni scorbutici e armonie snervanti.

Ma il gruppo raggiunge forse la maturita` con Total Castration (Public Bath, 1992). Brani truci come I Want You sono fatti si urla agonizzanti, rintocchi funerei di batteria e vertigini di feedback. Il trio si spinge a due passi dal grindcore con la title-track e indulge nei riff pachidermici di Godflesh, ma non riesce a sopprimere gli istinti selvaggi in sceneggiate tanto orrifiche quanto caotiche come Shoot Me With Your Blood e I Hate You, che toccano livelli insopportabili di tensione.

Dead Sun Rising e` uno dei loro brani piu` celebri

Il minialbum Nai-Ha (NG, 1993) (Skin Graft, 1996), le dodici tracce registrate con Steve Albini su All Right You Little Bastards (NG, 1993), il singolo Disgraceland (Alternative Tentacles), l'album Desire For Agony (Alternative Tentacles, 1993), con le folli Dead Sun e Love Bite, nonche' un paio di imitazioni dei Godflesh (Autopsy Love e Heathen Blood), e il nuovo singolo Autofuck (Skin Graft) non allentano la tensione.

(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)

Null is also involved in Yona-Kit (Skin Graft, 1995), a project with Jim O'Rourke.

One of Null's most impressive outbursts of creativity can be found on Aurora (Sentrax, 1995), a collaboration with James Plotkin: Speeding Across My Hemisphere.

There isn't much on Freedom Bondage (Alternative Tentacles, 1995) that we haven't heard before. With the notable exceptions of Shi No Umi and Ground Zero, the songs are almost a parody of Zeni Geva. Occasionally powerful and frightening, Alienation, Hate Trader, Death Blows and Burn Your Flesh Out careen without a sense of purpose.

The formidable Nai Ha (originally recorded in 1992) appears on Nai Ha (Skin Graft, 1997).

NUll's Terminal Beach (Manifold, 1997), 0.0004 (Vinyl Communications, 1999), Gev (Staalplaat, 2000), Discoteca Plasma (Mindfield, 2000) are sets of (very extreme) guitar noise pieces, like Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music over and over again.

Zeni Geva's 10,000 Light Years (Neurot, 2001) sounds almost like a parody of Zeni Geva. The trio knows they have been influential and that countless bands today do Zeni Geva bettern than Zeni Geva. Instead of trying new avenues, they try to compete with their disciples.

Null's Peak Of Nothingness (2001) was another wild rollercoaster ride through the composer's wasteland. Null's limited-edition CD-ROM Datacide In Year Zero (Crucial Blast, 2002) is a solo guitar record.

Interstellar Chemistry (Beta-lactam Ring, 2002) is a collaboration with electronic musician Bill Horist.

Mitsuru Tabata has released the solo album Brainsville (1999) and recorded a collaboration with Guilty Connector (Kohei Nakagawa) Guilty Connector and Tabata (Even Stilte, 2003).

The quality (not the quantity) of KK Null albums kept declining with Erg per Galaxy (Opposite, 2003), the live Astrodynamix (Dom, 2003), Kosmik Engine (Voidstar, 2003), Atomic Disorder (Neurot, 2003), Zentropy (Autofact, 2003) and Astral Loop (Urgence, 2003). Kosmista Noisea (Important, 2006) collects two colossal live improvisations. Null finally changed style on Fertile (Touch, 2007), a project based on field recordings and electronic manipulation. Null's Oxygen Flash (Neurot, 2009) was again a work of trivial musique concrete.

Zeni Geva's Tabata Mitsuru also had a project with bassist Hayashi Naoto, whose live shows of 1987-88 are compiled on Leningrad Blues Machine (Nux Organization, 1993).

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