Above: Naked City (Yamatsuka Eye not pictured) -- please note the Accused T-shirt in the back.
Q: What do you get when highbrow jazz dorks take PCP?
A: Naked Fucking City.
Comprised of avant garde composer/saxophonist John Zorn, guitarist Bill Frisell, keyman Wayne Horvitz, bassist Fred Frith, drummer Joey Baron, and incomparable Boredoms vocalist Yamatsuka Eye, Naked City (named after a 1948 noir film), take jazz, metal, punk, classical, country, and just about any other genre imaginable, throw it all into a blender, mix it up, chug the whole concoction, and then vomit the resulting mess right down your throat. Inspired by the fast-changing compositions of Looney Tunes mainman Carl Stalling, Zorn's music is ridiculously complex, artsy to a fault, and aggressive as all Hell. Afraid these nerds won't be "metal" enough for you? Well, their song "Osaka Bondage" was featured on the second Earache Grindcrusher compilation. AND they used to play with Napalm Death. So there.
NAKED CITY (1989 - technically classified as a John Zorn album, but whatevs...)
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Purchase HERE
GRAND GUIGNOL (1991)
Download HERE
Purchase HERE
Naked City released another fantastic album between these two, entitled Torture Garden, although it shares several of the same tracks as their self-titled debut. If you'd like to check it out, head over to Cosmic Hearse and do so immediately.
There are, I think, five NC studio albums, including the 'John Zorn: Naked City' album, and a live one also. My favorite is the last one, 'Radio'. Bill Frisell's solo albums are fantastic also, if a bit more laid-back than NC...
ReplyDeleteI once officiated a wedding under the supposed authority of the Universal Life Church. I chose the last track from the 'Naked City' album for the end-of-ceremony song. It was the least-cheezy joyful song I knew of.
Bill Frisell is a tough call. Some of his music is fucking great, then he'll go off and do an instrumental Muzak version of a Madonna song. Annoying.
ReplyDeleteI don't have Radio. Hook me up.
Should be noted that Leng T'che by Naked City is pretty neat drone/doom stuff. From 1992!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to dig through my mp3 archives. I may still have it on a CD somewhere (I had a major mishap about two years ago with a Maxtor hard drive. Don't ever buy any Maxtor product.). If not, I know where I can get it.
ReplyDeleteKiller. Keep me posted, dude.
ReplyDelete