Scoring Spice

“Dune. Desert Planet. Arrakis. WATER.” --Kyle McLaughlin, in Lynch’s Magnum Opus, Dune
“Dune, where’s my car?” --Cobras

Many bands have tried and failed to capture the essence of Frank Herbert’s seminal, epic, orientalist space-opera, DUNE. For some, it might have been better if they had tried and died. 


It would be well-nigh impossible to document every Dune-inspired track in the universe, so these are but a sampling of the many existing varieties of Dune music. They are grouped in brackets because, as Paul Atreides has observed, "the worst potential competition for any young organism can come from its own kind."


Techno Bracket
Eon let loose in 1991 with a couple Dune-themed tracks, "The Spice Must Flow" and "Fear: The Mindkiller." "Fear: The Mindkiller" is a clear ancestor of the Mortal Kombat theme song, and samples (you guessed it!) the line "fear is the mind killer" a few thousand times. For good measure, Eon throws in a healthy dose of what sounds like the panting from Kraftwerk's "Tour De France." Because that's what Kraftwerk is awesome for-- panting.

Not shown: panting. Shown: nerding.

As bad as this may be, however, it’s still better than “German techno-pop ensemble from Münster Dune,” because by "techno pop" they mean Happy Hardcore. If you don’t know what that is, take a moment to thank the gods. You are either too young, too old, or were too under-a-rock-in-the-90s to have been exposed to this toxin. Preserve your innocence/health. If you must know, a representative track is "Can't Stop Raving," but don't say I didn't warn you. Also, Dune’s youtube page would have you know that the group is “named after the 1984 science fiction movie directed by David Lynch.” Yup. Straight from the source.

Winner: no one. No one is a winner here.

Metal Bracket
Another band of Krauts, Golem, attacked the Dune concept in their 1998 album “The 2nd Moon.” Check out the first track, The Wanderers. Featuring succinct riffage and abstract/subtly ESL lyrics (see e.g.: “Unlocking the gates of time, widening its bounds/Guarded by the maker ...facing desert ground”), Golem may actually have what it takes to make a Kwisatz Hadderach.



A further solid entry comes from Aussie rock band Buffalo (mentioned in a previous Cobras post), whose Dune Messiah takes us on a Pentagram-esque journey to Arrakis (and admit it, you always wanted to go to Arrakis with Pentagram). 

Pretty sure it would be like this...

Blind Guardian also pays a visit to the Dune-iverse in Traveller in Time. The morning sun! Of Dune! Good old Blind Guardian. If you haven’t heard this song, it’s pretty much exactly what you would expect from Blind Guardian (i.e., it is awesome, unabashed nerdery). They can really play their balisets ifyouknowwhatimean.

Picard Knows.

Also, according to a reliable source (wikipedia, duh), Iron Maiden tried to name To Tame A Land “Dune,” but Frank Herbert was having none of it. Apparently the band was told that "Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially bands like Iron Maiden." Good call on that one, F. Herb. 

Frank Herbert hates you. 

PS: Dreamtheater fans will be delighted to admit to you that Dreamtheater covered "To Tame A Land."  

Winner: Vote your choice in the comments. You are the dungeonmaster! You get to decide!

• Blind Guardian
• Buffalo
• Golem
• Iron Maiden
• Dreamtheater

Prog/Jazz Bracket

More to F. Herb’s taste might be the smooth stylings of one Dave Matthews (!), a jazz keyboardist from Kentucky who hung out with James Brown and was apparently moved to gather together a bunch of other jazz players (Grover Washington, Eric Gale) and write several Dune-themed songs which readers should check out at their own risk. These are all on a 1977 album Dave Matthews titled, wait for it, “Dune.” The creativity here just does not end... or at least, not until the second side of the album, where Dave gives us NOT ONLY a disco-fied version of the Star Wars main theme (it was 1977, so Lucas didn’t quite know what he had on his hands), but also a limp cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity. On a related note, the only tolerable part of the latter song was sampled by MF (“Metal Face/Fingers”) Doom in Rap Snitch Knishes. You know. Like you do. Wait, what was I talking about?

Ah yes. Another entry in the Dune prog bracket are French prog rockers Dün, about whom we have previously heard. An interesting compare and contrast exercise may be done by playing Dave Matthew's "Arrakis" and Dün's “Arrakis” back to back. Go on. Try it.






Winner:

• Dave Matthews
• Dün

Video Game Bracket
Yes, evidently there were at least two about a million soundtracked Dune videogames. Kids these days. Don’t they know about books? Require a little effort on your part, make no be-be-be-be-beeps. Anywho.

1992 saw the release of not one, but TWO Dune videogames. The first was called “Dune” by Cryo Interactive, and it carried a soundtrack called "Dune: Spice Opera." It’s not so bad, from what I can tell. Also, at 1:55 of the track embedded below, "Sign of the Worm," you can see a sweet rendering of Shai-Hulud in 1992 graphics. 

  
A competing video game company, Westwood Studios, released “Dune II” that same year; check out this sweet dialogue: “We were your pawns and Dune was your board.” The score is basically 8-bit plus. In 1998, Westwood Studios released “Dune: 2000” scored in part by professional video game composer Frank Klepaki. Good old Frank K. does a musical homage to/rip off of Toto’s score to Lynch’s Dune here on this track at about 3:22-32; otherwise, this is fairly unremarkable stuff.


Winner:

• Dune: Spice Opera
• Dune II
• Klepaki
• No one, again

Dune OST Bracket
The Lynch Dune OST has been reported on here, but I thought I might add a few words. Two of those words are "Brian Eno." Two more words are “fuck yeah.”

but of course there is a fuckyeaheno.com

For the sake of completeness, here is the theme music from the Dune television series, composed by the dude who did the soundtrack to Final Destination V. If you have ever watched any sci-fi movie and heard some generic background symphonics, you’ve basically heard it. Speaking of orientalism, there’s also a Bonus New Age Track.


Winner: Toto/Eno OST. I’m sorry, this is just objective. Please send your complaints to James Madison.

Well, there you have it, friends. A smattering of the aural representations of the Dune-iverse. Please feel free to add on in the comments.

Behold Kris Mar, newest addition to the IllCon Team! Hail Kris Mar! May the rivers run red with the blood of your fallen foes, and may vampires tremble and expire at your feet just as they do under the mighty ax of Abe Lincoln!
I am impressed with the nerdiness contained herein, please feel free to contribute further in the future. Sweet.

-Cobras

ART ZOYD - SYMPHONIE POUR LE JOUR OU BRULERONT LES CITES (1976)

We have visited the French progjockeys known as Art Zoyd twice in the past here on IC -- the first time exploring their third album, 1980's Generation sans futur, and the second time to drop in on their second album, 1979's Musique pour l'odysee. Which leaves one final treasure to share, their first (and arguably their best) album Symphonie pour le jour où brûleront les cités. Released when the band was still known as "Art Zoyd 3" (see below), Symphonie is comprised of five songs - three making up the song cycle that gives the album its title and two from a cycle entitled "Deux Images De La Cité Imbécile". If you are fimiliar with this band's output in the late 70's, you already know what to expect: busy, dynamic, challenging, and often strangely ambient chamber/rock music punctuated by eery chanting and jazzy interludes. Too bad they went all "electro" later in their career, because early Zoyd is some of the most beautiful and well-orchestrated progrock to ever come out of Europe. An excellent debut, and an essential component in the formation of the genre known as Rock In Opposition. Freaky.

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Myspace / Last.FM / Wiki

ART ZOYD - MUSIQUE POUR L'ODYSSEE (1979)

Anyone else miss Prog Blog Wednesdays? I sure do. Since it's Wednesday, and since you can NEVER have too much dark prog/Zeuhl/Satanic chamber music in your iTunes folder, I present today Art Zoyd's Musique pour l'odysee, a three-song epic full of creepy chanting, atonal strings, and more ambient menace than Univers Zero could shake a stick at. And speaking of Univers Zero: This, Art Zoyd's second album, saw the addition of founding Univers Zero member Daniel Denis, whose hypnotic drum patterns lay the framework for a dark and harrowing journey through the underside of 20th century anti-rock chamber music. Joining Zoyd's core members - violinist Gerard Hourbette and bassist Thierry Zaboitzeff - Denis helped the band find a new dimension in their sound, one that would remain present on through to their next release, 1980's Generation sans futur. A word to the wise:

DON'T AVOID THE ZOYD

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Myspace / Last.FM

KOENJIHYAKKEI - ANGHERR SHISSPA (2005)

It's been awhile since I killed off 'Prog Blog Wednesdays', which I know disappointed some of you, so I figured now would be a good time to post some fucking killer Japanese semi-orchestral Zeuhl/prog.
Hopefully we are all aware of the existence of Ruins, the seminal two-piece prog freakout masterminded by drummer/composer Tatsuya Yoshida. If not, please go here to check out their album Refusal Fossil and here to check out their album Burning Stone. Even in a country notorious for obtuse weirdness, Ruins stand head and shoulders above their diminutive countrymen when it comes to compositional insanity. These guys make drums, bass, and vocals sound like an orchestra of escaped mental patients.
So imagine, if you will, what Yoshida could do with a full band. That is the basic idea behind Koenjihyakkei (a word that - if I understand correctly - has no real English translation). Incorporating the best elements of Zeuhl heroes like Magma and Shub Niggurath (operatic female vocals, nonsensical lyrics, throbbing bass, and jittery wind instruments) but adding in something of a rapid-fire cartoonish whimsy a la Carl Stalling, Koenjihyakkei is widely regarded as one of the best and most talented progrock bands currently roaming the face of the planet. And Angherr Shisspa is widely regarded as their swan song.
Prepare to have your mind utterly and completely blown.

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Website (via Skin Graft Records)
Koenjihyakkei on Myspace

PROG BLOG WEDNESDAYS, PART 15

This week: SHUB NIGGURATH - LES MORTS VONT VITE (1986)


Dang. Nothing says "Illogical Contraption" like an evil, Lovecraftian progrock album from 1986.
Shub Niggurath were French (of course), latecomers to the whole Magma/Zeuhl thing that proliferated in the mid-70's but also dark, heavy, and weird enough to carve out their own odd musical path. As far as prog goes, Les Mort Vont Vite is the blackest, meanest, and most oppresive album since Univers Zero's Heresie 7 years earlier. The whole atmosphere here is chaos and doom, from the plodding, tribal drums to the distorted, buzzing bass to the atonal guitar solos that seem to have a tendency to devolve into harsh walls of feedback and noise. The only deal-breaker here might be the soprano female vocal leads, which don't really seem to follow any pattern or melody whatsoever. Which could be seen as a plus or a minus with this kind of music.
Shub Niggurath is named after a demon from Lovecraft's Necronomicon, as is their song "Yog Sothoth". The album also contains a song entitled "La Ballade De Lenore", which I take to be a tribute to Poe's The Raven. Literary doom/prog/Zeuhl really gets my engine running. Fuck yeah, Shub Niggurath.

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PROG BLOG WEDNESDAYS, PART 14

This week: ESKATON - 4 VISIONS (1979)


Another standout in the multitude of killer French Zeuhl bands from the 70's, Eskaton had quite a few elements going for them to set them apart from the pack both musically and conceptually. Like their countrymen Zao, Eskaton sports a warbling, semi-operatic frontwoman whose alien vocals lend themselves wholly to the "outer space" vibe on this album. Busy basslines, rapidly shifting riffs and tempos, funky drums, and a distinct intergalactic porn vibe soak 4 Visions in a thick coat of creepy, minor-key danceability, but don't get me wrong: This IS NOT disco.
Eskaton is fucking WEIRD, a point driven home by the ever-present, tremolo-ed out keyboard patterns that buzz back and forth accross each composition like a cyborg mosquito. This is the sound of robots fucking, of Wookiees doing the hustle, of astronauts snorting coke. I implore you: PLEASE let Eskaton blow your mind. You will not regret a thing.

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PROG BLOG WEDNESDAYS, PART 12

AREA - CRAC! (1975)


Absolutely insane Italian Zeuhl/prog from a band well-known in their home country but not so much elsewhere. Area's busy, buzzy, electronic-folk-meets-jazz-fusion jams are topped of perfectly by the vocals of frontman Demetrios Stratos, whose delivery brings Elvis to mind (although in more of a Dread Zeppelin kind of way, rather than a "Hound Dog" kind of way). Sheer 70's schizophrenia, with hints of Zappa, Magma, and copious amounts of hallucinogenic drugs. Which makes me wonder: What the Hell was Area smoking?

Crac!, maybe?

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Thanks to Cory for hipping me to this album. You're not as much of an asshole as everyone says you are.

PROG BLOG WEDNESDAYS, PART 11 (THURSDAY EDITION)

This week: RUINS - REFUSAL FOSSIL (1997)


Another shredding, confusing album from the drummer-bassist combo who brought Zeuhl from France in the 70's to Japan in the 90's. Absolutely insane bass riffage merges with ferocious drum barrages and gibbering lyrics sung (?) in an invented language to become one of the most surprisingly listenable "unlistenable" bands ever. I posted their album Burning Stone awhile back, but I actually like Fossil quite a bit more. The grooves these guys lock into at times are fucking unbelievable (check out "Heraclion"). Total insanity.
They even sneak a couple recycled Magma riffs into the album closer, which is aptly titled "Prog Rock Medley".

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PROG BLOG WEDNESDAYS, PART 10

This week: WEIDORJE - SELF-TITLED (1978)


Another brilliant (but short-lived) Magma splinter cell, showing several defining traits of their fathering group but also creating a very distinct sound of their own (see also: Zao). The main core of Weidorje parted ways with Christian Vander in the mid-70's, keeping his Zeuhl vocal patterns and aesthetic intact but adding their own spacey flourishes, such as a heavier emphasis on creepy synth and atonal psuedo-melodies.
This eponymous offering was their only release, and contains only five songs. But luckily, three of 'em are up over 12 minutes, and the other two are well over seven.
THAT'S A LOT OF PROG!!!

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PROG BLOG WEDNESDAYS, PART 8

This Week: MAGMA - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh (1974)


Another installment of creepy prog/zeuhl rulingness, brought to you courtesy of Christian Vander and a wild pack of French jazz geeks. I've talked Magma up at great lengths up in here, so hopefully you're already tuned into their pioneering brand of outer-spacey mathiness. Or maybe you're not. Maybe you like SHITTY music. Which is fine.

If you dig this album, go here and get some more.



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"Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh", 1977:

PROG BLOG WEDNESDAYS, PART 7

This week: ZAO - Z = 7L (1973)


No, I'm not talking about that shitty metalcore band with the same name. THIS Zao was an offshoot of Magma, formed by pianist Francois Cahen and saxophonist Yochk'o Seffer when Christian Vander began taking more creative control over the band. Predictably, Zao's sound is quite similar to that of their parent band, with the main differences being a lighter, bouncier sound and the freaky, quasi-operatic vocals of frontwoman Mauricia Platon. In true Zeuhl fashion, Platon freestyles her vocals on each track, warbling randomly in a style that's not so much a language as a psychedelic exorcism.
The end result is sort of a spaced-out porn soundtrack, chugging along in 9/8 (or weirder) time, replete with some wah-wah and sexy saxophones. Oh, and a crazy cat lady going "DOODLEY-DOODLEY-DOODLEY!" over the whole thing. Every bit as good as it sounds.

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PROG BLOG WEDNESDAYS, PART 5

This week: Dün - Eros (1981)


Sole release from the French Zeuhl/RIO weirdos known as Dün. Though they claimed that their work was inspired by Frank Herbert's Dune series, it is mainly in their imagery and song titles, as what few lyrics can be found on this album are sung in an invented language. The music here is more "Ren Faire" than "outer space", with prominent flute and violin on almost every song. But don't get me wrong: This album still RIPS. Crazy, million-note fills and Zappadelic riffage can be found throughout, with a subtle undercurrent of late-70's funk and free jazz. Eros is all over the place. Unnerving, complex, and more than a little creepy. Essential for fans of obscure prog and/or Frank Herbert. Crazy.

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PROG BLOG WEDNESDAYS, PART 3

This week: MAGMA - ATTAHK (1978)


In case you missed it, you can read a slightly more in-depth study of Magma mastermind Christian Vander and the strange genre he spawned here.

Attahk deepens the Magma mythology, both lyrically and musically, chronicling the further exploits of protagonist Köhntarkösz Köhntarkösz and his battle to leave the Earth and establish a new Utopian society elsewhere in the galaxy. His people, the Kobaïan, are at war with the People of Ork in a nearby galaxy (Ourgon and Gorgo up there are from Ork, apparently), as well as being at odds with the corrupt government of Earth. But it's hard to say, because the whole story is told in the Kobaïan language (which Vander himself invented). But Attakh seems to be mainly concerned with Kobaïan/Ork relations. Or something.
Musically, this album (like any other Magma release) truly SOUNDS like it came from outer space, full of weird time signatures, throbbing bass, kazoos, hyperactive horn sections, and group vocals often pierced by Vander's curious falsetto. The familiar jazz and rock elements are still present, but Magma pumps out some serious funk grooves on Attakh as well, making the overall sound that much more odd and disconcerting. Although this is one of the last releases affiliated with the whole Kobaïan/Zeuhl trip that Magma dwelt in for the duration of the 1970's, it is also one of the best.
Recorded from vinyl with snaps, crackles, and pops still intact. Bonus!

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Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh: Zeuhl, Kobaïan, RIO, and the Strange Mythology of Christian Vander

Above: This guy is a fucking FREAK.

As the 60's drew to a close, the world of rock music was scattering in a million different directions, compelled by a new spirit of innovation and a whole lot of chemically-inspired creativity. Classically trained French drummer and scene outsider Christian Vander, obsessed with John Coltrane and free jazz, went in his own direction, forming a unique musical language that attracted some of the best players in the French music scene. But don't get me wrong here: I mean "unique musical language" quite LITERALLY.

Vander had a story to tell, a story that couldn't be shared from within the confines of modern language. Putting together a large musical collective he called Magma at the tail end of the 1960's, Vander's odd vision of linguistics as a musical tool, space travel, and Utopian societies found a voice.
From Vander's perspective, vocal arrangements in contemporary music needed to be used as accompaniment to instrumental arrangement, and not vice versa. Born from the seeds of scat singing and free-form improvisation, Magma's lyrics took on a life of their own, with Vander and company eventually developing their own language, which he called Kobaïan.
Through the course of several releases in the 1970's, including a self-titled double LP in 1970, 1001° Centigrades in 1971, Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh in 1973, Köhntarkösz in 1974, Üdü Wüdü in 1976, and Attahk in 1978, Magma told a sprawling tale of a small group of spiritually-minded humans in the far future, who must escape from Earth to save their race. These space travellers spoke Kobaïan as well, hence Magma was singing in their native tongue. Vander and Magma's strange ideas soon found popularity in the European prog rock scene of the early 70's, and still engross fans today. Take a look at this fan-created Kobaïan-English dictionary, if you don't believe me.



Magma's unique take on orchestral prog was dubbed Zeuhl, which in Kobaïan means "celestial music". Although I've been listening to Magma off and on for several years (an old friend who happened to be a Linguistics major turned me on to them), I never actually understood what "Zeuhl" meant until I was researching the Japanese Metal/Jazz/Zeuhl band Ruins a couple days ago. Since then, I've been pretty obsessed with it. More on that later.

Below: Magma in the studio.



Magma's influence on the French prog scene became more and more apparent as the 70's rocked on. The term "zeuhl" came to describe a certain type of music, a thundering, often-dissonant cacophony of classically-tinged weirdness practiced by Magma's countrymen Eskaton, Potemkine, and Eider Stellaire. Not all Zeuhl bands sang in invented languages, but it remained a common theme.
One of these bands, Dün, mixed Zeuhl with the mythology of Frank Herbert's novel, Dune, and produced a classic (and hard to find) record called Eros (above, right). Keep an eye out for that sucker on Illogical Contraption real soon.



Magma's revolving-door roster of band members produced its fair share of offshoots and side projects, including Weidorje (above), which featured the bass and keyboard players from Magma. They only managed to put out one self-titled album in 1978 (left), but it is considered a classic of the Zeuhl genre. In fact, "Weidorje" means "celestial wheel" in Kobaïan, and although Weidorje didn't actually sing in Kobaïan, their freestyle hoots and hollers weren't a far stretch.

Another Magma offshoot, Zao (no, not that one), appeared in 1971, releasing their debut album, entitled Z=7L (right), in 1973. Zao was made up of former members of Magma and remained active for over 20 years. In addition, Christian Vander himself formed several more bands over the years (Magma has been on-again off-again since the late 70's), including the aptly-named Christian Vander Trio, The Christian Vander Quarter, and Offering. He remains musically active (and really tripped-out) to this day.

The Zeuhl movement built the foundation for another movement in prog rock in the mid-to-late 70's, known as Rock In Opposition or RIO. Bands like Belgium's Univers Zero, England's Henry Cow, Italy's Stormy Six, and Magma's buddies Art Zoyd took the avant-garde compositions of Vander and his disciples and brandished them as a weapon against the music industry and popular trends of the time. RIO's artists saw disco and punk as threats to musical integrity, and worked outside the business to create some of the most inventive, complex, and original works of their time. The term "Rock In Opposition" was coined as a result of two large music festivals (one in Europe and one in Italy) of the same name, featuring all of the bands listed above and more. Today, RIO is still used to describe a certain sub-genre of prog rock, in reference to such bands as Thinking Plague and Guapo. In fact, modern weirdos Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's slogan, "Rock Against Rock", can be seen as a direct descendent.


Above: Univers Zero's 1979 album Heresie was a defining moment for the RIO movement. Many prog aficionados call it "the darkest album ever recorded" (look for that one on I.C. soon, too).
Check out a track off of Heresie below (shades of Penderecki, anyone?):



While the popularity of Zeuhl and RIO faded in the 1980's, a resurgence appeared courtesy of several Japanese freak-rock bands in the early 90's. The aforementioned Ruins (right - now Ruins Alone) write their lyrics in a completely self-constructed language as do the jazzy dorks in Bondage Fruit, Happy Family, and Shub-Niggurath.
These bands bandy about the term Zeuhl freely, and are quite open in their worship of Christian Vander's weird mythology. Japan's always a step ahead.

3 Ruins songs, live in Tokyo, 2002:


Left: Bondage Fruit.

So where will the Cult of Zeuhl rear it's shaggy, bespectacled head next? It's hard to say, but I hope I don't have to wait much longer.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm in the midst of a pretty heavy Zeuhl obsession at present. Resultingly, I've decided to launch a new weekly feature today: 'Prog Blog Wednesdays'. I'll be posting Zeuhl, RIO, and other weird prog classics from the 70's and beyond every Hump Day for the next couple months, including many of the albums mentioned in this post. You should check out ALL of them.

ZEUHL RULES.

RUINS - BURNING STONE (1992)

Some majorly fucked-up 2-piece prog/jazz/metal/shred/experimental/whatevercore courtesy of Yoshida Tatsuya (drums and high-pitched gibberings) and Sasaki Hisashi (bass and monster vocals). Although Hisashi has since left the band, Tatsuya has continued touring (as Ruins Alone), bringing his one-piece drum tornado freak-out to bewildered fans across the world. Ruins are often referred to as Zeuhl, a subgenre of prog rock pioneered by drummer/vocalist Christian Vander of early-70's French band Magma (more about them on Illogical Contraption soon) in which songwriters invent their own languages for which to construct their music. While Zeuhl was popular in Europe (especially France, which produced further language-inventing acts such as Dun, Art Zoyd, and Zao) in the 70's, Japan picked up on the Zeuhl movement in the late 80's and early 90's, injecting it with a distinct Nipponese dose of speed, extremity, and ridiculousness. Ruins are the ultimate product of this mating process. With strange chunks of folk, thrash, doom, grind, and classical floating to the top of their rapidly-churning stew at any given moment, Ruins keep us guessing on Burning Stone. Luckily, they provide a complete lyrical transcription in the liner notes, helping us solve the mystery with quotes such as: "GDRASSI GUASSIWOH ZEASSI GDRASSIGORRTHO!"

Indeed.

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