V/A - Zenial Reworked (2003)

Lukasz Andrzej Szalankiewicz is a Polish digital sound designer and multimedia collaborator who has worked since 1994 under the name Zenial and, later, also as Palsecam. Continuing the tradition begun with last year's (highly recommended) "Reworked" for Black Faction, a collection of artists from around the world have a go at Zenial's original material.

Here the tracks run the gamut from minimalism to noise. The first few, collaborations with Kasper T. Toeplitz and Maciek Szymczuk, are subtle enough - full of digital crickets, restrained noise and melodies, glitch rhythms and steady electronic hum. Then KK. Null rudely awakens anyone who might have been lulled to sleep with an unforgiving swathe of noise. Andrew Lagowski's first track offers more blips, smears and bass but the second (as well as the following Andrew Duke & Zenial track) moves into subliminal ambient territory. Vidna Obmana wraps windy textures around a repetitive bass/rhythm line while Amir Baghiri's near ten minutes gradually becomes one of his own "Yalda" tracks replete with tribal drumming and seething washes.

Two of Zenial's tracks (three are credited solely to him) are relatively tame, crackling and cooing tiny rhythmic melodies and murmurs while the other juxtaposes truncated Hip-Hop samples with electronic abstractions. Jason Wietlespach & Jon Mueller (both of the Crouton Music collective) add saxophone and found sound sort of percussion to the electronic sputtering while Tetsuo Furudate plays with deep gong-like tones. Vivo are a label to watch from here on [brainwashed.com]

1. Kasper T Toeplitz & Zenial - Van Helsing Froz
2. Maciek Szymczuk & Zenial - Zenial's Theme Remix
3. K.K. Null - Echoes From Lamberton Remix
4. Andrew Lagowski - Cyclosynapsia Remix
5. Andrew Lagowski - Aktyb7ff Remix
6. Andrew Duke & Zenial - IB7: Ludojad
7. Vidna Obmana - Palsecam Theme Recycled
8. Amir Baghiri - Ilustracja #1 / E-nimalic Remix
9. Zenial - Sanok 13
10. Zenial - Zenzo
11. Jason Wietlespach, Jon Mueller & Zenial - Angst
12. Zenial - Hippi
13. Tetsuo Furudate - Hamlet Remix
14. Zenial - Untitled
15. Zbigniew Karkowski - Sunset Remix [multimedia avi by Neon/Piotr Nierobisz]

Design by Krzysztof Slaby
Released by Vivo Records in 2003

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Zeni Geva - Desire for Agony (1993)

"Desire for Agony, by Japcore refuseniks Zeni Geva, sounds like an assemblage of all the most implosive moments of the past decade's rock, linking Cop-era Swans to death metal's first masterpiece, Death's 1988 Leprosy album, right up to the abstract sculptures of Caspar Brotzmann Massaker." Jakubowski, The Wire (April 1994)

"The Albini-helmed Desire for Agony is an exercise in guitar brutality and avant-extreme noise execution. However, it is not as directional in its attack; that is to say, Desire for Agony is a bit more oblique, jazzy even, at least in notational structure. Either way, there is no suppressing or sublimating KK Null's devastating guitar work -- not to mention his Samurai war vocals. Having developed his morbid fascination many years before, what with early album titles like Autofuck, How to Kill, and Skullfuck Live, Null certainly keeps the spirit -- Mishima-like -- alive with tracks like the titular "Desire for Agony" and "Autopsy Love," the latter of which steamrolls like Motorhead meets King Crimson (...) Desire for Agony, as with any Zeni Geva release, is about as intense as humanly possible". Patrick Kennedy, All Music Guide

K.K. Null: vocals and guitar

Mitsuro Tabata: guitar

Eito Noro: drums

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