SLIM TWIG MAKES MUSIC IN TORONTO, HE SHOOTS THE SHIT HERE.





Monday, October 7, 2013

ZACHT AUTOMAAT 2xLP ON CALICO CORP.


I'm beyond stoked to let you know that Calico Corp. (the label I run with Meg Remy, you Twigdummy) will finally make good on one of our earliest label-intentions and release a resplendent 2XLP compilation of Zacht Automaat's finest moments.

Zacht Automaat is the project of Carl Didur (along with Mike McLean) whom you might recognize as having been wizard-organist in the Slim Twig Band. He produced the Secret To Your Pleasure 7" as well as the Twig portion of the Statement 12". He also wrote the music for album hi-lites 'Shroud By The Sheetful' and 'Bold Is The White Ship'. I've been trying to get this guy on for years now in other words, cuz he's frickin' brilliant.

I am as proud of my (modest) work on this album as I am any other Twig related record. As mentioned earlier, the idea for this record was largely the impetus behind starting Calico Corp. I hope Carl is not reading this when I saw the record is a MASTERPIECE yo.

Check out this commercial we've made, have a listen to the record, order it, what have you...



SOME MORE WORDS ON THIS THING:

The ZA sound is one entirely difficult to pin down. While they've clearly (and admittedly) spent years worshipping at the altar of Soft Machine and their Canterbury cohorts, part of ZA's great ability is to seamlessly and originally fuse sundry outsider musical strains. Echoes of Sun Ra, White Noise, Terry Riley, the Residents, Faust and baroque psych can be heard in their colourful works. Their innovative treatment of acoustic instruments (drums, piano, guitar, glockenspiel, flute, saxophone, etc...) to achieve otherworldly and synthetic tones swings at times between the eclecticism of pre-Autobahn era Kraftwerk, and the pop-quirk of Joe Meek.

The barrage of signifiers in the previous paragraph does little to acquaint you with just how exuberant and alive the Automaat listening experience can be. Their adherence to structured composition and the elated sense of melody they bring to their music is at odds with the academic persona that often comes with the notion of experimental musicians. Also to consider is just how modern their music can seem, putting them less in debt to their influences and more in line with a tradition of accessible yet innovative music making. Fans of modern music may see parallels with the lo-fi modernism of late Broadcast or Black Dice at their most accessible.

At their best, Zacht Automaat make music for all ages - for the child whose sense of wonder is easily inspired by the playful and exotic in music, to the refined older music fan who seeks a sense of the cosmic (or kosmiche) in their listening. Truly, ZA is for everyone.

AND A QUOTE FROM MEG'S BLOG:

'Order this 2 x LP masterpiece and become a part of history! For real, you could put your kid through college by reselling this sucker in like 20 years. But your kid will just have to find their own way through school cos you'll never part with your copy. It will have gotten you through so many hard times, been the soundtrack for joyous times...you will cherish your warn copy and maybe, just maybe, pass it down to your kid when you pass on. Though its more likely you will be buried with your copy.' - Meg Remy

LISTEN TO / DOWNLOAD / ORDER THE DAMN THING!

1 comment:

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