{"title":"Zs","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"zs-xe","title":"Zs - XE","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4020678438\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/zstheband.bandcamp.com\/album\/xe\"\u003eXe by Zs\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eZs is devoid of genre and unclassifiable. Since 2000, founder Sam Hillmer has remained its purveying constant, and with the addition of loose-limbed, meditative percussionist Greg Fox (Liturgy, Guardian Alien, Man Forever), and virtuosic avant-classical guitarist and composer Patrick Higgins, the band has found its epochal lineup. The trio’s vision is crystallized on Xe, Zs’ first full-length featuring the new trio, and first proper since 2010’s critically acclaimed New Slaves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHillmer, Fox and Higgins—three supremely heavy sages who exchange their pulsating phraseology with a mind-blowingly telepathic bent—in one room, nailing Xe in one miraculous live take, manned by Higgins and noted A-list producer Henry Hirsch (Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, Mick Jagger) at the boards in Hudson, New York’s Future-Past Studios.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe music on Xe even transcends artistic mediums, influencing renowned visual artist Tauba Auerbach, who believed Zs was examining the same structural concerns as her own work. She created several copies of two 3D printed steel sculptures derived from the mathematical varieties of helix known as the Z helix and S helix which she then arranged and photographed in various configurations for the Xe album art. From these, she also developed an original 3D typeface to construct ZS and XE on the interior of the packaging. The album’s minimalist, esoteric vibes aligned perfectly with Auerbach’s mind-bending and shadowy metallic sculptures. The artist attests to have never worked so hard on a record cover, nor gotten so much out of doing so.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike a bat out of futuristic and primal hell, Xe clangs and clatters out of the gate with “The Future of Royalty,” setting a sinister tone with a pummeling march of doomed knob-twiddling electro-shocks. Ghostly transmittals burst through cascades of hyper-distorted serrations on brutal synth twister “Wolf Government,” not unlike the cataclysmic solar systems of composer Ben Frost – whom Fox has also collaborated with. There’s the fractured sci-fi percolations of the electro-sax futureworld of “Weakling” and “Corps”. Xe’s jaw-dropping sonic architecture is manifested on the eighteen-minute title track, a controlled, yet chaotic, ecstatic marathon thick with its trademark crafted quiet\/loud heavy repetition, bleeding of tense, throbbing logic that erupt into euphoric explosions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere might be no other way to describe Zs than as the deepest of DIY die-hard spiritualists exploring a genre-defying unheard music free of compromise and commercial leanings. Those aesthetics are illuminated on Xe. “The record starts with an explosion of caustic guitar noise and blazing drums and is then followed by a 7-minute desert of noise, finally, 10 to 12 minutes in you get a pulse,” Hillmer says. “No effects, no editing, nothing done in post, just a snap shot of three guys in a room who worked really hard on some music for a long time. That’s what we are bringing, and we really hope people can get into it, BUT! If they can’t, on a certain level, good. It’s alternative music for people who are seeking an alternative, and with this crisp domesticated indie\/EDM work on the rise, there may be more and more people seeking that. If so, y’all know where to find us!”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667158790367,"sku":"LP-NS-062","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667158888671,"sku":"CD-NS-062","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667158823135,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667158855903,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-8.24.29-AM.png?v=1703788841"},{"product_id":"zs-grain","title":"Zs - Grain","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=788763719\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/zstheband.bandcamp.com\/album\/grain-2\"\u003eGrain by Zs\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe new Zs lineup (Sam Hillmer, Greg Fox and Patrick Higgins) sounds very much like a new band, at least as evidenced by the Grain EP. The two side-length tracks (coming in at a total of 42-minutes) bear the marks of Zs’ sound – repeated phrases, looped or played in situ; buried drones and harsh electronic tones – but it does sound very much like a new band.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere’s an extended ambience to the album that trick perceptions of time. Glitches and waves that last only a minute or three somehow feel as if they’ve gone on throughout the whole record. Something very mysterious goes on within the grooves. Hillmer and Higgins (who also arranges Bach for guitar and has composed for the Mivos string quartet) teamed up to create Part One of Grain while Greg Fox (Man Forever, Guardian Alien) built Part Two. The album was beautifully mastered by Heba Kadry of the Lodge. It’s a great listen and it’s also an inventive segue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeatured Artists:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSam Hillmer\u003cbr\u003e\nPatrick HIggins\u003cbr\u003e\nGreg Fox\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667163476191,"sku":"LP-NS-037","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667163541727,"sku":"CD-NS-037","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667163508959,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667163574495,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a4069817658_16.jpg?v=1703789041"},{"product_id":"zs-score","title":"Zs - Score","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2374516240\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/zstheband.bandcamp.com\/album\/score-the-complete-sextet-works-2002-2007\"\u003eScore - The Complete Sextet Works: 2002 - 2007 by Zs\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeptember 2012 New York City band Zs celebrates 10 years of being a band with the release of Score – The Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007. Zs has been described with a dizzying array of musical vocabularies, and has performed alongside an equally dizzying complement of colleagues and collaborators ranging fromThrobbing Gristle’s Genesis P. Orridge, to Roscoe Mitchell, toChristian Wolf, not to mention hundreds of comrades from the Brooklyn DIY scene, that has been home to Zs’ myriad incarnations and musical and artistic tangents. Belonging nowhere and everywhere, Zs has absorbed the editorial space of Howard Stern andAlex Ross alike. In 10 years of activity, the band has changed in countless ways without ever changing a fierce commitment to inscrutable aesthetics and execution crafted to provoke reflection and challenge assumption in the consumption of music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Zs first formed the sextet, the band operated as a composers collective who played their own compositions. All members of the band huddled over sheet music on music stands illuminated by floodlights. The band was known for ensemble style rather than individual styles of the players, and developed a particular reputation for a near pathological commitment to unison execution of counter intuitive rhythms at an ear splitting volume, or at a virtually inaudible volume. Additionally, the band wore uniforms, a way of drawing attention away from the people playing in the band, and toward the group responsible for the monolithic rhythms and harmonies Zs spun out relentlessly at early shows. This stands in stark contrast to the emphasis on individual style found in Zs’ recent work. That said, this music is important in the development of Zs as it articulates the formation of the aesthetic and formal vocabulary that would form the underpinning for all future journeys the band would take.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt present Zs remains committed to constant change in method and stasis in intention – different means, people, and aesthetics, always meant to instigate questioning and challenge preconception. The band is working on writing their 3rd full length record and an EP, both due out in 2013. In the mean season, dive into the early world of Zs with Score – The Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667167211743,"sku":"CD-NS-027","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667167146207,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667167178975,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/homepage_large.bf2ea24a.jpg?v=1703789111"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.northern-spy.com\/collections\/zs.oembed","provider":"Northern Spy Label Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}