Based in Leverkusen, Amsterdam – band leader and vocalist Christopher Klassen‘s home town – Sore TappaZ plays Klassen‘s original compositions as well as and the music of Frank Zappa.
(more…)
Recorded Live at Incontri Musicali a Pergola – Sala dell’Abbondanza, Pergola (PU-Italy) on October 26th, 2008.
The superimposition of two sounds with different pitches. It was considered dysechia: an unpleasant and disagreeable sound. Yet time and again things that have been considered foreign synchronically have diachronically proven to be decisive for the most important revolutions in artistic languages. This is the inspiration behind the Duo Disecheis, oriented towards dissonance viewed broadly as a contrast: convergence-divergence.
This month I have put together a special mixtape for Zappa/Mothers Die-Hards with many of my favorite instrumental, semi-orchestral, and orchestral Zappa works – many of which I’m mixing here for the first time – from some of the best of Zappa‘s individual bands to the Petit Wazoo Band to his Grand Wazoo Orchestra to The Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Orchestra to the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra to the Ensemble Modern to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to The Orchestra of Our Time to Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest & Cappella Amsterdam – punctuated with interviews by and about Zappa from Kent Nagano and David Ocker and Studs Terkel.
(more…)
A beautiful arrangement by Orchestra Percussion, the actual concert was in Meyzieu, France, november 2009 – I especially love the extreme slow tempo. Like this? You might also want to see RDNZL, Let’s Make The Water Turn Black, We Are Not Alone, or Peaches!
ZAPPATiKA! is a British-born Frank Zappa tribute band of international musicians who presently live near Amsterdam, Holland, that tour all over Europe playing their own original and very alternative music to live audiences, sometimes performing Frank Zappa tribute shows. Formed in the late 1990s by Keltik minstrel McINNES and bionic Indo-Dutch drummer BATTATUTTI – their intention was to perform Frank Zappa’s music and further develop and further modernize certain concepts and rhythmic and melodic principles contained in Zappa’s enormous catalogue of compositions as well as their own original compositions.
(more…)
For those who think Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa is a cold, “note-by-note” band, incapable of improvisation, I’m obviously not going to alter your view with a few posts, and neither would I endeavour to try. For those willing to look past original preconceptions, though, might be pleasantly surprised, as I was, when I dug deeper into this band.
(more…)
Since 2006, the goal of Montreux Prog Nights has been to to promote progressive music in Switzerland, especially in Montreux, by organizing three or four events each year in various venues. In 2009, the band FiDOplaysZAPPA performed a Zappa Night on January 23rd, while French band Lazuli also performed selected Zappa compositions on November 7th. Both performed at Ned’s Music Club.
(more…)
As a big fan of all Zappa and Zappa-related recordings, I’ve accumulated an immense number of live concerts, shows, and radio broadcasts via Zappateers and purchased elsewhere (far, far too many to name in this post). Among them, certain shows and recordings stand out as being exceptionally good.
(more…)
Panzerballett is a German ensemble that uses “an innovative, hard ‘n’ heady mixture of jazz, funk and metal, crossing complex polyrhythms with metal guitar riffing, funky grooves and jazz improvisation”. In the clip above, from Zappanale 19, they perform a medley of Zappa songs including “Oh No”, “City of Tiny Lites”, and “Evelyn, A Modified Dog”. Check out their website to hear some their other musical works.
(more…)
Based in Ottawa, Ontario – The Hungry Freaks are English Canada’s only Mothers of Invention era coverband, combining personal and faithful renditions of the early music of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention with their own fresh interpretation (as the video, above, live at Barstorm 7, in Finch, ON, demonstrates). Click here to hear their versions of such classics as “Magic Fingers”, “I’m So Happy I Could Cry”, and “DogMeat” on their MySpace page.
(more…)
