Subsound Records / LP/CD/DL / 2025
The last time I attended a Zu concert was 14 years ago. They performed at Hydrozagadka, with Otto Von Schirach, a breakcore-IDM madman from the US, as the opening act. What do I remember to this day, apart from the immense professionalism and, of course, the solid implosion of that evening? Well, Otto joined in on vocals during the main performance and together they totally blew the place apart. It was an event that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Of course, Zu’s work accompanied me long before this revelation and is still with me today, providing the soundtrack to reality at varying frequencies. In addition to their heavy (like Trump’s conscience) sound and undeniably great talent, Z’s members impress me with their extremely flexible approach to creation. Since 1997, they have been uncompromisingly drawing from all available sources — without a stick up their ass, without arrogance, and with great humility, they allow their material to be twisted, distorted, and used by the musicians they collaborate with (and there are many, as you probably know), gracefully vibrating with what is created in the process.
The same is truely the case regarding the collaboration with Ruins, which is now a one-man entity driven by the unsettling arms and tireless throat of Tatsuya Yoshida. They got along so well that they’ve decided to go on tour with the lineup as follows: Tatsuya on percussion and vocals, Massimo on bass, and Luca on saxophone and electronics. The recording from their last gig at the Jazz Is Dead festival in Turin in 2024 has been immortalized, and that’s what I want to tell you about. From a very interesting interview with Massimo in The Tonearm, I learned that the conditions on the JID stage, both in terms of audio and digital recording equipment, were top-notch, and Michael Centrone, who was talking to Pupillo at the time, called the RuinsZu hybrid a “precise collision,” and I think that description is on the spot in every way. Besides, this fruitful Japanese-Italian friendship has been going on since the 1990s and is binding by virtue of prescription.
The album consists of 12 tracks, which start with Gravestone and end with Solar Anus, providing the perfect backdrop for some kind of mad rush, even if the whole thing seems exceptionally coherent for the aforementioned trio. Yoshida is consistently bold and unpredictable, singing incomprehensible words in a language known only to himself, as if Patton were sitting on his right shoulder and Biafra on his left, whispering the most powerful spells in his ear, which in turn corresponds very well with hisefforts on the drums. No, ladies and gentlemen, this is not just any drummer, but a distinguished warrior who wreaked havoc on stage when I was two years old and listened to Majka Jeżowska, somewhere between the Jurassic and Triassic periods. Pupillo doesn’t spare his Jaydee Supernatural, and very dark, low notes jump out from underneath the strings of hiscustomized guitar in an extremelenergetic way, intertwining in a melodic braid with Mai’s baritone, roug-sounding saxophone. Additionally, as Massimo mentioned, their concert in Turin was preceded by a Godflesh show, which made the guys a bit more fired up than usual. The album, which was created as a result of and in the presence of the above factors, is therefore absolutely fucking awesome and worth every second of your life. Amen.Oh, I almost forgot. We are supporting the ZU concert in September during the Avant Art Festival. They will be performing at Hydrozagadka in Warsaw together with the sweeties from Death Goals and the tough guys (hihi) from Thaw. See you there!
released April 18, 2025
Marta Podoska
