My girlfriend just referred to Trevor Dunn as "that guy from John Zorn's band".

...the band she was thinking of? Mr. Bungle

#TrevorDunn #JohnZorn #MrBungle

Morrn 🤘🏻

#JohnZorn is constantly releasing albums with different lineups, but his inner circle has come up with something really special during the pandemic. Recorded in 2020, released a couple of weeks ago, Prologomena brings us a #Classical masterpiece not for the faint of heart. Maybe his best composition of the last 10 years. I was in awe from the first note on. Not to be missed. 10/10.

@brian

https://link.deezer.com/s/31nxdC98zmEdzRhZGo4Gr

#NowPlaying #RandomMusickMayhem #Jazz @jazz #AlbumsOf2025 #Avantgarde

#JohnZorn 🤭

A forgotten treasure (by me). One of the greatest Book of Angels. No doubt! With Tyshawn Sorey on drums.

John Zorn - Flaga: Book of Angels, vol. 27

https://open.spotify.com/album/0ozHBNffIj4lcRNiimFdbP?si=qdYRoca5RF2U_eQTbFpzrg

#music #jazz #johnzorn #bookofangels #tyshawnsorey #pullitzerprize

This account needs more music content. After #MisanthropicMonday i will try out #WeirdWednesday. Yes, i know it's Thursday, but somewhere in the west it's still Wednesday. So bugger off. 😜

https://album.link/de/i/1713208149

#RandonMusickMayhem #JohnZorn #Avantgarde #Jazz

#JohnZorn ~ #Là ... #Bagatelles https://youtu.be/l3OANHjdOAk?si=OrWQagtaxAhoduX5

#TIL how to share a YouTube video at a specific time marker...🤣

It's all about some Post Bop #Klezmer tonight!

Probably the first of my favorite songs from #JohnZorn and his #Masada ensemble.
Also, pretty much one of the first albums of his that I bought along with his Painkiller "Execution Grounds" project. Both blew the top of my head off when I first heard them in 1994.

Regretfully, I've never seen any of the iterations of Masada. I was, however, fortunate enough to catch Painkiller on their first tour through Seattle at Moe's Mo' Rockin' Cafe up on Capitol Hill.

This song "Abidan" off the album "Gimel" is much less frenetic, with significantly less #skronk, and more of a slow jazz-noir burn compared to most of their other work. "Hazor"(the 2nd song after this one) is another slowish, kinda swingin' tune.

https://youtu.be/UE_2pd_rwiA?si=sUWyLeDsmIWV7SBA&t=555

#Jazz #JazzNoir #Klezmer #music

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on #KEXP's #JazzTheatre

John Zorn:
🎵 Akialoa

#JohnZorn

https://open.spotify.com/track/3CPer1wDAH7N7sBDMs2JMu

🎶 show playlist 👇
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3vnTt87jK3SaVb1BQNaldn

🎶 KEXP playlist 👇
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6VNALrOa3gWbk794YuIrwg

IMO, this is the best local band in #LondonOntario currently. Their live show is incredibly energetic and it is amazing how talented they are for such young guys. Their fast and hard synthesis of punk, jazz and funk reminds me of the work of #JohnZorn and #OrnetteColeman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OsLISgmjcE

#carrotcakemilkshake #jazz #freejazz #avantgarde #punk #jazzpunk #experimental #funk #grindcore

Undertaker Please Drive Slow by Shane Parish, released on Tzadik in 2016.

"A long time resident of the Appalachian town of Asheville, North Carolina, Shane Parish is the mastermind behind the cutting edge rock band
Ahleuchatistas. Here he steps out with a remarkable and soulful acoustic solo project that digs deep into Appalachian roots. Taking classic old timey folk songs, Shane has abstracted them in utterly fascinating ways evoking the haunting and brooding world of the American South. At times reminiscent of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, at times of John Cage and Morton Feldman, Shane uses these beautiful songs as launching pads for his creative flights of fancy, at times boiling them down to their very essence. A spiritual project that will keep you riveted from first note to last." — John Zorn

https://shaneparish.bandcamp.com/album/undertaker-please-drive-slow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcwKgeP4hsw&list=RDtcwKgeP4hsw&start_radio=1

#ShaneParish #Tzadik #johnzorn #americanprimitiveguitar #traditionalsongs #folksongs

Abhorrent Expanse – Enter the Misanthropocene Review

By Dear Hollow

How experimental is too experimental? That’s the question Chicago’s Abhorrent Expanse posits. It’s clear from the title: Enter the Misanthropocene enters to play jazz and fuck shit up, and “Bitches Brew” is on its final notes. When the Lord of the Promo Pit designated the quartet as “death-drone,” I was intrigued and gobbled up rights. It was clear from the jump that Abhorrent Expanse was not the death metal act with a mammoth guitar tone I had hoped, but an improvisational free jazz quartet that decides to do extreme metal sometimes, with death metal, grindcore, and, yes, drone metal making short-lived appearances. Pushing the boundary between extreme lofty experimentation and outright nonsense, Enter the Misanthropocene is a sophomore effort that will take you to an abstract and uncompromising world – or straight to the medicine cabinet for an aspirin.

Abhorrent Expanse has a solid lineup, including caliber from Zebulon Pike, Celestiial, Obsequiae, and The Blight – even if its sound feels entirely convoluted. Following the controversial debut Gateways to Resplendence, Enter the Misanthropocene is largely the same, but its scope is larger, significantly reducing its drone content in favor of jazzy noodling, grind intensity, sprawling ambiance, and deconstructed death metal jaggedness. The drone that exists within is a short-lived sprawl that pops up periodically, giving a more abstract feel than its predecessor’s “dissodeath meeting drone metal in a dark alley behind the Kmart” vibe. Forty-eight minutes of whiplash-inducing tonal and tempo shifts, off-key twanging, random stoner sprawls, and an undeserved love for improv awaits – and I need a nap.

Say it with me: improv is bad. I get the whole avant-garde approach that John Zorn would drool over, that an improvised performance is a “never see it the same way twice” kind of deal, but that doesn’t mean it’s good. As we’ve seen with typically good bands like Neptunian Maximalism or Bunsenburner, relying on group chemistry instead of thoughtful songwriting to create a singular experience hardly pans out – and Enter the Misanthropocene is no exception. Moments of avant-garde clarity in which the instruments align shine in the twitching obscure grind (title track, “Assail the Density Matrix,” “Dissonant Aggressors”), short-lived minimalist drone (“Praise for Chaos,” “Dissonant Aggressors,” “Ascension Symptom Acceleration”), haunting ritualism (“Waves of Graves”), and ambient calm (“Kairos”). Death growls are sparse. Enter the Misanthropocene is so free jazz and avant-garde it forcibly drags nonconsenting listeners into what seems like obscenely high art…

…Or incompetent musicianship. Much of Abhorrent Expanse’s sound is rooted in utter nonsense, and one that often gets played really fast. While there’s certainly artistic discomfort aplenty to be found on this record, in which I can see some merit (“Waves of Graves,” “Drenched Onyx”), these are scattered moments among what sound like the plonks and twunks of a novice fiddling with a new guitar at Guitar Center. Atonal noodling and off-beat drumming accounts for the majority of its forty-eight minute runtime, sounding entirely random. The drone-doom moments feel off-beat and misaligned (“Praise for Chaos”), some ambient moments are so subtle and minimalist that they just cover John Cage’s 4’33” for a bit before eventually becoming audible (“Nephilim Disinterred”), and by the end of the ten-minute closer “Prostrate Before Chthonic Devourment” you might feel like you’ve been through a prostrate exam.

The promotion around Abhorrent Expanse relies on similarities to dissonant acts like Portal and Imperial Triumphant – but in order to do that, they’d actually have to write some songs first. Gateways to Resplendence was challenging and avant-garde but anchored to a respectable degree; Enter the Misanthropocene is a leaf on the wind, being blown by one avant-garde gust to another with no semblance of gravity to save it. Its high-art status is a divisive issue, as the directionless noodling can be seen as either a challenging piece of art or four dudes who don’t know how to play their instruments. But isn’t that the nature of art itself? Abhorrent Expanse holds a mirror to art itself, making us question what is drivel and what is erudite – through the improvised off-key noodling of someone who has arguably never picked up a guitar before.

Rating: 1.0/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Amalgam Music
Websites: abhorrentexpanse.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: August 15th, 2025

#10 #2025 #AbhorrentExpanse #AmalgamMusic #AmbientMetal #AmericanMetal #Aug25 #Bunsenburner #Celestiial #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #EnterTheMisanthropocene #FreeJazz #Grindcore #ImperialTriumphant #JohnCage #JohnZorn #NeptunianMaximalism #Noise #Obsequiae #Portal #Review #Reviews #TheBlight #ZebulonPike

Tonight:

First stop at the Stone for a set from Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith playing John Zorn's Suite for Piano. Holy shit, that was some wild, amazing music. Zorn in the audience and hopefully he was as bowled over by Smith's drumming as I was. As electrifying an acoustic piano trio I've ever heard. Marsella playing JZ works all week, wish I could hit em all!

#livemusic #jazz #nyc #thestone #johnzorn

Ava Mendoza/Gabby Fluke-Mogul/Carolina Pérez – Mama Killa Review

By Angry Metal Guy

By: Nameless_n00b_601

The more experimental a piece of music is, the harder it must work to ground its artistic expression in an emotional or compositional core. Dazzling displays of aural innovation or sonic provocation still need a conceptual throughline—something for even the most open-minded listener to latch onto. As a fan of more “challenging” styles, I find there’s a fine line between music that feels like “artistic expression for its own sake” and music that offers “engaging tunes I actually want to listen to.” Mama Killa is the debut improvisational collaborative album from a trio with an impressive musical pedigree, consisting of guitarist Ava Mendoza (Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet, Unnatural Ways), violinist Gabby Fluke-Mogul (Zoh Amba, Ivo Perelman, William Parker), and drummer Carolina Pérez (Hypoxia, Castrator). Named after the Incan goddess of the moon, the album promises “eight tracks of high-volume, riff-based guitar-violin improvisation bolstered by thunderous drumming.” Can this newly formed power trio avoid the common pitfalls of experimental music and deliver over 50 minutes of compelling, instrumental free jazz?

Mama Killa offers a set of compositions that resist easy classification. While “free jazz” is likely the closest label, the sound here is a novel fusion of dissonant aesthetics, ambient impulses, Afro-Latin grooves, and avant-garde metal. I’d point to John Zorn’s more metal-focused offerings, or the most recent Mamaleek albums as potential antecedents, but Mama Killa truly sounds like nothing else. Each player draws from their unique background to craft performances that exist at a stylistic crossroads. Mendoza’s guitar work ranges from off-kilter psychedelic blues riffs, effects-heavy noise, and introspective drone, punctuated by ethereal, tremolo-picked leads. Her ingenuity is matched by Fluke-Mogul, whose violin playing is both versatile and unpredictable. She uses an array of techniques and effects pedals to summon everything from shrieking wails to rhythmic plucking and somber melodies. Pérez, meanwhile, brings her death metal roots to the drum kit, incorporating double bass gallops and anchoring the string players with a solid, rock-oriented foundation. While her style may lack the finesse and tight precision of a traditional jazz drummer, her command of dynamics, fluidity, and aggression elevate the string pyrotechnics of her bandmates.

The album and its track list are held together by a close attention to dynamics, allowing the listener to distinguish peaks from valleys in what might otherwise feel like formless terrain. High-intensity, riff-driven tracks like raucous opener “Puma Punku,” the black metal-tinged “We Will Be Millions” and the krautrock-inspired “Nowhere but Here” are spaced out by slower, more contemplative pieces that highlight different elements of the trio’s artistry. “Trichocereus Pachanoi” places Pérez in the spotlight with an undulating drum solo that eventually gives way to Sunn O)))-like waves of guitar drone—a motif expanded in the tense and unsettling “Mama Huaco.” Meanwhile, “Partera Party” centers Fluke-Mogul, who begins with a sparse, exhilarating violin solo before easing into an almost playful groove once the drums enter. This sense of contrast lends Mama Killa a strong pacing. Whenever the trio’s intensity hits a peak, it is soon tempered by several minutes of minimalist reflection. While some of the quieter moments occasionally linger a bit too long, the album overall offers a surprisingly well-balanced listening experience, especially for a genre so rooted in unpredictability.

It helps that Mama Killa features a raw, no-frills production style that not only highlights its careful use of dynamics but also brings sonic clarity to its adventurous performances. Legendary engineer Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Swans, Boredoms) captures everything from the subtle hiss of Mendosa’s amps to the soft timbre of Pérez’s cymbal wash, placing the listener firmly in the room without relying on studio tricks that might dilute the emotion of these pieces. This allows the gorgeous violin melody of “Amazing Graces” and the slow-burn, post-rock build of the closer “Mama Coco” to truly resonate. Unfortunately, the production does highlight a somewhat weak vocal performance on 2 tracks (“Puma Punku” and “Nowhere but Here”), where improvised blackened yelps appear to distract from the stellar instrumental parts. This is ultimately a small complaint, but it does detract slightly from an otherwise impressive work.

Mama Killa is an exciting debut that manages to both chart new sonic territory and entertain while doing so. It certainly stands as a challenging work which listeners might not be keen to partake in regularly, but for those willing to embark, Mama Killa offers a unique and varied work of experimental music with a sly thematic core. It’s an album where each contributor’s artistic voice is clearly discernible, and their cohesion elevates this collection of improvised music beyond typical genre pitfalls. If the trio finds time amid their busy musical schedules to release another project, it will be exciting to see how they might further develop an already compelling formula.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: Lossless
Label: Burning Ambulance Music
Website: mendozaflukemogulperez.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: July 11th, 2025

#2025 #AvaMendozaGabbyFlukeMogulCarolinaPérez #Castrator #FreeJazz #Hypoxia #JohnZorn #Jul25 #Mamaleek #Progressive #Review #Reviews #Sunn #SunnO_ #Swans

🔊 ¡Es jueves de Rebelión Sónica! 🔊🔥

Hoy, #PainKiller y #ChaosMagick toman el control en #RebeliónSónica 14, con los discos 2025 de dos proyectos liderados por #JohnZorn.

🕜 10 y 22 horas

🎙 @hector_aravena_

@Tzadik_label / @RealMickHarris1 / @nagualsite

🐦🔗 https://farside.link/x.com/rockaxisoficial/status/1933162371465478626#m

Groovy for a nice, quiet night in...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IVzWzsJnd8

#goddess #magick #johnzorn #jazz #funk #progressive #ethereal

John Zorn - The Big Gundown - Zorn plays Morricone - 1985
#Music #AlbumSuggestions #NowPlaying #NowListening
#JohnZorn #TheBigGundownZornPlaysMorricone

@tenuity.bsky.social

https://youtu.be/1sMMGsv1Mmg?si=Zte7Efe1HShnU5QP

#JohnZorn

#nowplaying, the mellow side of John Zorn…

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-dr-jazz-podcast/id1267103022?i=1000415664447

#jazz #podcast #johnzorn #avantgardemusic

Tonight: second stop = I mean, one of the best live bands out there, for FREE, sitting on the floor right behind one of the best guitarists on the planet. Of course, it was amazing. New Masada Quartet (Zorn, Lage, Roeder, Wolleson) at the Drawing Center, free show celebrating an exhibit of John Zorn's drawings. A something-special only-in-NYC experience.

#nycfreaks #livemusic #nyc #johnzorn #newmasadaquartet #julianlage