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Tonight we feature Jethro Tull's latest release The Zealot Gene, released 28 January 2022.
The Zealot Gene is the 22nd studio album by the British rock band Jethro Tull, released on 28 January 2022 by Inside Out Music.[1][2] Nearly five years in production, it is their first studio album since The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003), and their first of all original material since J-Tull Dot Com (1999), marking the longest gap between the band's studio albums.
The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 9, becoming Jethro Tull's first UK top ten album since 1972.
The album originated in January 2017, when vocalist and flautist Ian Anderson started to write new songs and how a new album would take shape. Early into the process, he decided that it was to be a Jethro Tull album because the line-up of the group at that time had become the longest lasting in its history, but had not been involved on a studio recording under its name.[3] It was a productive time, and seven tracks were recorded in March of that year. Further work on the album was put on hold in order for Anderson and the band to finish touring commitments in 2018 and 2019, and Anderson felt it would have been unfair to have the group back in the studio during the small amounts of down time.[3] Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, in early 2021 Anderson "gave up hope" and decided to put down his parts to the remaining five songs alone at his home studio.[3] These last five songs are acoustic based and without drums, partly because Hammond was unable to record at home. The band recorded their individual parts in a similar manner, leaving Anderson to assemble the various tracks to form a complete song. By July 2021, the album was complete and delivered to Inside Out.[3]
The Zealot Gene is the first Jethro Tull studio album to feature an entirely new line-up (other than Anderson), with guitarist Florian Opahle (who left the band between its recording and release), bassist David Goodier, keyboardist John O'Hara, and drummer Scott Hammond replacing four-fifths of The Jethro Tull Christmas Album lineup–Martin Barre, Jonathan Noyce, Andrew Giddings and Doane Perry respectively. It is also the first album since This Was (1968) not to involve Barre in any capacity, as he was not asked to return when Anderson reformed Jethro Tull.
Our second featured new release this week is Anthology of Experimental Music from Japan.
Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst) for providing us with a copy of this release.
Modern-day
noise music has escaped the preserve of academics and avant-garde
thinkers, uniting conservatory-trained and untutored participants from
the worlds of punk, jazz, metal, contemporary classical, electronic
music, and sound art in an exuberant and egalitarian collision. While
noise conjures up the image of a cacophonous maelstrom of sound,
contemporary improvisers utilize a much broader tonal palate, often
offsetting abrasive textures with environmental sound, field recordings,
and even silence. This is especially true in Japan, which has become a
global center for the genre. Artists including Haino Keiji, Merzbow,
Ōtomo Yoshihide, and Hijōkaidan rank among the scene’s most respected
and influential names. So synonymous, in fact, is the country with this
style of music that the term “Japanoise” was coined to provide a
convenient catch-all. Some of the elements of traditional Japanese music
seem to a novice like mere “noise” and have clear parallels in modern
experimental music: a relative absence of harmony; the dissonant tonal
clusters produced by banks of shō mouth organs in the court music called
gagaku; the spluttering, wheezing, trills and flutter-tonguing of the
shakuhachi; the stop-start rhythms, droning, repetitive vocals, and
shrill, unmelodious flute of nō and
kyōgen drama; the strident, uartertone jōruri narration and plink-plonk
samisen that accompany bunraku puppet theater; and the gaping silences
and austere arpeggios plucked out on traditional string instruments like
the koto and biwa. No wonder a music coming from the merging of such
tradition with new music developments from the West had to take its
direction to something “other”.
David McMahon
This anthology of experimental music from Japan showcases the young generation of musicians alongside established names and provides an insight into the current experimental scene, confirming the adventurous character of the Japanese music research.
credits
Edited by ©Unexplained Sounds Group
Co-curated by Raffaele Pezzella and Farabi Toshiyuki Suzuki
Mastered by Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst)
sonologyst.com
Cover image: “Fine Wind, Clear Morning” by Katsushika Hokusai
unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com
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