You hear Zukanican before you see them. A haunting trumpet call announces their
presence, even though they may already be miles away. Since the advent of the
hydrophone, researchers have been amazed at the many sounds emanating from the
un-scene depths of Liverpool. Hooting, high-pitched shrieks and low-end grumbles;
songless roars and late-nite rituals - Merseyside’s best kept secret is well and
truly out of the bag. Carbon-dating has failed to provide an exact origination point
for the Zukanican, although some archeologists have claimed recorded links to the
likes of The Soft Machine, Sun Ra, Beefheart and Can. Others have suggested a more
recent ancestry connecting them to the Bablicon lineage. James Pagella and Domino
Nagasaki are the duel (sic), preening percussionists, performing stratospherical
rolls and loops through the sonic forest canopy for the hypgnotic pleasure of the
mesmerised throng. Cosmic slopping-out blues course through the troughs and funnels,
gouged out by the heavy metal spider funk released by Tom Sumnall’s trusty hunting
bass. Bromide high rhythm rivulets race each other across the burning prison van’s
safety glass, sketching out the Spanish trumpeter Phil Lucking’s contorted visage.
In the temple of The Living Brain, power grows as Dr. Harry 'Lazily Spun' Sumnall
becomes adept at copying almost any sound they hear – including barking dogs,
burglar alarms, the blows of an axe, and even camera motor drives! But this does
not mean the machinations of Zukanican are without an order or a pattern. The Zuk,
like all other creatures, makes sounds to attract the opposite sex. Flashing their
courting code, a female cues in on the timing of the flashes, and responds with a
‘Here I am’ flash at the interval appropriate to her species. The male playa
recognises her silent invitation and flies to her on the divine wind of one of one
time Spiritualized brass blower, Ray Dickaty’s too pure interventions.
Forthcoming Gigs
Sun 18 May - Leeds, Brudenell Social Club, Chinchilla fest w/Quack Quack, aPAtT
Discography
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'Horse Republic' CD (Pickled Egg Records Egg 60) 'Horse Republic' is Zukanican's debut full-length release. Officially released on July 17th, the album is available now, exclusively from Pickled Egg. "The latest album by sonic manipulators Zukanican is a sprawling and dynamic work that builds on the atmosphere created by their "E 5number" EP, taking it one step further to produce a wholly satisfying and genre-defying collection of music that takes in elements of Sun Ra, Rollerball, Funkadelic, and early Gong, mixing all together in an exhilarating musical stew, full of goodness and incredibly tasty. Just as you start thinking "Can it get any Better?", it does, the outstanding "Where Are The Casualties?" distilling the perfect blend of Zukanican magic, including a wonderfully realised change of head space (about 5 minutes in ) that opens up space in the song creating a blissful sound that slowly disperses into nothing" [Ptolemaic Terrascope] "Areas of free form ectoplasm within shifting structures. Ghostly phosphorescent footsteps lead through darkened corridors of atomized attic space and hoot owl operatics. They want to be trippy; they liquefy the arboretum in return for gracious snakes and apparitions. The opening Bug Hunter is a moody free jazzy thing like an aroused Tower Recordings. Thingyo is tight woozy prog-pop with giddy female vocals sounding like a wailing outtake from latter day Slapp Happy. Trawling for Horses feels like an old Ken Nordine backing band tuning up in a haunted swamp with Moondog until dervishes start to dance generating large dust devils that develop into small tornadoes. Shake Hands is like noir jazz boiled down to pure steam and vaporous mystery" [George Parsons, Dream Magazine] "Their experimentally-minded music has a smoother shoe-gaze vibe than you might expect, but with plenty twists to inspire the imagination. For example: ‘Bug Hunter’ gives me, an aeroplane engine in peril; an alarm in the mist; a snake in tiring spasm; an elastic band in constant fluctuation. ‘Thingyo’has a hobby-horse pitter-patter with a Lick Decals weave and skwitch as well as some petrified brass. ‘Trawling For Horses’ has a bean can-rattle, a native ritual shakedown getting closer from the middle distance. ‘Ringa Roga’ projects a scritty-wubble psych submarinal darter, while ‘Vague & Nebulous’ has a metallic, prismic swash. A fascinating band" [The Vanity Project] 'Thingyo' (MP3) 'Leak winks' (MP3) Download Horse Republic Listen to Horse Republic on Last.fm |
UK: £10.00
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'E 5number' 10" mini LP (Pickled Egg Records Egg 51) "Theremin battery, skippy keys, s-bending bass, drill pattern drums, siren organ in continuum, other pulses muscling in on the action, a diversion into free-funk with sci-fi white noise cutting across. This is merely track one. Sax skronks, flights of intense fancy, you can imagine Acid Mothers’ Cotton Casino wanting to collaborate with this lot, but would be hard pressed to make it more dynamic than it already is, or cram much more in than is already there. This is a jammed door-way of sound" [Vanity Project] "Lively and spirited instrumental music from these UK madcaps. One might almost call it a typical Pickled Egg release, and if you've heard Bablicon you'll know what I mean. The band comprise two percussionists, a bass player, a trumpeter, plus electronics and a keyboard - mostly what they do is swooping electronic effects, backed up by a very clever rhythm section who can execute complex time signatures and funky, danceable bass riffs. Really jolly stuff. They come from Liverpool, where last time I looked, Frank Zappa continues to be held in some high esteem; if you like the late-period Zappa big bands, who played every note perfectly in high-sheen drop-forge precision arrangements and at very high speeds, then chances are you'll enjoy this also. I'd certainly take this kind of musical funnery over Stereolab" [Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector] "This 6-song 10" mini LP features only a bit over 26 minutes worth of music, but these Liverpool lads make the most of their time. The first track, 'SOMB', is a progressive collision between Allen Ravenstein keyboards and rubbery space funk that becomes quite insistent as it burns up in the atmosphere. The second one, 'Medallion', is a slinky dub-jazz with a rhythmic core that would have pleased Van Vliet himself. 'Lack of Signage' is a jazz combo scattered on shifting tonal tidal effects, as time signatures slide and then coalesce around a nearly Sun Ra groove. Side two kicks off with the multifaceted time signature skitter and bump of 'Pay Never'. Soon we are floating out of out seats and a slow intensification shifts the light as free jazz fragments flutter by like psychedelic moths attracted by the fire on 'Moonstew', before it's time to go. 'Dust from a Goose' ends things with bongo fury and beatnik mayhem as saxophones are strangled and bass fingerprints are left on the cooling corpse" [George Parsons, Dream Magazine] "Somewhere in the hazy fog up yonder, a strange brew is taking shape... in this veiled but crafted modern day exposition of 'Trout Mask Replica', as we go flip yer wig time across 6 tracks of head-melting frenetic gamesmanship from Scouse space cadets Zukanican, who by our reckoning exist in a different dimension than normal folk. Highly lysergic stuff, ostensibly out there and out of sight and running, like Bablicon doing a Coltrane / Reich crossover appreciation, with a thoroughly out-of-it Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band adding the backing, and the space dub aesthetic of Bill Laswell floating perilously in the ether. Alarming stuff, across six tracks, Zukanican take you to places you've only briefly visited in nightmares, so unreal and warping that you are forced to keep checking out of the window for re-assurance that you're still within pinching distance of reality. Daunting but delightfully deranged" [Mark Barton, Losing Today] 'S.O.M.B.' (MP3) 'Medallion' (MP3) 'Pay Never' (MP3) Download E5number Listen to E5number on Last.fm |
UK: £6.50
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Reviews
Ptolemaic Terrascope
Vanity Project 'Horse Republic'
Vanity Project 'E5number'
Fakejazz
Splendid Ezine
Dream Magazine
Losing Today
Foxy Digitalis
Links
Zukanican's own website
Peripheral Anomaly (live photos)
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