Fabrication Defect

Tom Ze | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 15, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B00000AG9N
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #318,177 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #94 in Music > World Music > Latin Music > Brazilian > Tropicália

Track Listings

1. Defect 1: Gene

2. Defect 2: Curiosidade

3. Defect 3: Politicar

4. Defect 4: Emere

5. Defect 5: O Olso Do Lago

6. Defect 6: Estericar

7. Defect 7: Dancar

8. Defect 8: Onv, Arma Mortal

9. Defect 9: Juventude Javali

10. Defect 10: Cedotardar

11. Defect 11: Tangolomango

12. Defect 12: Valsar

13. Defect 13: Burrice

14. Defect 14: Xiquexique

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

An original member of the Tropicalia movement that revolutionized Brazilian popular music in the late 1960s, Tom Ze is a longtime cultural cannibal who makes beautiful and intelligent music out of a fascinating range of materials. Fabrication Defect is an old-fashioned concept album in the sense that each song represents one of the charming imperfections--such as youth, stupidity, or dancing--that humanize an international population of third-world ghetto residents otherwise viewed as "subhuman androids." But Ze's ideology is easy to miss in a joyous melange of songs that borrow liberally from Portuguese cantalon, urban samba, musique concrète, and a wide assortment of rhythms from both Brazil's tropical Bahia region and dusty countryside. Ze's excoriation of the church and capitalism may be old-school, but his mixture of the traditional and modern (dig the accordion techno of "Xiquexique") is downright tomorrow. --Richard Gehr --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Last of Brazil's Tropicalistas to Remain True to Form. He Combines Sweet Sambas and Concrete Poetry, Guitar, Accordions and Household Appliances to Form a Delightful Record. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cannibalization!, April 16, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fabrication Defect (Audio CD)

Tom Ze's mission statement in the liner notes, that the day of the composer is past and the music of the future will be built on cannibalization of existing styles and samples of other works, seems stale in the context of North American music, where the hip hop revolution of the late 1970s has infiltrated nearly every genre of recorded music. But the consequences of this statement in terms of the Third World, Brazil in particular, are more powerful, and Ze spells them out in the notes and in his inspired songs: for those people on the bottom of the social hierarchy (an unfortunate majority in the Third World and a growing number in the U.S.) this type of "dragnet" in music composition is a way of life and a means of survival. It echoes the theories of ethnomusicologists studying African music and music of the African diaspora - inspired creators, no matter how poor, can always create something from essentially nothing, or in this case, from refuse. The refuse Ze uses on this album reveals its own richness in juxtaposition. Hip-hop drum programs, forro accordions, techno beats, smooth bossa nova, Renaissance music, musique concrete, funk, and other disparate styles are brought together by Ze's lyrics in a way very few other "world music" artists are capable of. Where most other artists in this genre use different styles as mere flavoring (and, more cynically, for hit potential) Tom Ze has pointed reasons for their use in each composition, each "defect", as he calls them. The opening cut, "Gene", uses a drum program - this is a catchy way to open an album, true, but this sparse intepretation of Saint Augustine's search for the roots of sin is complemented well by the beat, as if this strong rhythm represents in musical form the behavioral predisposition of our genes; in true Brazilian fashion, Ze seems to say that we are programmed for physical action, sexual action, and our conscience must deal with this essential nature. Other examples of such apt use of musical styles abound, like the use of Tchaikovsky's Concerto in D Major as a template for "Wild Boar Youth", the over-the-top depiction of adolescent anguish put into the form of Romantic music.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, April 26, 2001

By 

Sean M. Kelly (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fabrication Defect (Audio CD)

While other members of the Tropicalia movement have somewhat mellowed with age, the same certainly can not be said for the amazing, anarchic Tom Ze. The music he has produced over the years is as fresh and innovative today as it has ever been. As David Byrne simply wrote in liner notes for a Ze compilation cd, "Prepared to be unsettled."

"Fabrication Defect," from 1998, is Tom's latest offering to the world. On it, Ze continues his his wonderfully radical approach to music by incorporating everything at his disposal- hip hop beats, drum machines, techno, musique concrete, Tchaikovsky. It's all there. Ze proves, as always, that he is both a musical bandit, taking what he wants, yet also a brilliant composer.

"Fabrication Defect" proves his brilliance as a composer beyond a shadow of a doubt. The music is an alluring and inviting mix of the above mentioned styles, as well as traditional bossa novas and sambas. The words he uses are at once caustic, irony filled, yet immaculately graceful, as well. Ze has an obvious insight into human nature that can't be ignored.

The lp is wonderful, and also picks up the pace as it goes along. This is simply because the songs get shorter and shorter as the cd progresses. The highlights include "Emere," which has an otherworldly quality to it, "Juventude Javali," which clearly borrows from Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in d Minor, and the brilliant, Dylan-esque "Xiquexique."

Overall, the album sparkles with brilliance. Ze's use of all of these influences, and the wonderful production he offers it, makes this cd an instant classic, as well as a true representative of the Tropicalia movement (even if it was released 20 years after the fact). Ze's genius has never been greater. An awesome cd of the highest calibre.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Existe inteligência do lado de baixo do Equador, November 22, 1999

By 

Eduardo (Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fabrication Defect (Audio CD)

Espaço exíguo... Como escrever com profundidade em tão pouco espaço sobre um artista tão seminal como TZ? Este album é essencial, tanto pelo trabalho musical em si, com arranjos de ourivesaria, quanto pelo marco histórico de sobrevivência (com dignidade) na carreira de um artista que não se basta com a mediocridade deste mundo. Exercício de musicalidade e de originalidade, a música de TZ mostra que, neste mundo pseudoglobalizado idiotizante, há ainda espaço para genialidade e respeito em um trabalho musical 'pop'. Se vc está mesmo interessado neste imperdível album do TZ, recomendo a edição brasileira. Ela possui algumas faixas adicionais.