Farewell Shows - Seattle, WA

Zony Mash | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 4, 2004)
• Original Release Date: February 4, 2004
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: KUFALA Recordings
• ASIN: B0001J2IZU
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #303,995 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Mash on Disc, April 16, 2004

By 

glockw0rk "MmmHmmmm" (San Luis Obispo, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Farewell Shows - Seattle, WA (Audio CD)

I had the good fortune of seeing Zony Mash live in my small backwater town a few years back, and their chops and presence on stage made the sad echo of their studio albums hard to understand- did a strange machine somehow drain 3/4ths of their vitality at the studio door?
Along came Upper Egypt, and I was a happy man- finally a studio release that bottled at least some of the vivacity I'd seen live.

But the release of this disc brings audio Nirvana. GET IT.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Zony Mash? Yes. Best Wayne Horvitz? No., January 10, 2007

By 

Bradley Scroggs (Jefferson City, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Farewell Shows - Seattle, WA (Audio CD)

As a big fan of Wayne Horvitz' Downtown-avant-jazz-noise-groove-melodies with such bands as The President and Pigpen, I was thrilled with the formation of Zony Mash -- a true band, not just a revolving door of wandering supporting musicians who happen to be in town during the recording session. Sadly, while I tapped my toes and snapped my fingers to the first couple of Zony Mash releases, I waited in vain for their artistic creativity and adventurous spirit to really shine. It never did, and I stopped buying Zony Mash discs; gone were the experimental electronics brilliantly woven into the fabric of the beat or melody; gone were the fuzz-drenched stretches of chops-laden improvisations; gone was the inventiveness and risk-taking. Zony Mash had become a formulatic pop band (granted, an instrumental Hammond-B3-led pop band).

Until now. For their farewell shows Zony Mash called upon the spirit of their downtown heritage. Quite a bit noisier than their studio counterparts, this new Zony Mash stretches a bit here and there, always perched on the volume and distortion pedals, not afraid to venture occasionaly past the edges of melody, harmony, and beat. Don't worry, you'll still be tapping your toes and snapping your fingers, you'll just be happily cringing a little bit during the electronics/B3 workout of "Smiles," the extended neo-metal guitar jam during Pharoah Sanders' "Upper Egypt," or the distorto-bass solo that punctuates John Zorn's "Sex Fiend." The only drawback is that about half of this two-disc set are just fairly straight readings of the studio tracks; not bad, by any means, just not as amazingly brilliant as you know this band can be.

Fans of the old Wayne Horvitz' The President and Pigpen rejoice! Zony Mash is finally living up to its calling.