Zero Set

Dieter Moebius (Artist), Conny Plank (Artist), Mani Neumeier (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 10, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Bureau B
• ASIN: B002P3BATU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #361,832 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

MOEBIUS, NEUMEIER and PLANK are unsentimental in their use of technology, exploiting it as an effective tool in pursuit of their musical vision. Three musicians at the top of their game.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maximally Twiddled Organic Analogue Drum Ritual, March 4, 2011

By 

proteusyndrome - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zero Set (MP3 Download)

I can't believe this album isn't more widely known. Zero Set achieves an organic fusion of squelchy sequenced analogue lines and Mani Neumeier's polyrhythmic tribal drum pyrotechnics. Neumeier's drumming is the sinewy backbone of this album. He achieves a mechanical precision here that is in a very different vein from the mind-blowing freeform percussive melees that characterize Guru Guru's early albums. The rhythms on Zero Set are complex and tense--they suspend themselves indefinitely, the kicks and snares seeming almost to tumble over each other in waves of sound. At other moments, Neumeier pulls off short, syncopated machine-gun bursts. It's amazing to hear a live drummer who performs at a level far above the drum machine deconstructions later artists would carry out with sampling technology. Neumeier infuses the most machine-like rhythms with a fierce, ritualistic immediacy, as if he's some kind of shaman on a quest to prove that machines will never be able to reproduce the dynamism of a human performance. Dieter Moebius and Conny Plank's knob-twiddling is also consistently amazing. Staccato, fragmented, heavily tweaked yet incredibly warm synthlines interlock with Neumeier's very live drumming. Some tracks only hint at melodies, with the synths serving primarily to accentuate the rhythm, while others feature jaunty, child-like hooks reminiscent of Cluster's Zuckerzeit. Throughout the album the synths seem to be manipulated by a plant-like, fungal, or extraterrestrial intelligence, preserving the spirit of Cluster and Guru Guru's early 1970s consciousness-expanding jam sessions (in many of which Plank played an integral role). At moments the music warps and twists into churning ambience with interwoven heavily processed voices. The first track, on the other hand, is propelled by a rubbery, rolling bass line that almost sounds as if it could work in an Italo Disco track if it weren't so twitchy and nervous--it anticipates electronic music while thinking beyond the generic constraints to which electronic producers so often succumb. Easily one of the most forward-thinking albums of the eighties--if you're at all interested in experimental, psychedelic, or electronic music, you *must* hear this. At once cosmic and earthy, like many of the best things in life.

The Bureau B release features a very crisp remastering job and liner notes with photos from the sessions for the album.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funky and Quirky, May 21, 2010

By 

Cosmic Music Fan (Mars) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Zero Set (Audio CD)

I bough this after listening to the 28 second snippets of the album and I am glad I bought the record. If you're into avant gard funk or krautrock I suggest you check out the song samples. The combination of acoustic drums and analog synths make for a pretty organic sound. At times this album reminds me of "Remain in Light" and other post punk funk stuff.