What’s the closest thing to Zappa these days? I would say Ween comes close. These guys fondly take the piss out of just about any musical genre — and they do so with admirable flamboyance. Case in point: 12 Golden Country Greats, which I purchased just this morning (lyrics!). Check ’em out if you hadn’t already. You will not regret it.
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Meta
I’ll carefully listen to the music of Ween.
Howecer my understanding of FZ taking it further ( present day composer included) is without any doubt John Zorn:
http://members.tripod.com/~JFGraves/zorn-index.html
http://www.omnology.com/zorn01.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zorn
http://www.chez.com/barkokhba/masada.htm
http://www.mondriaan4tet.nl/toelichtingen/tl_zorn_D.html
” John Zorn meets Frank Zappa meets Morton Feldman? Serieuze idioterie?: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artikel.php?id=2670
Bernard: I’ve had multiple listens to John Zorn albums — and lord knows I’ve tried to appreciate his music. Alas. He doesn’t move me. I found Zorn’s music to be cold, academic, emotionless, humorless and overly intellectual. What happened to all the fun in the world?
Agreed. Ween are some of the most talented dynamos around, with a crazy range of styles. I’d highly recommend them myself. As a huge Zappa fan, I find Ween to be greatly enjoyable as well.
Ween are at present my favorite touring band. They are a tremendous amount of fun and they are playing in my town tonight, 28nov05. I’ll also get to see them play in Omaha tomorrow as well. Yippeee!!
Awesome Sound!!!
I must admit that until I saw this entry/link I had never even heard of Ween – but they’re great! I’m now an official convert!! I tend to agree with Barry about John Zorn – believe me, I’ve tried to get into him (not literally, obviously – cough), but I just couldn’t manage it (mainly for the reasons mentioned by Barry). I know, I know, the guilt …
cheers,
itsonlydanny
p.s. I’m also listening to a lot of Giant Sand/Howe Gelb these days – great, quirky, idiosyncratic stuff – check it out!!
A convert! Hurrah!
I’ll have to check those bands you mentioned Danny, thanks for the lead.
I think Mike Patton (Fantomas, Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, Faith No More, Naked City, etc. etc.) is a good candidate as the closest thing to Zappa these days.
Ever been to a Fantomas concert?
Wow. I’ve seen them several times (last time in Amsterdam, with Terry Bozzio) and the way he ‘conducs’ the other musicians always reminds me of Zappa. Somehow, every concert with one of his bands is good, but always different.
He owns his own label (Ipecac), where he can release his stuff whenever he wants, writes his own stuff, performs in several bands (each with their very own sound) and makes interesting contributions to a lot of other musicians’ work. Of course, he doesn’t play the guitar, but he uses his voice (and samples thereof) as a virtuoso.
I think not everything he does is equally good, but hey, that’s what a lot of people say about Zappas work, do they not?
Hi Mediocre,
Shamefully – again! – I must confess to never hearing of either Mike Patton or Fantomas … But they sound interesting, I’ll check ’em out!!
best wishes,
Danny
@Danny O’Dare: alright!
Some tips to get you started:
– Mr. Bungle – Disco Volante
– Fantomas – Delirium Cordia
– Tomahawk – Tomahawk
– Faith No More – Angel Dust
– Fantomas Melvins Big Band – Millenium Monsterwork (live)
– Mike Patton – Adult Themes For Voice
OK, I’ll start reseraching this stuff tomorrow – but it’s singles night at the ‘Blue Parrot’ tonight, and I’m feeling lucky!!
Danny
Ween is great!
Some info on Ween:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ween
Last Project/Object tour, Ike kept quoting them, saying “I’m the stallion, man”. He said they’ve been listening to Ween a lot on the road.
Ike and I drove around a bit in Cleveland and were listening to a Ween mixed cd. He was singing along to “Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony” and “Don’t get 2 Close”. Then of course I had to pop in some Zappa…
I highly recommend these Ween albums:
The Pod
Pure Guava
Chocolate and Cheese
The Mollusk
White Pepper
Quebec
Shinola Vol. 1
That’s pretty much all of them minus a few lol
Oh, by the way. Some other bands you might want to check out.
Estradasphere
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Idiot Flesh
Thinking Plague
Charming Hostess
Hamster Theater
All of those bands are extremely good and all related in one way or another.