Search - Locus Solus :: Locus Solus: 50th Birthday Celebration

If the Three Stooges played heavy metal...

SPM | Eugene, Oregon | 05/14/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"... it might sound like this! In September 2003, during the month-long celebration of John Zorn's music, Zorn staged one of his wildest game pieces: Locus Solus. Twenty years earlier, he came up with the idea --- Zorn, a drummer, and one other musician improvise hardcore rock and roll. There are no rules. The music is fast, loud, and chaotic. The lyrics are made up on the spot. Nothing is repeated or written down.Locus Solus would be a self-indulgent waste if these guys were serious about it. But it's all for fun. On this CD, Zorn teams up with Anton Fier (drums) and Arto Lindsay (guitar and vocals). They make the audience laugh as they hammer away, screech, and babble. The moment they start to lock together into a groove of some kind, they skitter away and start improvising in a new direction. It's frustrating but fun. If you've never heard Zorn before, don't start here. If you want something completely crazy and loud, this is your album."

Fun, but not particularly engaging recording.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 04/26/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Locus Solus is one of the more difficult projects in John Zorn's catalog-- the concept is essentially improvised rock music, including the lyrics, Zorn is joined by guitarist/vocalist Arto Lindsay and drummer Anton Fier for this set. There must be some rules for the improvisation as Zorn has been categorizing this as a game piece, but the music's construction shows little in the way of pattern that I can recognize (maybe it'd be more apparent seeing it live, which I haven't done). Generally, one musician starts each piece, stretching up to five minutes of length (though commonly much shorter), and the others join in. The high level of musicianship on this recording allows such an abstract concept as bringing heavy improv and lack of structure into a rock idiom to work at least reasonably well.



Most of the pieces are injected with quite a bit of humor, in both the interaction between the musicians and the vocals from Lindsay-- musically, Fier tends to lay down rock style backbeats over which Lindsay splatters any number of chords and Zorn wails, occasionally yielding from noise into coherent lines. With his extensive vocabulary on the instrument, he's able to pretty seemlessly blend in between Lindsay and Fier. But this shouldn't be taken as serious music per se, these guys are clearly having a blast putting this together, and it shows, the structure and the pieces are pretty goofy. Now mind you, there's some great moments ("Doll Moment" has a fantastic groove and some great playing from al parties, "This Year's Skirts" is bizarrely genius), but for the most part, its a fun record thats kind of a throwaway. I really enjoyed it on first listen, but its not really something I find myself reaching for frequently."