Marco Zonta
Great comeback by ZeroK, experimentation and science fiction in pure J.G. Ballard vision. This is ZeroK at its best, a real sea of oscillators. A favourite track is a tough choice, they all work perfectly together as perfect but different pieces of a puzzle (the fantastic cover portraits this perfectly).
In April 2009, J. G. Ballard died at the age of 78. By the end of his life he was recognised as one of the greatest British writers of the latter half of the twentieth century. The acclaim his work has garnered stems from its unsettling ability to describe the present in collision with near but unexpected futures. His narratives operate according to the temporalities of car crashes, epidemics, and physiological shocks. The word ‘Ballardian’ has entered the Collins Dictionary as a term denoting ‘dystopian modernity’.
The fiction of J. G. Ballard delves deep into the human psyche, not only by exploring the relationships between its characters, but also by conveying the cityscape in terms of the mind. Either real or imaginary, the urban spaces reflect and are reflected by the minds of the protagonists. Influenced by the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud, the Jungian model of the psyche, the experiments in anti-psychiatry initiated by R.D. Laing, as well as the technological advancements of the new millennium, Ballard proposes a new type of fiction. The aim of his pursuit is to answer some of the pressing issues that the self is confronted with in an urban milieu which is gradually becoming more dehumanized and impersonal.
“The advanced societies of the future will not be governed by reason. They will be driven by irrationality, by competing systems of psychopathology.”
J.G. Ballard
With this present compilation, curated by Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst), ZeroK label (in collaboration with, Lars Bröndum, Eraldo Bernocchi, Gavin Morrow , Joel Gilardini, Esa J. Ruoho, Heikki Lindgren, Mario Lino Stancati, Erik Jarl, Roberto Quezada, Jarko M. Hedenius, Janne Liimatainen, Mombi Yuleman and Christian Schneider) provides sound descriptions of the dystopian world narrated by the English master J. G. Ballard in his novels and short stories, creating an imaginary soundtrack of those s/f masterpieces.
Richard Dodgin (This Is Darkness)
The Dystopian World of J.G.Ballard is another great compilation album from the Zero K label, featuring music from an impressive range of musicians (including HLER, JARL, and Lars Bröndum to name just a few). The album “… provides sound descriptions of the dystopian world … in his novels and short stories, creating an imaginary soundtrack of those s/f masterpieces …” with tracks of experimental, post industrial, drone, dark ambient, and electronica all fitting together nicely to create a remarkable listening experience. The album does have a cohesive feel to it, and yet the moods of the tracks vary: some are dark and confrontational, others are meditative and lo-fi, others yet are noisy, a number are minimalist, and others are challenging and disturbing. Fantastic.
The album "the void on a distant sun" aims to be a journey through a closed but infinite space, where a beam of light traverses a cosmos made of dark corridors and empty rooms vast light years away. ZERO K
Sonologyst is hard to label as one particular music style –except experimental or avant-garde, but that’s probably also a style or at least a different approach in dealing with music. ZERO K
A dive in Lovecraft’s universe. From Dark to experimental and ritual ambient all at the highest level possible, for a unforgettable trip in madness and darkness. ZERO K
supported by 61 fans who also own “The Dystopian World of J.G.Ballard”
"An excellent compilation, the songs are subtle and carry a void of mystery, longing, and somehow hope. The alleys of the old city. The tinkle of snow under my boots and the beloved company of my little bottle of absinthe. My nights, long nights, cold nights, my land. That's what this compilation represents for me, remembrance and nostalgia." ~FF Felin Frost
supported by 55 fans who also own “The Dystopian World of J.G.Ballard”
Warning alarms sound their forlorn shrill as unanswered echoes down cavernous bone cavities. Bill Burroughs massages cancer-growth typewriters until they sprout dispatches from Interzone. Footsteps echo down abandoned hospital corridors. Vast factories sizzle with electrical invokkations and the alchemy of bulbous flesh…
These are bio-mechanical rituals for both the psyche and the sentient diodes that clamp into your body at night.
FULL REVIEW: www.bonewitchpunk.com parsonharlequin