John Zorn is a prolific name I've been hearing about for quite some time, mainly because of how fascinating it is to see how he approaches improvisation & compositions.
I mean, how does one describe an album like Naked City? An eccentric yet wildly ambitious piece of work that fuses avant-garde jazz with grindcore, no wave & avant-garde metal? Some of these are movie theme covers too? Holy shit, I already love this and I haven't even heard it yet!!!
In all seriousness though, this ... read more
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A comment left in 2011: "Goregrind Jazz Lol"
This is a good album, that's without question. It's just a LOOOOONG album. It doesn't look long at first but when you get to the fifth 12 second track of someone screaming in a row you feel all of time compressing you. Slowly turning your ears to mush.
So it's a good thing this album has a lot of good ass songs ... read more
Without a doubt one of the wildest amalgamations of genres I've ever come across
Naked City is the first studio album by Naked City, an American avant-garde music group led by composer John Zorn. The band is well known for their combination of genres that are just so simply wild some might call them sacrilegious, such as what they did with this album where most of the album is a bizarre combination of experimental jazz and grindcore. Naked City's 26 songs are mostly made up of original ... read more
A solid debut, but I'm left wanting more, which is not a great sign for a 50 minute album. It just feels inconsistent. It genre hops like crazy, and each of those experiments goes off in interesting directions, but they tend to struggle to mesh together. In addition about a quarter of the songs are covers and among these weird genre mashups they stand out like a paint splatter on the Mona Lisa just being being normal jazz. It's an album who's ideas would get realized on better projects, many of ... read more
Whoever said this was ed edd n eddy grindcore you were absolutely right. A very weirdly pleasant balance of manic sax shrieking and genuinely chill moments. Some minor flaws but I really like this.
Highlights: The Sicilian Clan, Saigon Pickup and Punk China Doll
John Zorn's "Naked City" is a very vibrant album — unapologetically embracing its sound to a degree I'm sure no one was expecting. Just when you thought you've figured out the albums mixture of grindcore and avant-garde jazz, they pull out the James Bond theme on you. It's really unpredictable, which makes first listens really captivating, but upon revisits I've come to realize that this album sacrifices a lot of great moments to upkeep its erratic nature. It's sort of the point ... read more
1 | Batman 2:03 | 91 |
2 | The Sicilian Clan 3:33 | 88 |
3 | You Will Be Shot 1:31 | 88 |
4 | Latin Quarter 4:11 | 90 |
5 | A Shot in the Dark 3:13 | 91 |
6 | Reanimator 1:43 | 84 |
7 | Snagglepuss 2:20 | 92 |
8 | I Want to Live 2:12 | 87 |
9 | Lonely Woman 2:45 | 90 |
10 | Igneous Ejaculation 0:23 | 79 |
11 | Blood Duster 0:16 | 76 |
12 | Hammerhead 0:11 | 71 |
13 | Demon Sanctuary 0:41 | 79 |
14 | Obeah Man 0:20 | 72 |
15 | Ujaku 0:30 | 80 |
16 | Fuck the Facts 0:14 | 70 |
17 | Speedball 0:43 | 85 |
18 | Chinatown 4:28 | 89 |
19 | Punk China Doll 3:05 | 90 |
20 | N.Y. Flat Top Box 0:45 | 77 |
21 | Saigon Pickup 4:50 | 86 |
22 | The James Bond Theme 3:06 | 92 |
23 | Den of Sins 1:14 | 85 |
24 | Contempt 2:53 | 91 |
25 | Graveyard Shift 3:32 | 86 |
26 | Inside Straight 4:17 | 91 |