Naked City

This is a fan site, see blog.



-Text taken from www.omnology.com/zorn03.html and www.tzadik.com



This is John Zorn's infamous turn-on-a-dime band. Although they can play any style of music, the majority of their songs are noisy and complex. At any moment, a beautiful melody can degenerate into a hurricane of white noise and then suddenly switch to something else. They've taken everything aggressive about jazz and heavy metal, blended it together, and tightened it. They are disciplined players, but the music is a lot of fun.



They look like a rock band: drums, electric guitar, bass, keyboards, and saxophone. On four of the albums, Yamatsuka Eye adds his unique vocals. He howls and snorts like a maniac instead of singing. It's very entertaining. (He is sometimes credited as "Yamataka Eye.")



The band formed in 1989, playing live before they recorded their first album. They recorded their final album in December of 1992.



Probably Zorn's most popular and most controversial musical project, the music of Naked City has been debated, analyzed, adored and reviled by fans, critics and academics alike, but nothing can replace the experience of hearing it in all its frightening glory. Most people know this music from the single domestic release on Nonesuch, but the major portion of their studio recordings were issued from 1989 - 1993 on the hard to find Japanese labels Avant and Toy's Factory.



The series includes an album of ambient music (Absinthe), the soundtrack for an SM film (Heretic), an album that consists of a single 30-minute track (Leng Tch'e), a live album (Knitting Factory 1989), and four albums of hardcore/jazz/rock fusion (Radio, Naked City, Grand Guignol, Torture Garden).



Every member of the band has released a number of solo albums and played on other Zorn projects.



goto Tzadik Records



Purchase Naked City albums



Naked City

1989

Elektra/Nonesuch Records



Naked City Live, Vol 1 : The Knitting Factory 19892002 Tzadik



Torture Garden

1989

Shimmy Disc(?)Earache Records



Leng Tch'e

1990

Toy's Factory



Heretic: Jeux Des Dames Cruelles

1991

Avant



Grand Guignol

1992

Avant



Radio

1993

Avant



Absinthe

1993

Avant