Beekstraat 1 - B-2640 Mortsel - Belgium

UNIVERS ZERO: Live

Release

Style

Last year Belgian RIO band Present released the fantastic live record “A Great Inhumane Adventure” on the adventurous American Cuneiform label. Now it’s their compatriots and stalemates of Univers Zero’s turn. Coincidence? Anyhow, “Live” is UZ’s very first live album in more than thirty years! Since its inception in 1974 a mainly French speaking ensemble, it nowadays consists of diverse Flemish musicians who are related to the scene of Contemporary and New Music. Apparently, drummer ‘extraordinaire’ Daniel Denis has waited until the time was right to go live. It shows how scrupulously Denis, the central character in the UZ story, watches over the band’s integrity. In the same vein Robert Fripp takes care of his King Crimson. In fact, there are more parallels to draw between KC and UZ. They both belong to the innovative elite who cherish the progressive ideology to the letter. They both combine musical complexity with instrumental experiments.

To this day, Univers Zero remains one of the most challenging rock ensembles. The influences drawn from 20^th century classical (especially expressionistic) music are kept intact live. ‘If Stravinsky had a rock band, it would sound like this’, someone once described UZ. On stage, the obsessive rhythms come to life better than ever before. Univers Zero is by definition a live band. Just listen to “Méandres” and “Falling Rain Dance” and put these boiling registrations next to the polite studio versions on “Implosion” (2004). For anyone who isn’t yet into this unique music, “Live” is the ideal starting point. For the long-time fan, it is at last the eagerly awaited concert registration that sheds new light on these very refined compositions and the improvisational talents of these fine musicians. The excellent transparent recordings were made in June last year in Belgium’s Schaerbeek and France’s Les Tritonales.
 

Musicians

Michel Berckmans : oboe, English horn, bassoon, melodica

Kurt Budé : clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone
Daniel Denis : drums, percussion
Martin Lauwers : violin
Eric Plantain : bass
Peter Van Den Berghe : keyboards

1. Xenantaya (12:53)
2. Civic Circus (7:33)
3. Electronika Mambo Musette (7:20)
4. Kermesse Atomique (6:04)
5. Bonjour Chez Vous (5:00)
6. Méandres (10:33)
7. Falling Rain Dance (8:53) *
8. Toujours Plus à L'Est (8:21) *

1313 (1977)
Heresie (1979)
Ceux Du Dehors (1981)
Crawling Wind (1983)
Uzed (1984)
Heatwave (1986)
The Hard Quest (1999)
Rhythmix (2002)
Implosion (2004)
Live (2006)

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Last updated: 15 maart 2006 .
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