Member:
ffroyd
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by ffroyd)
Date:
12/12/2001
Format:
CD (Album)
Claus Bühler - drums, keyboards
Jodi Barry - vocals, lyrics
Hans-Peter Ringholz - guitar
Dave Schmidt - bass, synthesizer, mellotron
Zone Six is a freestyle psychedelic band from Berlin, Germany. Their first CD, released on Early Birds records, is one of the trippiest albums I’ve ever heard.
Their sound is somewhat reminiscent of early space rock bands like Amon Düül II or Gong but with much less structure, relying more on improvisation. If you’ve ever heard the band SubArachnoid Space, the music of Zone Six is very similar. There are a few times when the jamming gets a little reggaeish and they sound like Ozrics but most of the time it’s much freakier than that.
The vocalist is quite captivating and has a voice that sounds like a cross between Grace Slick and Alanis Morissette. She had apparently been in a punk rock band called Tobe before this. The lyrics are in English and there is no accent so I am inclined to think that she is either English or American. Like the music, the words were improvised during the recording as well.
The artwork on the cover by Franz Landl is very wild and goes quite well with the music. It’s hard to see the detail on such a small picture here, but he has a nice website here where you can check out this and more of his psychedelic works.
The band attracted the attention of Nik Turner of Hawkwind, who invited them to join him for a few shows in 1998. They also played the Burg Herzberg Open-Air festival that year. So if you like your space rock wild and without restrictions, Zone Six is the place to be.
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