A unique project from bassist Massimo Pupillo (Zu), saxophonist Luca T. Mai (Zu), and drummer Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins), Jazzisdead Live finds the trio, here dubbed RuinsZu, playing their 23rd live show in a row – at the Jazzisdead festival in Turin. With a sparkling musical chemistry, and enough time on the road together to have honed their repertoire, RuinsZu fire on all cylinders throughout Jazzisdead Live, delivering an exceptional performance over the course of 12 tracks.
Billed as a jazz festival with punk attitude, it’s clear that Jazzisdead is the perfect forum for these talented musicians the moment they hit the stage with the King Crimson sound clash of Gravestone – all splenetic riffing, jazz sax, and wordless vocalisations. Not for the faint of heart, the music cleaves close to the wild experimentation of the New York scene circa the early 80s, and it’s easy to imagine the band taking to the stage alongside Swans while a young Thurston Moore looks on wide eyed with excitement. No less eclectic is the dizzying Speedball, with its falsetto vocals and thrash-metal asides. A skewed art rock assault that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Mike Patton record, it’s far more scattershot than the album’s opening cut, taking the audience on a breathless journey across any number of genres throughout its short runtime. Showcasing a grasp of dynamics (and, potentially, a slight concern for the audience’s sanity), Asmodeo slows the frenetic pace, as the band explore a curious cave that gleams with the refracted light of a thousand glowing crystals. It can’t last however, and a thunderous riff soon births from the shimmering beauty of the introduction. La Grande Madre Delle Bestie makes no such concessions, a gruelling bassline leading the charge as stabs of avant-sax scrape the surface. Then there’s Vexoprakta, which returns to King Crimson via the Dead Kennedys, the vocals eerily reminiscent of Jello Biafra at his manic street preaching best. It leaves the band to plunge headlong into the strangely elastic Burning Stone – a short piece which seems to slow down and speed up with the unpredictable awkwardness of a warped slab of vinyl.
The band take a step into the world of the Melvins with Hyderomastgroningem, which slithers between ferocious punk-jazz noise, and a slinky, bass-led groove. It’s followed by the frankly insane Sanctuary – basically the soundtrack playing in Mike Patton’s head; with the unpronounceable Memories of Zworrisdeh existing in similar sonic territory. A brief pause, simply to announce the title, offers little respite and the track in question – Muro Torto – proves to be a dark, sax-led blast of post-metal / post-rock / post-sanity noise that churns and rages through the venue. The harder, nastier Mar Glaciale Artico finds RuinsZu ramping up the awkwardness, now firmly in territory last inhabited by Sonic Youth, I.C.P and the Ex during their Fishtank session. It leaves this most unwieldy of sets to wrap up with the polyrhythmic nightmare of Solar Anus, the band letting it all hang out as Yoshida does everything humanly possible to reduce the drum kit to sawdust. It marks a breathless conclusion to a genuinely unique set.
Neither for the faint of heart nor the unwary, Jazzisdead Live is a unique and dizzyingly explorative piece of work that falls firmly at the art end of art rock. For those who enjoy having their preconceptions challenged, it’s immersive and frequently brilliant, marking Jazzisdead Live out as something very special indeed. However, it should be approached with caution. 8.5/10
Subsound Records is happy to announce the release of ‘Jazzisdead’ coming out April 18th. Pre-order from now on Bandcamp here. And directly from Subsound Records here.
BIO:
Zu is a strange beast. Officially born in Ostia, on the sea of Rome Italy in 1997, the band has released more than 15 albums and played thousands of shows throughout the planet, gaining a cult status worldwide. Genre-defying and boundary-blurring, Zu has evolved a unique musical language following its own personal path. Parts of metal, noise, prog, electronic music, ambient, industrial, and contemporary music, are transformed and reshaped in their unique form, resembling none of the above. In the last 20+ years, they have collaborated with a wide array of artists, from their famous collaboration with Mike Patton on Carboniferous album, to acclaimed theatre director Romeo Castellucci and his Societas Raffaello Sanzio. They have released albums on labels such as Ipecac Recordings , (Ulver-curated) House Of Mythology “Jhator” (2017) Zu93 – “Mirror Emperor” (2018) – Terminalia Amazonia (2019) and Subsound Records on which they published “The Lost Demo” ( 2024 ) – ” RuinsZu – Jazzisdead Live” (2025) and repress of their back catalogue.
Tatsuya Yoshida is one of the most innovative drummer, composer, improviser and multi-instrumentalist in Japanese avant-garde music scene. Began playing professionally in early ’80s. Made his own group RUINS in 1985, with unique basic instrumentation of drums and bass plus vocals. Ruins is a unique high energy music that is mixture of contemporary music, hard-core and progressive rock. He has been played with many bands such as Koenji Hyakkei, Korekyojin, Zeni Geva, Samla Mammas Manna, Painkiller, Cicala Mvta, Acid Mothers Gong,YB02, etc. also collaborated with many musicians such as John Zorn, Haino Keiji, Richard Pinhas, Fred Frith, Otomo Yoshihide, Derek Bailey, Charles Hayward, etc.
UPCOMING TOUR-DATES:
19.03 BERN (CH) Rössli
20.03 NANCY (FR) Maison de…
21.03 DIKSMUIDE (BE) 4AD
22.03 BRUXELLES (BE) Mag4
23.03 AMSTERDAM (NL) Cpunt
25.03 UTRECHT (NL) DBs
26.03 BERLIN (DE) Neue Zukunft
27.03 NURNBERG (DE) Soft Spot
28.03 PRAGUE (CZ) Akropolis
29.03 BUDAPEST (HU) A38
30.03 BELGRADE (SR) Drugstore
31.03 ZAGREB (HR) Mochvara
01.04 BOLOGNA (IT) Freakout
02.04 MACERATA (IT) Dong
03.04 VIAREGGIO (IT) Ganz Of Bicchio
04.04 CASERTA (IT) Kingston
