OK so it's been out for a little while, but we're taking part in a special Pickled Egg triple header album launch in that London for The Stumbling Block alongside Now and Freeze Puppy.
It's at the Betsey Trotwood on Friday 12 June. See www.thebetsey.com for more info.Some reviews in so far for The Stumbling Block........
It’s been three
years since we waxed poetic over this Liverpudlian guitarless instrumental
quartet’s last release (‘Horse
Republic,’ also on Pickled Egg), so it’s great to hear they haven’t totally
evaporated into the aether like their music!
The musicians,
who have also served internships in Loka, Melodie Du Kronk, and Terrascope
favourites from years ago The Lazily Spun, closely mirror their live set, and
the eight tracks once again invite comparisons with everyone from Can and Miles
Davis to Soft Machine and Sun Ra, so there’s a lot of musical territory housed
within these grooves. Opener, ‘Sealing Wax’ throbs into the room on the back of
Tom Sumnall’s pulsating bassline, beckoning, “Come one, come all…partake of our
rhythmic feast.” Brother Harry’s twinkling keyboards and furtive blasts from
trumpeter Phil Lucking complete the delectable package. The musique concrète of
‘Inca Hoots’ is as playful as its punny title (say it three times fast) and the
hypnotic rush of the jazzy ‘Koanish’ and the bubbly ‘Penny Dance Test’ expand
the lads’ oeuvre into Hi-NRG, Eurodance floorfillers. While I prefer the more
linear tracks, there’s surely something within these avant grooves to prick up
the ears of fans of Miles, Zappa’s orchestral work, krautrockers like Can and
Amon Düül, and old labelmates, Bablicon.
Jeff Penczak - Ptolemaic
Terrascope Feb 2009
On their second
album, Liverpool's freeform indie-jazz punters Zukanican stick to their
previous credentials: eerie and spacious effects from instruments should do the
trick and no computers shall be allowed in. In an age when computer technology
is not appreciated in all corners of society, this combo has something going.
If you must, Zukanican is Bonobo's clever little brother with just that extra
sense of class and who has a habit of stirring up trouble at unsuspected
moments.
The zany outfit, that Zukanican have become to be known as after a string of
hilarious releases, switches seamlessly from complex and abstract composition
to carnival time exuberance. Strangely enough, neither Liverpool's Probe Plus
Records or London's Ninja Tune signed Zukanican. Their label is based in sunny
Leicester, at the Pickled Egg Farm For Maturing Original Talent.
'The Stumbling Block' kicks off with a trumpet blowing and moog synthesizer
banging overture as if some grand symphony was to be expected next. I doesn't
happen ; instead loose bits and ends and joint patterns fight for your aural
attention. Going adrift at some stages, the album indeed is one stumbling
block. In the world of Zukanican the word 'dull' simply does not exist. 'The
Stumbling Block' closes off by experimentation and into exploration it tiptoes
across borders.
Maarten Schiethart - Penny Black Music March 2009
Liverpool-based
art-groovers Zukanican return with an album heavy on exploration. There
are moments of true Morricone-through-the-looking-glass here: ‘Koanish’ is
eight minutes of steady, bouncing Sixties basslines with strings and mariachi
brass twirling around the sonic anchor. It sounds like a spacewalk in the Wild
West. The Stumbling Block can meander a little, but there’s a fine line to be
drawn between such wanderings and truly expansive artistry and, for the vast
majority of this record, the quartet stay firmly on the correct side of that
line. Given that this album was recorded with a minimum of overdubbing and
pixie dust, it’s an album that allows ideas to breathe; the musicianship is, at
times, exceptional. Best of the bunch might well be ‘Pygmy Hop’, a woodwind
trope borne on rumbling clouds straight out of the rainforests of L8.
Joe Shooman - Plan
B April 2009
 | Currently listening:
Délivrance
By A Hawk and a Hacksaw
Release date: 2009-05-18 |
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