Simulacrum (album)

Simulacrum is an album composed by John Zorn featuring John Medeski, Matt Hollenberg and Kenny Grohowski which was released on the Tzadik label in March 2015.[1]

Simulacrum
Studio album by
John Zorn
ReleasedMarch 17, 2015
RecordedDecember 2014
GenreAvant-garde, heavy metal, jazz
Length43:07
LabelTzadik TZ 8330
ProducerJohn Zorn
John Zorn chronology
Hen to Pan
(2015)		 Simulacrum
(2015)		 The Song Project Live at Le Poisson Rouge
(2015)

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
PopMatters[2]

PopMatters reviewer John Garratt stated "The album plays around with several styles and can conjure up a three-dimensional mood when it needs to, but the prevailing winds blow it into seas of heavy metal… with an organ. ...Simulacrum shows that we’re bound to mislabel something of Zorn’s even within the confines of one recording. And if that isn’t some form of creativity, then I guess I don’t know what is".[2] Avant Music news said "Medeski brings a unique jazz and blues inflection to the mix. While Hollenberg’s guitar often takes the lead, Medeski occasionally takes over, building tense, swirling themes. Grohowski mostly avoids blast-beats, and instead relies on punctuated drumming with rapid fills. As a result, even though the 43 minutes of Simulacrum covers a variety metal tropes, albeit with organ-based atmospherics, the ultimate outcome is a fresh sound".[3]

Track listing

All compositions by John Zorn.

  1. "The Illusionist" - 12:02
  2. "Marmarath" - 5:18
  3. "Snakes and Ladders" - 5:28
  4. "Alterities" - 2:49
  5. "Paradigm Shift" - 4:35
  6. "The Divine Comedy" - 12:54

Personnel

Production

  • Marc Urselli - engineer, audio mixer
  • John Zorn and Kazunori Sugiyama – producers
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gollark: A lot of people explicitly (claim to) believe in religion based on "faith".
gollark: Humans are simultaneously composed of probably millions of engineering/chemistry miracles and obviously awful design decisions.
gollark: If life was designed, the designer was really really stupid.
gollark: I like its minimalism, and it saves a very small amount of battery power.

References
  1. Tzadik Catalog, accessed May 26, 2014
  2. Garratt, J. PopMatters Review, May 28, 2015
  3. Avant Music News Review, March 21, 2015
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