BODYCOCTAIL "Themes for Cities in Decay"
PATINA "Scent Fondle"
GORY ARMADILLOS "Ekzakting Chortles"
YOU, ME, US & THEM "The World Sweats Into Our Brains"
www.zh27.net CD-Rs

If you think Sun Ra, Merzbow, or Rune Lindblad are the most prolific artists in the world, you aren't entirely right! Do you know anybody whose total score is about 800 releases, and the number is increasing!? Hand upwards! Nobody, but that's Zan Hoffman - a notorious home-taper, who's been around for almost three decades. The bulk of his releases are tapes, but recently Zan's main effort has been focused on re-issuing the older stuff on CD-Rs. Thus I got a chance to hear his music from the late 1980s, and 1990s directly from this medium. The fact is that not only has Zan Hoffman's attitude to home-taping aesthetics remained unchanged since the beginning, but also the tools are basically the same. Whether that's good or wrong I have no idea! Luckily, I had a good time listening to his 4 projects, and none of them let me down...

Ok., let's start with Bodycoctail, a memorable project for me, as it was my very first time I heard about Zan Hoffman at all. If my memory doesn't fail me, that tape brought a set of sarcastic, acid songs in the vein of The Residents. However,"Themes for Cities." has nothing of that stuff. There is only one, almost 30-minute long track which, as the title suggests, is a sort of a soundtrack. From the very beginning, we deal with crude electronics supported by occasional heavy beats but after a minute, or two a change follows - we face a grinding noise a la Merzbow with crazy, drum machine's thrashing - a hellish electro body music! This is the most remarkable moment. When the storm is over, the music resumes its previous current - some destroyed electronica of sound bands, plus rhythm & noise. Quite good release with a dramatic and low-spirited mood.

Patina is a common project of Zan and another legend of home-taping: Chris Phinney. Somewhat similar material to the formerly described, but almost rhythmless. The authors' main focus is to make multi-layered, electronic, and yet trancey stream of sound by use of synthetizers, a PC software (I guess). Obssesively repeated motives, high-pitched sounds, and harsh noise cause a feeling of being stoned by a black, thick fog. Even more neurotic and stuffy mood than before. In the middle of 'Scent Patina' the nausea is increased by a processed and manipulated vortex of voices, additionally surrounded by caustic, and droning electronics. A nice soundtrack to a scene of a fire in a mental hospital.

Whereas the end of the 1990s Zan's music leaned towards dark electronica, the late 1980s found him in rather more accessible themes. Bringing to life Gory Armadillos , he found another musical niche not filled with his other projects. Quite enigmatic muzak. Abstract, soft electronic works - a sonic haze, a clock ticking, and manipulated white noise. On the one hand, there's a mellowness of music forms which invite you to get in; on the other hand, that warm-milk mood is based on unpleasent (but not in the forehead) high tones, wearying tickings. Bizarre stuff. The more close to the end we get, the more pleasant the music becomes - delicate sounds of bells, ionizing sound haze makes us quiet. The proper end of 'Ekzakting Chortles' is a sampling work accompanied (as always) by some electronics.

The music of You, Me, Us & Them by some reason is the most essential of the period of time when the home taping scene was in its bloom. The majority of records from that scene I managed to get and listen to, sounded alike. A return to cheesy rhythms, cut-up's, a bursh of sonic snipets, synthetized, and recorded to an 8-tracker. A nice movie motif slips through the record - similar to great, but almost forgotten Italian superb group Goblin - obssesively repeated tune from a children song, or something like that. Also, the naive electronica - Zan constructs some interesting, web-like sound structures of the violin, piano and micro sounds. I've listened to it with pleasure!

[krzysztof sadza]