There is only 5 musicians...... no brass, no guitar. We played it just like that live. 1) Drums, 2) Bass, 3)keyboards, 4)violin, 5)bassoon/Oboe/Cor Anglais
I bought that cd just off of the front cover alone. Guy in the wheelchair and the brooding menacing vibe. It felt right and also seeing Cuneiform was the label. Done! Jack the Ripper gave me nightmares that night. Haha. Excellent.
I freaking love this! 😀 I was listening while driving home from work and I was thinking about how this could sound like the soundtrack of my life. I thought a lot about how I grew up listening to classical music, classic rock and 70s prog. I liked how I didn't know what was coming, like during the doomy section, it felt like something was looming or waiting to happen and it gave me a sense of excitement. It was quite the journey from beginning to end, for me anyway. Also, enjoyed your analysis as always.🙂
Yeah, no wonder, growing up with that! And me, basically having the same background (guess you too Per), this is no more complex than a Schostakovich symphony. So I didn't find it difficult to listen to at all.
I love their music and have all their albums. It took me a long time to fully appreciate them though. There is so much going on that I always notice something new every time I play one of their tracks! Some of the CDs are quite scarce now.
Wow, this is incredible music! love it. Not surprised the music industry turned it's back on talent like this. 1981, and the industry had turned it's back on Prog in favour of creating the fast-food manufactured bands. Welcome to the 80's. Same kind of thing that happened to the film industry, turning it's back on creativity too. Wow, the 2'nd track is very different to the first.
The coda is really the opening section played about 5 times slower. The title "Dense" is misleading - the piece was originally titled "Danse" ("Dance"), but it was changed to "dense" not to signify density, but more as a play on words, so don't read too much into it.
This is a simply fantastic track! Considering Mats & Morgan (especially Morgan) have them as one of their main influences, I should really have listened to them much, much more than I have!... About the "chaos", I do think it's all pre-composed. Besides that, to my ears, it didn't even come off close to an orchestra warming up 😊 And might that bassy woodwind have been a bassoon? Really enjoyed your reaction and analysis. It's an enthralling track!
Reminds me a lot of Birds & Buildings, so I guess this is part where they got their inspiration from. Also some parts Magma in there. But in all, fantastic is the exact same word as ProgPer that comes to mind.
The drummer, Daniel Denis, was the driving force behind the band. He was not the sole composer in the group, but I would guess he composed this one. The rhythmic density is pretty typical. I believe this is from their third album. Still mostly acoustic instruments, unlike their later albums which add more electric instruments and synths. I love the bassoon.
I've heard of these guys in passing just from being into 70s prog. It's appropriately titled as it's really dense with a ton of interesting ideas. My one hesitation is I don't know how well it all coheres, and a lot of the transitions seem quite abrupt. Still, I found myself intrigued with almost every new section they introduced. If only it didn't feel like they Frankensteined them all together! Hard to single out favorite bits, but the "funeral doom" part near the end was pretty awesome! I also like that it stuck around long enough to leave an impression and even brought back some of the earlier ideas within it.
If you want to take a visit to the imagined insides of a serial killer's ... something inside - maybe not mind as such ... try their Jack the Ripper. It does more than just the usual scary jumps you'd expect. Well I think so. Might just be my imagination. Sorry, gotta go. The blood on the blade gets sticky if you leave it too long.
Wow great. I love UZ but it's a few years ago I listened to them. You should have a listen to the band "Dün" and their first and only album "Eros", also from 1981. It has 4 tracks, just pick one, they're all great but I think my favourite one is "Arrakis". They have much melodic percussion in their music like vibraphone etc.
ah yeah this takes me back to when i was discovering tons of new music in my youth and finding "rock in opposition" for the first time. Definitely the most extremely 'progressive' bands I've heard. I hope you also listen to the groups Thinking Plague & 5uu's which I think have the coolest most satisfying R.I.O. albums ever made imo.
Univers Zero and other related bands forged a distinctive blend of timbres and rhythms, but I don't find myself returning to them at this point. Definitely sounded cool and exciting played on college radio alongside other underground music back in the 80's.
There is only 5 musicians...... no brass, no guitar. We played it just like that live. 1) Drums, 2) Bass, 3)keyboards, 4)violin, 5)bassoon/Oboe/Cor Anglais
Whoa! So fun to see one of the actual band members chiming in. Love Univers Zero!
@SEGERSGuy Merci pour l’extraordinaire musique!
Elle fait partie de la trame sonore de ma vie depuis plus de quarante ans
Salut fraternel du Québec!
❤
You are correct they are among the first in the cohort of Avantprog, they have earlier albums though.
One of the genre names it had is Chamber Rock
Yes, their music is usually referred to as Chamber Rock, but I don't like all these labels.
Their second album 'Heresie' from 1979 is just about the most brooding and menacing instrumental album you're ever likely to hear...
I bought that cd just off of the front cover alone. Guy in the wheelchair and the brooding menacing vibe. It felt right and also seeing Cuneiform was the label. Done! Jack the Ripper gave me nightmares that night. Haha. Excellent.
This blew me away. Brilliant.
I freaking love this! 😀 I was listening while driving home from work and I was thinking about how this could sound like the soundtrack of my life. I thought a lot about how I grew up listening to classical music, classic rock and 70s prog. I liked how I didn't know what was coming, like during the doomy section, it felt like something was looming or waiting to happen and it gave me a sense of excitement. It was quite the journey from beginning to end, for me anyway.
Also, enjoyed your analysis as always.🙂
🙂 Of course you love this 🙂
Yeah, no wonder, growing up with that! And me, basically having the same background (guess you too Per), this is no more complex than a Schostakovich symphony. So I didn't find it difficult to listen to at all.
I love their music and have all their albums. It took me a long time to fully appreciate them though. There is so much going on that I always notice something new every time I play one of their tracks! Some of the CDs are quite scarce now.
I'm glad you got around to the Univers Zero. I very much enjoyed the episode!
Thick and heavy music. Heresie was my in. Jack the Ripper solidified my fandom. Superb.
Wow, this is incredible music! love it. Not surprised the music industry turned it's back on talent like this. 1981, and the industry had turned it's back on Prog in favour of creating the fast-food manufactured bands. Welcome to the 80's. Same kind of thing that happened to the film industry, turning it's back on creativity too. Wow, the 2'nd track is very different to the first.
The coda is really the opening section played about 5 times slower. The title "Dense" is misleading - the piece was originally titled "Danse" ("Dance"), but it was changed to "dense" not to signify density, but more as a play on words, so don't read too much into it.
This is a simply fantastic track! Considering Mats & Morgan (especially Morgan) have them as one of their main influences, I should really have listened to them much, much more than I have!...
About the "chaos", I do think it's all pre-composed. Besides that, to my ears, it didn't even come off close to an orchestra warming up 😊
And might that bassy woodwind have been a bassoon?
Really enjoyed your reaction and analysis. It's an enthralling track!
You might be right with the bassoon. And it continues to surprise me just how different our experience are regarding more chaotic writing.
Agreed on the bassoon. And not even a bass bassoon, just a regular one.
Reminds me a lot of Birds & Buildings, so I guess this is part where they got their inspiration from. Also some parts Magma in there. But in all, fantastic is the exact same word as ProgPer that comes to mind.
Never heard about birds & buildings !
Magma alumni ...members drifted between the 2 bands regularly
Daniel Denis was the only member of Magma, briefly in 1972, along with his then keyboardist Jean-Luc Manderlier.
I love this band. You should listen to more RIO/avant prog bands.
The drummer, Daniel Denis, was the driving force behind the band. He was not the sole composer in the group, but I would guess he composed this one. The rhythmic density is pretty typical. I believe this is from their third album. Still mostly acoustic instruments, unlike their later albums which add more electric instruments and synths. I love the bassoon.
I've heard of these guys in passing just from being into 70s prog. It's appropriately titled as it's really dense with a ton of interesting ideas. My one hesitation is I don't know how well it all coheres, and a lot of the transitions seem quite abrupt. Still, I found myself intrigued with almost every new section they introduced. If only it didn't feel like they Frankensteined them all together! Hard to single out favorite bits, but the "funeral doom" part near the end was pretty awesome! I also like that it stuck around long enough to leave an impression and even brought back some of the earlier ideas within it.
Love this band!
If you want to take a visit to the imagined insides of a serial killer's ... something inside - maybe not mind as such ... try their Jack the Ripper. It does more than just the usual scary jumps you'd expect. Well I think so. Might just be my imagination. Sorry, gotta go. The blood on the blade gets sticky if you leave it too long.
Wow great. I love UZ but it's a few years ago I listened to them.
You should have a listen to the band "Dün" and their first and only album "Eros", also from 1981. It has 4 tracks, just pick one, they're all great but I think my favourite one is "Arrakis".
They have much melodic percussion in their music like vibraphone etc.
ah yeah this takes me back to when i was discovering tons of new music in my youth and finding "rock in opposition" for the first time. Definitely the most extremely 'progressive' bands I've heard. I hope you also listen to the groups Thinking Plague & 5uu's which I think have the coolest most satisfying R.I.O. albums ever made imo.
One of my favorites.
Univers Zero and other related bands forged a distinctive blend of timbres and rhythms, but I don't find myself returning to them at this point. Definitely sounded cool and exciting played on college radio alongside other underground music back in the 80's.
👍👍👍
there's only one universe and it's Univers Zero