new zru vogue albums for your enjoyment
new zru vogue albums for your enjoyment
The Exile (2006) |
Survival of the Cutest (2005) |
Beautiful Again (2004) |
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Zru Vogue | The Exile © 2006 Andrew L. Jackson and Rick Cuevas Buy it from the Apple iTunes Store "A beautiful work! Congratulations for this brand new piece of art!!" Following on the heels of the 2004 Zru Vogue album Beautiful Again and last year’s Survival of the Cutest, Zru Vogue —The Exile is a new concept album conceived, written, and recorded from September to November, 2006 that explores surrealist themes of insect love, fish origins, alienation, and escape from mundane normalcy into a world of strange and wonderful creatures.
The eleven songs that make up The Exile form a story arc that gets into the deep, dark mind of our hero (we’ll call him Zero) and his adventures in a mysterious other world that co-exists with this one, an alternate universe where mother fish and insect queens dominate the landscape. Or something to that effect. Whatever the case, the music speaks for itself: a rhythm-fest steeped in funk and electro grooves, sprawling synthesizer lines, Zruphonic bass lines, and layers of percussion. Rick and I once again did all the writing, arrangements, performances, recording, and production [with the addition of our long-time pal Patrick Coyne on electronic drum kit for the song “Un-returning (Overflow)”]. I wrote all the lyrics and created the cover illustrations. The Exile is based on a concept by Rick and me, and the finished tracks came about from lots of improvisation and experimentation in the recording process. It was lots of fun to make, and I truly believe it is, as Max Tyrell says, our best yet. Don’t miss it. -Andrew Jackson
Song titles: A Day In The Life Of The Zru --- (illustrations by Andrew L. Jackson) |
Zru Vogue | Survival of the Cutest © 2005 Andrew L. Jackson and Rick Cuevas Buy it from the Apple iTunes Store The wacky, hypnotic world of Zru Vogue, the Penn & Tellers of the music biz, will have you rigid on your seat for 40 minutes whilst longtime poet Andrew Jackson sing-talks his way through some interesting stories set to music with much help from Rick Cuevas. A funky groove surrounds “Pretty Fairies” with deliciously creamy bass notes and an overall hypnotic caramel flavour. The second track resembles a Kraftwerk-like backing to Andrew’s distinctive vocals and word-play projecting the song upwards. “If Blood Was Wine” (a play on Hendrix's “If Six Was Nine”?) is a love story with an unusual lyric and snappy arrangement. The track rises above most of the others and proves to be a real standout piece. Next we have a Middle Eastern twirl of hot sand that buries the listener in more hypontic spirals and lasts a full five minutes. After a second 'interlude' from Professor Hawking (on speed it seems), “Dig Deeper” has the rock stance of an angry brontosaurus but the whispered, Dylan-ish vocals (reminding me of Everything Is Broken) rests over a ponderous drum machine. By contrast “Iron Man” is pure play on words and a real cheeky chappie. “Iron Man wears ironed pants,” sings Andrew and with its bushy keyboard approach is both vibrant yet teasing. “No One Knows” has a long intro where the voice interacts with the rhythm of the song perfectly. “Nuthin” is the token bad boys rock song more tap than spinal but then it truly is about nothing! “Japanese Schoolgirl Mapping Device” arrives suitably dressed in oriental schoolgirl uniforms with the most simple of keyboard riffs and you wonder what this is all about, what can be in the San Francisco drinking water? More sinister is the “Imperfect” song that follows. The dramatic finale “Falling Into Quicksand” again is a feast of words that wouldn’t be out of place at the end of Sergeant Pepper (really) — it's the best track on a consistently good album that stands out from the pack. Penn & Teller would approve I am sure. -Trev Faull, U.K.
Song titles: Intro Pretty Fairies On The Daisies What It Means To Be If Blood Was Wine Act Like Nothing’s Wrong Interlude Dig Deeper Iron Man No One Knows Nuthin Means Nuthin Japanese Schoolgirl Mapping Device Imperfect --- (illustrations by Mari-chan, Tokyo) |
Zru Vogue | Beautiful Again © 2004 Andrew L. Jackson and Rick Cuevas Buy it from the Apple iTunes Store "I’m prepared to take hell Each song began life as words in my notebook that I wrote there when I wasn't thinking too much. Then later I came back to them with my acoustic guitar and some ideas for music. I write songs like this all the time, but the songs Rick and I chose to record for Beautiful Again have a unique quality that set them apart as uniquely Zru-ish. All of the basic tracks were recorded in one take, and most of the overdubs were first takes also, a technique that helped maintain a fresh, authentic quality throughout the recording process (in some cases, we even removed overdubs, reverting back to an earlier, simpler mix). For most tracks, Rick engineered as I played and sang my parts (initially to analog reel-to-reel tape), and then later added his bass, keyboard, percussion, and e-bow/guitar overdubs, either to the 16-track analog tape or direct to Roland VS-880 digital. In some cases analog tracks and digital tracks were combined at a later session, "flying in" the best takes from different sessions. We tweaked each song just enough to enhance its unique strengths, always with that Zruist ear and sensibility applied. "What did
you expect -Andrew Jackson
Song titles: The Illusionist Waited So Long Cut The Cord inside My Head Momentum Full of Emptiness Dreaming I'm Awake The Surrealist Brainstew This Will Make You Beautiful Again
--- (illustrations by Andrew L. Jackson) |
Zru Vogue is:
Andrew Jackson - vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, e-bow guitars, bass, synthesizers, drums and percussion.
Rick Cuevas - E-bow, acoustic, and electric guitars, bass, keyboards and synthesizers, drums and perussion, background vocals, and engineering.
All albums Arranged & Produced by Zru Vogue.
ZRU VOGUE ENTERTAINMENT
web page art and design copyright 2007 Andrew L. Jackson
