Anarchist Republic of Bzzz

United Diktaturs of Europe
8 tracks : CD edition

Seb el Zin’s latest experiment has everything the informed music-lover needs to fuel his fantasies, be it only mention of these hallowed names in the line-up : Arto Lindsay, Archie Shepp, Mike Ladd, Luc Ex, Juice Aleem and ErikM, to name but a few.
But these names merely represent the foundations for an even more demented music than that on A.R.of Bzzz’s first offering which, along with Lindsay and Ladd, featured Marc Ribot and Sensational.
This time the barbed-wire guitars of the last record, interwoven by Lindsay and el Zin (who on this album also plays the ney) are borne on the back of Luc Ex’s visceral bass and the thwacking rhythms of two talented Turkish percussionists. On this blazing canvas, the rhapsodic flights of the kanun and the violin, the saxophonic slashings of Mr Shepp and the abrasive minerality of eRikm all jar superbly with the machine-gun vocals of Ladd and Aleem, both more seething than ever.
The album’s cover, designed by Kiki Picasso, acting in his role as propaganda minister, puts the seal on what is — have no doubt about it — a cult classic, just like its illustrious predecessor.