Luminiferous Ether by Zip Tang

Dutch Progressive Rock Page Review (2007):

Chicago quartet Zip Tang offer up their debut, self-released album that "chooses the mantle of obscure integrity over the albatross of ubiquitous vulgarity", or so it says on their web site. Actually that rather off-kilter description of the band that offers up music with "the irreverence of Frank Zappa / the majesty of King Crimson / the vocal harmonies of Yes" is quite fitting. With a rather unconventional line-up of Marcus Padgett (saxophone, keyboards, main vocals), Perry Merritt (guitars, vocals), Rick Wolfe (bass, vocals) and Fred Faller (drums, percussion) one would expect a somewhat unconventional sound.

What Luminiferous Ether provides is an hour of contrasts. Take With A Twist for example. A rather 'new wave' beginning suddenly lapses into a blues guitar solo which cleverly wends its way back to the original off-beat groove. With a twist indeed. The Zappaesque opener Tower Of Tuna builds from a proggy intro into a mixture of odd and humorous lyrics, guitar and sax interplay, weird synth lines and even a final section dominated by some great drum breaks. The quality of the recording and production is exemplary with a crisp drum sound and the instruments clearly distinguishable, even when the sax and guitar parts are mirroring each other. The band's humour is self-evident on the chorus of Missed The Beginning, perhaps a paean to the short attention span of many people these days: "I missed the beginning, I slept through the middle, I wasted the ending, Don't tell me it's over". With a saxophone as joint lead instrument it is inevitable that some jazzy elements creep into the album. Probably most pronounced on Beta, but it is jazz in the way that early King Crimson adapted the genre on their first couple of albums. Again, the central section takes a bit of a detour into a slower and sleazier vibe, like a radical reworking of Henry Mancini's Pink Panther Theme.

Beta is book ended by two of my favourite tracks on the album Like We Did Before and Searching For Treasure, possibly because they are more conventional songs. Like We Did Before, a slower number which is well sung and features some great melodies wrung from Merritt's guitar, has a sort of downbeat Porcupine Tree/No Man feel while Treasure makes good use of harmonies with some persuasive work by the rhythm section of Wolfe and Faller. Mmm, just noticed that neither of these tracks feature any saxophone, put that down to my preferences rather than any slight to the contributions of Marcus Padgett. Best opening to any track occurs on Nothing Here with a string synthesiser and acoustic guitar duet that deserves to be credited as a separate piece (or at least designated as an 'interlude'!).

The remaining two tracks set out the prog credentials of Zip Tang. Dr Plush, a real slow burner of a song, has definite Pink Floyd overtones and, once again, kudos to Faller for providing some excellent work on the skins and cymbals. Good use is made of harmonies and Padgett works overtime providing spacey, pseudo-psychedelic synthesiser lines and an extended saxophone solo. Some tasty layered guitar parts add a splash of dissonance followed by a succinct solo before the listener is pulled back to the meat of the vocal melody. A rather incongruous ending mixed a vaguely Parisian accordion sound with tapes of screaming and exploding bombs, intriguing. The surprise element of the album is a full 18 minute version of ELP's Tarkus. Considering ELP was largely a showcase for the extraordinary talents of Keith Emerson, Zip Tang's version largely dispenses with keyboards, with only the Hammond Organ being reproduced on keyboards. The bulk of the synth lines are reproduced either on saxophone or guitar. That Zip Tang have managed to produce a faithful reproduction of such an epic number says a lot about the musicianship and arrangement skills of the band. That Zip Tang have managed to introduce a whole new freshness to the piece is both unexpected and astonishing. Maybe it is a case of being too familiar with the original that the cover brings out new elements of the song, it really is like hearing Tarkus for the first time all over again.

Luminiferous Ether manages to be diverse without being disjointed and progressive without being derivative. I'd recommend this album to anyone who is in need of getting some fresh air into their musical lungs.

Conclusion: 8 out of 10

MARK HUGHES

Eclectic Progressive Rock from Chicago, USA

Fred Faller - drums
Andrew Bunk - bass
Perry Merritt - vocals, guitar, synthesizers

Former Members:
Marcus Padgett - sax, vocals, keys, synths
Rick Wolfe - bass, vocals

ziptang.net
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