Genuine or Copycats? Still BEAUTIFUL MUSIC by ZERO 7
A long time ago - about 7 months - I posted the first and maybe the most known album of Zero 7 (post here): "Simple Things". It went straight into the hit charts, with tracks such like "Destiny".
It was the time we didn't had vote bots in our community. It was the time we had whales voting with their own fingers. It was the time we could still earn very interesting rewards on our posts in a very natural way. I was pretty surprised what $ value I received on that post back then; More than 15$ while Steem Power / Steem had a much lower US Dollar value on the exchanges.
I'm really wondering how you - the community - will reward this post :)
But that is not the reason why I post this post, or any other post I publish.
My goal is to give you the opportunity to discover new music and at the same time remind you of all the great music and artists out there!
Anyway, back to Zero 7. Two guys who have a true love for creating music, but also they knew how to get into business. They took a road that shows they knew how to get noticed. On Resident Advisor (source) we can read:
Zero 7 have created the kind of buzz that most major label rock bands can only dream of. From their debut dub deconstruction of Radiohead's 'Climbing Up The Walls' to the orchestral sweep of their remix of Terry Callier's 'Love Theme From Spartacus'. An ultra rare remix of US country soul pioneers Lambchop's 'Up With People' are interpreted the lo-fi original into a dizzying tribute to 60s soul and jazz arranger Charles Stepney ("er, we did get a bit Puff Daddy on that one," they joke disarmingly). Zero 7 have taken great records and won adoring plaudits from fans such as Jools Holland, Gilles Peterson and The Face.
I also like to share with you what the Guardian newspaper wrote (source) about Zero 7 when they released the album I share with you today, their second one: "When It Falls".
Three years on, the opening moments of Zero 7's second album suggest that critics of Binns and Hardaker's light-fingered approach to chill-out music might be forced to shift their opinion. An old vinyl record crackles. An electronic buzzing hovers somewhere in the middle distance. A glockenspiel tinkles disconnectedly. It is sinister and intriguing, a thrilling instant where it seems Zero 7 have realised that using someone else's ideas isn't really cricket and moved on. This reverie is shattered by the arrival of drifting synthesizers, fluttering electric piano, a loping bassline, string arrangements influenced by Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire De Melody Nelson, etc. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
..and...
It is the first of a frustrating handful of moments on When It Falls that imply Binns and Hardaker might have ideas of their own worth listening to. Home contains a genuinely exciting orchestral crescendo. Somersault boasts a vague country and western influence. These, however, are isolated incidents. For the rest of the time, Zero 7 stick doggedly to a blueprint that wasn't even theirs in the first place.
and also this...
The album is intended to chill you out, but it ends up having the reverse effect. If you regard music as an art form rather than a kind of lava lamp for the ears, When It Falls is likely to have you storming about in a blind rage and trying to kick lumps out of your furniture long before it ends. It seems so devoid of ambition, so blithely willing to take the easiest option: infuriating, given the music that studio-tanned production duos such as Binns and Hardaker could theoretically be making. Unfettered from the old guitar, bass and drums line-up, the whole of recorded musical history is theirs to be sampled. Technology is so advanced that they are limited only by the boundaries of their imagination. In the case of Zero 7, that rather appears to be the problem.
Ah well, whatever the Guardian wrote about these guys, I DO LIKE their first and their second album.
What I DON'T LIKE is that it seems they stopped releasing music, no new Albums since 2009, and no new EPs since 2015. And they also seem to have stopped performing live, their last gigs are already more than a year ago.
FORTUNATELY: we have all the music they did publish! Their second album is the one I share with you today. A much lesser know album then their first one, but - to me - not an album that is less enjoyable to.
I wish you a super chill Saturday
NJOY Zero 7
Artist: Zero 7
Album: When It Falls
Year: 2004
Country: United Kingdom
Tracks
Warm Sound
Home
Somersault
Over Our Heads
Passing By
When It Falls
The Space Between
Look Up
In Time
Speed Dial No. 2
Morning Song
Music
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Soundcloud
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Artist
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Zero7 - Simple Things (2001) ... album | play | post
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I think I actually prefer this album to the first. I really was into both this one and Simple Things, but the next 2 albums just didn't do it for me and I lost interest. I did really like their compilation for the Late Night Tales series... even though its not Zero 7 stuff...but they obviously have great taste.
Yeh, I kinda agree with you. They started strong, and their second album is even more strong. I had both of them on repeat, and still regularly listen to both albums. The rest of their work I listen to less, to be honest,