Artist description Producer/Programmer/Bassist/Keyboardist at the controls with a wide array of seasoned musicians...

Music Style Subzone

Musical Influences Old, TransAm, Chrome, Scorn, William Orbit, The Thrones, PanSonic, FSOL, Swans

Similar Artists Old, TransAm, Chrome, Scorn, William Orbit, The Thrones, PanSonic, FSOL, Swans

Artist History The concept of Subzone started around '92. After many psuedonyms, lineup changes, and more than a few successful and unsuccessful shows, we began recording the 1st album in Fall, 1997 at Half Machine Studios with Helios Creed as engineer. We finished recording it at Badman Recording Co. in San Francisco, CA in Fall,1999. The 1st album, titled 'Paranoid Landscape' was released 10/31/00 on Badman. We are continuing to develop, play, & record new material on an ongoing basis...

Group Members Mullen-Production,Programming,Keyboards,Bass,Guitar,Drums,Tapes,Samples,Vox,and FX. Tetragrammaton-guitar. Dan Martin-Drums. Charles Sabia-Drums. QPhunk-Drums. Rika-Vox. Magierek-Bass. Sellers-Bass. Brother Winston-Didgeridoo.

Instruments Bass,Drums,Guitar,Samples,Synthesizers,Tapes,Vox

Albums Paranoid Landscape

Press Reviews Review from Toast [12/30/00]: "This puppy kicks! Think throbby, thick, and jagged. The core is comprised of Mullen (tons o' synths and other shit), Leif Sellers (bass), and Tetragammatron (guitar), and is rounded out with other folks as needed. Former Chromester Helios Creed co-produces. The result is dark, psychedelic,and eminently trance-worthy. Where other industrialized music claims to be heavy, this actually is. At the same time, it avoids trip-hammer monotony and atonal chaos by use of textures, riffs, and a massive bottom end. The occasional vocals are buried in the mix, becoming just another fascinating texture or seam to catch your attention, before they recede and are replaced by something else. My only question is - is this the techno-geek white boy equivalent of funk?" Review from Held Like Sound [12/04/00]: "The title is dead on here. Starting out with a 7 minute drone buzz riff on snarling bass and electric drums, Subzone sets up the dark paranoid atmosphere immediately. Vocals slide in, darkly, during the second song...kind of reminding me of some nightmare acid jazz trip. Skinny Puppy jamming with the Golden Palominos. There's definite darkness here, but definite groove as well, and you can't get a better drive under the rhythm than that evil bass. It hits your heart like Halloween. Most of the bass lines played by main Subzone man, Mullen, who sometimes ventures into an almost Cure like groove, but deeper. Early moods more than music. Faith... you know. As a point of interest, to sound-o-holics out there, a few of these songs were produced, recorded, and slightly mixed, by that man about the sound, Helios Creed. If you don't turn the lights out when you listen to this, you'll find more enjoyment than paranoia... but there's a fine bass line between the two." - Marcel Feldmar. Review from Aversion.com [11/20/00]: For whatever reason, the bulk of indie instrumental acts have a fetish that drives them to pursue the tinkling, pretty and intellectual ends so often associated with the genre to such a degree that they fall desperately short in the excitement department. Subzone will never be accused of that, that¹s for sure. With Paranoid Landscape the band throws the pretty-boy indie aesthetic down the garbage disposal and emerges with a harsh and imposing sound. There¹s no tinkling guitars or charming arrangements; instead Subzone reverts to blistering guitars, ambient noises and deliberate back beats that is more informed by classic industrial-rock and avant-garde experimentalism than the traditional rock basis for instrumental acts. If there¹s a soundtrack to the cyberpunk worlds described by films like The Matrix or novels such as William Gibson¹s Neuromancer, it¹d be the stuff Subzone so blissfully creates. With shimmering ambient sonic fields and grisly, though precise, guitars able to lay down a wall of crackling distortion, Subzone¹s work recalls the flashy neon signs and foggy, grungy alleyways of those unsettling future cityscapes. There¹s a fascinating beauty that comes along with Subzone¹s harsh sounds, a charm that danger spells no small part of. While danger plays a large role in Paranoid Landscape, it isn¹t the only trick the band masters. With dismal low ends that creep under its imposing soundscapes with sinister determination as well as a methodical, almost mechanical sense of dynamics, Subzone packs menacing and enchanting depths as well as its stark dehumanizing sound. Whether the band breaks out a midpaced distortion festival akin to Nine Inch Nails¹ latest ("Try Again") or lurks its way through smoky, slow-motion numbers ("Stuck Inside"), Subzone almost effortlessly finds some of the most unsettling sounds this side of a nightmare.What¹s just as impressive as Subzone¹s skill with whipping up dirty and sprawling soundscapes is its ability to make them easily accessible. While every experimental act since Kraftwerk has been able to make spooky sound, few have made the concessions to songwriting that makes their work demand an audience. Subzone¹s harsh, it¹s cruel, it¹s violence, but it¹s also an impressive listen.

Additional Info subzonedata@hotmail.com

Location Sacramento/San Francisco, CA - USA

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