32 track digital-only compilation assembled Fall 2021
Zum Audio Vol 4 surveys a cross-section of this decade’s art rock, punk, damaged electronics, and improvised music. Unconstrained by the limitation of previous CD incarnations, the thirty-plus tracks here span musicians from the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Italy, and Australia. Curated by George Chen (KIT, Common Eider, King Eider, Chen Santa Maria), a writer and musician-turned-comedian, these international connections grew out of years touring the US and Europe as well as promoting all-ages events in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The wishlist for this compilation was like putting together a virtual festival, which was conveniently the only type of festivity during COVID-19. Between established legacy acts on the Zum label (Body Double, The Acharis, My Heart, an Inverted Flame, Core of the Coalman, Somnambulists, Neil Campbell), veteran associates playing in new configurations (Spaceburn, The Skin Horse, Carrom, Gabriel Saloman), and newfound discoveries (Barbican Estate, It Sound, Bavaria), one senses the continuity of expansive tastes that has defined the long-running series.
Cover artwork by Wouter Vanhaelemeesch of Ghent, Belgium.
- Alien Owl Cafe - Magick Matcha Moment
- My Heart, an Inverted Flame - Five Felt Sevenly, Pallid and Sallow
- Looose - It Was All Nearly Mine!
- Kris & Tavi - Carrington Event
- Earth Jerks - July 17th, 1959
- The Urxed - Re-Regional
- Prissy Whip - Not Impressed
- The Acharis - Nothing’s Sacred
- Body Double - Prisonous Mind
- Watkins/Peacock - Stone Cold Stole Dub One
- It Sound - Inbetween the Seas (Lectric Sand Dub Mix)
- Michael Beach, Bonnie Mercer, Carla Oliver, Peter Warden - Kyneton #1
- Barbican Estate - Abandon
- Maskara - Dear Inertia… (#3)
- Xiu Xiu - A Bottle of Rum (Live Radio)
- Core of the Coalman - Incarnate Words
- Somnambulists - Discordances
- Spaceburn - New Growth
- Pod Blotz - Remote Viewing Case #80787
- Cube - Carpet ESP
- Zach Hill - Startled Ea
- Necking - Abyssal Joy
- Chris Brian Taylor - Super Reverse Commuter
- Jasmine Dreame Wagner - Three Themes from Drifts (Red Zone, Blue Ice, White Snow)
- Father Murphy - His Face Showed No Distortions (Live at WFMU)
- Neil Campbell - Rickety Bridge in the Rain
- Bavaria - Nouveau Couteaux
- Carrom - Number 4 (A.T.S.T.S.)
- Kern Haug - to Mass
- The Skin Horse - High Desert
- Gabriel Saloman - Spatial Poetics
- John Benson - Blood and Milk