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Zoviet France

Real Name:Ben Ponton & Mark Warren
Profile:Zoviet France is an idiosyncratic collective of anonymous postindustrialists, dronologists, and pseudo-ethnomusicologists. Their investigations have taken them into fictional cultures where nothing is easily located and reality often slips into the hypnagogic. Having secluded themselves in Newcastle, England since their inception in 1980, Zoviet France have developed a radical relationship with the cheap technologies of old-fashioned tape recorders, homemade acoustic instruments, primitive looping and sampling devices, and basic dub trickery. From these machines, the collective has crafted a distinctly unique vocabulary of postindustrial sonic hypnosis. Just as Zoviet France's sound was alchemic reconfigurations of inexpensive technologies, their vinyl packaging literally covered their sounds with aluminum, roofing shingles and porcelain.
Members in alphabetical order: Paolo di Paolo (1984-1986), Andy Eardley (1990-1995), Lisa Hale (1980-1981), Peter Jensen (1980-1984), Ben Ponton (1980-present), Mark Spybey (1987-1989), Robin Storey (1980-1992), Mark Warren (1995-present)
URLs:http://www.zovietfrance.info/
Members:Andy Eardley, Ben Ponton, Lisa Hale, Mark Spybey, Paolo Di Paolo, Peter Jensen (2), Robin Storey
Name Variations: All | Zoviet France | $oviet France | :$oviet:France: | :Sophie & Franz: | :Zoviet * France: | :Zoviet France: | :Zoviet*France | :zoviet*france: | :Zoviet-France | :zoviet-france: | :Zoviet:France: | Soviet France | zoviet*france | Zoviet-France
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Releases:
:Garista: (Album) ◄ (5 versions)   Not On Label ... 1982
Untitled (Album) ◄ (3 versions)   Red Rhino Records ... 1982
Mohnomishe (Album) ◄ (2 versions)   Red Rhino Records ... 1983
Norsch (Album) ◄ (2 versions)   Red Rhino Records ... 1983
Eostre ◄ (2 versions)   Red Rhino Records ... 1984
Gris (10")   No Man's Land 1985
Popular Soviet Songs And Youth Music (Album) ◄ (4 versions)   Singing Ringing ... 1985
Gesture Signal Threat ◄ (2 versions)   Red Rhino Records ... 1986
Misfits, Loony Tunes And Squalid Criminals ◄ (2 versions)   Red Rhino Records ... 1986
A Flock Of Rotations ◄ (2 versions)   Red Rhino Records ... 1987
Assault And Mirage ◄ (2 versions)   Red Rhino Records ... 1987
Loh Land (Album) ◄ (2 versions)   Staalplaat 1987
Shouting At The Ground (Album) ◄ (4 versions)   Red Rhino Records ... 1988
Just An Illusion (Album) ◄ (2 versions)   Staalplaat 1990
Look Into Me (Album) ◄ (2 versions)   Charrm 1990
Live In My Livingroom ◄ (2 versions)   ZH27 1991
Shadow, Thief Of The Sun (CD)   DOVe 1991
Vienna 1990 (CD)   Charrm 1991
Collusion (CD, Comp, Dig)   The Grey Area 1992
What Is Not True (CD, Album)   Charrm 1993
Unentitled (CD)   These Records 1995
Digilogue (Album) ◄ (2 versions)   Soleilmoon Recordings 1996
in.version (CD)   Charrm 1996
Mort Aux Vaches: Feedback (CD, Album, Ltd)   Mort Aux Vaches 1998
The Decriminalisation Of Country Music (CD)   Tramway 2000
Music For A Spaghetti Western (CD, Album)   Klanggalerie 2005
Shteirlel (Lathe, 8", Ltd, Shape, Cle)   Altvinyl 2008
Remixes:
Soul Crush (12", Ltd) Soul Crush (Zoviet-Fra... Shadow Canada 1992
Work Terminal (Album) ◄ (2 versions) Soul Crush (Zoviet Fra... Hyperium Records ... 1992
Occupied Territories (2xCD) Muzzled Staalplaat 1996
Recurrence & Intervention (CD) Intervention 3 - Tacti... Rawkus 1996
Hôte (CD, Enh, Ltd, Album, Dig) Hôte #01 ([o:t œ] Re... M-Tronic 2002
Production:
Mouvements - Compilation Européenne (CD, Ltd) Something This Beautiful La Légende Des Voix 1990
Appears On:
A Classic Guide To No Man's Land (CD, Comp) First Vigil No Man's Land 1988
12/October/1989 (Cass, Mixed, C60)   Psychic Rally 1989
Ambient 4: Isolationism (2xCD, Comp) Daisy Gun Virgin, Virgin 1994
Out There - A Thread Through Time (2xCD, Comp) Synaesthetica Pi Recordings 1994
Slumbermusic (CD, Comp) As Falls Snoqualmie, S... Universal Egg 1996
Minimalism: More Or Less (2xCD, Comp) Tuuschende Escalone Law & Auder 1998
Energy Exchange (CD, Album, Ltd) Virtual Union, Chimeri... Klanggalerie 2000
Breath By Breath By Breathing (CDr, Album, Bla)   XZF 2002
Tracks Appear On:
Ritual: Lands End (Cass, Comp) Ram Touch 1985
Bad Alchemy Nr 4 (Cass, Comp, C50) Sprey Bad Alchemy 1986
Fight! (LP, Comp) Le Mur Mûr Nu Cathexis Recordings 1987
A Classic Guide To No Man's Land (CD, Comp) First Vigil No Man's Land 1988
A Bead To A Small Mouth (Comp) ◄ (2 versions) White Dusk Barooni 1989
Absolute (Comp) ◄ (3 versions) Le Mur Mur Nu Parade Amoureuse ... 1989
Mouvements - Compilation Européenne (CD, Ltd) Something This Beautiful La Légende Des Voix 1990
Objekt No. 4 (CD) Voice Print Identifica... Ladd-Frith 1990
Death Of Vinyl (CD) Fugitive DOVe 1991
Bad Alchemy Nr 20 (Cass) Spike Bad Alchemy 1992
Melt (CD) Soft And Close By Me Work In Progress 1992
Sky Flowers & Horse Eggs (CD, Ltd) I Felt The Breath Of M... Hypnagogia 1992
Total Volume 2 - The Body (CD) False Witness Total 1993
Ambient 4: Isolationism (2xCD, Comp) Daisy Gun Virgin, Virgin 1994
Mind The Gap Volume 2 (CD, Comp) Mir Staalplaat, Gonzo Circus 1994
Out There - A Thread Through Time (Comp) ◄ (2 versions) Synthaesthetica Pi Recordings 1994
The Sound Works Exchange (CD) L'Saram The Sound Works Exchange 1995
Dissolve A Work In Progress Compilation (CD, Comp) Soft And Close By Me Fused Coil 1996
Earth (CD, Comp) With Us Today, Sucking... D.O.R. 1996
In Memoriam Gilles Deleuze (2xCD, Comp) On The Edge Of A Grain... Mille Plateaux 1996
Slumbermusic (CD, Comp) As Falls Snoqualmie, S... Universal Egg 1996
Concept: A Compilation (CD) Untitled Double Space 1997
Resonance Radio Issue (CD, Promo) Improvisation London Musicians' Collective 1997
Resonance Volume 5 Number 2: Retuning Radio (CD) Improvisation London Musicians' Collective 1997
Minimalism: More Or Less (2xCD, Comp) Tuuschende Escalone Law & Auder 1998
RRR 500 (LP, Comp) Untitled RRRecords 1998
Marconi Point (CD, Comp) Temple Attic Iris Light Records 1999
Absolute Zero (CD) Sifr Charrm 2000
Deadly Actions Live Retrospective 1994-1996 (VHS) Untitled Nuit Et Brouillard 2001
Grasssmoker (File, MP3, 320) First Vigil (Motor 166... Noise-Joy 2007
Recovery (Box, Ltd, Comp + 10x7", Single) Bomber Fractured Recordings 2008
User Reviews:
Alastis, Oct 16, 2004

I would say that *Zoviet-France* do not create music - they create imaginary soundtracks to the movies that couldve looked like something that we often see in dreams. Critics are trying to find terms for this genre - some are calling it dark ambient, some are calling it "isolationism", but in essence none of these terms will help us to define what it is really Zoviet-France are creating.
According to some sources, their work usually consists of months of improvisation and painstaking editing work. Results are hard describe with ordinary terms. Its meditative and hypnotizing, but at the same time it have nothing to do with new age. Its agressive (at least in the early phase), but it have nothing to do with power electronics or harsh noise. Its influential, but at the same time few heard about it outside of avant-garde/experimental circles.
So what is it, really ? A giant sound puzzle ? Hypnotizing sound walls ? *Zoviet-France* music might be all of it, but it doesnt fit into existing genres and musical schemes.

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