RAVEnous

Description

RAVEnous is the sole album by the American techno project ZERO (featuring Max Hsu, Ian Eskelin, and Luke Mazzeri), released on Wonderland in 1992, manufactured by Word. The album was engineered by Caesar Kalinowski and Max Hsu and was produced by ZERO with Caesar. Massive Mix and Huge Edits by Martin Baumgaertner and ZERO. Total Teknosoul Vocals by Donna McAfee, More Vocals by Ian “Get funky” Eskelin, Funky Rap Vocal Assistance by Yodes, and General Yelling by Max “Rocket boy” and Luke “Sonic boy”.

Zero is funk-industrial-tekno-rave-hiphop-soul-R&B-club-dance noise. Zero believes in analog, fat bass, funky loops, tweaked hihats, 808 kicks, 909 snares, a sense of humor and a personal relationship with God.

Easily the lesser of Nelson Word’s two rave releases. Having praised Syco to the skies, I’m forced to question even the point of this release. To my ears, this album is musically unadventurous, even allowing for the strict confines of the rave style. There’s nothing new here and the tracks have little definition one from the other. The BPM count is kept within the range 124-131 throughout and by halfway you’re crying out for something faster, or slower or just different. Neither is it particularly clear what the album is about – most of the samples are obscure at best. The most meaning they achieve is on «Mindbodysoul» which samples a Martin Luther King speech, but the tone is more properly given away by the repeated phrase, “The real thing will set you free.” Coke? Or do they mean Jesus? [Karl Allison, Cross Rhythms, October 1993]

CD tracklist:

01. Zero Theme
02. NXD3
03. Real Thing
04. Zerox
05. 2 The Rhythm
06. Hexadecibel
07. Mindbodysoul
08. Testament
09. 4 On The Floor Remix
10. 2 The Rhythm (Remix 1)
11. 2 The Rhythm (Remix 2)

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Wonderland. Track 9 is a megamix of “Hexadecibel”, “Real Thing”, “NXD3”, and “Testament.” Tracks 10 & 11 are unlisted “bonus tracks.”

[youtube_sc url=”” playlist=”f9w8sHPjbQI,2VqJqsghduk,jAgeUteLvy8,Rfgy5Jb-55w,XlyOIJ2LMRc,aPYICA-jkag,A_BtsIO5T1k,4o1vZYTDsRc,b3-deKNsHpY,XR2Sk9BxERM,3eFWvgsb8LA” title=”Zero, RaveNous – ” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]