Naked City – Naked City
A landmark in experimental music, the debut album of alto saxophonist John Zorn’s Naked City project is a maddeningly intense potpourri of grindcore, noise punk, jazz, surf rock, and pretty much any other genre bastardization one can think of. In 26 gut-punch songs, the group interprets songs as broad as Ennio Morricone and Georges Delerue film scores, the 60s Batman theme song, and various other popular tunes and originals, all with a certain sense of self-aware humour throughout. Initially conceived as a New York City workshop for experimental musicians led by Zorn, the band came into its own as Naked City with this self-titled 1988 LP. With the grating, screamed vocals of Yamantaka Eye, Bill Frisell’s barely-contained guitar freak-outs, and the transcendent squeals of Zorn’s alto sax, Naked City certainly isn’t for everyone, but give it a spin if you’re looking for your weirdo art-jazz freak-out fix.
