Zoogs Rift (THE LIQUID MOAMO): C/D

"I'd like to buy a wig for my hair...FOR MY HEAD."

Ideally, we'd all know of aquaintances who had Zoogz Rift LPs but would be enable to recall where they were purchased or a single song other than the ones with scat titles or "A Blind Man's Penis."

Zoogz on Zoogz:

"...like all of my albums, was horribly distributed and received little or no promotion, so it's highly unlikely that you've ever even heard of us. The press constantly (favorably) compared my four dozen or so releases to..."

Evidence of the milk of human kindness or somewhat more optimism than expected.

You are a man of wisdom, sir.

Unfortunately, the story never delivered on the frightening promise of the cover. There was not even a mention of Nudist Priest -- a terrible omission given the howler lead pic.

If you want weird jazz-meets-punk w/ poetry and funnies and shit, the best band on SST you can ever possibly investigate is the almighty Saccharine Trust, who in fact rule you all, even if you don't know it yet.

1. Paper Bag
2. October Faction
3. Leaving Trains
4. Zoogz Rift
5. Black Flag (1984 onwards) - possibly a controversial choice, but has anyone ever actually made it all the way through "The Process Of Weeding Out"? That has to be the single worst improv record I've ever heard.

I've never heard Zoogz Rift. I do own an Always August lp though!

Any such list is incomplete without the deranged folly of Greg Ginn's astoundingly wretched 90s side projects and diversions, which seemed to be released for no other reason than stupidity (although perhaps some of the names above in fact are some of those projects). I give to you the idiotic Hor, with that stellar song "Albini Bush Lick."

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd600/d603/d603662s0dp.jpg

WTF is going on with that cover? Call me an innocent but I can't figure it out.

Pantheon of Idols

http://people.brandeis.edu/~cmyme/zoogz.GIF

remembers me of Ignacious from that John Kennedy Toole book. am i the only one loving his brilliant 'Chromium Slit Negatives' (on 'Nonentity')? haven't heard 'Island Of Living Puke' though.

I agree that IOLP is basically listenable and has some very amusing moments (I tuned out an album or two after that). Would you please provide a link to the blog? I almost listed "A Very Beautiful Song for a Very Special Young Lady" in the "fake orgasms in pop songs" thread a while back. The album was recorded by Ethan James, which has a lot to do with its success--Zoogz' ear in the studio was pretty lousy. I don't think it is available on cd. I found mp3's of IOLP on Soulseek, but unfortunately the vinyl rip didn't go very well. In the Worst of SST pantheon he is beaten out by Gone and Swa, at the least.

Zoogz does however get some points for the wrestling business, in a knid of avant-garde "art into life" way, but then Andy Kaufman had already done it (and given that "My Breakfast With Blassie" was a fave of ZR's, the retread was conscious). And, after stating for years during his Beefheart-esque signature tune "Heart Attack" that one day he would have a heart attack performing it, he eventually did, at least according to the rumor I heard.

Agreed. Add to list: Tom Troccoli's Dog, Slovenly.

This seems to me reminiscent of The Nig Heist. Re "Hot Muff."

m.

http://www.aspma.com/trubee.htm

http://www.aspma.com/graphics/ramsey.jpg

Trubee--part of an exodus Zoogz led from Paterson NJ to L.A.--is even worse than Zoogz. His prank calls can be funny if you go in for that, and "Blind Man's Penis" is a classic (the interest of the song IS the way it was recorded), but his own music is excruciating lite jazz-rock and his shtick--I'm a victim of an uncaring society that doesn't recognize my unique genius so I will scream about it--is, well, you can see what it is.

Still have the Tom Troccoli record in my frisbee pile if anyone really wants it. Actually, I do sometimes break out 'Girl From The North Country' if I'm feeling particularly addled. Who the heck was he anyhow?

Worst SST thing I ever owned: Glenn Philips - Elevator. Super bad, I don't know what the heck they were thinking there...

Noblesse oblige to Hampton-Grease Band, maybe.

Zoogz Rift official homepage

Pro Wrestling Entertainer
Author / Humorist

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I not only owned Glenn Philips - Elevator, but I also had his mid-70's albums, Lost At Sea and Swim In The Wind. Why? I couldn't tell you myself. I've also still got an 80's or 90's era Col. Bruce Hampton cd which is pretty dire, available for free if anyone wants it. Music To Eat by the Hampton Grease Band rocks though, I think it might have been reissued too.

Yeah, maybe so, but Philips had been making terrible solo records for, I dunno, a dozen years before Elevator. Maybe I'm being harsh on him though, cos I've just remembered what Run Westy Run sounded like.

"...Look, I'm not some music fascist, telling you what you can and can't listen to, but if you listen to Zoogz Rift I will have you beaten senseless by my jack-booted thugs. I actually had one of this guy's albums, for which I paid $0.99. I got ripped off. Regardless, you can't hold a newsgroup responsible for this..."

1. Black Flag - Depression
2. Husker Du - Chartered Trips
3. Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
4. Das Damen - Girl With The Hair
5. Minutemen - The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts
6. Blind Idiot God - Stravinsky / Blasting Off
7. Universal Congress Of - Chasing
8. Descendents - Global Probing
9. Saint Vitus - Saint Vitus
10. Lee Ranaldo - Time Stands Still
11. Cruel Frederick - Jukebox In The East River
12. fIREHOSE - Choose Any Memory
13. Negativland - Car Bomb
14. Saccharine Trust - The Giver Takes
15. Pell Mell - Bring On The China
16. Sonic Youth - Schizophrenia
17. Grant Hart - All Of My Senses
18. Steve Fisk - Priorities
19. Elliot Sharp/Soldier String Quartet - Tessalation Row

Long Beach (I think) instrumental jazz-rock of sorts. I had the first album for a while, it was okay, but I liked the lead guy's other band the Cambridge Pipers more.

NickB sums up what I like about Slovenly, I think. It's definitely all about the band interplay, they were just a fantastic group, although I don't mind the vocals at all. The guitar playing is really nice; Verlaine a good reference point, yes, but there's also a spindly post-Harkleroad sensibility in some of the lead lines. They wrote good songs.

3 Beads of Sweat mourns the passing of Baculum guitarist Scott Ziegler, who was found dead on September 7, 2003.

This makes me really sad; I'm breaking out Thinking of Empire right now.

Worst SST Bands:

1) Paper Bag/SWA (it's a tie!)
2) Run Westy Run
3) Treacherous Jaywalkers
4) Always August
5) DC3
Aaahh, despite the greats, there were too many...

Anyone bagging Slovenly needs their head read.

BTW wanna buy some Trotsky Icepick? ;o)

That said, I've only heard the Looser Than Clams comp and a couple of his later albums. (And yes, of course, some of his lyrics can be hard to take.) But I am interested in Zoogz. All those SST LPs should be easier to find. I tried a couple of years ago to buy bulk copies of old SST obscurities directly from them, but to no avail.

Hooray, finally found Looser Than Clams floating out there in the ether.

Guitar playing on Island Of Living Puke was pretty sweet iirc.

While living in Gainesville FL I saw a band bust out a cover version of 'The Circle' from the abovementioned LP, which was a major WAIT WHUT moment...

I think Zoogz' Zappa/Beefheart-isms are OK when he shuts up and plays his guitar. And Glenn Phillips' Lost At Sea is fine too. He's up there with Zoot Horn Rollo.

RIP

had a couple of his tapes. not amazing, but really entertaining in small doses. RIP

Oh, that's sad. I listened to Island Of Living Puke about 1000 times in my teens. Water almost as much.

;_; RIP

enriched my life
bye rob

Quite sad to hear this, he always used to be my SST whipping boy but hey, he wouldn't have cared what anyone thought of him I don't think! Also, Idiots On The Miniature Golf Course is the greatest album title ever.

RIP Zoogz

This is sad. Always had a secret hope that he would turn up on this thread and lambast us all for being rude about his oeuvre. Hope that heaven has some happy cretins for him to murder anyway.

Relistening to Island of Living Puke at the moment. Probably the only SST release actually worth re-hearing here in 2011...

WHILE I MASTURBATE IN PAINFUL ECSTASY