Posts Tagged ‘zola jesus’

Directed by Jacqueline Castel, the new Zola Jesus video for “Seekir”, from the album ‘Conatus’, out now on Souterrain Transmissions.

And so to the third and final part of Live4ever’s 2011 retrospective. A year packed with some genuinely outstanding releases, 2011 has enjoyed some of the most unanimously acclaimed records of recent years; PJ Harvey has won seemingly every award up for grabs thanks to ‘Let England Shake’, Kate Bush has wowed everyone with her first record of the decade, while the likes of The Boxer Rebellion, FIGO and The Minutes have come to the party with equally impressive, under-the-radar efforts just as deserving of your precious time and attention.

To celebrate another year of great music, the Live4ever Ezine is offering two readers the opportunity to win a pair of Boom earphones; a prize packed with both style and sound quality. So to be in with a chance of winning, when you’ve been through the pick of the LPs which have been taking up our space throughout the year, leave a comment below telling us your own Top 5 Albums of 2011 to be automatically entered into our giveaway. Good luck!

“Vessel” taken from ‘Contaus’ on Souterrain Transmissions
Directed by Jacqueline Castel

Yes, ‘Conatus‘. Not a pharmaceuticals company or species of river-bottom fish, but an idea. A spark. The spark, actually. The word ‘conatus’ is a lot of things to a lot of philosophers, but the closest approximation to a definition would be “the will to live”, or “the movement of the soul”. So, not an album about sunshine and smiles and skipping for miles.

Nika Roza Danilova is Zola Jesus, continuing the noble musical tradition of adding two established names together to make a new one, much like Marilyn Manson, Lady Gaga and er, Captain Beefheart. Shush. Of course he counts. Mercifully, unlike the first two of those examples, Danilova seems solely focused on making brave, exciting music, rather than building up a cult image.

Zola Jesus today releases the first video from her acclaimed new album, Conatus. Directed, as always, by Jacqueline Castel and filmed in the New Mexican desert, Vessel shows Zola Jesus in dramatic form.

Songs like ‘Vessel‘ are ideally played somewhere with a bit of space. A few acres to soak up the sound. A stadium arena would be nice, but a forest spread across a mountain might be more fitting. This music has something of the night and the wild about it.

You can hear the electric purr of The Cure; Joe Meek’s mad, eerie studio recording techniques; even a little of haunting blues spirituals of the early 20th century.

Following last week’s announcement of her new album and accompanying free download ‘Vessel’, which topped all the blogging charts, was selected as Radio 1’s record of the week and was selected as NME’s best track of the week, Zola Jesus has announced a special one-off album launch show.

Taking place in the beautiful theatre at Toynbee Hall on September 26th, the show coincides with the release of Zola Jesus’ spectacular new album, ‘Conatus’, released on Souterrain Transmissions that same day. The follow up to 2010’s ‘Stridulum II‘ will also be preceded by a number of festival dates this summer.

Our Tracks rundown is brought to a close today with the likes of Pint Shot Riot, Alberta Cross, The Besnard Lakes and The Minutes all featuring in our final top 10.

Once you’ve been through this part of our list, why not do us a favour and recommend your own stand-outs from 2010. Leave us a comment below telling us what has rocked your 2010 to be in with a chance of winning a selection of prizes from acts featured on our own rundown.

In today’s Soundbites, our quick take on news, reviews and tabloid gossip, Mariah Carey has a stumble, we take a look at new releases from two supremely talented songwriters and Jerry Hall begins to dish the dirt on her time with Mick Jagger. There’s also a move into the theatre for Green Day and Beth Ditto reveals her family plans.