Zeroes

"Call it an indie rock supergroup or just call it Zeroes, a new
conspiracy of noise care of electronic soundscapist/jazzman Ben Shemie,
Land of Talk bassist/Kill the Lights guitarist Joseph Yarmush, Mothers
Fathers drummer Liam O’Neil and Young Galaxy multitasker Max Henry.
Zeroes practise a sort of stark psychedelic rock while dabbling in
beats and synths, moody, murky pop tones and vocals ranging from a
mantra monotone to bleached-out emo falsetto. And forget about standard
song structures, these six songs are rough-hewn collages, but beautiful
ones. Imagine Clinic, Spoon, Suicide and recent Radiohead grafted
together at Hotel 2 Tango." 8/10 - Lorraine Carpenter/Montreal Mirror

May 8, 2009 (Before the release of the physical EP)

I almost feel bad writing about Zeroes. After all, the band's self-titled debut EP isn't actually available for purchase anywhere at the moment. Its initial run was extremely limited, and even though all 200 copies of that first batch sold out (and garnered some attention in the process), the band hasn't made it available digitally yet. I'm sure they will eventually -- given that band members hail from the likes of Land of Talk and Young Galaxy, it seems likely they at least have a vague idea of how to do it -- but, at present, there's not really anywhere to hear Zeroes beyond their Myspace.

What makes me feel not bad about reviewing the EP, though, is the simple fact that it's really, really good. Any band that can make an EP as solid as this one deserves to be heard by as many people as possible...even if, for the time being, it's only a Myspace stream.

That's got to be better than nothing, though, particularly when the music is as compelling as this. Zeroes specialize in hard, aggressive-sounding music that also throbs and pulsates with the kind of sensual energy that you'd generally associate with anelectronic act. As songs like "Mudslinger" and "NNNNNNN" demonstrate, the band is as comfortable with big, heavy riffs as they are with shuddering, dancefloor-friendly beats, meaning that even if it's hard to get a handle on exactly where the band is taking you at any given moment, you never feel as though they don't know what they're doing. I mean, I'm generally not very good at appreciating electronic music, but when the results are as incredible as "The Disappearance of the Skyscraper", it's hard not to be blown away. Zeroes are one of the most exciting new acts I've come across so far this year, and, hopefully, they'll make their debut EP available to a wider audience soon, because it's the kind of thing that absolutely needs to be heard. - www.iheartmusic.net

June 22, 2009

NXNE is a great week for music, and while this year’s lineup may have been somewhat weaker than it has been in past years, there were definitely some amazing acts to be found all over the city. It does take some filtering to find the good ones though, through the artists who are bland, boring, obnoxiously noisy, and shamelessly mindless synth-based-dancy-electro-infused-drone-rock. I even saw one post-rock band playing with half the members sitting down cross-legged on lounge chairs, while the audience patiently waited for the music to go somewhere (it didn’t). But there are many diamonds in the rough – case and point: Zeroes

Zeroes are a band that I first saw open for Land of Talk, back in January. The house was packed, and in fact, if you’re reading this and you’re from Toronto, you were probably there. If you weren’t, hopefully you were at the Silver Dollar at 10 PM Friday night. Half the reason I wanted to go was just to buy their EP – I searched online for a place I could buy it/steal it, and there was absoloutely nowhere because they pressed so few copies. But what really got me as always, was the performance. Anyone who’s heard Zeroes’ EP and likes it would do themselves well to see them perform live, because Zeroes are a live band, and to me are what NXNE is and should be all about.

Zeroes are a synth-based noise rock band – sounds like a recipe for bland indie rock, but a few songs in and it’s clear they are anything but. From the moment they begin their drummer demands attention. The ferocity and momentum in his beats set a strong foundation for the rest of the band. The synth comes in with a loop more akin to a classical motif than mindless noodling, and that is one of the things that separates Zeroes from the flock. Vocals are secondary, eerily floating somewhere between the synth and the Thurston Moore-esque noisy guitars.

With so many bands relying on 80s-style synth for dance-rock or avante-garde appeal, Zeroes find a way to reinvent it for the 21st century without making it the entire basis of their music. They are a rock band at heart, you can see it in their presence, in the appropriate way they use the synth to complement the rest of the band, not just drown it out.

You’ve got choices with a Zeroes set. You can rock out to Zeroes, you can dance to Zeroes, or you can just stand idle in hypnosis. They were modest on stage, asking every couple songs if they were cutting into anyone else’s time. When they finished, the crowd was in adoration. One of the festival volunteers begged them to continue just after they finished their set.

There were definitely a lot of duds in NXNE this year, but someone got it right when they booked Zeroes. Hopefully they’re back soon. After hearing the EP I picked up at the show, I’ve decided I’m counting the days until their full length. - www.awmusic.ca

Discovering Zeroes was something of an accidental love affair: I happened upon the Montreal quartet when they opened for Land Of Talk and was instantly entranced by their dance-noise grooves. While Zeroes’ live show has greatly surpassed this recently re-released self-titled EP, the take-home version is still a striking debut. “PVC” and “Mudslinger” deliver masterful grooves and infectious melodies, while the skittery production on the intro to “Arena” is perfect headphone fare. “NNNNNNN” even finds the band laying into a prog-rock groove to which you can easily shake your ass. - Eye Weekly/Chris Bilton

September 18, 2009

"...Montreal band Zeroes will make their US debut. Zeroes, which contains members of Land of Talk, Kill the Lights, Silver Starling and Young Galaxy, produce a heady, four on the floor based blend of dark, electro-rock, for lack of a better term. Think a more ethereal Rapture rolling deep in a K-hole, which should go nice in dark confines of Littlefield. Peep "Mudslinger" below, and click here to pick up the new EP. - http://chocolatebobka.blogspot.com