Zuli
Baldwin Harbor, New York, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2015 | SELF
Music
Press
When Ryan Camenzuli, a.k.a. Zuli, was 17-years-old, his favorite band Akron/Family was playing at an 18+ show. In a story that sounds partly inspired by Almost Famous, he ran into Akron/Family's Miles Cooper Seaton outside of the venue. This chance interaction turned into a five-year-long mentorship of sorts, as the two engaged in late night conversations about experimental music and various recording techniques.
Now, after a number of different musical projects, Camenzuli is emerging as a solo artist with his first EP, Supernatural Voodoo. Self-described as "somewhere in the sweet spot between well-crafted and shitty lo-fi," the five-track compilation is vaguely reminiscent of a trippy, hallucinogen-fueled daydream and tinged with '70s influences and swaying summer campfire sessions. "I’ve always been really drawn to music with raw in your face energy as well as textured, intricate music that has the simplicity of pop," the 22-year-old says. "Two very different parallels, which at times can give me anxiety when I write."
Listen to the Supernatural Voodoo premiere below and then check out our interview with Zuli. Keep up with the project's happenings on Facebook. - NYLON
Zuli is the latest project of songwriter and musician Ryan Camenzuli, formerly of Wild International. On new single “Better All the Time,” the New York native provides an electric three-minute trip into a spaced out fantasy, with a trippy soundscape full of glam rock and psych-pop influences. Camenzuli plays all instruments on the track, providing the celestial synths and the vintage guitar riffs, as well as writing the lyrics, saying of the writing process: “I had just met a super cute girl. It was one of those instances where a quick interaction inspires you so much that a song just flows right out in a single sitting. Can’t thank that super cute girl enough.”
Stream the kaleidoscopic journey below, and look out for Zuli’s debut album Supernatural Voodoo on May 5th. - SPIN Magazine
Zuli is Ryan Camenzuli, a restless sort of New Yorker who has been making music, in one way or another, since he was a seven-year-old kid. The stuff back then was classical, and, while it has probably had an influence on his oeuvre, it has little-to-no bearing on the jangly psych-pop he produces as a one-man band on his upcoming EP, Supernatural Voodoo. And it certainly has nothing to do with the video we’re premiering here, for that EP’s standout track, “Better All The Time.”
The freewheeling clip, which Camenzuli directed in partnership with the production company Genmotion, is in an ultraviolent, Kubrick-loving trip down a bloody rabbit hole. It’s in direct opposition to the joyful spirit of the music it’s soundtracked by — and that was intentional, according to Camenzuli. “It would’ve come across kind of ‘cheesy,'” he says, if the video were a literal interpretation of the song, and so the video “was built around the idea that things should, and will, get progressively worse for the character.”
A literally opposite interpretation, then — and it’s all the better for it. Because, as awful as it sounds, it’s a helluva good time watching as cartoon-masked villains abduct Zuli and take him to a warehouse —which was unheated while they filmed in the middle of a New York winter — where they then proceed to tie him to an office chair and spin him around in circles until he finally comes crashing down, face bruised and bloody, and for no apparent reason. “I purposely left it for the viewer to decide what exactly [the girl, Zuli’s real-life girlfriend]’s role in the video had to do with the events that happened,” he says
It’s rare that a video in 2015 bothers to craft a narrative, and it’s even rarer for one to be so unfailingly entertaining. Along with the song and its weirdo dance jangles, “Better All The Time” is violently joyful. - Flavorwire
Here's a band that I don't get to compare young acts to much these days...British art-rockers XTC are icons of the late 70s/80s alternative rock scene among listeners of a certain stripe, and their record Skylarking is one of the most under-rated records of the 80s. It's really rare to hear bands that have that mixture of pastoral and psychedelic sounds that Andy Partridge & crew were peddling at their point in their career, but New York psych rockers Zuli do just that. Psych-rock bands can come off as being a dime-a-dozen, but Zuli has elements of of 70s glam and 80s post-punk art rock to separate them from the crowded herd. We're premiering their track "Supernatural Voodoo," and it's worth a spot in your listening rotation stat. - Baeble Music
Marrying the spaciness of Electric Light Orchestra's "Strange Magic" and the sunniness of The Beatles' "Getting Better," "Better All The Time" by Zuli is a dazzling piece of pop. Off the New York-based quartet's May-released EP 'Supernatural Voodoo,' the synth-roofed song illuminates a lover's struggle towards peace with playful sensitivity. The band's mastermind, native New Yorker Ryan Camenzuli, has expressed affection for Animal Collective and the headiness of those contemporary icons comes across in "Better All The Time." With his gentle voice, Camenzuli appears a romantic, though, and, in the end, "Better All The Time" is a love song. Listen to, and watch the A Clockwork Orange-nodding music video, for "Better All The Time" below. As part of their summer tour, Zuli plays at Baby's All Right on August 1st. - Zach Weg - The Deli Magazine
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
“I would never tell someone to drop out of school, but the reality is that the longer that I tried to keep one foot in security, things didn’t happen as much for me”. That was the advice given to multi instrumentalist and songwriter Ryan Camenzuli at the ripe age of 17 by his early mentor and major musical influence Miles Cooper Seaton of Akron/Family. Young and Eager to make music, Ryan befriended the avant rock veteran after unconvincingly trying to coax his way into an 18+ Akron/Family show in Williamsburg on his own. “It was dumb luck that I met Miles outside the venue and got in, It was even luckier that he was actually interested in listening to my music, let alone having in depth conversations about it”. Their friendship led to many late night talks ranging from making “dangerous recordings with style”, the “extremes of making your music special”, and even some ribbing about the “stubble stash” that Ryan was trying to grow out at the time.
Five years later, after graduating from college and playing in a multitude of bands (most notably, his last project Wild International), Ryan (better known to his friends as Zuli) finally took his mentor’s advice and immersed himself in nothing but music. Starting from square one, Ryan moved back to his hometown on Long Island to focus on writing and recording on his own. The result would soon become his off-kilter Psych Pop debut EP, Supernatural Voodoo.
Taking on the role of performing every instrument and conceptualizing every spaced out sound on the record himself, Ryan found clarity in isolation. “This record is about growth in every sense”, says Ryan. “I was changing as a person, as a creative being, and diving into a new headspace of how I’d go about writing and recording”. Looking to build something from the ground up (including the guitar that he used for the majority of the record), Ryan spent several months in his home studio tinkering with his equipment and exploring the creative wormhole he dug himself into.
“My goal was to write songs that are emotionally honest and timeless, yet intricate and textured. I wanted to expand my pallet by building a new instrument as well as utilizing and revamping the way I could use the equipment I already own. I found myself pairing unlikely combinations like guitar pedals and microphones, vocal processors and keyboards, as well as conceptualizing new guitar pick ups”.
In short, developing the sound for Supernatural Voodoo was an amalgam of on the spot thinking and the picturesque idea of a songwriter with his guitar. The overall process found Zuli walking a tightrope that bridged the void between familiarity and the unknown.
When linking up with his mentor, Miles had this to say about Zuli’s new EP. “I hear focus in the level of precision and clarity in Ryan’s new music. I hear that determined presence and curiosity that is integral to making any time based art of a higher order. Of course I also hear the amicability and social awareness of pop and true generosity and vulnerability in the earnestness of the singing and lyrics. In short, it sounds real, and it sounds real good and I’m glad to get a chance to catch up with him now”.
Taking influence from his earlier work and following his intuition, on Supernatural Voodoo, Zuli has found a balance between Psychadelic soundscaping and traditional, emotive songwriting.
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