#zoolook

Yes I! STONEFRENGE: Black in Space (Limited Edition Vinyl) is in stock! BUY ➤ https://www.zoolook.com/shop/product/stonefrenge-black-in-space-limited-edition-vinyl/

original midi at this google drive link and http://pureuphonic.com/midi/woof%20woof.mid

promo photo used for zoolook press & interviews, november 1984

I picked this up last month in Boston and it is truly a time capsule of once cutting-edge music and visual tech in 1984. Jarre is rightfully respected as an iconic synth explorer who continues to push boundaries to this day (he’s also apparently ageless—he’s about 70 and looks at least 30 years younger; I met him once at a trade show for maybe 2-3 seconds and the guy won the genetic lottery). Anyway, this 12” import dance remix of “Zoolook” is fascinating—look at that cover, with text almost certainly taken off an Apple IIe app like Print Shop. Or better yet, dig the primordial sampler-heavy music inside, which is an eye-opener. We’ve heard this kind of track a million times before, but of course, this was one of the first times that style was ever done. As a result, it has a certain undercurrent of excitement due to breaking new ground—a vibe that naturally you don’t hear in the millions of tracks that followed in its footsteps. It also takes the occasional left turn compared to what we’re used to. A number of Jarre’s experimental uses of the sampler got left behind as this style of EDM emerged, codifing its expectations of what this kind of track should sound like. This technology moved fast—on the B-side is a track called “ZooLook Effects,” which is just the sampler soloed up, so that you hear sounds like his voice in it, with keys getting hit over and over so it goes “ZooZooZooZooLook.” Within 5 years, you could buy a cheap Casio keyboard that could do that for under $100; putting that tech in the hands of millions instantly rendered sounds like that passé, robbing them of their mystique. All of this makes for a fantastic musical time capsule from a moment that came and went quickly—and yet you can still groove to it.

Recent listening.

Grateful to be featured in Revista Soundloop for their recent interview on “Power of the People (Remix)” and my Afrofuturist work with STONEFRENGE. Thank you to Esteban Mauricio Soria for creating a space to talk about music as a voice for justice, imagination as resistance, and Afrofuturism as more than an aesthetic, but a way of seeing ourselves in the future. Maaad Love & Respect for the thoughtful questions, the care in the storytelling, and the respect for independent artists building their own worlds. Appreciate you! ZOOLOOK®

Introducing the Glow-in-the-Dark IRIE Meatball Logo apparel from STONEFRENGE: Close Encounters. By day, it’s minimal; by night, it comes alive—glowing as a beacon of solidarity, awareness, and resistance. IRIE is the Intergalactic Resistance for Interstellar Existence.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from Tower Records, Tokyo, Japan... Much Love & Respect - ZOOLOOK®