ZUKANICAN IS BORN!

"To hear 'DadA' come from a baby's lips is a thrill no parent can fully describe"

"I will always remember that special moment. Yes! Zukanican truly is a special gift".

The neighbourhood children are now having a fiesta. We can hear their excited voices crying out: "Dale! Dale! Dale!" (Hit it! Hit it! Hit it!). Their local wrestling hero Domino Nagasaki is only too happy to oblige. The treasures that spill out of the phantom piñata fall back and become an offering to Zukanican, their Gods of Sun and War.

It is in their solar sonar temple in Liverpool that zUKANICAN have refined and perfected their tools of soul reversal. Zukanican as an extension of the ever Living, ever growing Brain (collective) play out in the at9omic heat of their post-industrial pyramid/prism of sound utilising the corrugated iron roof and the metal pipes as spiritual communication device.

Thanks to Zukanican, the twinkle in the pineal gland of The Living Brain, my ordinary suburban neighbourhood has been endowed/infested with a kind of magic!

PLEASE READ ON.........

Walking along the ridge of a tall mountain the young boys feel confident that threat of ambush has passed. At this point three stealth warrior pods levitate to eye-level and spray their lethal gas on the apparently unsuspecting youths. One of the boys drops his stick and presses his forefingers to the temples of his brother. In seconds the two are miles away, surrounded by people from the next village. No-one seems to realise how close the two have come to being dusted and, while peanut butter pancakes are being made, the zukanicans fade to a less tired section of the brain.

James Pagella is the preening, percussionist of this avian world performing stratospherical rolls and loops through the sonic forest canopy for the hypgnotic pleasure of the mesmerised throng. He will then proceed to spread his wings and sway his head to and fro, fanning his crest and emitting from his ivory hands high-pitched electric shrieks. James will then snap a suitable branch from a track, trap it with the pedal at his foot and begin tapping on a whole other trunk of funk, thus surfing the lava slide out of the elephantine and deeper into dark incontinence.

Cosmic slopping out blues are now coursing through the troughs and funnels gouged out by the heavy metal spider funk released by Tom Sumnall's trusty hunting bass. Bromide high rhythm rivulets race each other across the burning prison van's safety glass, sketching out the Spanish trumpeter Phil Lucking's contorted visage.

In the temple of The Living Brain power grows as Dr. Harry Sumnall becomes adept at copying almost any sound they hear - including barking dogs, burglar alarms, the blows of an axe, and even camera motor drives! But this does not mean the machinations of Zukanican are without an order or a pattern. The Zuk like other creatures make sounds to attract the opposite sex, for orientation, as a defence against enemies and for general communication and imitation.

Flashing their courting code a female cues in on the timing of the flashes and responds with a 'Here I am' flash at the interval appropriate to her species. The male playa recognises her silent invitation and flies to her on the divine wind of one of Ray Dickaty's too pure interventions

Lacking vocal chords how does the Zukanican make sound? Where one Zukoid might 'grunt, cluck and bark' then repeat the performance precisely another might 'click and snap' then do a 'scrape and rasp' for an encore.

Some cult members employ muscles attached to the walls of balloon like bladders, vibrating the walls until their bladders resonate like drums. Other Zuk colonists gnash their teeth or open and close their eyes with a distinct thud or clap. Is all this just meaningless "chatter"?

Apparently not!
True to their word these honey guides with their distinctive sour kraut whine will lead badger-like members of the city's nocturnal fraternities towards the spirit of the beehive. You can almost hear the band's chattels cry out 'Honey is near!' before locating the puissance of the song and clawing open its trunk to indulge their sweet tooth

In addition to a phenomenal variety of sounds the Zuk live performance also includes gestures, attention-grabbing colours, flashing lights and complex scents.

Zukanican releases

Horse Republic (2006) Pickled Egg Records

Zukan (Jan 2006) Oof! Records

Astral Zuk Fodder (2005) Medical Records

E 5number (2004) Pickled Egg Records

Jarr (2004) Medical Records

None Jazz (2003) Medical Records

all available from The Living Brain shop

FORTHCOMING MUSICAL GET TOGETHERS:

Sun 01 July
ZUKANICAN
The Projection Gallery, Roscoe Street , Liverpool