For his fifth album, East of Eden (Caballo Negro, June 11th), J Hacha De Zola has left the “urban junkyard” of his previous albums and slipped into a natty white suit.

His look is more accessible this time around – see the dignified vibes of his latest single and album art – and his sound matches.

“This record is unlike any other I have made previously,” the Jersey City-based artist acknowledges. “I stayed focused on what was truly best for each song, keeping it somewhat simple – at least for me – rather than allowing myself to become overly self-indulgent in terms of running away on tangents.”


The result is an album that exemplifies the universe that Hacha De Zola has built over his four previous albums (as well as EPs that cover ground from the all-Spanish “Syn Illusión” to his versions of hits by female pop stars on “UnPOPular”), while also charting new territory.

East of Eden is some kind of place where Jim Morrison did downers instead of acid in the control room during the recording of Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig In The Sky.”

As Hacha De Zola tells it, the creation of this record was actually less frenetic than all that.

“I came into the studio with a developed concept, and the songs written already,” he says. “This time, I had a clear cut direction ready to go. I have to be honest, I have never really been comfortable with my singing voice, and I wanted to do something that would be more challenging.”

The push pays off, as Hacha De Zola’s vocals are the focus here. Where previous records saw him vocalizing in a way that complimented the music, this time the music compliments the man.


“A big inspiration for me on East of Eden was the vocal group tradition from the 1950s and 60s,” he says. “Especially those from New Jersey, New York, and Detroit. Doo-wop groups like Sha Na Na, The Temptations, The Four Seasons, and others. Being a Jersey boy, I couldn’t help but be influenced in the rich vocal singing group tradition and history in this area.”

Digging into the roots of his musical soul, literally and figuratively, sounds pure in context throughout the new album, and especially on its pre-release singles “Lost Space” and “Which Way,” showing off a level of maturity and thoughtfulness that can only come from the development that years of album-making brings.

“Even with all of its imperfections, it was very important for me to bring the nuances of the vocal components of this record right to the front. I truly feel that I have found my own voice,” Hacha De Zola says.

With that, he may never return to the “urban junkyard” and his method of rendering records via his “reductive synthesis” method (read about it here) ever again. It is a position that is congruent with the state of the world that longed to “return to normal,” but may never be able to find the way back to exactly that.

“The title of the record reflects that,” Hacha De Zola explains. “East of Eden, a sense of being left behind or abandoned, banished from the ‘garden.’ Off to the Land of Nod where Cain was banished for murdering his brother, Abel.

“It’s a bit of a biblical reference that I found was quite apt,” he continues. “Especially during this moment of divisiveness among so many people over so many things. Lyrically, I couldn’t help but infuse many of these feelings into the songs.”

Hacha De Zola’s “Which Way” single is one that best reflects his hard-won ability to infuse these real emotions into what has become known as somewhat esoteric work.

“That song was a way of taking inventory of the chaos and confusion of the moment. It’s a somber song, and it wasn’t an easy one to write. At the time, it was very difficult to focus on anything other than trying to protect the vulnerable members of my family and not getting sick. I had to push myself pretty hard to work through the fear.”

His new strength and resolve fits Hacha De Zola well, just like the natty new clothes on his back.

Lost Space

“Beast Of Eden”

Our guest today on the program is a real artist. The Jersey born J Hacha De Zola is hard to categorize—he’s wholly original and unlike anything out there today. A feral blend of David Johansen, Screaming Lord Sutch and Nick Cave,over the course of his five album career, J Hacha Zola has delivered some of the most captivating, fascinating and  utterly infectious music around. Like a junkyard DaVinci, Hacha De Zola has demonstrated that he knows how to take rusty horns, scrap metal saxophones, guttered guitars and battered drums and turn them into 
pure gold. And that gold not only sparkles under the moonlight, it was spun by a dark figure lurking in the alley and prowling through the abandoned avenues of a city that everyone knows but is too afraid to name. Filled with ragged melodies, rabid rhythms and corruptive carnival stomp, the music of J Hacha De Zola is the real deal. It’s spellbindingly brilliant in every turn. The enigmatic singer’s new album East Of Eden is a startling departure from his previous work. East of Eden is an aching collection of dark and dreamy doo-wop, street soul and urban R&B. It’s J Hacha De Zola in his most unvarnished and purest iteration. Or is it? Yes, it is, but this guy is a moving artistic target—you never know where he’s going to go next. In this conversation Hacha and Alex talk about having an alter ego, keeping his artistic identity a secret from his family and what it’s like being in touch with his shadow self...

www.jhachadezola.bandcamp.com
www.fanaticpromotion.com
www.bombshellradio.com
www.alexgreenonline.com

Alex's Album

Stereo Embers The Podcast 0216: J Hacha De Zola

"Pop music is hard to emulate. It is performed by super-talented folks, with such dynamic, acrobatic vocal abilities, that attempting to emulate it is a tightrope act fraught with peril. I cannot say that I am a fan of popular music for the most part, but I understand why it is popular.

"This is another reason why I find attempting these covers to be so difficult. I like to force myself to do something that is uncomfortable for me. In the past, I have covered Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Lorde, and others. I would invite anyone to try to cover one of these songs!

"This time, I wasn't sure who to cover, so I just Googled, 'What is the biggest pop song of 2022?' The search came up with 'As It Was' by Harry Styles. I had never heard a Harry Styles song in my entire life and if anyone would have told me a few years ago that I would be doing such a thing, I would have laughed.

"But I actually connected with the lyrics! I found them quite sad and bittersweet, especially these days after suffering the deeply personal loss of my mother. When you suffer such a personal loss, one often feels very alone coping with the pain. So I actually found the overall mood of 'As It Was,' particularly the hook, to be quite on point with how I have been feeling lately. 

'In this world, it's just us, you know it's not the same as it was'

"Man, that really hit the spot for me." - J Hacha De Zola

+++

J Hacha De Zola - Vox, Guitar
Stefan Zeniuk - Saxophones, Clarinets, Woodwinds
Jerry Ramos - Drums, Bass, Keys / Synths, Percussion, Guitar, Programming

Produced by Jerry Ramos & J Hacha De Zola
Mixed by Jerry Ramos at Mercury Recording Studio in Rahway, NJ
Mastered by Blue Jade Mastering

As It Was

J Hacha De Zola - As It Was (A Harry Styles Cover)

Art Credits: http://www.thememorist.com/category/nostalgia/
 (Peterio)

Composition/Performance/Production: Lubomir Smilenov 



Nostalgia

This is a live performance of Singularity performing a commission I wrote for them titled, Circles and Grooves. Singularity asked me to write a quartet that was AATB. This piece uses quarter tones and some extended techniques. You will hear moments where the voices sound out of tune. This is part of the musical language and is intentional. You can hear that Singularity is extremely musical and technically unstoppable. The places where the two altos play in fourths up in their altissimo register is spot on and ridiculously in tune. I am so happy with their progress on this piece and can't wait to hear it done in the studio.

Circles and Grooves

MLK Speech recorded in London Dec 7 1964 by Saul Bernstein, who was working as the European correspondent for Pacifica Radio. Bernstein’s recording was recently discovered by Brian DeShazor, director of the Pacifica Radio Archives.
for the full speech 
www.democracynow.org/2017/1/16/newl…_mlk_speech_on

The Standard Of A Man

"I have always been fascinated with old-timey traveling revivals where the preacher would get up and just stoke the congregation with fear." J Hacha de Zola is talking about the inspirations behind "Lightning Rod Salesman," the last of the pre-release tracks from his upcoming new album "Antipatico" (Oct. 6th, Caballo Negro). The album will be Hacha de Zola's third album release in just two years. "The role of religion, its political power and its ability to reach out and touch a vast amount of common folks in this country is truly terrifying," he says.

"Lightning Rod Salesman" is but one example of the magical voodoo to be found on "Antipatico," (translation: "wicked") which follows-up ​​"Picaro Obscuro," the second of ​​Hacha de Zola's two “urban junkyard” albums of 2016. At the time of that record's release, ​​Hacha de Zola insinuated that he might not continue on to make a third, and if he did, his plan was to “lighten up” the sound that he has variously, previously (ominously?) described as “boozegaze.” Turns out maybe he was overthinking things, which isn’t so surprising for a scientist turned auteur. Indeed, Hacha de Zola was a year deep into a PhD program after receiving his Master’s in Biochemistry when he decided to fully turn his attention towards his art.

On this record, ​​Hacha de Zola (and his gaggle of cohorts and underground legends including ​​Dana Colley of ​​Morphine, ​​Tom Waits collaborator ​​Ralph Carney, ​​Frank London of ​​Klezmatics, and "Psycho Mambo" collective, ​​Gato Loco among others) is again practicing his “reductive synthesis” method of, as he elegantly says, “shooting the arrow first and then painting the bullseye around it.”

​​Hacha de Zola explains, “I never go to the studio with songs written. I allow the musicians to be themselves and throw all they’ve got at it. Then I’ll go and peel back the various layers to fashion a song from it all. It’s a pretty risky way of making an album because when it’s all done, you may have something that isn’t agreeable to you. Other times, you arrive at something truly magical and the songs take on a life of their own. There’s a certain kind of voodoo there that could not be planned.”​

"Antipatico," the third album by J Hacha de Zola, arrives on October 6th, 2017.

Antipatico

J Hacha de Zola-Lightning Rod Salesman

Here's a first test with a new pedal configuration for live drone loops. 
"Freeze" and layer a few loops and leave the room.
Freenote Just-Tuned guitar and FX.

123117

Kingston First Basement Tests

Basement Drone Frozen_123117

Man I've been diggin the Iasos for a while. It would be great to sit down with him to talk about the clouds. https://soundcloud.com/search?q=iasos

Here's a track I originally did for a soundtrack. 
Guitar, pedals, loopers, etc.

Capo at C# - Drone 031316

Urban Junkyard, Baroque Pop, Avant-indie, Downtown goth, Booze-gaze, Anti-folk,  Folk noir.

Lost Space

J Hacha De Zola

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