Name: Zone Black
Brand: Emil Amos

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

DC873

Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2023-08-04

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

PIAS

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

0781484087311

Total Cap

Black LP

Artist

Emil Amos

Genre GB

Electronic

Label GB

Drag City

Drag City is a renowned music label that was founded by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn. With an impressive roster of artists, Drag City has established itself as a leading force in the music industry. Known for their diverse range of genres, the label has consistently released groundbreaking and influential albums. From indie rock to experimental folk, Drag City continues to push boundaries and nurture innovative talent.

Since its inception, Drag City has been dedicated to supporting artists who defy conventions and create unique sounds. The label's commitment to artistic freedom has allowed musicians to explore their creativity without limitations. This approach has resulted in a catalog of critically acclaimed albums that have resonated with audiences worldwide.

With an unwavering focus on quality over quantity, Drag City carefully curates its releases, ensuring each album receives the attention it deserves. Their meticulous attention to detail extends beyond the music itself, with beautifully designed album artwork and packaging that enhance the overall listening experience.

Emil Amos was originally commissioned by the legendary KPM music library to make this music for use in television and film. But after the executive overseeing their experimental wing exited the company, Emil brought Zone Black to Drag City and remixed it into a proper full-length album. While the record was originally inspired by old school 1970s television music, like the grim, descending riffs that took us to commercial as the running back strained in anguish for the ball in slo-mo, it became a genuine attempt to reach towards a new kind of library music.

Emil (Grails, OM and podcaster supreme) carves out a much more personal interpretation of what we think of as ‘music for television’ with ‘Zone Black’. Taking classic, dark pieces that he grew up with as inspiration, like the ‘Lonely Man Theme’ from the original ‘Hulk’ TV series, he fantasized an alternate environment where composers were allowed to explore more extreme states of mind, while on much witchier drugs, fully separating library music from its outmoded commercial constraints. Imagine Brian Eno recording Another Green World equipped with Madlib’s gear and a much darker sense of humour, or Kafka creating ‘The Castle’ with a Juno keyboard and sampler instead.

In the spirit of classic synth-based soundtracks like ‘Firestarter’ or ‘Midnight Express’, the instruments narrate the experience. Urban landscapes in noirish chiaroscuro, fatal encounters unfurling beneath the persistent glow of riot lights, last-ditch meetings in pre-dawn discotheques, all evoked with synths, harpsichords and mellotrons drifting over drum machines and the arachnoid radiation of FX disappearing up into the darkness. Every track illuminates a different corridor of Emil’s brain, but AE Paterra and Steve Moore of ZOMBI periodically step in to contribute sax solos and drum beats to amp the coloration up. 

Zone Black is a fully inhabitable world, its episodic narrative divided into an improbable balance between morbid, ambient anthems and insouciant hip-hop instrumentals. Emil hadn’t heard it done quite this way before, so he took it upon himself to make the sound real. And if you don’t hear it in the next, big horror feature, it’ll make great mood music for tripping in the bathtub while dreaming of a new horizon of music to take drugs to. Listening to Emil Amos’ Zone Black evokes a variety of distorted, paranoid visions - cue it up.

Zone Black

Music GB