Why Weren't Zeni Geva More Popular?

Extremely unfavorable Reward/Punishment ratio, esp. on initial listenings.

Why isn't sanding the flesh off your forehead more popular? Repeated sandings reveal surprising tactile complexities .

Skin Graft rules!!!!!

I was about to say, what's this 'no hipster cachet' claim.

KK Null's sub-Gira barking vocals were annoying.

Never hurt every fucking metal band ever.

They didn't have the cool all-black-clothes-and-sunglasses-all-the-time mystique of Keiji Haino and Fushitsusha, but at the same time they couldn't be embraced as a quirky novelty act a la Shonen Knife.

You could have a point here.

Their lyrics were dumb, and in English.

Many of their lyrics were in Japanese, and you couldn't make out the English words anyway, apart from the odd "MOTHERFUCKERRRRR".

Their label, Skin Graft, had no hipster cachet.

Skin Graft were real nerd-hipsters weren't they? And they put out Melt-Banana.

They just weren't that good.

More that they were avant-metal before it was hip / popular. In the early 90's they were too metal for Shellac fans and too weird for Eyehategod fans.

yeah they had cachet up the ying yang!

stealth skin graft moment= the skateboarder girl on the real world that wore nothing but skin graft t-shirts for the whole show. also seemed to be only normal person on real world, ever.

Zeni Geva and Skin Graft were the epitome of hipster cache back then. I just regret missing them in cleveland.

i still have the skin graft AC/DC covers double 45s, i think zeni geva is on that, i wonder if they are worth mad $$$$?

looks like they are still kickin'

http://www.myspace.com/zenigeva

Just to clarify, I like ZG. I was listening to All Right... as I typed out this poll. But (and maybe it was just a consequence of living in suburban NJ) nobody else I knew seemed to like them, even "underground" types.

I think the Sides 45s are maybe worth mad ¢¢¢. And did Fushitsusha really outsell Zeni Geva? I'd guess the opposite, stateside anyways.

I think the AC/DC covers 7" with Will Oldham is worth $$$.
ZG were supposed to play the Supersonic festival in the UK last year but KK Null's mother died so they had to blow it out. Skronk guitarist Tabata is playing in Acid Mothers Temple now isn't he?

Weren't they on Alternative Tentacles more than Skin Graft anyway?

We could be eating pudding
But we'd rather place our balls
In their mouths when they are eating
And let them be themselves

Yeah, don't hate on Skin Graft. Arab on Radar's Skin Graft LPs are their best work and some of the greatest records of that era (time/place), IMHO.

xpost. It's true. And, for whatever reason, AT have been the kiss of death to hipster cachet for many a fine band.

P.S. I said "hipster cachet". Please dont' kill me.

there weren't that many hipsters back then

It's true. They were invented by those Northern Soul critics back in the 80s. Didn't really catch on til later.

i think zeni geva and kk null were (or are) about as popular as they were ever gonna be here. i mean, that stuff had/has a presence. you can still find the albums.

i still listen to 10000 light years. i love that album. and that one came out on neurot here.

dude has put out a LOT of stuff. that public bath cover was the best. the artwork, i mean.

Important, Neurot, Crucial Blast, lots of labels have put that stuff out here.

Cold Spring are reissuing the awesome Maximum Money Monster:

http://www.coldspring.co.uk/discography/csr78cd.php

have reissued! and they split it into multiple tracks instead of one long endurance-testing one. on the down side they got rid of the original cover and replaced it with some generic shit.

answering the OP: too metal for the weirdos, too weird for the metal dudes. at least at the time.

i saw them live

about 10 yrs ago =(

stealth skin graft moment= the skateboarder girl on the real world that wore nothing but skin graft t-shirts for the whole show

Can anyone confirm or deny that the singer from the Spin Doctors was on MTV once wearing a Skin Graft shirt?

Someone on a mailing list I used to be on mentioned it once, I mean who would make up something like that

I only have 10,000 Light Years, but love it.

The reason I love it is the same reason I think they weren't/aren't more popular; as GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ says, "too metal for the weirdos, too weird for the metal dudes".

All the people I gave copies of 10,000 Light Years were metal/grunge fans and they liked it. I think that album also got a very good Kerrang review.

Had something on Alternative Tentacles that just seemed to sound like a duff version of early Swans, at a time when almost all Alt Rock seemed to sound like that, so I went off and listened to old Punk stuff for a few years.

Judging by these posts, I may have been mistaken. Still can't be bothered to dig that record out though.

I think my dismissal goes somewhere along with Soukesian's. Circa '95, based on Desire for Agony & Maximum Money Monsters, I wrote ZG off as a reductive, cartoon version of what every American post-punk "noise rock" band was doing at the time. Admirable in its extremity, but with nothing much on offer beyond the sound itself. Subsequent time spent w/ KK Null solo stuff hasn't done much more for me, though it's perfectly nice as housecleaning background music.

Maybe I oughtta give 'em another shot. I've got a much higher brutality threshhold these days.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Well, I guess Keiji Haino is pretty damn cool.

he's got a sexy evil moe howard/roy orbison thing going on.

A lot of this sounds like turn of the century generic metalcore

^ this

The stuff they did with Albini - All Right You Little Bastards, Superunit, and the Nai-Ha album - have been collected as a 2 disc set

http://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/maximum-implosion-csr260cd

Nai-Ha is probably my favorite of theirs these days, Tabata's guitar really holds its own with some great clean, psychedelic stuff and weirder bluesy moments.

The question stands. In an era where metal and noise rock continue to interbreed in weird ways it seems like ZG should have some kind of cult around them. Would probably help if they had released or rereleased something in the last 10 years.

There is a Zeni Geva/Steve Albini collab album from a year or two ago, is there not?

oh yeah, forgot about that. collects their earlier collaborations. okay maybe people just don't like 'em.

Via Skin Graft:

Hi There - On April 18th, the complete collaborative works of ZENI GEVA and STEVE ALBINI will be released on vinyl and in their entirety for the first time ever in celebration of Record Store Day. We'll be sharing all of the details on this very special release this Friday, February 6th. See you then!