BRIAN ZAHM
I BRING MY Z-GAME
NOIZE
Someone once yelled at me, "You don't make music! You make noise!"
ICE BOX by Dull Boy
(2024)
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Listening Note: Made this to scratch an itch. Hadn't made "music" in quite some time and wanted to use analog instruments to do it. Crafted in the deepest throes of a Chicago winter. It's great to listen to while staring maniacally outside at a snow storm.
SIGNAL by Kaptin Kirk
(2020)
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Listening Note: Made this with the one-and-only Jacoti Sommes. We play improvised experimental electronic music under the guise of "Kaptin Kirk." This was created from start to finish in 2.5 days at an artist residency in Athens, Ohio. This is my favorite, it really is.
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Check out the music video for this!
DULL HAUS by Dull Boy
(2018)
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Listening Note: Was looking for album inspiration and came across the structure featured on the album cover. Tried to imagine what kind of music could be heard in there.
"L"EVATED: Vol. 2
BLUE LINE by Dull Boy
(2016)
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Listening Note: This experience was created from gathered and remixed sonic samples from Chicago's "L" train. Was feeling a late-nite lost vibe on this one. I design my own album covers and the "L'Evated" covers are inspired by Chicago CTA branding.
"L"EVATED: Vol. 1
RED LINE by Dull Boy
(2016)
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Listening Note: This music was created from gathered and remixed sonic samples from Chicago's "L" train. The Red Line is my main train line in Chicago, and this channels the summertime party train freedom vibe.
YAKUZA ROOM(M.U.L.E.
"Live in Japan" Vol. 04)
(2014) Live! Live! Live!​
Listening Note: Jacoti Sommes and I temporarily changed our band name to M.U.L.E. (from Kaptin Kirk) due to a promoter contract issue before we toured Japan. This is a re-mastered bootleg of M.U.L.E.'s Yokohama YAKUZA ROOM improvised performance, which was cut short when a disturbance broke out in the crowd. Amidst the confusion, we were quickly ushered off stage (you can actually hear someone begin to interrupt us at the end of the cut). Check out the music video for this!
FIREWORKS KARATE
(M.U.L.E. "Live in Japan"
Vol. 03)
​(2014) Live! Live! Live!
Listening Note: Jacoti Sommes and I temporarily changed our band name to M.U.L.E. (from Kaptin Kirk) due to a promoter contract issue before we toured Japan. This is a re-mastered bootleg of M.U.L.E.'s improvised performance annihilation of FIREWORKS KARATE! at a ramshackle terror-dome in Kyoto. Props to our Japanese host, Kengo, who found these recordings for us and to the various fans and club owners who recorded them!
​(2014) Live! Live! Live!
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Listening Note: Jacoti Sommes and I temporarily changed our band name to M.U.L.E. (from Kaptin Kirk) due to a promoter contract issue before we toured Japan. This is a re-mastered bootleg of M.U.L.E.'s chill improvised performance in Osaka at the artist space known as KOI COLLECTIVE. Props to our Japanese host, Kengo, who found these recordings for us and to the various fans and club owners who recorded them!
​(2014) Live! Live! Live!
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Listening Note: Jacoti Sommes and I temporarily changed our band name to M.U.L.E. (from Kaptin Kirk) due to a promoter contract issue before we toured Japan. This is a re-mastered bootleg of M.U.L.E.'s legendary improvised performance at Tokyo's infamous KAMIKAZE CLUB. Props to our Japanese host, Kengo, who found these recordings for us and to the various fans and club owners who recorded them!
BAD ASS by Dull Boy
(2014) Live warehouse party recording
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Listening Note: At an impromptu party was asked to play "something." Big speakers. Big space. "Experienced" crowd. Had to bang it. After this improvised performance, a dude came up and said, "That was bad ass!" I honestly thought he was going to ask, "Duh f#ck was that?!" I design all my own album covers, this one featuring the ever-amazing Anja Jovanovich!
UNDER GROUND
by Dull Boy
​(2013)
Listening Note: Taking the darker sound downtown, this EP was inspired by reading "Dante's Inferno" coupled with a break up.
PAPI by Dull Boy
(2012)
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Listening Note: “Papi” is poppy with a cherry on top. This EP is an unabashed nod to the mainstream and out and out madness.
MOONBOUNCE
EXPERIMENT by Dull Boy
​​​​(2009) Produced in Georgetown, Guyana!
​Listening Note: This album is an electronic synthesis of my Guyanese experience. Made this while living in Georgetown, Guyana. Tried to soak up the country's vibe by infusing my electronic sound with recordings of locals and wildlife. Ultimately, the album name was inspired by a rickety wood frame structure strapped with angled antennas pointing to the sky. Spray painted on the structure was, "MOON BOUNCE EXPERIMENT."
MIND RACER
(SIDE B - RACER)
(2009)
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​Listening Note: The album "Mind Racer" has two sides, "Mind" and "Racer." “Mind” is a down-tempo and far-out experience, while “Racer” is definitely more up-tempo and aggressive. Check out the music video from a track on this album.
MIND RACER
(SIDE A - MIND)
​(2009)
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Listening Note: The album "Mind Racer" has two sides, "Mind" and "Racer." “Mind” is a down-tempo and far-out experience, while “Racer” is definitely more up-tempo and aggressive.
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ATARI PARTI
by Dull Boy
(2007)
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Listening Note: An ode to countless childhood hours spent racing gigantic pixels around the TV. A couple decades later, received an old Atari 2600 for Xmas. Promptly sampled the 8-bit sounds of several games. Created this album as a Xmas gift for some of my family and friends. I design all of my album art and wanted to make something rad for the printed CD.
LOVEKRAFT by Dull Boy
(2006)
Listening Note: A down-tempo minimalist experiment, this album was inspired by a collection of H.P. Lovecraft short stories I was reading at the time, as well as my love of the pioneering electronic band KRAFTWERK. I design all my own album covers, and this one features my altered and tricked out photograph of the inside of Elvis' private jet.
NEW ADVENTURES IN
SCI-FI by Dull Boy
​(2005)
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Listening Note: Created this demo for a feature sci-fi/horror film about alien abduction. Didn't get the gig, but I did get this album.
3D by Dull Boy
(2004)
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​Listening Note: Thought of this one as a shamanic electronic opera about a journey to the stars and beyond. Some of this album was featured on the soundtrack for "Headspace: the Sound of Life."
ALL WORK+NO PLAY
by Dull Boy
​(2004)
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Listening Note: An ode to the thankless plight of the working man. One of my favorite films is Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining," and given that I was working quite hard at the time and my producer name is Dull Boy, this seemed like a natural title. Some of this album was featured on the soundtrack for "Headspace: the Sound of Life."
LOLA by Dull Boy
​(2003)
Listening Note: Was working on the film "Headspace: The Sound of Life" and asked a producer if I could learn how electronic music is actually made, because frankly, the sounds were mystifying. Thought it would help my film writing/editing process. Had a few lessons and was hooked bad. This is my first foray into what I dubbed "shamanic electronic" music. This album is inspired by some of my early influences such as Sun Ra, Thelonious Monk, Philip Glass...oh, and a cat named Lola who sat on my lap every night while making it. Some of this album was featured on the soundtrack for "Headspace: the Sound of Life."
