The Zen Circus & Brian Ritchie - Villa Inferno

Unhip

The Zen Circus are a punk band from Pisa, Italy. After years of touring, busking and making records in their own country, they met Brian Ritchie (Violent Femmes) who offered to produce their record, but he liked it so much he ended up joining them on this, their first international release. Villa Inferno contains songs in English, Italian, French and Serbian as well as guest appearances from Kim & Kelley Deal (Pixies/Breeders) and Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads).

It’s not really a punk record – musically it’s got a folk vibe with a rock influence from the likes of the Meat Puppets, along with inspiration taken from the guests’ previous bands, with a distinctly Italian zest throughout. It’s not exactly a spicy meatball but an inoffensive carbonara. Michael Wilson

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

DOWNLOAD: ‘DEAD PENFRIEND’, ‘VANA GLORIA’.
FOR FANS OF: VIOLENT FEMMES, MINUTEMEN, TALKING HEADS.

Issue #52 - Very Bro-some

Featuring Panama Kings, ASIWYFA, an investigation into DIY touring, details of what over 25 of the finest NI bands are up to in 2009 and much more.