Bossuyt

Art Zoyd is a French band formed in 1969, mixing free jazz, progressive rock and avant-garde electronica. Like other members of the Rock in Opposition movement, Art Zoyd fuses progressive rock and jazz with contemporary classical music. Like fellow RIO member Univers Zero, they are also influenced by French Zeuhl bands such as Magma. Today, Art Zoyd is best described as an electronic music group and works primarily for film and ballet. Gérard Hourbette assures the artistic direction while working occasionally with other composers/performers: Kasper T. Toeplitz, Carl Faia, André Serre-Milan, etc.

The movement to record Renaissance music in ways that illustrate its context has mostly bypassed Orlande de Lassus up to now. This is partly because his vast output is hard to get a grip on. Lassus was arguably music's first international star, and he was capable of bringing to his employers (mostly the Duke of Bavaria, already something of a cultural crossroads in the late sixteenth century) music from all around the continent.

The new album ‘Blue Label: Radio Rhythm’ was recorded in the same spirit and room as the previous one but going one step further in the process. Instead of having individual microphones for every instrument only one stereo microphone was used at the center (see video), positioning the musicians around it to achieve the ideal balance, an uncommon feat in today’s hyper-edited world. Amplified with a state of the art dual-channel tube preamp the signal was sent straight to analog tape.