London and NYC Club and Concert Listings
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Concert Review: Earl Zinger - Cargo, London – Sunday 30th June 2002
An air of mystery surrounds the man Zinger. This writer has spotted him in recent months guest-appearing on stage
with a transvestite German bossa duo in Camden, and spinning dusty vinyl at a jazz-dance retrospective somewhere near
Ladbroke Grove. This heterogeneity figures, as legend has it that his work actually began in New York in the late
forties, with him
going on to mentor the likes of Burroughs, Kerouac, Perry, Marley, McLaren, Dylan, Kool Herc, Levan, Eric B, Derrick
May and Paul Oakenfold, these men acting as vessels for the ongoing transmission of his ill musical influence.
Contrary forces of proposterous propaganda have it that Zinger is no other than Rob Gallagher, formerly of the
nineties Acid Jazz-ish band Galliano. Few, however, are foolish enough believe such lies.
Okay, so here's the real deal. Zinger has, over the past couple of years, been releasing 7" records on his 'Red
Egyptian' record label, which have attained somewhat of a cult status. He's recenlty released an album rediculously
entitled 'Put Your Phasers On Stun Thow Your Healthfood Skyward', containing a litany of quirky tracks which cleverly
and humourously recycle other songs, some well known, others not. With an abundance of cheeky word-play and conceptual
innovations, and plenty of nods musically and lyrically to 'The Scene' thrown in, he's been pretty heavily promoted
by the likes of Gilles Peterson, Straight No chaser magazine et al, and rightly so.
With Zinger up front on the mic, and Charlie Dark (of Attica Blues fame and spoken-word upstart) on the ones and
twos, his first move on mounting the stage was to tongue-in-cheek take the piss out of Gillesy P (the night is
'Worldwide', Mr. Peterson's monthly eclectic excursion), followed by, in recognition of the fact that the crowd was
somewhat sparse, joking that 'it's not quiet, it's intimate' causing chuckles all round and setting the mood for what
was to come.
Music on the night consisted of a tour of most of the songs from the album plus a few extra tasty treats. 'Song 2wo' is
a dub re-working of it's Blur thrash-pop namesake which is guaranteed to provoke delighted squeals of
delayed recognition whenever played. 'On My Way Home' is poetic decriptiveness over a classic afro-funk riddim. 'Battle of
the Mic' saw Zinger chatting, not for the last time in the evening, into a voice manipulator. Vocally transformed into
something akin to a Disney's Chipmunk, accompanied by Dark sounding, at the
opposite end of the vocal spectrum, like Jabba the Hut, the accompanying phat hip hop beat provided a hilarous
contrast. 'Saturday Morning Rush' recounts the tale of a (all too familiar for some djs) frenzied hunt for
an elusive Skitz 12" through the record shops of Soho. 'Escape from Ibiza' is another uptempo jazzy piss-take seeing Zinger attempting to match
dj's to their pool size and parodying every aspect of the clubbers' island. 'Go Round' is a warm rolling piece of
jazz-folk over the 'My Favourite Things' melody, and 'Galaxy' a take on the War disco/funk dancefloor stormer. Aforementioned
non-album goodies comprosed of 'Girls on Coke', a narcotic version of Duran Duran's 'Girls on Film', and 'Can't Get
You Out Of My Bed', a mutation of Kylie's pop hit lamenting the difficulty of ejecting the previous night's pull from
one's sleeping quarters!
Throughout, silly crowd interaction and experimentations with aforementioned voice transformers were
truly very funny, and Zinger's jester-like charm was warmly received by his audience.
Zinger is a showman, an entertainer in the old sense of the word - the overall 'experience', connection
with the crowd, and having fun all evidently important. A refreshing change in
this day and age where bands sometimes can suffer from taking themsleves a little too seriously.
Nu-cabaret, anyone?
RELATED LINKS:
Cargo
Gilles Peterson's R1 Worldwide radio show
Buy Earl Zinger's Put Your Phasers On Stun... album at Amazon
UK
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US
PUBLISHED: Monday 22nd July 2002
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::: RELATED LINKS
Cargo
Gilles Peterson's R1 Worldwide radio show
Buy album at Amazon.co.uk
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