March Madness: League Play-offs - Round 1

All month long I will be featuring play-offs by the top teams in the League. The first half of the month will be head-to-head battles between the Eastern division hopefuls, Zoviet France going up against the Western division hotshots (with former team-mate) the Rapoon Robins.

Some time ago Frenz of NSS Richard suggested I give thought to sharing some Zoviet France / Rapoon. What better time to share these two rivals than during March Madness. I'll just share the duels & let you, the fans, decide the outcome.

The second half of the month will be the league Final Four throwing down their best singles in a heated slugfest that should prove memorable in the annals of musical sports competition. The teams in the Final Four are, in no certain order: The Dread Zone; The Utah Saints; The Sha Men; & A Certain Rat. Reserve your seats now as these are guaranteed to sell out (& not in a sellout way). 

 

League Playoffs 

 

Zoviet France is a music group from Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England. Their music is atmospheric experimental, their playing style is dissonant with strong industrial textures.

Original team members include: Lisa Hale (1980-1981); Robin Storey (1980-1992); Peter Jensen (1980-1984);  & Ben Ponton (1980-present). They soon signed seasoned vetrans Paolo di Paolo (1984-1986); Mark Spybey (1987-1989); Andy Eardley (1990-1995); & Mark Warren (1995-present) 

 

Rapoon is the ethno-ambient project started by ex-Zoviet France co-founder Robin Storey.

A Bit of History

I first really started following & collecting Zoviet France through a podcast they have on podbean called A Duck in a Tree. I archived about 138 episodes of the podcast, that lead me to so much other great music. Then I suppose other things had come up in my life, other paths & other distractions. During that time I had collected a large number of releases by the band. When Robin Storey moved on to Rapoon, I followed his career as well for many years.

 

:zoviet*france: presents A Duck in a Tree is a 59 minute continuous mix of some of the best genre-refusing, zero BPM, hypnatropic & maximinimalist recordings that have grabbed the bands attention. As of this writing, their most recent is A Journey to Three Quarters Episode 703 (yes #703) first broadcast 13 December 2025 by Resonance 104.4 FM & CJMP 90.1 FM. It is the 701st of a series of weekly radio programs created by :zoviet*france (for anyone into such things).

:zoviet*france: - Intro
David Lynch - Intuition [extract]
:zoviet*france: - [untitled – mouth organ]
My Own Cubic Stone - Peat Bed
Dave Dorgan - Monk on Beach
[unknown sound recordist / NASA] - Wind, Rain, Surf
Glenn Sogge - 3x100
Analoc - Padding
The Conet Project - 555 Konec
[unknown sound recordist] - Garsington Manor, Still in a Hurry, Now Running Light, Whistles up the Gradient from Warwick and Dashes Away Through Hatton Station, Towards Birmingham
Arrington de Dionyso with Graeme W. Smith - First Improvisation, Voice and Harp
400 Lonely Things - Amicus
Abigail Toll - Language of Echoes
Juanjo Palacios - Liquerique
Michiko Ogawa - Shizukana Hikari
:zoviet*france: - Outro

The first episode that I began collecting was beta 1, July 14, 2012.

One Umbrella - Eintrocinc    
[no artist] - The Best of Günter Noris Volume One | run off groove (side 2)
[bird song - unknown sound recordist] - bhcodd4
Circle - Black Tape
Sex Vir Olli - [title unknown - ‘Vandag Se Waarheid?’ track 2]
Mobile Disco Unit - Food Preparation Unit
Boards of Canada - Sherbet Head
Magnetic Church - untitled [‘Magnetic Church’ track A1] [extract]
Bill Nelson - Crimsworth
Vitriol - Visita
The OO-Ray - Sfumato (live)
Arcane Device - Before Sunrise

For the first league playoff, I present Zoviet France - Music from a Spaghetti Western vs Rapoon - Easterly 6 or 7... 

 

 

 

:Zoviet France: - Music from a Spaghetti Western, Klanggalerie gg111, 2005.
decryption codes in comments

Scene 1    
Scene 2    
Scene 3    
Scene 4

 

 

 

 

 

Rapoon - Easterly 6 or 7, Staalplaat STCD114, 1997.

Sign    
Our Trespasses    
Blow (Lethal Blow)    
All Criminals    
Waters Reaching    
Falling More Slowly    
6 or 7    
Variable 2    
Rattling Sabers

 

 

 

Next up tomorrow...Mental Travellers vs Shadow, Thief of the Sun,
NØ