J. Zunz + Tábor

Since the turn of the decade, Lorena Quintanilla has made a name for herself as one half (guitarist/vocalist) of Guadalajara, Mexico’s Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, an incredible psych and shoegaze band with a reputation for exceptional live shows and a catalog of equally impressive albums to match. With her solo project, J. Zunz within a thick atmosphere of an experimental post-punk sound, she uses wonky synths and creates haunting melodies that shine through cold repetitions.

After the hypnotic debut album Silente, released via Monofonus Press, the new album Hibiscus (released by Rocket Recordings in 2020, and on ltd tape by Commando Vanessa) is the result of metamorphic process whereby the minimal is rendered maximal and the personal fused with the political. The initial vision for the J. Zunz was for Lorena to strip her approach down to the basics – “I remember I was reading a biography of John Cage and that book detonated something in me. The author was referring to the influence of Buddhism and meditation, and modern artists like Sonia Delaunay, Lucio Fontana, Julio Le Parc, futurism. I was very charged with ideas.”

Tábor is a sporadically performing Czech baroque drone-punk project of members from Czech bands Or, Vole, MaVa, and Oswaldovi. The band who draws inspiration from various sources, from the Czech alternative folk musician and poet Oldřich Janota to the drone metal Earth, plays their existential mantras with the noise rock urgency. Their debut Liebe released on Stoned To Death Records, won the Czech alternative music award Vinyla for the best of 2020.