IAO (Music in Sacred Light) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 21, 2002 | |||
Length | 51:25 | |||
Label | Tzadik TZ 7338 | |||
Producer | John Zorn | |||
John Zorn chronology | ||||
|
IAO (subtitled Music in Sacred Light) is the tenth studio album by John Zorn released in 2002 on the Tzadik label. [1] It was inspired by Aleister Crowley and his follower, filmmaker Kenneth Anger. Its title is drawn from the Kabbalistic identity of IAO, the initials of Isis, Apophis and Osiris, used as a magical formula in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and in Aleister Crowley's Gnostic Mass.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
Pitchfork | 8.3/10 [3] |
Allmusic's François Couture observed "This album, a studio suite, is wrapped in mysticism... I.A.O. makes a calm, enjoyable listen and beyond its mystical claims, it includes some strong compositions". [2]
Writing for Pitchfork Media, Dominique Leone stated "The music of IAO is classic Zorn: dark ambient exoticism, ethnic percussion exercises, hypnotic suspense-film music, thrash, and avant-garde classical. Similar to his recent "Music for Children" series, he seems to be loosening the reins on his tradition for branding each project an isolated incident, opting instead to use all of his best colors on one canvas... Whatever the inspiration for IAO, the results are often so engaging (and, yes, sometimes scary) that it's hard to question Zorn's motives". [3]
On All About Jazz, Farrell Lowe wrote that "John Zorn incorporates a wide array of influences and musical styles in IAO. To his credit, he never loses sight of his reason for creating the music in the first place. Like an alchemist, he seems to be interested in the manifestation and transformation of human physicality into numinous spirit... IAO is powerful music outside the realm of head/solo/head mentality, but equally valid—and a welcome addition to the canon of creative music". [4]
All compositions by John Zorn
John Zorn is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". His avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, contemporary, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and world music. In 2013, Down Beat described Zorn as "one of our most important composers" and in 2020 Rolling Stone noted that "[alt]hough Zorn has operated almost entirely outside the mainstream, he's gradually asserted himself as one of the most influential musicians of our time".
Masada is a musical group with rotating personnel led by American saxophonist and composer John Zorn since the early 1990s.
Naked City was an avant-garde music group led by saxophonist and composer John Zorn. Active primarily in New York City from 1988 to 1993, Naked City was initiated by Zorn as a "composition workshop" to test the limits of composition in a traditional rock band lineup. Their music incorporated elements of jazz, surf, progressive rock, classical, heavy metal, grindcore, country, punk rock, and other genres.
Naked City is an album by John Zorn, released on Elektra Nonesuch in February 1990. The band assembled by Zorn for the album would later be known as Naked City. The album is characterized by its covers of movie themes and its fusion of various musical genres.
Filmworks VII: Cynical Hysterie Hour is a 1989 album by John Zorn featuring music written for a series of Japanese animated shorts that were created by Kiriko Kubo. It features Zorn's first music for cartoons and was originally released on the Japanese Sony label in limited numbers. In late 1996 Zorn finally attained the rights for his music and remastered and re-released the album on his own label, Tzadik, in 1997.
The Gift is an album by John Zorn released in 2001 on the Tzadik label as the third volume of his Music Romance Series and described as an album "for lovers only".
Elegy is the sixth studio album by John Zorn, which was dedicated to Jean Genet, featuring four "file card" compositions titled after colors and arranged in the style of chamber music.
Filmworks XIV: Hiding and Seeking features a score for film by John Zorn. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2003 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for, Hiding and Seeking (2003), a documentary directed by Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky.
Masada Anniversary Edition Vol. 5: Masada Rock is the fifth and final album in a series of five releases celebrating the 10th anniversary of John Zorn's Masada songbook project. It features 10 Masada songs performed by Jon Madof's Rashanim trio with Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz on bass and Mathias Kunzli on drums in addition to Madof's guitar with guest appearances from Marc Ribot on two tracks. It was released in 2005 on Zorn's Tzadik Records as part of the Radical Jewish Culture Series.
Madness, Love and Mysticism is an album of contemporary classical music by American composer John Zorn released in 2001 on the Tzadik label.
Zaebos: Book of Angels Volume 11 is an album of compositions by John Zorn released in 2008 by experimental jazz fusion trio Medeski Martin & Wood performing compositions from John Zorn's second Masada book, "The Book of Angels" on the Tzadik label.
Rituals is an album of contemporary classical music by American avant-garde composer John Zorn. The piece takes the form of an opera in five parts and was premiered at the Bayreuth Opera Festival in 1998.
Orobas: Book of Angels Volume 4 is an album by Koby Israelite performing compositions from John Zorn's second Masada book, "The Book of Angels".
Chimeras is an album of contemporary classical music by American composer John Zorn featuring a 12 part piece inspired by Arnold Schoenberg's atonal composition "Pierrot Lunaire". In 2010 the album was revised and re-recorded, with an additional "Postlude".
Masada Anniversary Edition Volume 3: The Unknown Masada is the third album in a series of five releases celebrating the 10th anniversary of John Zorn's Masada songbook project. It features twelve previously unreleased Masada compositions performed by Erik Friedlander's Quake (1), Rashanim (2), Dave Douglas (3), Tatsuya Yoshida (4), Naftule's Dream (5), Jamie Saft (6), Zahava Seewald (7), Koby Israelite (8), Julian Kytasty (9); Fantômas (10), Wadada Leo Smith and Ikue Mori (11), and Eyvind Kang (12).
In Search of the Miraculous is an album by composer John Zorn released as a part of Tzadik's Archival series in 2010.
Mount Analogue is the fifteenth studio album by John Zorn released in January 2012 on the Tzadik label.
Templars: In Sacred Blood is an album by John Zorn released in May 2012 on the Tzadik label. It is the sixth album by Zorn's Moonchild project.
Ipos: Book of Angels Volume 14 is an album by the Dreamers performing compositions from John Zorn's second Masada book, The Book of Angels.
Tap: Book of Angels Volume 20 is an album by guitarist Pat Metheny performing compositions from John Zorn's Masada Book Two. The album was released simultaneously on Tzadik Records and Nonesuch Records. Though Zorn and Metheny are of similar age and both came to prominence in the late 1970s and have long admired each other's music, Tap is the first collaboration between the artists.