“Boozegaze” sound of Rahway-based artist’s “Picaro
Obscuro” album features Waits collaborators Ralph Carney, David Coulter.
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J Hacha De
Zola as photographed by Miguel Peralta
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PLAY, POST & SHARE
J Hacha De Zola turns Ariana
Grande’s “Bad Decisions” into a “Tom Waits-Esq Barroom Roar,” says Cover
Me in its track premiere.
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J Hacha De Zola – In The Press
“The kind of
alluring character found in old children’s books.” – UTNE
“The main influence is that of Tom Waits. But if Zola
has influences, he also has talent.” – VOIR
“To say that De Zola’s creative process and musical
style are unique is an understatement.” – SLUG
“Cranks and curdles and clomps around his slithery
croon tunes.” – CMJ
“A twisted, dystopian narrative straight from the mind
of John Carpenter.” – ELMORE
“Visionary.” – BLURT
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“Recording this cover, I realized how truly amazing of
a singer Ariana Grande is,” says
Rahway, New Jersey-based musician J
Hacha De Zola. “She can sing her butt off.” Of course, Hacha De Zola brings
a decidedly unique take to the tune, premiered via
cover song website, Cover Me. “I’m
not much of a singer, I’m probably more of a crooner,” he says.
His style has been called “baroque pop,” “avant indie,”
“boozegaze,” and “urban junkyard” – imaginative descriptions that turn out to be
pretty on point. “I really wanted to see if I could cover, or more accurately, ‘re-make’
a pop tune and have it sound like me,” Hacha
De Zola says “I connected with the slightly dark connotations that could be
drawn from it. It’s also in the “dark” key of E minor.”
Ultimately, the song is pretty unrecognizable from its
original version until it hits the chorus. “At that point, I hope the listener
says, ‘Holy shit, this is an Ariana
Grande cover?!’”
J Hacha De Zola’s latest full length (and second of 2016), Picaro
Obscuro was released last month.
“He’s like a codeine cough syrup dream on the train to
Zurich,” is how legendary sax man Ralph Carney
describes Hacha De Zola. Carney, who made his bones with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, The B-52s,
They Might Be Giants, and Frank Black (and who is also the uncle
of The Black Keys co-founder, Patrick Carney), makes his tenor and
baritone horns an omnipresent force on Hacha
De Zola’s latest album (and second of 2016) Picaro Obscuro.
Multi-instrumentalist David Coulter is heard throughout the album as well. Coulter,
who has recorded, performed and toured with artists as diverse as Damon Albarn, Jarvis Cocker, Laurie
Anderson, Kronos Quartet, Yoko Ono, and Beck among many other notables, shares a common compatriot with Carney in Waits, as both men performed on the Waits album The Black Rider, a collection of the
songs from the theater piece of the same name for which Coulter served as Associate Musical Director.
Other influences on the sound of Picaro Obscuro according
to Hacha De Zola include: Perez Prado, Captain Beefheart, Screaming
Jay Hawkins, Danil Kharms, Arthur Rimbaud, Frank Zappa, Nick Cave,
and Syd Barrett.
Picaro
Obscuro, the second album by J Hacha De Zola is out now. His cover
of the Ariana Grande song “Bad Decisions” is also streaming now. Hacha De Zola is available for
interviews. Contact Josh Bloom
at Fanatic for more information.
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J Hacha De Zola
Picaro
Obscuro
Out Now
Track Listing:
02. Bad Fiction
05. Falling Out of Chairs
06. Picaro Obscuro
07. Black Water
08. Taking Names
09. On Your Own
10. Dead End Street
11. Tears of Summer
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J Hacha De Zola Links
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Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion
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