Torture Garden is an album by John Zorn

John Zorn

John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...

's band Naked City

Naked City (band)

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...

 featuring Yamatsuka Eye on vocals. The album is a compilation of the "hardcore miniatures" that were also released on Naked City

Naked City (album)

Naked City is an album released on Nonesuch Records in 1990 by John Zorn, featuring the band of the same name. The album was also released as part of Naked City: The Complete Studio Recordings on Tzadik Records in 2005....

and Grand Guignol

Grand Guignol (album)

Grand Guignol is the second full-length studio album released by John Zorn's band Naked City in 1992 on the Japanese Avant label. The album followed Torture Garden, which was a compilation of "hardcore miniatures" from Naked City and Grand Guignol...

. Unlike other Naked City

Naked City (band)

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...

 albums, there are no breaks between the screaming, the seemingly random saxophone blasts and grindcore

Grindcore

Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....

. The album was originally released on Shimmy Disc in 1989. Following controversy over Naked City's album covers it was re-released in 1996 on Tzadik Records

Tzadik Records

Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...

 with Leng Tch'e

Leng Tch'e (album)

Leng Tch'e is the fourth release from John Zorn's band Naked City. It consists of a single track, running at just over half an hour. It was first released on the Japanese Toys Factory label in 1992...

simply as Black Box

Black Box (album)

Black Box is a compilation album by John Zorn's band Naked City featuring Yamatsuka Eye on vocals. The album is a collection of the "hardcore miniatures" from Naked City and Grand Guignol that were originally released on Torture Garden in 1990 and the extended piece Leng Tch'e which was only...

. The tracks were also released as part of Naked City: The Complete Studio Recordings

Naked City: The Complete Studio Recordings

Naked City: The Complete Studio Recordings is a five disc box set that contains all of the studio albums released by Naked City during their five year history....

in 2005.

The name for the collection comes from Le Jardin des supplices

The Torture Garden (novel)

The Torture Garden is a novel written by the French journalist, novelist and playwright Octave Mirbeau and was first published in 1899, during the Dreyfus Affair...

, an 1899 Decadent

Decadent movement

The Decadent movement was a late 19th century artistic and literary movement of Western Europe. It flourished in France, but also had devotees in England and throughout Europe, as well as in the United States.-Overview:...

 novel by Octave Mirbeau

Octave Mirbeau

Octave Mirbeau was a French journalist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, novelist, and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, while still appealing to the literary and artistic avant-garde...

.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Bradley Torreano awarded the album 4 stars stating "Songs blur together but never get boring, no lyrics are actually sung, and few songs last longer than a minute. It also never takes itself seriously, a nice relief from Zorn's heavy-handed ambient collaborations. This would make a great introduction to the noise/jazz efforts that this group of musicians pioneered in the early '90s".

Track listing

1. "Blood Is Thin" - 1:00
2. "Demon Sanctuary" - 0:38
3. "Thrash Jazz Assassin" - 0:45
4. "Dead Spot" - 0:31
5. "Bonehead" - 0:51
6. "Speedball" - 0:17
7. "Blood Duster" - 0:13
8. "Pile Driver" - 0:33
9. "Shangkuan Ling-Feng" - 1:14
10. "Numbskull" - 0:29
11. "Perfume of a Critic's Burning Flesh" - 0:24
12. "Jazz Snob Eat Shit" - 0:24
13. "The Prestigitator" - 0:43
14. "No Reason To Believe" - 0:26
15. "Hellraiser" - 0:39
16. "Torture Garden" - 0:35
17. "Slan" - 0:23
18. "Hammerhead" - 0:08
19. "The Ways of Pain" - 0:31
20. "The Noose" - 0:10
21. "Sack of Shit" - 0:43
22. "Blunt Instrument" - 0:54
23. "Osaka Bondage" - 1:14
24. "Igneous Ejaculation" - 0:20
25. "Shallow Grave" - 0:40
26. "Ujaku" - 0:27
27. "Kaoru" - 0:50
28. "Dead Dread" - 0:45
29. "Billy Liar" 0:10
30. "Victims of Torture" - 0:23
31. "Speedfreaks" - 0:29
32. "New Jersey Scum Swamp" - 0:41
33. "S & M Sniper" - 0:14
34. "Pigfucker" - 0:234
35. "Cairo Chop Shop" - 0:23
36. "Fuck the Facts" - 0:11
37. "Obeah Man" - 0:17
38. "Facelifter" - 0:34
39. "N.Y. Flat Top Box" - 0:43
40. "Whiplash" - 0:19
41. "The Blade" - 0:36
42. "Gob of Spit" - 0:18

All compositions by John Zorn and Yamatsuka Eye

• Recorded in Brooklyn, New York City and Tokyo 1989-1990

Personnel

• John Zorn
  John Zorn
  John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
  
  : alto saxophone
  Alto saxophone
  The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
  
  , vocals
  Vocal music
  Vocal music is a genre of music performed by one or more singers, with or without instrumental accompaniment, in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but does not feature it prominently is generally considered instrumental music Vocal music is a genre of...
  
  
• Bill Frisell
  Bill Frisell
  William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
  
  : guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Wayne Horvitz
  Wayne Horvitz
  Wayne Horvitz is an American composer, keyboardist and record producer.-Biography:Horvitz, a "defiant cross-breeder of genres", has led the groups The President, Pigpen, Zony Mash, and the Four Plus One Ensemble...
  
  : keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  
• Fred Frith
  Fred Frith
  Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
  
  : bass
  Electric Bass
  Electric bass can mean:*Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass*Electric bass guitar*Bass synthesizer*Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-powered singing fish...
  
  
• Joey Baron
  Joey Baron
  Joey Baron is an American avant-garde jazz drummer probably best known for his work with Bill Frisell, Stan Getz, Steve Kuhn, and John Zorn...
  
  : drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Yamatsuka Eye: vocals.