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Little Independent Label Releases Great Album Today
Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine and some fresh air... It gives us great pleasure to announce the release of the debut album by Benny Zen; The Recording Artist, Featuring The Syphilis Madmen ‘UFO Conspiracy Believer’... (Debut album from Nemo frontman and Mitsoobishy Jacson’s Peter Houben, including guest appearances from Mauro Pawlowski, Tim Vanhamel, Pascal Deweze and Tom Van Laere)
The album is released in a very fine looking digipack with a 12 page booklet with great artwork from Peter Houben himself. It’s available in the Benelux via Bang! and in the UK via Shellshock, and of course available direct from our webshop at http://www.jezusfactory.com
It’s also available on Itunes
A review is here already on Is This Music?
http://www.isthismusic.com/benny-zen-feat-madmen
Some facts about Benny Zen:
1)As a consequence of the financial crisis of 2008, Peter Houben lost his daytime job. Coincidentally, the lay-off bonus was the exact amount needed to pay for the mastering of “Ufo Conspiracy Believer” – a collection of songs Houben had recorded
with The Syphilis Madmen.
2)With his first band, Nemo, Peter Houben had already gained considerable acclaim – showcasing their contorted interpretation of a high-speed rocktrio all over Europe, being invited to the New Music Seminar in New York even before the first album was recorded, drawing the attention of a.o. Brinkman Records (see also Bettie Serveert), subsequently recording their self-produced debut in a few days on no budget at all, getting hysterical press like “Nemo acts as if nothing has happened. Put up a milestone in rock, pff... 18 songs full of surprising angles and great ideas...” (Humo)
Long time admirer Mauro Pawlowski used to be their roadie and dEUS played as their support.
3)Meanwhile Mauro and Peter started Mitsoobishy Jacson, often labelled ‘the Belgian alternative lofi supergroup’ with a.o. Pascal Deweze (Metal Molly/Sukilove) and Guy Van Nueten (Tom Barman).
4)After three Nemo and two Mitsoobishy Jacson albums, Houben felt it was enough and he started to mess around with synths and loops in a duo called UltraCowboy, causing immediate consternation with a ridiculously melodic radio hit called “the song that says fuck you”.
5)After that, Houben said “fuck you” to the music business, bought an acoustic guitar, got a part-time job and filled his days with long walks and slow books about evolutionary biology, the philosophy of science and the possibility of artificial intelligence. He kept writing and recording music, having no intention however to release an album.
6)Two things happened recently to change the natural course of things: an email from Jezus Factory and the aforementioned lay-off bonus – resulting in the appearance of Benny Zen the Recording Artist.
Houben got some local musicians together, the marvellous Syphilis Madmen, and recorded 15 songs at home. Half the Belgian music scene – Mauro Pawlowski, Admiral Freebee, Tim Vanhamel from Millionaire, Pascal Deweze, … - dropped by to celebrate the new Houben incarnation by supplying the choir on the song “It follows what you do”. It took two days to clean the living room.
The album comes in a deluxe digi pack with artwork from the legendary designer Herman Houbrechts (Millionaire, Evil Superstars, Admiral Freebee etc etc) and was mastered by Uwe Teichert (dEUS, Public Enemy, Placebo).
www.myspace.com/bennyzen
http://www.myspace.com/jezusfactory
www.jezusfactory.com