Biography
Zonal originated when Justin Broadrick and Kevin Martin elected to revive their industrial dub/hip-hop partnership that had previously operated as Techno Animal from the 1990s through the early 2000s. Although the Zonal name appeared on one restricted release in 2000, the project only reached full development in the late 2010s, when Wrecked surfaced as a complete album featuring Moor Mother on vocals.
The two musicians first crossed paths near the close of the 1980s and immediately began collaborating inside the band God. In 1991 they launched Techno Animal and issued its debut album Ghosts, which fused stark industrial textures with dub and hip-hop influences. Throughout the remainder of the decade the project shaped the illbient movement and left a lasting mark on numerous experimental electronic and post-rock acts. Broadrick and Martin also recorded together under several alternate guises, among them the Sidewinder, the Curse of the Golden Vampire (originally a three-way effort involving Alec Empire), and the one-off drum'n'bass alias White Viper.
A limited CD-R issued in 2000 on Broadrick’s Avalanche Recordings carried the Zonal credit and the title The Quatermass Project, Vol. 1. After Techno Animal delivered its 2001 album The Brotherhood of the Bomb, which included guest raps from El-P and dälek, the duo placed the project on hold. Occasional one-off contributions aside—Broadrick supplied guitar to the Bug’s 2014 album Angels & Devils, for instance—the pair waited until 2017 to reconvene, first staging a single Techno Animal reunion concert before resuming activity under the Zonal banner.
They enlisted confrontational Philadelphia-based poet/performer Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) for appearances at Unsound that year and at Roadburn in 2018. The project then signed to Relapse in 2019, issuing the digital single “Cage Version”/“No Version” ahead of the full-length Wrecked, on which Moor Mother appeared on six tracks.
The two musicians first crossed paths near the close of the 1980s and immediately began collaborating inside the band God. In 1991 they launched Techno Animal and issued its debut album Ghosts, which fused stark industrial textures with dub and hip-hop influences. Throughout the remainder of the decade the project shaped the illbient movement and left a lasting mark on numerous experimental electronic and post-rock acts. Broadrick and Martin also recorded together under several alternate guises, among them the Sidewinder, the Curse of the Golden Vampire (originally a three-way effort involving Alec Empire), and the one-off drum'n'bass alias White Viper.
A limited CD-R issued in 2000 on Broadrick’s Avalanche Recordings carried the Zonal credit and the title The Quatermass Project, Vol. 1. After Techno Animal delivered its 2001 album The Brotherhood of the Bomb, which included guest raps from El-P and dälek, the duo placed the project on hold. Occasional one-off contributions aside—Broadrick supplied guitar to the Bug’s 2014 album Angels & Devils, for instance—the pair waited until 2017 to reconvene, first staging a single Techno Animal reunion concert before resuming activity under the Zonal banner.
They enlisted confrontational Philadelphia-based poet/performer Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) for appearances at Unsound that year and at Roadburn in 2018. The project then signed to Relapse in 2019, issuing the digital single “Cage Version”/“No Version” ahead of the full-length Wrecked, on which Moor Mother appeared on six tracks.
Albums
Singles
