TANYA TAGAQ - Animism
Six Shooter Records | 2014

"The album opens with the Yellowknife-based Inuk musician singing deceivingly sweetly atop some percussive thump on a reimagining of the Pixies' Caribou. But it isn't long before her skilful throat-singing and vocal experiments take over: guttural and feral, punctuated by rhythmic breathing, gasping, shrieking, growling and grunting, all given shape and momentum by producer Jesse Zubot's furtive strings, ominous horns and electronic soundscapes, Jean Martin's percussion and, on one song, Anna Pardo Canedo's operatic singing." - NOW Magazine

HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Various Artists
Varese Sarabande Records | 2014

The album features the film’s original score composed by singer/songwriter Dan Mangan and violinist Jesse Zubot. Also included is the original song Vessel performed by Mangan + Blacksmith, as well as other songs featured in the film performed by such artists as Parov Stelar, Ted Lewis & His Orchestra and more. Hector and the Search for Happiness is directed by Peter Chelsom and stars Simon Pegg, Toni Collette, Rosamund Pike, Stellan Skarsgard, Jean Reno and Christopher Plummer.

GORDON GRDINA'S HARAM - Her Eyes Illuminate
Songlines | 2012

"If “haram” means “forbidden by Islamic law,” Vancouver guitarist/oud player Gordon Grdina (Box Cutter, Dan Mangan) is certainly breaking a few rules with his outfit Haram’s new album Her Eyes Illuminate. Well, blurring stylistic lines may be more accurate. Over 10 winding tracks, Her Eyes Illuminate explores Arabic music territory with a streamlined jazz groove, blending klezmer, Hebraic and Gypsy influences in the mix as well." - The Vancouver Sun

FOND OF TIGERS - Continent & Western
Drip Audio | 2010

Continent & Western--simultaneously more experimental and more accessible than previous Fond of Tigers releases--shows the band honing its unique blend of avant-garde textures and post-rock structures while expanding its range to include vocals and additional members. "...there is something in Continent & Western that immediately grabs you and refuses to let go, something both instantly accessible and completely out of this world." - The Vancouver Sun
***This album won a Juno Award in 2011 for best Instrumental Album.

GORDON GRDINA'S EAST VAN STRINGS - The Breathing of Statues
Songlines | 2009

Featuring Gordon Grdina on electric guitar & oud, Jesse Zubot on violin, Eyvind Kang on viola and Peggy Lee on cello. This is the debut recording of this lauded guitarist/oud player's all-string quartet, playing original compositions and improvs inspired by Bartok, Webern, Berg, free jazz and Arabic taqasim. For this disc he has put together an extraordinary all-star string trio to collaborate with, each with an impressive amount of diverse talents and experiences. - Downtown Music Gallery

FOND OF TIGERS - Release The Saviours
Drip Audio | 2007

Fond of Tigers’ second album, Release the Saviours is an ambitious and focused synthesis of mathy freakouts, off-kilter jazz, ambient sound sculpture, abstract improvisation, and a rare feel for making music that is both challenging and highly listenable.

"...a beacon of hope in a year plagued by an excess of dull music." - Tiny Mix Tapes

TONY WILSON 6TET - Pearls Before Swine
Drip Audio | 2007

This debut release from the Tony Wilson 6Tet is the first documentation of the ongoing musical investigations this group started four years ago.

"...the kind of fearless music-making that spits in the face of too-polite conservatism and keeps the experimental fire of iconoclasts like Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler burning." - textura.org

ZMF TRIO - Circle The Path
Drip Audio | 2007

An album blurring the lines of contemporary improvisation, old-school free jazz and standard composition. Musicians include renowned American bassist Joe Fonda (who has worked with the who's who of improvised music including Anthony Braxton, Joe McPhee, Billy Bang, Han Bennink and Leo Smith), and fine Canadian boys Jesse Zubot (violin) and Torontonian Jean Martin (drums). - "Breathtaking." - Left Hip Magazine

JESSE ZUBOT - Dementia
Drip Audio | 2006

Dementia is Jesse Zubot's first album entirely made up of improvisations. It pivots between solo improvised violin, micro-mandolin orchestras and minimal electronic-influenced sound design.

"...the kind of thing that could permanently alter your neurons if you aren't careful." - Paris Transatlantic Magazine

FOND OF TIGERS - A Thing To Live With
Drip Audio | 2006

The debut release from Vancouver's Fond Of Tigers, A Thing To Live With, is a diverse and challenging listen that defies simple genre classification. In just under 50 minutes, the band (described in print as "compelling", "eclectic", "transcendent", "hypnotic", and "post-everything") moves between sounds which reference prog-rock freakouts, pastoral, back-porch picking, wonky jazz, hardcore math-metal, and ambient drone, without ever coming across as a pastiche act.

"...a perfect ice-breaker for outjazzers and disaffected hipsters." - Down Beat Magazine

LACONNOR - s/t
Drip Audio | 2005

This album includes highly engaging and intricate works that incorporate electro-acoustics, improvisations, folk-inspired chamber-like melodies, samples and humourous dialogue. The result is a fascinating web of intriguing, relentless textural soundscapes, that stay clear of the usual pitfalls of musique actuelle. LaConnor was named one of 2005's top ten experimental/avant-garde albums by Exclaim! magazine.

ZUBOTTA - s/t
Drip Audio | 2005

This is aggressive, yet humorous, electronic music. Zubotta comes from years of twinkling in a home studio. During the making of this recording, inspiration came from artists such as Autechre, Tricky, Squarepusher, Boards of Canada, David Holmes, Nine Inch Nails, Howie B and Steve Reich.

"...perfect for dark clubs and suspenseful movie soundtracks." - Amazon.ca

GREAT UNCLES OF THE REVOLUTION - Blow The House Down
Black Hen Music | 2003

Blow The House Down features compositions by Andrew Downing and Kevin Turcotte, as well as a thorough retelling of Sergei Prokofiev’s classic musical tale Peter and the Wolf. This group also includes Steve Dawson on slide guitar and Jesse Zubot on Violin. The group’s music is hard to categorize, falling somewhere between jazz, roots, classical, and gypsy music. This album won a Juno Award in 2004 for best Contemporary Jazz Album.

ZUBOT & DAWSON - Chicken Scratch
True North Records | 2002

This is Z&D's third recording. It incorporates elements of folk music, jazz, pop, and improvisation. It's held together with a cinematic quality. This album was produced by the renowned Lee Townsend (Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Joey Baron) and includes a guest appearance by the legendary Kelly Joe Phelps. It won a Juno Award in 2003 in the Roots & Traditional Category.

"...this is a new kind of folk, exquisitely executed." - Toronto Star

GREAT UNCLES OF THE REVOLUTION - Stand Up!
Black Hen Music | 2001

The first album by this critically acclaimed avant-folk group featuring J Zubot, Steve Dawson and renowned Toronto jazz musicians Andrew Downing and Kevin Turcotte. This album was named one of Canada's top 2001 jazz releases by CBC's After Hours and "...unusually absorbing" by Eugene Chadbourne in his All Music Guide review.

ZUBOT & DAWSON - Tractor Parts: Further Adventures In Strang
Black Hen Music | 2001
Re-Released True North Records | 2003

"...the best thing to happen to acoustic music since David Grisman and Tony Rice put together their groundbreaking quintet 20 years ago. While managing to retain the essential character of traditional bluegrass and blues, Jesse Zubot and Steve Dawson wed those venerable music forms to jazz, pop, trance and other styles. The result is adventurous, intricate music that has one foot on the ground and the other in the ether." - Ron Forbes-Roberts (Monday Magazine/Victoria, BC)

ZUBOT & DAWSON - Strang
Black Hen Music | 1998
Re-Released True North Records | 2003

The first album from Z&D created a stir on the Canadian folk music circuit. Nominated for a Juno Award.
"…Zubot and Dawson are working on their own agenda of skewed roots-based music….well worth seeking out.”
- Froots Magazine, UK

DAN MANGAN + BLACKSMITH - Club Meds | Arts & Crafts | 2015 - Club Meds at times evokes images of subtler American-underground innovators like Blonde Redhead or Steve Reich. At other moments, it hits emotional pay dirt reminiscent of British scene-survivors like Peter Gabriel or Radiohead. Blacksmith brings an unmistakable character to Club Meds; a stark glassy edge that swells and sways like a roaring ocean. Through a fog of analog feedback loops and synths, the band's performances breathe deeply and steadily like a dragon at rest. (JZ plays violin on the album)

STARS - No One Is Lost | ATO Records | 2014 - STARS recorded ‘No One Is Lost’ at Montreal’s Mile End Studios, the former home of Handsome Furs (and the site of Arcade Fire’s first rehearsals). Mile End became a home away from home. Creeping into the sound of the new record was the music from the now-defunct discotheque Royal Phoenix located downstairs. The result is STARS’ most dance-floor-ready album to date. (JZ arranges and plays the strings on this album)

CLINTON ST. JOHN - The Minor Arkhana | Medicine Records | 2014 - "The Minor Arkhana, finds him pulling back from the controls a bit, leaving the production duties largely to Calgary wondermind Chad VanGaalen, and with lush arrangements from three-time Juno award-winner Jesse Zubot (who you may have heard on records from Dan Mangan and Tanya Tagaq). The result is St. John’s most assured statement to date, eking out a balance between his stripped-down songwriting and strikingly rich arrangements." — FFWD Weekly (JZ plays violin & mandolin on this album)

THE SANDS - Beast To Bone | Independent | 2014 - “Vancouver singer Julie McGeer and cellist/pianist-about-town Peggy Lee have created a charmingly idiosyncratic little keeper in their first joint foray as The Sands. Beast to Bone, produced with the help of West Coast violin iconoclast Jesse Zubot - who helmed Tanya Tagaq’s Polaris Music Prize-winning Animism last year - flutters between indie folk, jazz and experimentalism in beguiling fashion, its breathy vocals and lilting, gossamer melodies belying an undercurrent of toughness that occasionally manifests itself in knotty guitar tones and lyrical darkness. It’s quite a unique piece of work, casting a spell.” — Toronto Star (JZ produced the album)

NICK KRGOVICH - On Sunset | Independent | 2014 - On Sunset is the new record from songwriter Nicholas Krgovich, and it stands as a rich, widescreen paean to a lost Los Angeles. A smog-smudged dreamscape filled with loners, washed-up movie stars, dreamers, drifters, blooming jasmine and glowing courtyard pools, all twinkling and haunting the Hollywood Hills. A place where the light in late afternoon is bright and smooth, where the Santa Ana winds blow, where anything goes. (JZ plays strings on this album)

LOUISE BURNS - The Midnight Mass | Light Organ Records | 2013 - "But The Midnight Mass is no more a country album than Loretta Lynn is disco. The album, instead, is steeped in the moody, synthesized styles of the Cure and other ’80s miserablists. Burns’s collaborators include the Dum Dum Girls drummer Sandra Vu and the album co-producer Sune Rose Wagner (of the retro-futuristic Raveonettes). The result is a hazy shimmer of low-key pop, with lyrical themes of lightness and darkness, seasonal changes and general restlessness.” — The Globe and Mail (JZ plays violin on a few tracks)

MOTHER MOTHER - The Sticks | Last Gang Records | 2012 - "Vancouver’s Mother Mother seems to be developing an odd ‘n’ even pattern with albums. Their first and third — Touch Up and Eureka — were quirky art-pop affairs, while their second, Oh My Heart, felt much more restrained. The Sticks is MM’s fourth effort, which means it’s not quite as in-your-face weird, sonically, but the Vancouver group’s personality still shines through on this batch of 14 tunes." — Edmonton Journal (JZ plays violin on a few tracks)

STARS - The North | Soft Revolution Records | 2012 - “Recreating the formula that sparked 2005’s Set Yourself on Fire, Canadian indie-rock band Stars has once again put its heart in the hands of love, heartbreak, drugs and producer Tony Hoffer. The North offers the same sense of depth and darkness that first propelled the five-piece into the limelight with singles like “Ageless Beauty” and “Your Ex-Lover is Dead,” but with an increased sense of awareness and age. The band has grown. The music has evolved. But the message of feeling alive despite all odds is more apparent than ever.” — Paste Magazine (JZ plays violin, viola & cello on tracks 3 & 5)

ALAN DOYLE - Boy On Bridge | Universal Music | 2012 - "Boy On Bridge itself is a title with a point. It refers to the bridge that joins the two parts of his hometown of Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, and it's Doyle's way of saying that no matter how far he strays from his roots, he's still the same kid from that fishing village. After all, it's a disc that sees him go from Nashville to L.A. and around, recording with his pals from those worlds. It's like a reassurance to fans, friends and family, and a statement of intent to himself to not let all that change him." — CBC (JZ plays violin, viola & mandolin on tracks 1, 7 & 9)

TANYA TAGAQ - Anuraaqtuq | Victo | 2011 - “Anuraaqtuq is the first recording by Tanya Tagaq’s trio in its incarnation since 2009. With drummer Jean Martin and violinist Jesse Zubot, the Inuit singer completely eschews her previous pop records to dive headfirst into ultra-emotional free improvisation. She screams, cries, yelps and orgasms, transmuting the most atavistic human emotions into a spellbinding song. And that particular night, she reached new heights before an audience that, unlike what she was used to, was taking it all in and asking for more.” — Monsieur Délire (JZ plays violin & viola)

DAN MANGAN - Oh Fortune | Arts & Crafts | 2011 - “Yes, Oh Fortune offers musings on the darkness of our times, but the album really resonates because, deep down, these are really Mangan’s stories, his concerns and his questions, delivered with a reinvigorated wit and a reinvented sound.” — Vancouver Sun (JZ plays violin on most of the album)

KATHRYN CALDER - Bright and Vivid | FU:M | 2011 - "Lead single “Who Are You?” is perhaps the best example of the album’s dynamic, all awash in day-glo harmonic vocal samples and belching electronic bass. It’s a shining moment where the former cog in The Immaculate Machine turned New Pornographer slots all the pieces of her evolving aesthetic perfectly into place. Bright and Vivid is a solid follow-up, one that delivers the same catchy songwriting as Calder’s debut while simultaneously opening her work up to a broader instrumental pallet." - Tiny Mix Tapes (JZ plays violin on tracks 1,3 & 10)

MOTHER MOTHER - Eureka | Last Gang Records | 2011 - “Like their Vancouver peers the New Pornographers, Mother Mother aim straight for the subconscious, cramming in as many earworms as humanly possible. And yet their unusual compositions avoid sugar ?rot. Beyond their hook-writing, their biggest weapon has always been their three-pronged co-ed vocal interplay, and here they take it to complex Dirty Projectors-like heights.” — Now Magazine (JZ plays violin on tracks 5,8 & 11)

JUSTIN RUTLEDGE - The Early Widows | Six Shooter Records | 2010 - “Rutledge approaches the words as though they are poems, refusing to highlight their meanings. Instead, the songs demand that listeners find those lines that stand out, turning them over and investigating the nooks and crannies around them until they begin to take on a larger, grander shape.” — Vue Weekly (JZ plays violin, viola, mandolin & creates soundscapes on this album)

ALPHA YAYA DIALLO - Immé | Jericho Beach Music | 2010 - There is still a lot of the Afrobeat in Diallo's music, but the Vancouver transplant is letting in western influences. These -- the occasional power chord, some brass and strings -- have been incorporated in what, by African music standards, are tight, cohesive arrangements. They're not that obvious but they probably will appeal to North American ears. Diallo's singing is keening and imploring while his guitar playing, which was always attractive, seems cut back to serve a fuller sound. - The Province (JZ co-produced this with Alpha and mixed most of the album as well as plays violin and mandolin on a lot of it)

THE ELEMENT CHOIR - At Rosedale United | Barnyard Records | 2010 - This recording features Christine Duncan’s extraordinary 50-voice improvising ensemble, The Element Choir, in collaboration with Jesse Zubot, violin; Jim Lewis, trumpet; Jean Martin, percussion; and Eric Robertson, playing the church’s beautiful Cassavent pipe organ at Rosedale United . They possess the musicality, playfulness, and restraint to allow these unique and, in the most sublime moments, overwhelming sound resources (not only instruments and voices, but also the space itself) to be harnessed and channeled into a tangible feeling of wonder. This is very literally a wonderful record. -Scott Thomson (JZ plays violin on this album)

ANDREW DOWNING - Silents | Black Hen Music | 2010 - His most recent musical project is a seven-piece chamber ensemble in which Andrew's cello is joined by Aleksandar Gajic (violin), Joe Phillips (double bass), Kevin Turcotte (trumpet), William Carn (trombone), Peter Lutek (bassoon and clarinet) and David Occhipinti (guitar). The group will be releasing a CD in April of 2010 called Silents which features music written to accompany the silent films The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Impossible Voyage. The album also enlists the help of Quinsin Nachoff (clarinet), Jesse Zubot (violin), Tania Gill (celeste, pump organ) and Mark Duggan. "...a postmodern twenty-first century voyageur." - The Toronto Star (JZ plays violin on this album)

BRADLEY - MountainTigerWolf | Drip Audio | 2010 - MountainTigerWolf is the sophomore album from songwriter/producer bradley. The follow up to 2007’s “pink pill program”, MountainTigerWolf finds the Vancouver artist building on the unique sounds found on his acclaimed debut. Created mostly with one analogue synth, a computer and manipulation, the result is a perfectly stretched musical canvass for bradley’s quirky and personal songs to settle on. "...cracking good album...Bradley’s songs couldn’t be more freshly conceived or confidently brought off." - The Globe and Mail (JZ strings on tracks 5,8 & 12)

THE FUGITIVES - Eccentrically We Love | 604 Records | 2010 - The Fugitives are the combined talents of Vancouver artists Adrian Glynn, Barbara Adler, Brendan McLeod, and Steve Charles. A group of multi-instrumentalists, songwriters, poets and novelists, each with their own burgeoning solo career. Their primary focus lies in banding together to integrate their sensibilities into a dynamic mix of modern folk. “A hypnotic and swirling mix of voice and music that straddles the line between traditional songwriting and poetry” – Vue Weekly (JZ plays violin on tracks 4 & 9)

AARON CADWALADR - Wade Through The Dark | Independent | 2010 - The 14 tracks on Wade Through the Dark showcase Cadwaladr’s rich and resonant voice and poetically compelling lyrics combined with his openness to eclectic musical influences. Songs on the release range from the barrel-house off-kilter folk rock of the title track Wade Through the Dark to the pared-down jazzy-tinged lullaby of fingertips to the bluegrass-infused slow down, and covering a lot of ground in between. “As Expansive as an ocean view from Vancouver Island.” - The Province (JZ plays violin on tracks 3,4,7,9,10 & 14)

THE SOJOURNERS - S/T | Black Hen Music | 2010 - In The Sojourners’ universe, echoes of doo wop, R&B, country and blues weave together to create a unique sound that has all but vanished from today’s world. “The much-anticipated eponymous follow-up to their 2007 debut album Hold On ... our boys have recorded a slide-guitar-soaked 11-track Hammond B-3 organ-driven throwback to the old-time jubilation-style gospel vocals of the Blind Boys Of Alabama. By God, this is a great album."
- The Ottawa Express (JZ plays mandolin on track 11)

OX - Burnout | Weewerk | 2009 - Painting their dust bowl soundscapes with a much more textured brush than ever before, OX jumps down the rabbit hole with their stellar new album, entitled "BURNOUT". Picking up where their acclaimed second full-length, "American Lo Fi" (2006) left off OX combines elements of psychedelic rock with their alt-country & americana tendencies to create an especially warm sound on this seven song treasure. “Parched, weary, aching and rough-edged Americana recalling Neil Young, Wilco and Springsteen... Passionate!” - CMJ Weekly (JZ plays violin on tracks 3 & 6)

THE MISSISSIPPI SHEIKS TRIBUTE PROJECT - Things About Comin' My Way | Black Hen Music | 2009 - The Mississippi Sheiks were a highly under-appreciated country blues group that recorded throughout the 1930's. Featuring all new performances of the fantastic material of the Sheiks, this tribute includes performances led by the likes of John Hammond, Bill Frisell, Madeleine Peyroux, Bruce Cockburn, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Robin Holcomb, The North Mississippi Allstars, Ndidi Onukwulu and many other great artists. "It's hard to imagine any other record this year boasting a more impressive cast of roots music stars than this tribute to legendary bluesmen the Mississippi Sheiks." - Exclaim! (JZ plays violin on tracks 2,5,7 & 8)

VIVIANE HOULE - Treize | Drip Audio | 2009 - Viviane Houle’s debut solo release, Treize, is an intense and highly submersive album that documents the artistry of this vocal improviser through collaborations with members of Vancouver’s rich creative music scene. "throwing dictionaries out of windows, the sound of a trombone digging up a grave, ripping out everybody's larynx with your bare hands...a genius example of this audacious approach to music... one of the year’s best albums." - CokeMachineGlow (JZ produced/mixed album & plays violin on track 7)

AMY MILLAN - Masters Of The Burial | Arts & Crafts | 2009 - Amy Millan (also of Stars and Broken Social Scene fame) returns with Masters of The Burial, a wistful yet warm collection of songs and the follow up to her 2006 solo debut, Honey From The Tombs. "...the album’s overall vibe—lush but never overwrought, mellow without drifting into an ambient sleepwalk—makes Masters of the Burial a safe bet for anyone looking for something to help ease summer’s inexorable slide into the dying days of autumn." - The Georgia Straight (JZ plays violin on track 11)

DARKBLUEWORLD - The Perilous Beauty Of Madness | Drip Audio | 2009 - DarkBlueWorld is singer/poet Elizabeth Fischer's essential vehicle for her collaborations with noted Canadian musicians. "Nina Simone fronting Yeah Yeah Yeahs by way of a Mike Patton project. That gives a sense of Elizabeth Fischer's Brecht/punk. Dense, slithering backing by some of Canada's top creative improvisors make it hit like a freaking art bomb." – The Province (JZ plays violin/strings on tracks 2,8, & 9)

NDIDI O - Move Together | Naïve | 2009 - This is Ndidi Onukwulu's debut European release. It features songs originally released on her 1st two North American albums 'The Contradictor' and 'No I Never', with some re-recorded and remixed. "...this is what a real soulstress sounds like.” - Detroit Metro Times (JZ plays violin/strings on tracks 2,5,7 & 10 and produced tracks 2,4 & 12)

JIM BYRNES - My Walking Stick | Black Hen Music | 2009 - "My Walking Stick” is the latest blood and guts, behind your knees, love, life, death, and after life release from the legendary multi Juno Award winning blues and roots artist Jim Byrnes. "...blood-red, rich album of roots music." - The Globe & Mail (JZ plays violin on tracks 3,5 & 7)

TAGAQ - Auk/Blood | Jericho Beach Music | 2008 - Auk is a considerable expansion upon the work she created with her debut, Sinaa. This new record is perhaps more reflective of what Tagaq brings to her passionate and powerful live performances, specifically the energy and beauty that comes from collaboration. "Violinist Jesse Zubot’s exploratory strings draw circles around her trademark grunts, buzzes, moans and gasps ,lending a backbone to this eerily compelling - collection." - NOW Magazine (JZ appears on tracks 1,2,3,5,8,9,11,12 & 13)

NDIDI ONUKWULU - The Contradictor | Jericho Beach Music | 2008 - "The Contradictor, all about focus, training that formidable silk edge on everyone’s private pain, and contradicting the anguish with a full, upbeat, resonance. The Contradictor is personal and universal, built on Ndidi’s songwriting mining the extremes of intimacy, with the bigger sounds and tones she is most interested in uncovering. "Never predictable, the disc shifts sonic and emotional gears without the disjointedness plaguing so many “fusion” - type recordings." - Pop Matters (JZ plays violin on tracks 2,5,7,10 & 11)

VEDA HILLE - This Riot Life | Ape House Records | 2008 - Veda and a large gang of brilliant musician friends play ecstatic songs about life, death, and japanese bathhouses. Piano, two drummers, guitar, bass, strings, woodwinds, horns, many singers, and a little autoharp. Cover art by Geoffrey Farmer. "...unmistakably Hille: uncompromising and left of centre." - NOW Magazine (JZ plays violin on tracks 1-7 & 9-13)

THE LISA MILLER OCTET - Seep Furiously | Independent | 2008 - Lisa Miller’s performance and composition style combines her interest in jazz, modern composition, and free improvisation in a vibrant and challenging context, using the improvisatory talents of the members of her ensembles, and her knowledge of contemporary practices. She performs with Eyvind Kang, Dylan van der Schyff, Peggy Lee, Jeremy Berkman, Jesse Zubot, Ron Samworth, Alita Dupary, Steve Smith, the NOW Orchestra, ion zoo, and stop time. "...a record that demands not furious sleep, but furious concentration. Trust me, though: it’s worth it." - The Georgia Straight (JZ plays violin on this album)

HAWKSLEY WORKMAN - Between The Beautifuls | Universal | 2008 - The 12-track album, produced by Andre Wahl, represents yet another step forward in the evolution of a unique and restless artist. "Between the Beautifuls is the product of an artist who, after nearly drowning, has found some spiritual higher ground." - National Post (JZ appears on track 11)

STARS - In Our Bedroom After The War | Arts & Crafts | 2007 - Their sweet, lovelorn glide is what sets Stars apart from their Canadian peers on this, their fourth album. Emotions here run from gentle melancholy through to ebbing sorrow, but there's still time for euphoria too. "With 'In Our Bedroom...' Stars are rewriting the textbook on romance with effortless glee." - NME.COM (JZ does strings on tracks 4,11 & 12)

JOE SHITHEAD KEITHLEY - Band Of Rebels | Sudden Death Records | 2007 - This is an album by D.O.A. and Canada’s godfather of punk, JOE SHITHEAD KEITHLEY. This 14 song album combines punk-a-billy, ska, punk and roots rock. It’s funny, political, upbeat, and incredibly energetic. The songs talk about smokin’ pot, troublemaking, Star Trek, revolution, and fucking with corporations. (JZ plays violin on track 3)

KEVIN HOUSE - World Of Beauty | Bongo Beat | 2007 - World of Beauty is the second album from reknowned painter/songwriter Kevin House - his canvases and installations have earned accolades from the likes of actor Malcolm McDowell, The Village Voice, and others. Miniature chanson symphonies for late night consumption. Headphone lullabys for apparitions and departure heroes. (JZ does strings on tracks 5,8 & 10)

DARKBLUEWORLD - Dark Blue World | Drip Audio | 2006 - Showcasing unconventional rhythmic textures and an uncompromising approach to music, DarkBlueWorld constructs songs that are sophisticated and direct in their lyrical and musical conception, speaking with truth, courage and conviction. “... a searing alternative to sweetness and light” - Down Beat Magazine (JZ appears on Tracks 3,5,8 & 9)