For Judy Dunaway, Mother Of Balloon Music (feat. Marika Pratley) is indicative of Zionov's creative practice. It is playfully inventive, synthesising avant-garde concepts into something accessible, and most importantly - danceable.
The song is always a highlight at Baby Zionov's live shows, and sets the tone for Henrietta, acting as the album's opening track.
"What I love about balloons is that they’re a cheap toy that secretly can be used to make all sorts of ridiculous, diverse unpredictable sounds across basically the entire spectrum of human hearing," says Zionov.
"There’s a small but beautiful lineage of experimental musicians using balloons that dates back to at least the 1960s, but Judy Dunaway, who I pay tribute to in the song title, was the first to really develop it and dedicate her life’s work to it."
"In this song, I use Dunaway’s techniques by rubbing, squeezing, and deflating balloons over a hot techno beat, and my talented friend Marika (Class War on the Dance Floor, Moody V and The Menstal Cycle) plays the electric violin alongside them. I hope listeners get a kick out the way the two instruments intertwine and blur into each other!"
An impeccably produced grab bag of disco-indebted melodies, snare-heavy hip-hop backbeats, and heady electronic textures. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 22, 2023
Brisbane's Sampology levels up his game, recording most of the material he samples on this elegantly layered electronic LP himself. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 10, 2021