'''ZE Records''' was originally a New York-based [[record label]], started in [[1978 in music|1978]] by [[Michael Zilkha]] and [[Michel Esteban]]. It was reestablished by Esteban in 2003.
'''ZE Records''' was originally a New York-based [[record label]], started in [[1978 in music|1978]] by [[Michael Zilkha]] and [[Michel Esteban]]. It was originally named after the TV presenter "Ze Boss07". It was reestablished by Esteban in 2003.
ZE Records was originally a New York-based record label, started in 1978byMichael Zilkha and Michel Esteban. It was originally named after the TV presenter "Ze Boss07". It was reestablished by Esteban in 2003.
History
Michael Zilkha (b. 1954) is a British-born Oxford graduate of Iraqi descent, the son of Selim Zilkha, former owner of Mothercare, a major UK retail company, and the stepson of Cabinet member Lord Lever. In the mid-1970s, Zilkha worked in the New York publishing industry and was a contributor to the Village Voice.
Michel Esteban (b. 1951) studied art in Paris and at the School of Visual Arts in New York, before returning to Paris in 1975 and opening the shop Harry Cover (a pun on "haricots verts"), which specialised in current rock music merchandise from the US and UK. The basement shop quickly became the rehearsal place for Parisian new wave bands. Between 1975 and 1976, Esteban published Rock News, which covered the birth of the punk rock movement in London, New York and Paris. In 1977 he published Patti Smith's books Witt and The Night, and Lizzy Mercier Descloux's first book Desiderata.[1][2]
In 1977, Esteban signed French new wave band Marie et les Garçons, and asked John Cale - who had been introduced to him by Patti Smith - to produce them. Cale produced the single "Re Bop" in New York, and when he decided to start a record label with Jane Friedman he asked Esteban to assist. Cale later introduced Esteban to Zilkha, and they first established SPY Records to release singles produced by Cale, including records by Harry Toledo, the Necessaries, Lester Bangs, Model Citizens and Bob Neuwirth.[1][2]
Zilkha and Esteban then left to set up their own label, ZE Records, a name taken from the initials of their surnames, to record the new music emerging in New York and elsewhere from a fusion of punk, disco and new wave music. Much of the music produced by the company later became categorised as either "Mutant Disco" – a title used for one of ZE's early compilation albums - or "No Wave". Chris Blackwell - a friend of Esteban's then-girlfriend, fashion editor Anna Wintour[3] - gave ZE worldwide exposure through the label's licence deal with Island Records.
ZE developed an independent and surrealist aesthetic identity. It was described by John PeelinMelody Maker in 1980 as "the best independent record label in the world", and by Paul Tickell in The Face in 1982 as "the world¹s most fashionable label".[3] According to writer Andy Kellman:[4]
"At their most inspired, the artists on ZE found some middle ground between immensely accessible disco-pop and the avant-garde, without ever falling down the middle of the road. Music that appealed to Highlights-reading six year olds as well as their Village Voice-reading parents wasn't particularly common back then (surely there are no modern-day parallels); and it's just one of the voids that the ZE label filled, fostered by a very direct collision between the novelty of pop and the possibilities of artful experimentation."
The label's success and influence peaked around 1981-82. Esteban left New York in 1982, and ZE Records closed down in 1984.
Esteban continued to work with Lizzy Mercier Descloux, and with Lio, as well as other artists. He restarted the ZE label in 2003 in France to record new artists, including Glasgow band Michael Dracula, as well as to reissue old material.[3] He lives today in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, where he is working on music, contemporary arts and cultural project in general. Meanwhile, Michael Zilkha joined his family in working in the energy business, and is currently co-owner of a major renewable energy company based in Houston, Texas.
Marie & Les Garcons : Amicalement Votre / Les Globetrotters - Casino Music : Max La Menace Lizzy Mercier Descloux : Mission Impossible - Suicide Romeo : Interlude / La Séquence Du Spectateur
Cristina
(7")
Is That All There Is? / Jungle Love
Cristina
(7")
Baby You Can Drive My Car / Don't Be Greedy
Cristina
(7")
Baby You Can Drive My Car / The Ballad of Immoral Manufacture
Cristina
(7")
Things Fall Apart / Disco Clone
The Waitresses / Charlelie Couture
(7")
Christmas Wrapping / Christmas Fever
Gichy Dan
(12")
Cowboys & Gangsters / Action Man
Alan Vega & Martin Rev's Suicide
(12")
Dream Baby Dream / Radiation
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(12")
Don't Take My Coconuts
Material + Nona Hendryx / Cristina
(12")
It's A Holiday / Things Fall Apart
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(12")
Going Places
Was (Not Was)
(12")
Out Come The Freaks
Coati Mundi
(12")
Me No Pop I / Que Pasa
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(12")
Latin Music
Cristina
(12")
Is That All There Is? / Jungle Love
Cristina
(12")
Baby You Can Drive My Car / The Ballad of Immoral Manufacture
Various Artists
(Box 3x12")
Mutant Disco : A Subtle Discolation Of The Norm
Was (Not Was)
(12")
Tell Me That I'm Dreaming
Material + Nona Hendryx
(12")
Bustin' Out / Over & Over
Cristina
(12")
Things Fall Apart / What a Girl To Do
Albums
Artists
Formats
Titles
Was (Not Was)
(LP)
Was (Not Was)
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(LP)
Fresh Fruit In Foreign Places
Various Artists
(LP)
A Christmas Record 1981
Cristina
(LP)
Cristina
Various Artists
(LP)
Mutant Disco : A Subtle Discolation Of The Norm
Lizzy Mercier Descloux
(LP)
Mambo Nassau
Alan Vega
(LP)
Collision Drive
1982
Singles
Artists
Formats
Titles
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(7")
Stool Pigeon / I'm A Wonderful Thing, Baby
John Cale
(7")
I Keep A Close Watch
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(7")
Annie (No Soy Tu Padre)
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(2x7")
Stool Pigeon / In The Jungle /There But for the Grace of God Go I (Live) / He's Not Such a Bad Guy After All (Live)
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(7")
Christmas In B'Dilli Bay
Was (Not Was)
(7")
Tell Me That I'm Dreaming
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(7")
Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy
The Waitresses
(7")
I Know What Boys Like / No Guilt
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(12")
I'm A Wonderful Thing, Baby
Was (Not Was)
(12")
Tell Me That I'm Dreaming / Out Come The Freaks (Dub)
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(12")
Stool Pigeon
Sweet Pea Atkinson
(12")
Don't Walk Away / Dance Or Die
Sweet Pea Atkinson
(12")
Dance Or Die / Should I Wait
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(12")
I'm A Wonderful Thing, Baby
Alan Vega
(12")
Outlaw / Magdalena 84
Albums
Artists
Formats
Titles
Sweet Pea Atkinson
(LP)
Don't Walk Away
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(LP)
Tropical Gangsters / Wise Guy (US Version)
John Cale
(LP)
Music For A New Society
Various Artists
(LP)
A Christmas Record 1982
The Waitresses
(LP)
I Could Rule The World If I Could Get The Parts
1983
Singles
Artists
Formats
Titles
John Cale
(7")
Hungry For Love
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(7")
There's Something Wrong In Paradise
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(7")
Don't Take My Coconuts
The Waitresses
(12")
Christmas Wrapping / Hangover 1/1/83
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(12")
The Lifeboat Party
Was (Not Was)
(12")
Professor Night / Shake Your Head / Bow Wow Wow Wow
Albums
Artists
Formats
Titles
Ron Rogers
(LP)
Don't Play With My Emotions
James White's
(LP)
Flaming Demonics
Was (Not Was)
(LP)
Born To Laugh At Tornadoes
The Waitresses
(LP)
Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?
Caroline Loeb
(LP)
Piranana
Alan Vega
(LP)
Saturn Strip
1984
Singles
Artists
Formats
Titles
Junie Morrison
(7")
Tease Me
John Cale
(7")
Ooh La La
Daisy Chain
(12")
No Time To Stop Believing In Love / Time Version
Breakfast Club
(12")
Rico Mambo
Junie Morrison
(12")
Tease Me
Was (Not Was)
(12")
(Return To The Valley Of) Out Come The Freaks (Remixed Version)
Cristina
(12")
Ticket To The Tropics / What a Girl To Do
Albums
Artists
Formats
Titles
Davitt Sigerson
(LP)
Falling In Love Again
John Cale
(LP)
Caribbean Sunset
Was (Not Was)
(LP)
(The Woodwork) Squeaks
Kid Creole & The Coconuts
(LP)
Cre Olé The Best Of
John Cale
(LP)
Comes Alive
Junie Morrison
(LP)
Evacuate Your Seats
1989
Albums
Artists
Formats
Titles
Various Artists
(LP CD)
Zetrospective : Dancing In The Face of Adversity
Various Artists
(LP CD)
Zetrospective : Hope Springs Eternal
2003
Singles Vinyl
Artists
Formats
Titles
James White & The Blacks
(12")
01 Contort Yourself / August Darnel Remix - 02 Contort Yourself / James White & The Blacks Version 03 Contort Yourself / Contortions Version - 04 (Tropical) Heatwave
Aural Exciters
(12")
01 Emile (Night Rate) - 02 Spooks in Space (Disco mix) 03 Maladie d'Amour - 04 Marathon Runner