Phase I by Zone Null [Burkhard Beins & Tony Elieh]
Berlin-based duo Zone Null brings together Tony Elieh (Lebanon) and Burkhard Beins (Germany) for an uncommon configuration: two bass guitars routed through analogue circuitry and minimal digital processing shaped in real time. The project evolves from the broad shared ground between both musicians, spanning experimental improvisation, electroacoustic practice, post-punk, electronic music, and contemporary composition. It also reflects a shared interest in the way sound can shift its density and shape through direct, moment-to-moment interaction.
Elieh has long been a central figure in Lebanon’s experimental community. His work with electric bass draws on noise practices, alternative rock histories, and improvisation, often redirecting the instrument toward altered timbres and layered resonance. Beins, active internationally since the late 1980s, is known for a practice that spans percussion, objects, analogue synthesis, and bass guitar, shaped by decades of activity in composition, improvisation, and sound art.
During a tour of Mexico, Zone Null encountered Sarmen Almond, the Mexican vocalist and intermedia artist whose work investigates the voice as a mutable instrument shaped by digital processes and embodied movement. When she later travelled through Europe, the trio recorded together. Their session produced material that fit seamlessly with the duo’s direction; one piece from that encounter appears on this debut.
Elieh and Beins also collaborate with guitarist Maurice Louca in Marmalsana, an acoustic trio whose debut was released by Ruptured in 2024. ZONE NULL is their parallel avenue into amplified territory, driven by concentrated low-end exploration and a commitment to gradual transformation and uncovering new sonic terrain.
Tracklist
| 1. | Trastrizas | |
| 2. | Anthracite | |
| 3. | There Will Be Poems | |
| 4. | There Will Be Poems (Condensed) | 6:16 |
Credits
Burkhard Beins: bass guitar, electronics
Tony Elieh: bass guitar, electronics
Sarmen Almond: voice, electronics (on track 1)
Trastrizas was recorded at EPTraum (Berlin) on February 2, 2025.
Anthracite was recorded at Vivaldisaal (Berlin) on April 4, 2024.
There Will Be Poems was recorded at Vivaldisaal (Berlin) on May 31, 2023.
Mixed and edited by Burkhard Beins.
Mastered by Werner Dafeldecker.
Cover photo by Burkhard Beins.
Design by Josette Khalil.
RPTD 072
License
All rights reserved.
Ruptured Records was co-founded in 2008 by radio host & DJ Ziad Nawfal and sound engineer & studio owner Fadi Tabbal, as an outlet for their activities as producers and promoters in Beirut. Ruptured releases music by artists from Lebanon and the MENA region in a variety of formats - with a strong focus on experimental rock and leftfield electronic music.