Zs (band)

Zs
Origin	Brooklyn, New York
Genres	Experimental, free jazz, classical, noise
Years active	2000–present
Labels	The Social Registry, Northern Spy, Three One G
Associated acts	Guardian Alien, Liturgy
Website	Official site
Members	Sam Hillmer Patrick Higgins Greg Fox
Past members	Amnon Freidlin Ian Antonio Ben Greenberg Alex Mincek Charlie Looker Matthew Hough Tony Lowe Brad Wentworth

Zs (pronounced /ziːz/) is a Brooklyn, New York-based experimental band. Since the band’s inception, Zs has incarnated as everything from a sextet to a duo, now solidified into the trio of Patrick Higgins (electric guitar), Greg Fox (percussion), and Sam Hillmer (tenor saxophone). While Zs' music has been variously categorized as no-wave, noise, post-minimalist, drone, and psych, it is primarily concerned with making music that challenges the physical and mental limitations of both performer and listener. The band has been heralded by The New York Times as "one of the strongest avant-garde bands in New York."

Zs was founded in 2000 by tenor saxophonist and composer Sam Hillmer. In 2003, the group (as Alex Hoskins, Brad Wentworth, Charlie Looker, Matthew Hough, Alex Mincek and Sam Hillmer) released Untitled, a two-track written by Looker released on Ricecontrol Records. In July of the same year, the band released Zs, recorded at Westbeth Studios, in New York City, consisting of five tracks primarily written by Alex Mincek and Sam Hillmer, the saxophonists. In November of that year, the EP Karate Bump was recorded in Brooklyn. It was later released by Planaria Recordings in March 2005.

Magnet, a single-track CD written by Matthew Hough, was released in December 2005, followed by Buck, released on cassette by Folding Cassettes in 2006 and on CD by Gilgongo Records in 2007. The LP Arms was also released in 2007.

Zs were thrown into the spotlight on a November 2007 broadcast of the Howard Stern show, in which Stern played tracks from Arms and subsequently started a discussion on avant-garde music, and an impromptu exploration of a list of theoretical questions about what constitutes "music" and why we listen to it. In a particularly memorable moment, while listening to the opening notes of "Woodworking", Stern stated, "it's mood music... if you're in a mental home," later asking, "Do they write this stuff down? Can this be repeated? How do you tell when something's 'good'?" By the end, Stern and his cast had decided to form their own faux-avant-garde ensemble, and talked about trying to open for Zs' upcoming Knitting Factory performance.

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