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. Out now on Ruptured Records.
Purchase Cassette: Zone Null [Burkhard Beins & Tony Elieh] – Phase I
Joyful Union Cassette Resource 