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Formed in Brooklyn in the early part of the 21st century, Zs existed in a carefully schooled post-minimalist avant-garde landscape while also fitting in with the noise-loving D.I.Y. ethos of the Brooklyn rock scene. Meeting at the Manhattan School of Music, the bandmembers formed a quintet, though immediately branched into collectivist mode, anchored predominantly by saxophonist Sam Hillmer, guitarist Ben Greenberg, and drummer Ian Antonio. Seeking, like many before them (including the now establishment-like Bang on a Can), to do away with the stodginess of scored music, Zs adapted a saxophone-based ensemble into a precise, uncompromising unit whose cycling panels of sound created sheets of noise (and vice versa). Their first recordings, a series of five EPs, were written by individual bandmembers, including an untitled 2003 two-track debut by guitarist Charlie Looker. Hillmer and fellow tenor saxophonist Alex Mincek wrote the follow-up, Zs, released the same year, which began to bui...