Just yesterday, I announced zakè as the next featured artist on Headphone Community. After October’s deep dive with 36, it feels fitting to follow that journey with another artist equally devoted to emotional resonance. The previous month-long residency felt like a marathon of posts, where I shared something special with this community nearly every day. I can promise you up front that we have a very packed agenda in November… so it’s only appropriate to properly feature this prolific Indianapolis ambient and drone artist, generous collaborator, and of course, the curator and owner of an influential label, Past Inside The Present.
As usual, I want to start from the beginning. Zach Frizzell appeared on my radar sometime in late 2018 (so, relatively, not that long ago). The first record I heard from zakè was a self-titled collection of gorgeous ambiance (a Bandcamp code for this album is shared with the community’s subscribers as a free download), released on his newly founded label. A few months later, I was swept away by Orchestral Tape Studies, released on his very own label, which was rapidly gathering a loyal following on the ambient scene.
Besides PITP, with its celebrated catalog of landmark releases (and yes, including my own), Zach manages to find the time also to curate Zakè Drone, an imprint reserved mostly for solo and collaborative works, including albums with Tyresta, City Of Dawn, From Overseas, Benoît Pioulard, Markus Guentner, James Bernard, ASC, bvdub, ossa, Slow Dancing Society, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Chihei Hatakeyama, and too many others to list here, not to forget and mention Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea, of which he is a member along with Marc Ertel and Damien Duque. As if that wasn’t enough, there was yet another sublabel (put on hiatus in 2024) called Healing Sound Propagandist, which we may find to dip our toe into a bit…
Over the years, Zach has refined his ability to evoke delicate, deep, and often nostalgic soundscapes with ethereal drones, textured tones, and mesmerizing loops. Albeit some of his music may easily fall into the “drone” category, for me, this is ambient at its finest because of how it moves, unfolds, and progresses through the rich tapestry of sounds layered at distinct velocities, timbres, and stereo fields. And in these passages of time, I often find my own slow-burning story.
Zach’s sound has often been described in poetic terms, like this reflection from Sun 13 (UK):
Frizzell’s music blends classical training with bold experimentation, environments marked by sweeping melancholic swells and evolving textures. His approach to ambient is both meditative and dynamic—glimmering with artifacts, yet grounded by a gravitational stillness. Recognized as a pioneer of slow-evolving minimal drone, he employs archaic synths, field recordings, and tape machines to create solemn, drifting sounds for contemplative listening.
Beyond understanding Zach’s ethos and his view of sound as a marker of passing time, I can honestly say that he’s one of the kindest and most genuine people in the ambient music scene – a testament echoed by many of his collaborators and artists who say he poured his heart and soul into his work and label. His dedication to the ambient community and its ongoing campaign to create honest music is precisely what makes him the next best artist to feature here.
We have already touched on his collaboration with Dennis on Stasis Sounds for Long-Distance Space Travel (read Interview with 36 & zakè), but there is so much more to explore! Throughout November (and maybe even a bit more), I will be sharing exclusive premieres of previously unreleased tracks, a treasure trove of Bandcamp codes for his albums (I mean, get ready, he sent me a lot!), and, of course, an in-depth conversation on his music, the many collaborations, running of the label, and much more!
I am personally really looking forward to being enveloped in his warm sounds as the winter sets in here. If you can’t wait to dive in and want some music for this weekend, you can check out this hour-long mix of some PITP releases that Zach has put together for me back in 2023: zakè – Past Inside the Future Mix.
