The music world suffered a terrible loss last year with the untimely death of Frank Zappa, composer, visionary extraordinaire, and purveyor of bizarre percussion. Fortunately, he left some talented children behind, Dweezil and Ahmet, to be exact. These two formed a band appropriately entitled Z and put out a very Zappa-esque recording called Shampoohorn (Barking Pumpkin R2 71760). The record utilizes a mob of stellar drummers to navigate its tricky rhythms, including the relentlessly brilliant Terry Bozzio and newcomer and now permanent band member Joe Travers. Z has been accused of sounding like Frank Zappa, but when was that ever a problem? After listening to Joe nailing the lid shut on "In My Mind" and "My Beef Mailbox", it's obvious that the brothers Zappa have inherited their dad's knack for coming up with impressive drummers. (read more)