UKz | ja

Aaron Lippert, Trey Gunn, Eddie Jobson, Alex Machacek and Marco Minneman in the same band... To call this new band a supergroup would be a severe understatment.

After a 27-year hiatus from band touring and recording, Frank Zappa and Roxy Music alum/UK co-founder Eddie Jobson returns with UKZ and Radiation, a CD-EP to coincide with the group's January 24, 2009 "One City World Tour" New York show. A logical extension/evolution of UK's progressive rock leanings, the highly anticipated UKZ is an all-new line-up of artists known and unknown that demonstrates remarkable chemistry for a group still in its early days. Radiation is a powerful first salvo—20 minutes recalling UK's compositional complexity, but also blending in Power to Believe-era King Crimson's Nuevo Metal and a touch of Nine Inch Nails' industrial saturation. No retro-prog this; UKZ is progressive rock for the new millennium.

British-born keyboardist/violinist Jobson has recruited a remarkable quintet of international talent. American touch guitarist Trey Gunn is best-known for his tenure with King Crimson on albums from THRAK (DGM Live, 1995) to The Power to Believe (DGM Live, 2003), as well Quodia's The Arrow: A Story in Seven Parts (7D Media, 2007). American-born/Belgian citizen Aaron Lippert was originally the vocalist for the sadly underappreciated alt-rockers Expanding Man, while German drummer Marco Minneman has, in addition to a surprisingly large discography under his own name, collaborated with guitarist Mike Keneally, and drummers Chad Wackerman and Terry Bozzio.

In addition to Jobson, UK's other notable star is Austrian guitarist Alex Machacek, whose remarkable [sic] (Abstract Logix, 2006) and Improvision (Abstract Logix, 2007) heralded the arrival of a significant new guitar voice. Machacek has long since transcended early comparisons to Allan Holdsworth, creating his own voice, his own harmonic approach and a far broader sonic palette. .