FUNKY NOTHINGNESS, the working title Frank Zappa used for this project, is comprised of studio cuts from 1970. This release is basically the follow up to THE HOT RATS SESSIONS. Frank Zappa used a very stripped-down combo featuring Don “Surgarcane” Harris on violin and vocals. The music concentrates heavily on instrumental and blues-oriented material. This album consists of many unreleased tracks that Frank Zappa bypassed but kept his eye on during his career. He just never got around to releasing them. Some of the tracks were almost included on THE LOST EPISODES album. 90 minutes of music will be mixed for the first time. The remaining music was mixed and edited by Frank Zappa. The vinyl will only contain the tracks FZ edited and mixed.

Produced and compiled by Ahmet Zappa and Joe Travers, Funky Nothingness will be released June 30 via Zappa Records/UMe in a variety of formats, including a three-disc expanded deluxe edition that presents the 11-track album on disc 1 along with two discs of outtakes, alternate edits, unedited masters of songs from the era (“Transylvania Boogie,” “The Clap” and “Chunga’s Revenge” among them), plus several epic improvisations, and other “bonus nothingness.” An accompanying 28-page booklet includes photos from the recording sessions by photographer John Williams plus illuminating liner notes and an individual track-by-track by Travers. Disc 1 features Zappa’s vintage mixes alongside several modern mixes by Craig Parker Adams who also mixed the bonus material. All audio was mastered by John Polito at Audio Mechanics. In all, the 25-track collection includes 23 unreleased tracks totaling nearly three and a half hours of neverbefore- heard music.