Zomby, by Zomby (Double 12" on Hyperdub)

A Norman Records recommendation (18th December 2008)

Description:	2x12" on Hyperdub	UK ORDERS OVER £50 SHIP FREE!
Format:	Double 12"
Label:	Hyperdub
Price:	£10.49
Catalogue number:	HDB016
Availability:	despatched in 2-5 working days (on average!!)

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What we say

Rating: ecstatic This record left our Brett feeling ecstatic.

I've been excited about this Zomby double 12" pack on Hyperdub for quite a while and it was in the office for but a few seconds before it was pumping out disorientating electroid emissions into our mind funnels. I read some of his posts, and some of the posts about him, on a dubstep forum a little while back and he's either an epic twat or a prankster who sails pretty close to the wind depending on how charitably you choose to look upon his antics but it's hard to care about the man behind the mask in the midst of this barrage of brilliantly wonky Gameboy-step weirdness he's been treating us to lately. Everything he puts his hand to comes out sounding a little bit wrong, in the best possible way. He teeters so close to the brink of shite daftness it's untrue, pulled back from the brink by what seems to be a genuine affection for the genres he's playing around with. Check out the ace ravey breakbeat of Where Were You in '92? for the clearest example so far. The cheesy blaring klaxons that constantly blared out over the course of that CD occasionally make their presence felt on this self-titled effort, there's been talk that the tracks on here are different versions of those old-school flecked tunes but if that's the case they're so different as to make the point fairly moot. To be honest I'd probably built this one up to the point where it was always going to be a slight disappointment to me, but listening objectively I reckon this is a pretty top drawer release and far more consistent than most of his contemporaries are able to manage over the course of six tracks. And full marks for the part where it sounds like someone's throwing a ghetto blaster playing Prince's 'Diamonds and Pearls' into the sea.. Ace track, that one!

What the label says:

Like an advert to promote the public health benefits of hydroponic abuse, this frankly unhinged slice of genius from the man like Zomby will hot-knife your cerebrum. Simple and straight to the point, the seven mini-tracks that make up ‘Zomby EP’ have a directness about them rare in music so strange… or to put it another way, these sounds that initially appear to come from beyond the weird side of the tracks quickly establish themselves in the mind as target-locked aural arrows from one of the most prolific and wildly creative producers working in electronic music today. From the straight-up half-step of ‘Aquafresh’ and ‘Gloop’, to the scattered 2-step of ‘Spaceman’ and ‘1 Up’, through the stutterfunk of ‘Kaliko’ and on past the disingrated rhythms of ‘Diamonds And Pearls’, Zomby parades his range of skills in a wide-eyed spree of relentless artistry. But just when you think you can pin these tunes down to the crazed bleep-mania of the early arcade, he comes with the ultra-lush two-minute micro-epic ‘Test Me For A Reason’, a crackling emotive ache that’s already a big favourite with Burial - for obvious reasons. While his hardcore-reactivating debut album ‘Where Were U In 92?’ on Werk Discs currently makes its presence emphatically felt, ‘Zomby EP’ arrives as a huge follow up on previous Hyperdub outing ‘Mu5h’, representing a giant stride ahead of the pack into 2009, a year which even now has Zomby’s name sprayed all over it.