Zombie Zombie - A Land for Renegades
Zombie Zombie sound like a cross between electronica and hammer horror soundtracks. Combinations of synths, keyboards and heavy breathing state their intentions. What’s more, their slowly evolving anthems would make a useful addition to any living dead mixmaster DJ’s record bag, if only as a bed.
I would be intrigued to know how Zombie Zombie’s mind works, because it certainly cannot do planning. Opening with instrumental tracks was never going to be cunning, especially considering the sheer weirdness of their vocals. Halfway through track 2, - ‘I’m afraid of what’s there’ • the wailing begins, like some indecipherable Thom Yorke demon of despair; nonetheless, it is good fun. Krautrock keyboards, synths and Theremins permeate A Land for Renegades, as if they weren’t quite satisfied that their ‘living dead’ theme was toying with us and they decided to add robots and aliens into the mix just to be sure.
Worthy of mention is Track 9; Texas Rangers. Texas Rangers plays host to the most pertinent lyric of the whole album • and considering they are a band of few words it truly is exceptional; ‘you guys are messed up like Texas rangers/we’re gonna fuck your brains out.’ Not something that would pass the grandmother test for sure, but this isn’t music for grandmothers. But nor is it designed primarily for the dance floor. Indeed perhaps the most interesting aspect of the music of Zombie Zombie is trying to find out who in the world would listen to it. There doesn’t really seem to be brilliant time in the day for anyone to listen to this kind or music.
At times you’re sat thinking ‘is this music or just a computer generated beat with weirdness splurged over the top?’ and as you think this, some semblance of music will return to the track. At other times you can only wonder at the nature of the beast that dreamed such weirdness up. Was it coffee-high freaks in the grey hours between closing time and opening hour? Or was it some stranger beast, unaccustomed to that thing we call ‘Musik’? Put simply, this is not an album that you will never feel ‘comfortable’ with, but like a mutant offspring, you might just grow to love it regardless.