Zomby : Dedication

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/zombydedication.jpg" alt="Zomby : Dedication" /><span style="font-style: normal">Zomby is making a play to outpace the already expansive posture of electronic dance music, and in turn ascending to electro-indie...
Zomby : Dedication
8.2 4AD
2011 

Zomby : Dedication Zomby has a habit of confusing and enraging fans.  After breaking onto the scene in 2007 via dubstep singles and remixes by guys like Skream and Rustie, his debut album, Where Were You in ‘92, with its heavy use of sampling and nostalgic jungle-rave beats dismissed the very genre that he had incubated in London.  Always maintaining mystique through performing with a pyramid on his head, using a pseudonym, and covering his face in photographs, he further rankled his listeners’ feathers by not showing up at the Animal Collective-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival earlier this year (QRO photos).

This willingness to alienate fans and peers alike has caused some to raise the question – just who is this guy making music for?  With a title like Dedication, a new label (4AD) with the resources to pimp his discs like never before, and guest vocals from Noah Lennox (a.k.a. Panda Bear) the answer seems to be that Zomby is making a play to outpace the already expansionary posture of electronic dance music, and in turn ascending to electro-indie status alongside acts like Flying Lotus (QRO live review), Bibio, and Four Tet (QRO album review).  And he does all this with 16 tracks in 37 minutes.

Just how does Zomby pull off this feat?  Well, not by bringing beats back from the dead or through the heavy use of samples that crowd his debut.  Sampling Gucci Mane’s 2006 banger, "PILLZ (Bitch I Might Be)" in 2008 was smart and prudent, putting it over a jungle beat that was as plausible in 1992 as it was refreshing in 2008 was genius.  Instead Dedication sets its feet squarely in 2011 by opening the album with "Witch Hunt", a convincing foray into the much-maligned witch house genre with its heavy use of eerie organs and machine-gun snare rounded out by the signature Zomby treatment of sirens and gunshot effects.  As the album rolls along, long-time fans will notice that Dedication is a bit closer to his 2009 EP, One Foot Ahead of the Other, where Zomby made the turn to Nintendo sounds that extend themselves onto this latest release.  But there’s an added element here, a bit more maturity, a bit more song-craft, some rhythmic complexity that was the missing ingredient from One Foot‘s occasionally monotony.

Dedication makes good on the promise of Zomby by finding the middle ground between DJ Shadow’s (QRO photos) record collection and the 8-bit/glitch vibe of Crystal Castles (QRO live review) – "Black Orchid" in particular would sound perfect with Alice Glass yelping over the top – all wrapped up in a post-dubstep package (a term that Zomby coined).  Further, Dedication recalls a time when dubstep was closer to ambient R ‘n’ B than the ‘brostep’ nonsense we’re left with today. 

Like any IDM record worth its salt, the songs of Dedication start to blur together pretty quickly, with Panda Bear’s vocals on the Tomboy (QRO review)esque "Things Fall Apart" serving as one of the few signposts on the album.  This is certainly one of the strengths of the short LP and it immediately brings to mind the rhythmic bleeds of J-Dilla’s Donuts and especially …Endtroducing by DJ Shadow. 

Dedication is more mature and accessible album, and as such it is just as listenable at 2PM as 2AM.  Don’t be surprised if you even hear longer cuts like "Natalia’s Song" or "Digital Rain" in your favorite hip cafe/bike shop/shoe store.  But who goes to fashionable spots but fashionable people, and if anything Dedication is a fashionable, sexy album that has something for everyone in its short running time.

MP3 Stream: "Things Fall Apart"

{audio}mp3/files/Zomby – Things Fall Apart.mp3{/audio}

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