Zzk Sound Vol. 2

Zizek – ZZK Sound vol. 2
Reviewed by Sadie O., 9/14/09
Dance/Electronica that starts from a basis in cumbia but goes WAY out into hyperspace from there. Apparently started as a club gig in Buenos Aires, going international with a record label, this is ZZK records second comp. They have a website chuck full of splendid things at zzkrecords.com.
FCCs on track 9, which is a real shame. I like 8, 12, 14, 16.
1. 4:10 *electronic cumbia, apparently all on toy pianos, Ataris and maracas. Takes the better part of a minute to really get moving. Instrumental.
2. 3:55 **sparse beats, gradually building into wonky electronic robot cha-cha. Eventually morphs into quite complex syncopation with dancehall vocals.
3. 4:19 **hip hop samples, sparse electronic club beat with rather fractured Latin hip hop vocals. Could use more bottom end.
4. 4:15 ***electronic weebles and hand drums, bits of female vocals, midtempo farty cumbia, essentially instrumental.
5. 3:49 **jolly little metallic insect march with mariachi trumpet. A few macho yells, but mostly odd instrumental (not your Texas two-step, though…)
6. 3:51 ***midtempo super-electronic club groove, building into something quite decent, one component at a time.
7. 3:33 ***groovy all-percussion Latin bop, very wiggleable. Stops and then goes faster and faster and faster and faster…
8. 4:48 ****sweet female singing, adds layers of gorgeous harmonies, very roots chant-sounding. Midtempo electronic cumbia beat comes in eventually. Really lovely, surprisingly enough.
9. 5:25 FCC: “shit” x 2 (I think there’s a “fuck”, too) ****midtempo cumbia with fun sound samples – a circus midway after hours with mescal and marijuana. Female hip hop-ish vocals in British English.
10. 4:14 ***electronic woobles and syncopated percussion. Rather slow and lopassed. Builds gradually
11. 1:27 ***siren and slow, limping cumbia.
12. 3:12 ****dog barking, which eventually becomes part of the slow, slinky riddim. Rather unctuous-sounding male vocals in Spanish. I love this, but that probably just shows how messed up I truly am…
13. 4:02 **lots of random whooshes and rather low-level sounds, gradually building into very fractured beat. Instrumental with little resemblance to anything human.
14. 4:22 ****well well, it’s a downtempo reggae bubble! With sheep! And very, very drowsy mariachi singers. And a carousel. And pan pipes. Awww!
15. 5:17 ***slinky percussion with spoken word and rootsy female (?) singing. Folky accordion and lots of other sound bits. Interesting.
16. 3:17 ****really cool sound – downtempo, mellow but complex percussion, basically a cumbia, but a cumbia that has recently visited one of those curanderos with the really good drugs.
17. 3:54 **shaker and electronics, happy midtempo marching toys from outer space. What’s in that “good air”, anyway?
18. 3:00 **midtempo cumbia – all percussion and sound collage.