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Album Review
by SashaS
25-3-2003
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| Zongamin adds colour to mono-sonars |
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Zongamin: 'Zongamin'
(XL Recordings)
Zongamin’s fine slices of hip instrumentals
It is difficult being a music lover these days – there is a deluge of releases of endless genres, so much hype, so damn OTT. Way-back-when it was claimed that there were 5000 combos (old speak for a band) around Liverpool at the height of Mersey Beat. That’s peanuts by today’s accounting because that many are around the bloody Fitzrovia nowadays!
Thus, you’d have to go to a specialist mag or a site to come across a review of Zongamin. We are glad to alert you (our only speciality is quality) to the intriguing sonic world of this Zongamin. Well, ‘Zongamin’ is all the work of one man, Susumu Mukai, who’s had a couple of EPs (‘Serious Trouble’, ‘Tunnel Music’), a split 7” ‘Whiplash’ and tracks on a number of compilations before this debut.
And these are moody 11 tracks, the sounds of midnight discontent. ‘Make Love Not War’ happily gallops in with a mixture of joy and vice, phat-bassline rides ‘Serious Trouble’ that turns even jazz-funkier on ‘Spiral’. ‘Painless’ is more tribal, ‘Tresspasser’ more industrial, ‘New Song To An Old Story’ is deep’n’dirty, almost Gothic… The highlight of the disc is – ‘J. Shivers Theme’, a whimsical signa-tune for a cartoonish-type of a detective TV series with its main character sporting a Phillip Marlowe acid-tongue and Dirty Harry’s attitude.
Mukai was born in Osaka but there is little of Japanese tradition here – there is no reason not to be proud of Yellow Magic Orchestra; he, resident of London now, appears to have embraced Western values to the point of denial of own heritage. ‘Street Surgery 2’ might be a good way of exploring with dozes-more of Eastern flavour. Or, the minimal ‘Mummies’… Dysfunctional electro-funk is cool but a little ‘ronin’ spirit wouldn’t have gone amiss.
This selection of funky-house is to be presented live and for that occasion there will be a five-piece band; it promises to be a night of looking through glass darkly.
7/10
SashaS
25-3-2003
Zongamin’s album ‘Zongamin’ is released 24 March 2003 on XL Recordings
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