Zomby - With Love

[joshuatxuk]

I feel like Zomby's use of nanoloop/lsdj is a bit different than the use of the same 8-bit emulators or SID stations or whatever in Top40 club music by producers like Timberland. What can I say, I liked Zomby's end results.

 

This to me is far more interesting...

 

 

than say this...

 

[Redruth]

i've fallen for several of his werkdiscs tracs and hyperdub tracs and some of the new 4AD tracs. he definitely has moments of genius. i'm only going to enjoy the musics, i'm not going to tussle about in the intergnats, whining about who he 'is' or what he's appropriated along the way. i like it when he makes me nostalgic, he's good at that. i'll keep following him along, having a listen now and then, here or there

[awepittance]

not to be a nitpicking homosexual asshole, but he's not using nanoloop or lsdj, if that's what he's said i think he's lying to seem more cool and authentic. To me it just sounds like he samples Atari samples and pitched them way down. I don't hear an original generated chiptune sound in any of his songs i could see his music all of the sudden turning from boring into fun if intoxicated on a lot of cheap booze cocaine and surrounded by 22 19 year old vagina

Edited June 1, 2013 by John Ehrlichman

[Friendly Foil]

this music: 2unintelligent4me

[Guest nene multiple assgasms]

I love his use of space and reverb. his tunes have excellent mood and atmosphere. not everything has to be super complex.

[tokn]

well, if the new lp has 33 tracks, probably 25 of them are like 1:50 or so

anyway, the teaser and the tracks sound decent, this could be something i like from zomby again after his really boring phase... let's see...

[Salvatorin]

Zomby makes me sad because Kaliko was truly one of the most trax made in the 2000's. He said he pumped it out in half an hour or something. This blog (http://rougesfoam.blogspot.com/2009/06/loving-wonky.html) analyzed the track theoretically and found it to be full of unintentional genius. But I think it was a fluke because he hasn't released anything since then that illustrates he has any quality control or seriousness to his work.

Edited June 3, 2013 by Salvatorin

[vamos scorcho]

I guess for me the appropriation of 8-bit sounds into b-boy culture is one of the biggest acts of heresy in music I've heard in the last decade. No sir I don't like it. Ever since 50cent and Justin Timberlake sampled that SID-chip song I haven't liked it.

 

 

 

I agree that he's overhyped, boring, pretty much mediocre. And I personally don't think 8 bit belongs anywhere near real music, or at least very rarely when its pulled off well. There have been a few good tracks, decent at least, educational for better producers who can actually do something original with a few of the techniques he makes to carry them through to the point where they are no longer disposable tracks that are best heard in 192 kbps.

 

In short, I think his music is good but not nearly good enough to justify looking past the attitude. There is too much other music to listen to and the fact that there is so much hype for such... decent... stuff, is a very good illustration of the fact that weak bitch ass opportunist bloggers have taken over the criticism industry. Only those kind of people could fall over eachother so fast to hype something so bland. Not to be a dick, I just really am not a fan of how twitter and so on encourages that kind of behavior, and the fact that it's impossible to differentiate between most sites like FACT and your average run of the mill blogspot.

 

All that said, the "With Love" trailer looked alright. It's not going to be enough for me to get over the plagiarizing and sense of entitlement.

[vamos scorcho]

Zomby makes me sad because Kaliko was truly one of the most trax made in the 2000's. He said he pumped it out in half an hour or something. This blog (http://rougesfoam.blogspot.com/2009/06/loving-wonky.html) analyzed the track theoretically and found it to be full of unintentional genius. But I think it was a fluke because he hasn't released anything since then that illustrates he has any quality control or seriousness to his work.

I'm fairly sure that rougesfoam guy is something of a "twat." It seems like he primarily just likes the same shit that FACT and RA do, and doesn't back up his theoretical ideas very much by linking to music that has purposefully been doing these things long before Zomby+Burial.

 

To clarify, I think he is theoretically and philosophically intelligent, but his taste in music, and actual understanding of music, is fairly conformist and pretty bad.

Edited June 3, 2013 by vamos scorcho

[Tauhid]

Stream of first disc:

 

http://pitchfork.com/advance/126-with-love-disc-1/

[awepittance]

This blog (http://rougesfoam.blogspot.com/2009/06/loving-wonky.html) analyzed the track theoretically and found it to be full of unintentional genius.

damn, that guy put a lot of work in that 'dissertation', another reason why Zomby is hyped up so hard that it's shocking someone would spend this much time writing about his music.

[awepittance]

Stream of first disc:

 

http://pitchfork.com/advance/126-with-love-disc-1/

at least it has a little variety compared to this earlier discs. Honestly if you want to know where my disdain for Zomby really comes from, just look up the album by Glowstyx. Zomby's 'authentic' throwback to hardcore was actually fully inspired by a side project by Doormouse all the way down to copying the album cover. Somehow he's escaped for the most part being labeled a theif except for that one time he overtly stole someone elses track.

 

 

 

[Salvatorin]

 

Zomby makes me sad because Kaliko was truly one of the most trax made in the 2000's. He said he pumped it out in half an hour or something. This blog (http://rougesfoam.blogspot.com/2009/06/loving-wonky.html) analyzed the track theoretically and found it to be full of unintentional genius. But I think it was a fluke because he hasn't released anything since then that illustrates he has any quality control or seriousness to his work.

I'm fairly sure that rougesfoam guy is something of a "twat." It seems like he primarily just likes the same shit that FACT and RA do, and doesn't back up his theoretical ideas very much by linking to music that has purposefully been doing these things long before Zomby+Burial.

 

To clarify, I think he is theoretically and philosophically intelligent, but his taste in music, and actual understanding of music, is fairly conformist and pretty bad.

 

Do you read what you write, man? Super fucking dumb thing to say.

I dunno man, in this ADHD age if anyone is willing to write multipage articles exploring the aesthetics of experimental electronic music then let 'em, I say.

[Tauhid]

I ignore the fact that he's an asshole, and didn't like that album anyways (Glowstyx). I do think he has some good/great material; some on Dedication, others here and there. He also has shit material, like anyone else.

 

Some of his best:

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cFGGyr0ZJ8

 

 

 

I guess you also have to enjoy Latin shuffles to fully dig in.

Edited June 3, 2013 by Tauhid

[vamos scorcho]

 

 

Zomby makes me sad because Kaliko was truly one of the most trax made in the 2000's. He said he pumped it out in half an hour or something. This blog (http://rougesfoam.blogspot.com/2009/06/loving-wonky.html) analyzed the track theoretically and found it to be full of unintentional genius. But I think it was a fluke because he hasn't released anything since then that illustrates he has any quality control or seriousness to his work.

I'm fairly sure that rougesfoam guy is something of a "twat." It seems like he primarily just likes the same shit that FACT and RA do, and doesn't back up his theoretical ideas very much by linking to music that has purposefully been doing these things long before Zomby+Burial.

 

To clarify, I think he is theoretically and philosophically intelligent, but his taste in music, and actual understanding of music, is fairly conformist and pretty bad.

 

Do you read what you write, man? Super fucking dumb thing to say.

I dunno man, in this ADHD age if anyone is willing to write multipage articles exploring the aesthetics of experimental electronic music then let 'em, I say.

 

 

 

You may revise your statement on further reflection. I have no problem with him exploring that work it's just that his idea of infinite music has been and is continuing to be implemented by various musicians and he chooses to investigate Zomby, which, while being interesting in various respects, is not exactly "infinite music." And like I said, to clarify, I think his exploration of aesthetics and understanding and writing ability is very admirable. I just think there is better music to focus on. EDIT: the fact that he has not investigated existing "infinite" or postmodern electronic music leads me to think that he just doesn't have good taste in music. Ikonika.

 

 

 

I should make it clear for purposes of openness that I do have a stake in this, as I am personally interested in this style of music. I believe it is a new genre, and I don't think Zomby has anything to do with it. Vaporware a little more so.

Edited June 4, 2013 by vamos scorcho

[Salvatorin]

I'm saying calling people's taste in music conformist and bad is #1 way to make no one give a shit about what you're saying.

[Guest nene multiple assgasms]

I don't read that type of music blogs. I just got the dedication lp after hearing some of his tracks on compilations and dj mixes, and thought it was really well done, with a judicious use of space. if you don't like hype in music, then when you see something being hyped, just skip the articles and listen to the tracks to decide for yourself. I can understand relying on music journalism back before the internet was a big thing and you had to actually go out and purchase a disc to hear something, but now it's completely supplemental.

[joshuatxuk]

 

Stream of first disc:

 

http://pitchfork.com/advance/126-with-love-disc-1/

at least it has a little variety compared to this earlier discs. Honestly if you want to know where my disdain for Zomby really comes from, just look up the album by Glowstyx. Zomby's 'authentic' throwback to hardcore was actually fully inspired by a side project by Doormouse all the way down to copying the album cover. Somehow he's escaped for the most part being labeled a theif except for that one time he overtly stole someone elses track.

 

 

Ah yes, that Bong-Ra side-project. He's been a good sport about it, it was a pretty obvious rip-off. I remember seeing it mentioned before, probably here but others have pointed it out.

 

 

There was something a bit off when "Where were you in 92'?" album came out. I know it was deliberately made with an Atari sampler (allegedly) but the motivation seemed a random departure from his other work at that point. Not being aware of Glowstyx I just assumed, like everyone else, that it was a reference to that M.I.A. song "XR 2" that leaked in late 2006 which had the refrain of "where were you in 92'?" He probably aped both. I do enjoy that album (ok, it's really just the "Tears in the rain" track but even that's re-hashing the almost iconic sample source that was Blade Runner in classic d'n'b) but it does feel a bit tainted now.

 

Edited June 5, 2013 by joshuatx

[awepittance]

it's just odd to me that without that '92 album Zomby would be a totally unknown flash in the pan producer, but since music journalists wrongly and arrogantly proposed that his album was unique in any way his career has been tainted in lies for me. His music is alright, i will admit that his new album is probably the best thing he's done, but it still is very far from deserving the attention his work gets.

[brisk]

I think in the case of Zomby and Glowstyx, it was more a case of influence rather than direct stealing. In fact, when it comes to old UK Hardcore, thieving samples was pretty much the du-jour production method anyway. Everyone took everyone elses records and turned them into something different. I'm sure Zomby is well aware of it.

 

In fact, we released our first Remerge 12" before either Zomby or Glowstyx released their records, which was very much the same kind of sound :)

 

http://www.discogs.com/Remerge-Volume-1/release/1029633

 

AGT Rave Cru (Posthuman) were also doing this kinda stuff long before Zomby/Glowstyx too, just like Dave Charlesworth and the original producers were doing this shit back in 1992. Everything influences everything and when it comes to UK hardcore, you can't be too precious about it.

[joshuatxuk]

I agree Brisk, but I think the gripe is the visuals and name reference, right down to the skull t-shirt. It's like as close to copying aesthetically without actually plagiarizing it. That said, the fact that the reference is also in one of the track titles on that Remerge 12" indicates it was a trend multiple people were utilizing.

 

Personally I just find Zomby to be something of a prick and opportunist in general, just so happens he's a good producer. I honestly wouldn't even entertain the idea of him aping the Glowstyx album if it weren't for the Natalia's Song debacle and his attitude in general. Even this review way back from Jan 2008, before his more notable moments of controversy, opens with "Zomby is a wiseass. I don't mean that flippantly or pejoratively, but I just can't think of a more appropriate term."

Edited June 5, 2013 by joshuatx

[awepittance]

yeah Brisk's points are valid however the album cover is a dead giveaway that Zomby is a thief. The results are different admittedly, but the album cover tells me he's not only ok with ripping off someone's idea but also by flaunting it openly. Seems to go along with his philosophy when he acted like a defensive retard when irrefutable proof was uncovered he just totally stole some other producer's track

[Redruth]

dark horse with the delicate, sensitive side. questionable, erratic behavior, thieving, somewhat hidden identity. this is all very intentional it would seem. whether his identity to the public is more intentionally constructed or it is more pieces of a picture that have joined arbitrarily - either way, it seems to be working well for him

[Alcofribas]

lol ripping people off, writing dull tunes and being a dick is all just part of the plan man!

[Redruth]

lol ripping people off, writing dull tunes and being a dick is all just part of the plan man!

 

don't you get it? life as art, like that artist who paints with his poo. zomby is just painting for us ..with his poo