- Some experimental club music treats the dance floor like a war zone. Percussion volleys like machine guns or falls like mortar fire, while chords and basslines erupt like landmines. It's a sector of dance music that feels thrillingly volatile, as if anything could happen at any moment. Exciting as it can be, however, all that aggression grows fatiguing, especially as the field gets more crowded. Innovators like Rabit have already looked to other influences and ideas, while newcomers like WWWINGS go even harder, an attack plan Berlin's Ziúr also takes. Her debut EP, Taiga, is one of experimental club music's most formidable new records and a high water mark for Infinite Machine, an international label at the forefront of the movement.
Opening with discordant screeches and heavily distorted drums, Taiga establishes a familiar chaos. But the nimble way that Ziúr navigates the space makes "Fever" stand out—drums shoot every which way but never feel hectic. That same sense of control marks the title track, where decaying chords trace out a sing-songy melody in the tiny crevices between the drums. Vocalist RIN rides a rollercoaster of zany rhythms on "Lilith," her staccato syllables helping find a path through the thicket of rhythms. The most intense moment on Taiga is "Nails," where the distortion feels uglier and the drum programming more frantic. And yet it sounds surprisingly rigid, like a robot gone haywire.
Born In Flamez adds some grime synths to "Fever" and rearranges it in a trap-style formation, which is more palatable but less exciting than the original. Air Max '97 fares better, giving "Taiga" some breathing room and emphasizing his own heady sort of rhythmic psychedelia. But Ziúr's tracks remain the highlights on this deadly and effective EP.
Tracklist01. Fever
02. Nails
03. Taiga
04. Lilith
05. Fever (Born in Flamez Remix)
06. Lilith (Air Max '97 Remix)