- With its scorched-black land and smoggy sky, Detroit's infamous Zug Island looks like something out of dystopian fiction. Skirting Michigan's most polluted zip code and the decaying neighbourhood of Delray, Zug Island has housed steel refineries since the beginning of the 20th century, and is one of the last remaining coke producers—that's the fuel—in the US today. Strictly off-limits to the public and heavily guarded, it's a site of mystery and revile, complete with an elusive low-frequency rumble dubbed the "Windsor Hum," which has plagued Ontario residents on the opposite riverbank for years.
In 2012, Kero and Kyle Hall produced a record about Zug Island. Written in studios on either side of Detroit's River Rouge, it translated the site's toxicity and strange allure to sound through guttural acid synth lines and clattering rhythms. Now there's Zug Tools, a gloopy acid tool package that is just as good. A low-end throb permeates "FASTR000," which could be a nod to the "Windsor Hum," with dark acid swells that bubble to the surface. "19FT," on the B-side, drools with frothy venom. Both tracks continue one of the finest collaborations to emerge from Detroit in recent years.
TracklistA FASTR000
B 19FT