Release Date: March 18, 2013
Label: Gnougn Records
Ultra Zook is an Art Rock band from France who's eclectic and eccentric style reminds me of a weird Of Montreal. Signed to Gnougn Records this is their second official mini-album release. EPUZZ can only be described as an innocent and exciting Candyland adventure gone horribly wrong. This mini-album starts off with a bang with the highly energized song "Yapati Yupata". Opening up with whimsical group vocals the song gets right to the point from the beginning. The short form of this song has a lot of progression and it paints a variety of images throughout. A dark guitar riff comes in about halfway through the song followed shortly by a disco beat. The odd juxtaposition works beautifully.
The next track, "Mozambiouc", starts off with rhythms splattered about and eventually an asian flavored melody played by either synthesized vocals or an odd vocal synthesizer comes in. This is one of more abstract songs. The back half sounds like a hectic 8-bit chase scene. Out of this section comes the main theme again, adventurous and bold as compared to the bleak chase. After "Mozambiouc" comes "Pisote", another highly energized track. Musicianship here is tight as can be as barking baritone saxophone takes command over the track. There's so much going on at once it's hard to take it all in.
"Tiramisu" starts off with a pleasant guitar riff with a nice delay on it. Soon after a driving beat comes in. This driving beat is used commonly throughout all of the songs. Another technique used in this song as well as "Yapati Yupata" is group vocals. In this song multiple people are saying wordless exclamations in a sort of call and response type of conversation. This song is easily the best on the album for it's breakdown section. Suddenly the driving beat stops and a dubstep-influenced halftime beat comes in and a rising bass synth comes out of nowhere only to precede laser noises combined with shouting group vocals.
"Aluminium C4" is the longest track, going at about 4 and a half minutes. All of the other tracks are under 3 minutes. The song's long form can get a bit boring and drag on but in general there's enough progression to hold my attention. About halfway through the song shifts, it sounds like somebody just discovered what 8-bit music was in the year 2500. The song is capped off by a chaotic and cacophonous ending with a strange rising feeling. Layers and layers are added until it stops and a calm resolution fades out into obscurity.
One of the few complaints I have with this mini-album is that at some points there is really too much going on, it's like music for kids with ADHD. Then again maybe that's the point. In these sections where everything is going on at once the production can get a bit crammed and the instruments are effectively spread out sonically. This can get tiring after a while. The last complaint I have is the synthesizer tones used throughout the mini-album. While having slight differences they all feel rather similar and if this release were any longer it would get very tiring.
This was a very worthwhile listen. Coming in at only 15 minutes this doesn't exactly take a while to listen to. EPUZZ is a release jam-packed with fun material that is sure to get the blood pumping. If you're looking for a fun listen then this is certainly it. I highly recommend this mini-album.
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