April 20th, 2007 at 16:00 by Matthew Laidlow
Better late than never we guess. Today rsquo;s slightly later than normal Trawl still aims to deliver music to you which isn rsquo;t mass-produced rubbish which Simon Cowell has vomited out of his smug rich mug.
Instead we are trying to bring to your attention the sound of music that normally get played on specialist TV and radio programmes at a stupid time in the morning when only pissed/drugged up clubbers and insomniacs are awake.
And because we constantly try and change the music we feature to try and appeal to everyone, we thought it would be interesting to this week look for a band that literally sandwich together as many genres together as possible to create something unique and interesting. Luckily for us, we stumbled across Zero DB, who successfully mange to combine jazz, hip-hop and electro.
We openly admit that we haven rsquo;t really featured any hip-hop in this feature, but we have our reasons, which will probably be seen as immature and stereotypical.
But hey, stereotyping is fun and is always guaranteed to get a cheap laugh out of someone. Basically, we have always been disillusioned with the whole hippity-hop side of things because we are not a) American, b) black, or c) blessed with the ability to click our fingers to summon scores of scantily clad young ladies to shake their booties and boobs all suggestively and stuff. Sadly, we are just mundane white people from boring places where nothing exciting ever happens.
Listening to the scores of hip-hop that gets played on the radio, it s often hard for us to relate to rappers who rsquo;ve been shot a billion times and then pop down to their vineyard and crack open a bottle of Crystal champagne to slurp on. Give us a pint of Guinness and a pack of pork scratchings any day. That rsquo;s about as ghetto as we rsquo;re ever gonna get down in our hood.
While lyrically the content from most American hip-hop is as enjoyable as a lecture on Shakespearean literature, we can draw positives from some aspects, so save your angry comments for now! The beats from most songs are always guaranteed to be a winner. With some of the best producers in the world coming from this field, you know you re gonna find yourself nodding your head like a bit of goon.
Some of the top notch producers and beat makers include Kanye West, Dr Dre and Timbaland. Get any of those peeps on board and you know you re heading in the right direction for a funky hit.
So why are we so excited about Zero DB?
With their unique blend of delicately-crafted genres, they are certainly leading the way with creating something truly exciting.
The first track, Bongos, Bleeps and Basslines, taken from the album of the same name, demonstrates exactly what we mean when we say Zero DB deserve much more credit then they are currently getting. With incredibly dirty-sounding basslines and featuring an almost taunting vocal, the track should be filling up dancefloors wherever it rsquo;s played.
Tribal-style drumbeats crash and linger throughout, only adding to the brilliantness of this track.
Know What I rsquo;m Saying? Is a slightly calmer number, but it still has that raw edge to it to still make you want to shake ya ass around.
And blimey! It also features a rap. Despite what you read earlier about our problem with general rap songs, this one is different.
No need to call us hypocrites yet. Instead of a five-minute ramble about how many bitches someone rsquo;s shagged and rubbing our faces in the amount of wealth they possess, the lyrics are cleverly constructed to tell a slightly political-tinged story. Once again, the beats are there and this time, the added injection of gentle piano strokes and some string instruments only sweeten the track further.
A Pomba Girou (translations below please) is a samba-filled drum orgy with some filthy electro chucked in for good measures. This track wouldn rsquo;t go amiss in a Brazilian street carnival. It rsquo;s that funky.
Go on. Have a listen. The album is out on the brilliant Ninja Tunes label which has a fine musical reputation with artists including Bonobo and The Cinematic Orchestra already on its books.
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