zammuto - zammuto

Zammuto

Zammuto
Temporary Residence; 2012

4 out of 5

It's spacious with affected vocals and electronic instruments interspersed with acoustic or traditional instruments. That's a very basic description for an album that's very, very difficult to describe. Most mash-ups of electronic and traditional music drive me bonkersauce, but there's a lack of pretension here. It's not ironic in any way, and there's none of the fuzzed out beach-sound that's gotten so infuriatingly popular in modern indie music lately. The treated nature of the vocals and some of the instruments contrasts perfectly with the organic percussion or guitars.

The album opens with 'Yay', and the title is a good descriptor of the song, with slow-swinging, echoey bass drums, electronic organ, and eventually bass guitar topped with frenetic closed-cymbals, sticks, and rimshots led by a cycling but heavily chopped and staccato treated vocals. It's a great introduction to what you've got in store for you in this album, although it's a lot simpler than many of the other songs.