Putting Zulus' new self-titled record at the front of your mind results in your head tipping forward. The drum-centricity of the mix makes it a headbanging record, so when you start really listening to it, loudly, you can't help but move your head to the beat, the music sitting on the front shelf of your brain, the pre-frontal cortex firing wildly. (This is a metaphor – no CAT scans were done to any listeners of this record.) The Brooklyn four-piece has executed one of those tightly-wound post-punk records that used to be more commonplace; think of bands like Factums from Seattle.
WIth the drums leading the way, Zulus launch the record with the fast-paced “Spear”, one of the album's longer tracks, and one where the reverbed, almost Brit-Punk labels have the most buoyancy. Moving through several short burners – “Surgery” is a special embrace of a particular malice, and “To Die in Spain” has a fun jumping-around quality and an interesting time-change on the chorus – we get to the single “Kisses”, which is still as good as it was when we listened to it before. The closer, “Death”, veers into the harsher territory that the band members hail from – post-hardcore groups in San Francisco like Battleship and Prsms – but only for a second. It's a fairly melodious end to a record with a lot of sparks and fire.
The record will be streaming here exclusively until July 10, at which point it will be available to purchase from Aagoo or in your local, lovable record store. The group is also playing a record release show on July 15 in Brooklyn at Free Candy – more details here.
