Send "Zomby " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Don't let the title or post-album late-year timing fool you-- there are plenty of good things happening on Nothing. While it sounds like it was taken from the same creative burst that birthed London producer Zomby's recent LP Dedication, here that album's glum funereality gets an almost dance-friendly makeover. With its classic-sounding jungle breaks and ragga vocal samples, opener "Labyrinth" immediately recalls Zomby's vaguely conceptual throwback debut Where Were U in '92?, though drenched in noir melancholy. The breaks stutter and sputter, the perfunctory chord progression is oddly defeatist, and the characteristic airhorns are mockingly empty and peripheral: Breakbeat 'ardkore never sounded this tormented.That's not to say Nothing isn't ever upbeat or danceable-- it's tinged with Dedication's air of quiet, nocturnal introspection but not shackled by its thematic bent or album-oriented sequencing. Thus we get seven shades of Zomby, and even if they're basically different shades of gray, it's exciting to hear him branch out. He tries something new on the unusually dissolute "Trapdoor", where grainy synths billow over scattershot percussion that has more to do with footwork than Zomby's usual hardcore continuum. "Digital Fractal" and "Equinox" take the pseudo-garage bounce of older tracks like "Tarantula" and turn it somber in two different ways: "Fractal" plays with dulcet, mournful tones and shrouds its cycling arpeggios in reverb so they sound like they're off in the distance, lost in a fog, while the shimmering "Equinox" sucks that echo chamber dry, all crisply slicing snares and tactile hand percussion. It's a brilliant realism often missing from an artist whose work is expressed through glassy, artificial textures or borrowed tropes from extinct genres. Those extinct genres make a determined comeback on Nothing, however, and Zomby's take on them is stronger than ever. "Sens" toys gently with its breaks, carefully placing them in the white space of a melody caught between jerky and jilted, and "Ecstasy Versions" transitions from a hesitant breakbeat crawler into full-on jungle. Even here, again Zomby's morose melodicism takes center stage, a track more about its sadly cooing vocals-- a common sample source sullied and sullen-- and bleepy melody than the flashy, distracting breaks that should be the center of attention. It's like he's proving once and for all that Where Were U in '92? wasn't just a transparent exercise, blending his hardcore copycat tracks with his more personal, idiosyncratic tendencies....full text |
| Consequenceofsound |
| Five short months ago, elusive UK producer Zomby dropped Dedication, a dark, genre-bending record our own Möhammad Choudhery called “enduring” and “simultaneously more measured and frenetic than ever before.” Between the lack of danceable tunes expected from the man whose catalog includes dub-step jams like “Liquid Dancehall” and having a whole album dedicated to reviving ’90s raves and jungle beats, collaborations with Panda Bear, and the haunting rattle of “Witch Hunt”, Dedication was a surprise, but, ultimately, a welcome one. With the seven-song Nothing EP, the deliberateness of Dedication is gone, as we are left with a ramshackle collection of glimpses into Zomby’s back catalog, without looking too far forward. Not all is lost, though, as stunning opener “Labyrinth” and “Sens” bring back the ’90s aesthetic that made aptly-titled Where Were U in ’92? so addictive, providing an uplifting return to the dance floor– a notable departure from Dedication‘s ruminations. Aforementioned “Labyrinth” is arguably Zomby’s best single to date, with its lushly layered crescendo from sustained synths to an irresistible breakbeat and lofty sampled vocals, only to fall – in characteristic, erratic Zomby fashion – to a dirty, warbled bass. “Digital Fractal”‘s unnerving minimalism could easily be a Dedication B-side, but alongside “Stargate 5″‘s arcade blips and syncopated drum rhythms, it manages to feel welcome. At the end of the day, Nothing does not seem groundbreaking because everybody is still digesting Dedication, a record that fleshes out the anachronistic ideas Nothing hints at. Had the EP showed up earlier in the year, it wouldn’t seem so random and underdeveloped. That hardly means it’s skippable, though, as Nothing explicitly bridges the sonic gap between raging Where Were U in ’92? and Dedication, and if nothing else, affords the opportunity to put “Labyrinth” on endless repeat....full text |
| Theskinny |
| Nothing is a rather perverse collector's item: a slightly underwhelming Zomby record. Although billed as a breakbeat-assisted companion piece to Dedication, Zomby's second release for 4AD lacks the depth of ideas and clarity of execution so abundant on his second album. Opening the seven track EP on initially promising terms is Labyrinth, a slo-mo crawl of 90s hardcore that, along with Ecstacy Versions' starlit shards of drum and bass, are fine additions to his estimable back catalogue. Much else on Nothing, decent though it is, seems like the hastily fashioned results of a producer recycling his own ideas; Digital Fractal is, basically, a below-par rendition of his 2009 release for Brainmath, Digital Flora, and there's a lingering déjà-vu to the galloping arpeggios of Equinox, too. Nothing is a stumble, but Zomby still strides ahead of the horde, even on off-days. ...full text |
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