- Melbourne's NO ZU has just released their sophomore Afterlife album via Chapter Music. The album comes hot off the heals of the High Gloss EP that came out on Cutters late last year. The eight member strong troupe is lead by percussionist Nicolaas Oogjes. Oogjes and his tribe take the listener through a fusillade of percussive dance modes. The groove oriented quality of their music reminds me of the funky music of Downtown New York - it’s no surprise that NO ZU have an ongoing collaboration with Sal P. of Liquid Liquid and were the ones who supported James Chance in Australia recently.

As ever, the group indulge their self-coined ‘Heat Beat’ stylings over eight tracks, taking in a number of global influences. The lead single of the album, Spirit Beat, has all the elements of a typical NO ZU jam – repetitive vocals, saxophone bass, horns, and lots of cowbell. According to Oogjes, Afterlife “explores themes of human beauty, body movement, BDSM, belief systems, mortality, immortality, the fetishisation of Australian colonial invasion and destruction of land/cultures, all sung in dynamic dancefloor metaphors.” Although these thematic concerns could easily be lost or convoluted, everything is kept breezy. Horns are out the front, but rhythm is at the forefront.

In lieu of a long jam, the band offer us Afterlife Lifestyle, a short one minute interval full of horns, percussion, pitched down male vocals and trumpet trills. The albums closer Zues Zam is a house number with spoken lyrics over precise bass.

NO ZU’s percussion-heavy funk has successfully brought together no wave, funk, house, techno, and global percussion. Their lurid sound is ever more pronounced, coming into greater focus with each new release. Afterlife is solid from start to finish, touching upon a variety of sounds and influences without ever sounding forced. Whatever its intellectual aspirations, Afterlife will have you shuffling off your mortal coil on the dancefloor, enthusiastically.

- Hill Folk.