Iggy Pop’s Nightclubbing is undeniably the anthem of creepers in the night. It’s sinister drum line and piano chords give you the feeling that cavorting in the darkest of back-alley watering holes in the wee hours is when the good life really goes down. The French electro night-crawler duo, Zombie-Zombie conveys the same sentiment; the night is ALIVE.
Cosmic Neuman and Etienne Jaumet are clearly inspired by horror, ghouls, and Goblin, the experimental trailblazers of the most deliciously terror-inducing film soundtracks. Their themed brand of electronic music is not the only element that sets them apart from today’s saturated genre; they follow the old zombie school of analog recording. Using drums and analog synthesizers, Zombie Zombie rejects the wave of digital influx that has taken over in the recent past and embraces a new sound with the old equipment.
The opening track, Driving Until Death Sets You Free, evokes the energy and heart palpitations of driving 90mph on a pitch-black road with no other cars on it, and sets the tone for the rest of this Parisian team’s first full-length album. Other feelings you might get from listening to Zombie Zombie’s resonant reverberations and psychotic disco beats are wandering through a dark creaky room of an abandoned mansion, dancing at a club full of living dead people who want to eat your brains, or the urge to join the zombie nation yourself and walk like a ghost. When Zombie Zombie does their cover of Nightclubbing, singing in monotone drawls, yelping and breathing heavily onto the track, the fast pulsating beat and organ-like sounds added to it has succeeded in making this already dark tune even darker and this time, the night is alive, but the club goers aren’t. Do the dance of the dead.
