ZOMBIE ZOMBIE - A Land For Renegades

French duo of Etienne Jaumet and Cosmic Neman (are these names real?) first met at a tribute to Italian horror flick director, Dario Argento. The result of their meeting is this bizarre, but absorbing album that pays homage to a variety of olden day electronic pioneers + 70s B-movie soundtrack/cult slasher flicks.

Joined by several guest collaborators, Neman supplies drums, percussion and sound effects, whilst Jaumet plays keyboards from his vast analogue collection. A Land For Renegades even has a storyline, involving wolves, deserts, nightclubs and the ghosts of David Bowie and Iggy Pop!?

With it tongue-in-cheek accent and gritty retro-futuristic sound, A Land For Renegades makes for a welcome diversion from the norm. The tracks have a certain consistency, laden with reams of analogue bass lines and synth sweeps, set to prog rock drumming and plenty of B-movie film samples. The track, I’m Afraid Of What’s There sets the album up nicely, with its shimmering synths, ghostly effects and moaning incomprehensible zombie vocals – it’s effectively creepy.

The title track, meanwhile, cannot escape Neman and Jaumet’s Parisian roots, with spangled guitars and accordion sounds splayed against a trembling undercurrent of gristly moogs. Elsewhere, What’s Happening In The City? pays homage to George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, as sampled broadcast announcements reveal a state of deathly confusion from a fictional city; visions of holed up humans hiding behind their radios and frightened to go out into the streets is gloriously depicted and efficiently fashioned by the accompanying music. The album closes with an epic tribute to John Carpenter on the gurgling melodic bass keys of When I Scream You Scream.

Deliciously perverse, and deliberately and unashamedly retro, Zombie Zombie pull off their soundtrack-driven ode to the kings of cult horror plot lines with lavish enthusiasm. Although you’re unlikely to play it in too many people’s company for fear of embarrassment, A Land For Renegades does make for an intriguingly geeky and entertaining listening experience. The Forbidden Planet brigade will simply love it to death.



	ZOMBIE ZOMBIE - A Land For Renegades
	7.7
	Versatile Records ~ VERCD019 ~ 5th May
	French duo of Etienne Jaumet and Cosmic Neman (are these names real?) first met at a tribute to Italian horror flick director, Dario Argento. The result of their meeting is this bizarre, but absorbing album that pays homage to a variety of olden day electronic pioneers + 70s B-movie soundtrack/cult slasher flicks. Joined by several guest collaborators, Neman supplies drums, percussion and sound effects, whilst Jaumet plays keyboards from his vast analogue collection. A Land For Renegades even has a storyline, involving wolves, deserts, nightclubs and the ghosts of David Bowie and Iggy Pop!? With it tongue-in-cheek accent and gritty retro-futuristic sound, A Land For Renegades makes for a welcome diversion from the norm. The tracks have a certain consistency, laden with reams of analogue bass lines and synth sweeps, set to prog rock drumming and plenty of B-movie film samples. The track, I’m Afraid Of What’s There sets the album up nicely, with its shimmering synths, ghostly effects and moaning incomprehensible zombie vocals – it’s effectively creepy. The title track, meanwhile, cannot escape Neman and Jaumet’s Parisian roots, with spangled guitars and accordion sounds splayed against a trembling undercurrent of gristly moogs. Elsewhere, What’s Happening In The City? pays homage to George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, as sampled broadcast announcements reveal a state of deathly confusion from a fictional city; visions of holed up humans hiding behind their radios and frightened to go out into the streets is gloriously depicted and efficiently fashioned by the accompanying music. The album closes with an epic tribute to John Carpenter on the gurgling melodic bass keys of When I Scream You Scream. Deliciously perverse, and deliberately and unashamedly retro, Zombie Zombie pull off their soundtrack-driven ode to the kings of cult horror plot lines with lavish enthusiasm. Although you’re unlikely to play it in too many people’s company for fear of embarrassment, A Land For Renegades does make for an intriguingly geeky and entertaining listening experience. The Forbidden Planet brigade will simply love it to death.