Zeds Dead Hot Sauce EP Review + Full Stream
Zeds Dead is back with a new EP almost exactly six months after the release of their club oriented, hip hop heavy The Living Dead EP with 5 fresh new tracks that make up Hot Sauce. New fans might be taken back by the tone of the EP that seems to be geared to satisfy long active fans of the duo, as well as purists to the electronic bass genre in general. If you are looking for Knife Party esque lazers, you may want to look elsewhere, (Just about anywhere else on soundcloud.)
Track one, “Demos” opens the EP with a brutally dirty and almost dark track with the BPM low, the bass punching and the ambiance of a true Zeds Dead track with production that will bring you back to the earlier days. The track is surprisingly catchy despite its lack of vocals, melodies, or hooks and surely sets the tone for the tracks that follow. “Mr. Sub,” the next on Hot Sauce is said to be named after a Canadian Sub chain, but easily could have a double meaning because of the repetitive thumb of the low end frequencies that almost take over, and make up, most of this song. The song has old school jungle tones with a series of higher registry delays that bring you right back to your favorite basement.
The styling purposefully takes a new turn in “Playa,” which resembles hints of modern “trap” music with the vibes of a time before Americans caught onto dance music. With “Rave” Zeds Dead utilize a time tried breakbeat accentuated with a synth line you could have picked from an 80′s sci-fi flick as well as a plethora of vocal samples to add emphasis to the end of signatures. Finally, the song “Trouble” wraps up the EP with what sounds closest to the modern day Zeds Dead with a screaming synth-bass line as infectious as the flue this season. This, along with the light piano is reminiscent of ZD tracks you might hear Omar Lynx volunteering his samples on. I wouldn’t be surprised if they remixed this song with Omar in the near future.
It is refreshing that Zeds Dead took risks and did something new and did not hold back. They have their market and demographic right where they want them and it would have been too easy to come out with an EP full of club anthems to exploit a fad, but did just the opposite, effectively scribing their name in stone as innovators, experimenters and a tour de force to be reckoned with in EDM.
