I've written about Zomby before; he's one of those enigmatic dance music producers with the kind of underground and bass music vibe that's appealed to me for a while, kind of like Burial. I heard a few tracks of his last year and ended up following him on twitter, and then getting quite excited about his latest album Ultra, especially when I heard it was coming out on Hyperdub, and that there'd be a Burial collab -- so excited that I bought it without reading any reviews. I do sometimes succumb to the hype machine and then subsequently regret it, and sadly this is one of those times. I really wanted to like the album and was looking forward to some electronic weirdness but with a good beat. I listened to it twice and didn't feel satisfied so went and read a review on RA which basically nailed exactly what my issues with the album are.
First of all, too many tracks sound like out-takes from Step 2001. Others feel like they're either missing something vocal or lack a hook. A couple of tracks are decent, but overall the album is basically disappointing, like it's flirting on the edge of being really good but isn't quite finished. After two listens there's no track that I can recall from memory, and that includes the collab with Burial. The let-down feels even worse because this CD cost me $18! No idea why the price was so high; even the guy at the record shop was confused, but it's definitely not due to any extras, or special packaging, or anything like that.
In the RA review the reviewer mentions a previous album and how it's tracks just faded away, feeling half-finished. I have an older Zomby album called 'With Love' that I actually returned once to the record shop because I thought it was some sort of industry sampler, not a real album -- all the tracks just faded out after a very short time. Turns out that's how the album was meant to be! It's a shame, because Zomby is obviously talented; in part I'd say his record companies are letting him down by letting him release work that's barely there. I'm still going to follow him on twitter, but I'll be wary of letting the hype to get to me next time.
