Zooluxx
Zooluxx makes fresh, feral, forward-thinking music that blurs the boundaries between genres. It's a space-groove sound that makes room for psychedelic rock, electric blues, improvised jams, sound collages, Afrobeat rhythms, the free-spirited attitude of jazz, and a heroic dose of funk. Call it party music. Call it jazzadelic do-see-doe. Or just take a listen to Dàobân, the power trio's 2021 release, and let the music do the talking.
"During the lockdown of spring 2020, we had time to create," remembers frontman Troy V, who produced the lo-fi EP using Garageband and an outdated iPhone. "I recorded our last jam before Covid hit Los Angeles, and dug the feel and sound so much that I asked the guys to record parts on their own phones. Pieced it all together in a couple weeks. For years, we'd been waiting to hear the dirtiest, nastiest, funkiest-quality music we could make. So we produced ourselves, reimagining the way we work together, and found the alternative sound we always wanted."
Dàobân is a record that's every bit as diverse as Los Angeles, the multi-cultural melting pot where Zooluxx's three members — Troy, bassist Ned Casual, and drummer Princess Frank — cut their teeth as live musicians. They played five nights a week, creating a sound that reached beyond their roots as blues and jazz musicians. Along the way, they released records like 2019's Ghetto Starship — Zooluxx's Karl Denson-produced debut, recorded to analog tape on Lynyrd Skynyrd's old API console— and 2020's Just a Little Bit, both engineered by Jordan Andreen. They also collaborated with Fishbone's Angelo Moore on "What Is It This Time," a single whose proceeds benefitted the Uganda Skateboard Society.
Relix Magazine highlighted the band in their “5 Artists You Should Know” profile, calling the music both “terrestrial & ethereal." A community of fans began frequenting the band's residencies in Hollywood, with many comparing the group's sonic attack to Band Of Gypsys. When those live shows were brought to a halt in 2020, Zooluxx's members had time to experiment in the studio, channeling their unchecked creativity into the group's most adventurous record to date.
Dàobân takes a peak into Zooluxx's conceptual world. Released alongside a string of guerrilla-style music videos (a technique Troy developed while at UCLA) featuring skateboarding footage, woozy visuals, and other transmissions from the group's universe, it's an audio/visual time capsule of a band in motion. These songs lead listeners to open-ended jams, spoken-word soundbites, deep-seated bass grooves, freestyled guitar solos, snippets of Grandmaster Flash lyrics, acid-trip psychedelia, and mantras that encourage open minds and new perspectives. Created during a time of chaos, Dàobân finds a way to celebrate the modern moment, blending the spirit of funk, the electricity of a well-oiled power trio, the concept of freedom, and the wide-open creativity of a band whose production techniques are every bit as adventurous as its songwriting. "It’s all about positivity," adds Troy.
Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
