- Zero Grow is the new collaboration between two intriguing names from Los Angeles' experimental electronic and DIY scenes: the Diagonal Records affiliate Elon Katz and Robert Girardin, AKA the Hundebiss Records artist Jaws. 0g, a cassette with artwork from Spencer Longo, is a tidy document of modern underground culture in Southern California.
Katz and Girardin have released some serious weirdness in their time, but the beat keeps that in check on 0g. "Angel Motto," "Play Dead Baby," and "Brick People" are noisy and tonally fit within experimental EBM. The EP builds to a climax, where "Johanis"s rough techno funk spills over into "Ddeok"'s lush spectral house. The 4/4 thump is there, along with airy synths that dissolve in fuzz. The rest of the percussion sounds like it comes from sampled cymbals with an abundance of hi-hats. It's gorgeous.
The wind-down into the modular zaps and click-track groove of "Coughin'" gives way to the elegantly understated synth bubbling of "Final S." As a complete journey, Zero Grow have created something smoother, more accessible and easier understood than you might have expected, but they remain subtly challenging.
Tracklist01. Angel Motto
02. Play Dead Baby
03. Johanis
04. Ddeok
05. Brick People
06. Coughin'
07. Final S