ZULUZULUU take their Afro-Futurist funk to Los Angeles for Low End Theory May 31st with Taso, Thavius Beck, Erica Dee with Daddy Kev, Nobody, Glaslamp Killer, D-Styles.
At The Airliner 2419 N. Broadway 90031
+18
Twin Cities alt-weekly City Pages polled 100-plus critics around the metro area, asking them which local band held the most promise in 2016. ZULUZULUU ran away with the prize. A producers’ supergroup of sorts, ZULUZULUU has been synthesizing and streamlining enough collectivized inspiration (their covers album The Cover Up spans from The Stylistics to DJ Quik) to stand out as a more hip-hop-indebted heir to the classic ’80s Minneapolis sound—the classic DIY funk roots fused with a sample-searching cratedigger’s ear. Think of their mission as the geographical inverse of Jam and Lewis’s early production gigs that helped define the vintage boogie-funk sounds of L.A. and Atlanta; their Twin Cities g-funk feels like TDE and Organized Noize refitted for the Cities’ Midwest art-rap sensibilities. “Black excellence is always our goal, to inspire greatness through sonics and to pay homage to our ancestors,” explains co-producer and MC Greg Grease. “Our inspirations come from the tradition of great black music, jazz, soul, R&B, hip- hop, and reggae. We’re all students of this music and want to continue the legacy and culture.”- Nate Patrin