Album Details

• Artist: Zoobombs
• Album: La Vie En Jupon
• Label: Music Box
• Year of Release: 2011
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2011-03-26

I read in some review that Zoobombs sound like the Stones playing real psych, not the lame, imitation Beatles shit they attempted for a minute in the mid-60s. Not quite. There is an old school feel to some of the songs here, but the minimal grit produced on "La Vie En Jupon"  owes more to US bands like Music Machine and Seeds. These guys from Japan rock with a teetering grace; sad face to Strokes fans: this is retro music flawlessly incorporated into a band's own considerable originality.

The effortlessly snotty decadence of "Way In/Way Out," complete with organ solo, embodies the kind of band Jack Webb would feature on old Dragnet episodes to prove how society was on the way toward apocalypse; this song says Amen to that! Opening a record with a nine minute song built on downers and Elivra-esque Farfisa chords is an act of pure genius. It does not go downhill from there.

"South Central Rock" and "Get It Together" both unwind in dirty-sexy Stooges fashion, while the slower but more gritty "Builbone Blues" and "Jumbo" pull off respectable and grimy takes on blues and hip-hop respectively, with killer grooves galore. The final three tracks out the dozen, starting with "Mo'Funky" and culminating with "Highway A Go Go," find the band coming as close to creating the mythical genre of "Sludge Funk" as anyone prior to this record.

The Zoobombs will simply blow you away, or inspire someone else to help you out in doing it. "La Vie En Jupon" is a killer record full of ingenuity, deep understanding of the past, and fun beyond belief. This is a record that while listening to, you will be nodding with as much joy as if you saw the Money UFO landing in your yard to drop off some mega G's.

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