Short Reviews [Zip Tang - 2013 - "Das Reboot"]

Following on from ‘Feed Our Heads’ it took three more years until Zip Tang released their fourth album, ‘Das Reboot’. Although the band at this time was still the original quartet, changes were afoot, and not long afterwards they parted ways with sax/keyboard player Marcus Padgett and Perry took over most of the writing. Although the front cover of this album is stark, it is still a digipak with other artwork inside. It certainly stands out against their other releases, and musically there has been something of a change to what they had been doing previously. Whereas the first three albums can be seen as being directly related to each other with a very similar approach, this shows the band again moving out and changing their approach. It is also the first album where two of the songs are attributed to just one of the guys, Perry, whereas all other music up to this point had always been attributed to the complete band. Although there are times when the heavy attack and jaggedness normally associated with the band can be easily heard, there are plenty of others where the band slow it down and take it more easy. The impression is of a band that is in flux, and I get the impression that this was a hard album for them in many ways. There is definitely a lot less sax from Marcus on this release, and while Fred is driving this far more forcefully from the back, there are times when it comes across more like Tangerine Dream than Poisoned Electric Head or Mr. So & So, which is how I normally associate them. When they hit it hard, they are still very much a force to be reckoned with, of all their albums this is my least favourite as although there is significant contrasting styles it doesn’t always gel as it should.