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New House Release: Zona - 'I Am Beautiful'
Thursday 23rd May 2013 | Alex
Well, it’s not really house, at least, it’s not conventional house. It’s soulful and electronic, balanced between funk and acid jazz. But I couldn’t put that as the title.
Zona are a couple of kids from LA – Jerry Andrews composes soundtracks for independent films, DJ Dimitri travels the LA club scene. They’re helped out by Greg Velasquez, a percussionist known for his work with Keane (although I wouldn’t brag about that) and The Roots, and NYC turntablist Kenny Summit directs the video. Valerie Moise is the vocalist.
“I am beautiful... words can’t bring me down” – is that an unfortunate coincidence or is she a massive Christina fan? As it turns out Moise toured with Aguilera as a dancer, but I’m still not sure why it’s in there. Besides that though, ‘I Am Beautiful’ is a wickedly exultant single. It’s got the right pulse – the house elements give it some authority and the fluttering keys exploit the extra room. Frankly, now digitalism bounces us across tracks in 10-second snippets and the next hit being only a mouse click away, being able to enjoy an entire track is uplifting.
‘I Am Beautiful’ comes with a few remixes, things like ‘the vocal mix’ and ‘bar sinister mix’. They’re rubbish in their own right, but fuse the set together and you’ve got a DJ set that spills climax and anticipation. Zona have done a wicked job, but I’m not sure just how intentional this all was. I suspect they’re in the post-Daft Punk phase, having got lucky.
It's out July 1st. Have a listen below, and follow @Zonavibes
Written by Alex Dean - @AlexDean94
