3 out of 5

Label: Zum Audio

Produced by: George Chen

15 years after the last volume and in the midst of a pandemic, the Zum Audio compilation series continues, going all-digital and, as a result, removing any real constraints on the music, spanning way far out into the label’s stable and then beyond, and allowing for runtimes to stretch commonly beyond 6-minutes; for the music to vary between post-rock and skronk and improv and experimental. Such variability has always been part of the Zum brand, but the net seems especially wide, here: this isn’t necessarily a showcase, or a celebration of the music’s diversity, but a moment captured in time – COVID – and given over to anyone who wanted to interpret that into tunes.

That’s a bit sprawling, yes, but curator George Chen is, as ever, very much in control, making sure we start from commonground – the relative accessibility of Alien Owl Cafe’s rocky stomp; My Heart, an Inverted Flame’s steady and moody beats – before venturing off into the less immediate: ambience; weirdo folk; drone. We circle back around to some no-wave jams (Prissy Whip) and then it’s electronica; some twee pop, and then it’s noise rock with Zach Hill and Necking. The album unwinds in its concluding tracks with a lot of drawn out psychedelia, and atmospheric works.

While there’s much to fall in love with here, there is that topdown oppressive, depressive vibe of the time that doesn’t quite make that the first priority. While other Zum comps demand attention, and, as mentioned, Chen has sequenced this very well, this feels pretty heavy, and maybe in a way that makes one a little restless as the comp goes on. I find the set here to work better as background or in pieces, taking it slowly so I can find my place in each song on its own. When listened to together, the moodiness mashes much of it together; the peaks feel relative.

This is entirely subjective of course, and I should more favorably rank this given how dense it is with varying styles that do go together so seamlessly, but such a favorable rank is also relative to how it fares against the other Zum comps. They’re all good, but this one maybe requires listening to it with a bit more intention and care to really get the most out of it.