- Zuli's sideline making beats for Arabic MCs has long been audible in his music, a viscous IDM soup with hip-hop as a key ingredient. The Cairo-based producer's debut for Milan's Haunter Records emphasises this flavour. Its squalling layers of processed voices and field recordings rest almost exclusively on a halftime groove—albeit one contorted to the edge of recognition. On "X3" sedated headnod sections set the scene for dramatic chord blasts on tinny digi guitars, while "Ladies & Gents" has a Scorn-style glowering weight. "Your Tracks Are Too Short" lurches into techno sometimes—Zuli has referenced the style more directly elsewhere—but more often it runs at half the pace, its drums offering a slouching counterpoint to the bell-tones mewling in the foreground.
These tracks alone would make Trigger Finger Zuli's most abstract and disorientating release. Elsewhere he pushes things further, ceding the groove to the confusion. On "Everyday" drums plot a nauseous arrhythmic stumble under retina-scorching chord bursts. And on "Don't Fall Out The Window" they're gone entirely, leaving four minutes of stomach-lurching sound design. The EP's only moment of stability is the title track, though stability is a strong word for its lacerating amen breaks and hilarious cone-crumpling bass. When euphoric hardcore chords swell into earshot in the second half, the track starts to sound like Zuli's take on post-Lee Gamble UK rave nostalgia. It's the only moment when he sounds anything other than totally original.
TracklistA1 Everyday
A2 X3
A3 Trigger Finger
B1 Ladies & Gents
B2 Your Tracks Are Too Short
B3 Don't Fall Out The Window