ZHU has never been one to take lightly. While the current music scene is saturated heavily with many similar-sounding, attention-seeking SoundCloud producers, ZHU has crafted his own isolated lane by calmly releasing some of the most intricate, unique, and tasteful dance music over the past few years. The Mind of a Genius artist hasn't spoken often, but when he has, his words have been well-calculated and important. Now, though, his voice is fully coming to life on debut album GENERATIONWHY, a record that's changed the way we view the modern dance album. GENERATIONWHY breaks down two major barriers, but you’ll have to pay close attention to fully acknowledge how well it does just that. First, it’s one of the only major modern dance records that has a fully implemented concept. From start to finish, the entire record plays out like a movie with coherent themes, a gripping plot, and appearances from different characters. Second, the album's sound is incredibly bold. Nobody makes material that sounds like ZHU's right now, and he proves that he’s not afraid to experiment with several instrumental solos and structural inconsistencies throughout. After some insightful words from Maya Angelou, a sultry sax solo ushers us into one of our favorite songs from the album, “Cold Blooded”. The track introduces an addictive, competitive relationship that carries on into the album’s first single, “In The Morning”. Throughout the next few songs, ZHU continues building up the album’s sound and story by portraying a cold one-night stand, a lust-filled fantasy, and a dangerously passionate night, but then at the halfway point, the mood completely shifts with “Palm of My Hand”. The mesmerizing six-minute song contains police sirens, guitar and piano solos, and a long verse spoken in French. This marks a major turning point in the album's sonic landscape, for, from the jazzy tinges of “Money”, to the warm nostalgia of “Hometown Girl”, the album's general sound grows less intense, the tempos slow down, and the lyrics become more reflective as a whole. “Good Life” marks another change. Spoken verses by Adam Schmalholz present mind-opening concepts that focus on humanity as a whole, and a chorus from BROODS wonderfully ties the piece together. Finally, the project concludes with the album’s title track, and with it, it aims to unite a generation together through the universal concept of nakedness. GENERATIONWHY is one of the most musically defiant, game-changing albums we’ve heard in dance music, and we hope that aspiring dance producers look to it as a standard for the level of thought, skill, and uniqueness to put into a body of work going forward. The album is currently available on iTunes and Spotify, and we strongly encourage you to listen to the whole thing a couple times through. It's just that good.
ZHU