What happens when you take a series of post-punk and disco-punk classics and attempt to modernize them? That's a question that Strut's Zevolution attempts to answer as it tackles eleven classic Ze Records tracks and brings them bang up to date. Through remixes, reworks, and re-edit's the album throws the tunes into a time capsule and transports them to today with amazing results.
Zevolution is a masterful collection of dance classics that sound as current today as they did when they were originally released. In fact, it's almost as if each and everyone of these records was just released through the blogosphere. Somewhere between disco, Italo, house, electro and the dancefloor the eleven tracks that make up this record are clearly designed to make your feet and body do things they're not supposed to do. Zevolution is a non-stop party that sounds like Studio 54 was resurrected and plopped down in the middle of your living room and folks that's really not a bad thing.
With loads of pianos, horns, and basslines that go on for days, Zevolution never ceases it's relentless attack on the dancefloor. From the Idjut Boys rework of the classic Kid Creole & The Coconuts, "I'm Corrupt," to the synth funk grooves of Material's, "Bustin Out," and the cooky disco camp of, "Spooks In Space," there simply is not a bad tune here. Zevolution is an impressive collection that not only serves to make these classics available again but to make them relevant once more. Where 98% of collections like this fail, Strut does a masterful job of respecting the originals and updating them with a passion equal to the making of the originals. From Soul Mekanik, Pilooski, Richard Sen to Greg Wilson and the Idjut Boys you get the sense that each of the artists love these songs and feel privaleged to be working on them. If ever there was a labour of love, Zevolution is it.
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