Don Zilla - Ekizikiza Mubwengula

by Maarten Schiethart

published: 23 / 8 / 2021

Label: Hakuna Kulala
Format: LP

Baffling avant garde wizard electronica from Kampala-based musician and producer Don Zilla which is graced with a divine touch

Review

Only halfway through 2021 and this is already destined to be a contender as my Year's finest, 'Ekizikiza Mubwengula' is a stupendous miracle of innovation in sound. Busy like bees hovering over an ambulance car sound effects ring back and forth. Rattling rhythms recall rather ruthless and reckless realms in which causing mayhem still proved a virtue. Sending out irate signals, Don Zilla sets the tone to an entirely new scheme. With brand new ideas performed at deafening volume, most of which have never been heard before, 'Ekizikiza Mubwengula' works as a wake-up call. Vigour, venom, vitality and vision, Don Zilla masters all these. A member of the thriving Nyenge Nyenge collective in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda Don Zilla moulds together hammering breakbeats, ambient esoterics, urban soundscapes and snippets from film scores. Eerie, grim and ever so adventurous 'Ekizikiza Mubwengula' with a superb touch of magic explores new depths in music. The quintessence to the album lies in how it excels in its use of overwhelming disharmony. The sound is shaping up in Kampala. Ripping it up to the core, I have yet to hear the equivalent to this masterpiece of jazz fueled and technofied breakbeats.