Live Review: PREMIERE: NO ZU take on Hunters & Collectors with electric, funk-driven cover

Melbourne "heat beat" collective NO ZU have made a name for themselves as an electric, genreless force of nature. With two albums and a remix EP under their belt, and countless live shows that are now the stuff of legend throughout the country, they've been a bit quiet on the new music front. That is until today, with a swaggering new cover set to start our weeks off the right way. Premiering on Purple Sneakers, we are thrilled to bring you the first glimpse at the first new music from NO ZU since their 2017 BODY2BODY2BODY remix EP, in the form of a swaggering Hunters & Collectors cover. Let's dive in!

Coming out as part of a double single release on Chapter Music, and accompanying a cover of Bryan Ferry's 'Sensation', NO ZU's take on Hunters & Collectors' 'Talking To A Stranger' is as seductive, funk-driven and electrifying as you'd expect a NO ZU version to be. Complete with gorgeous vocal harmonies, eclectic percussion, piercing guitar licks, 80s synths and a bass line that will make you feel like you can accomplish anything, this 'Talking To A Stranger' cover is absolutely begging to be played to a heaving room to a packed and sweaty dance floor.

Speaking of the new release, Nicolaas Oogjes said, "It's bizarre that we have never really decided to try to film ourselves live ever. It's especially strange since we have always seen every show as a possibly transcendent Heat Beat experience - and more times than not it has actually become so (at least for us). It's weird that we did it when we did - just before the world turned even more surreal. The video looks so alien now, even more zonked than usual. It's a document of another time when we could all gather, dig into the crowd, sweat, burn, grind, gyrate, share experience and it makes me feel longing, but, even more so, excited for another ZU melt down soon.

The song itself is a bicep-curling, muscle-funk number of deep ZU-spiration that has been lodged near the end of our sets for years. It's been deep in our Heat Beat DNA since the primordial ooze."

Both covers have served as live favourites for the band's shows for some time now, so to have studio recordings of the long-fabled renditions means we get to embrace and liberate ourselves to the explosive, frenetic cuts over and over again. And until we can witness this live in action again, allow the accompanying video to transport you to a time when we could do exactly that on packed dance floors where NO ZU really comes to life. Watch the clip below:

'Talking To A Stranger / Sensation' is out September 8th via Chapter Music / Inertia Music.

Words by Emma Jones

Image: Supplied

LISTEN TO NEW MUSIC HERE

SEE ALSO

JONNY SENDER BRINGS THE HEAT TO NO ZU’S ‘SPIRIT BEAT’

RETRO AESTHETIC IS ON SHOW FOR NO ZU’S ‘HI GLOSS’ VIDEO