Zed-U at

About

Former Empirical bass player Neil Charles moves up a gear with his trio Zed-U. The band draws heavily on a number of other genres, ranging from freely improvised and electronic music to dub reggae. The quiet, saxophone sounds of BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Shabaka Hutchings, ruminating bass and exploratory electronic bleeps and squeals slowly coalesce into gently insistent, then solid rhythmic grooves, culminating in roaring climactic freefor- alls. Zed-U can transform themselves, with judicious use of electronic loops and effects, into a thoroughly comtemporary-sounding unit, resembling, by turns, a jazzthrash or the aforementioned dub band, complete with echoing drums and hypnotic basslines.