ALBUM REVIEW: ZHU – GenerationWhy

Hot off the press! ZHU has dropped his debut album called GenerationWhy. Who is Zhu? He’s a Chinese-American electronic genius that signed to Mind of a Genius label back in 2014. GenerationWhy is his debut album, and ZHU did not fall short of his expectations. Working with huge names like Kaskade and Skrillex he is definitely in the right crowd.

As intellectually amusing as the GenerationWhy album’s title is the music is ever wittier. When you first drop the needle on the Intro, you feel like you are in some femme fatale nightclub scene where it’s about to go down. The album is very eclectic and reminds you of Daft Punk but with Skrillex attitude. ZHU’s grooves on GenerationWhy are certainly in line with such a picturesque film-noir movie scene.

The track “Hometown Girl” has been trending the tops of viral charts for an unexpected jump. You’d expect an album like this to be mostly electronic sounds. However, there is a vast amount of borrowing from other genres. Some of the GenerationWhy song’s have a jazz feel while others a rock groove.

In the middle of the album, there’s a song called “Palm of My Hand” that has a randomly precise guitar solo. If you are listening to it digitally a first you may think the track was a mistake from the playlist gods in that a glitch in the Matrix played a different artist but it’s not. The song has an amazing guitar solo that is very unexpected and extremely appreciated.

This album is excellent for a workout, energetic but still laid back chill parties, and of course as ambient coding music. There’s a bonus track with Skrillex and THEM called “Working For It.” “Working For It” alone is a reason to check this out ZHU’s GenerationWhy as soon as possible.