ZapTown

Zigmat!
Self-Titled
2007 – Self-Released

Origin: Brooklyn, New York
Style: Indie Rock/Electronic

Monica Rodriguez teeters on the line of aggression and late night bittersweetness. A vocalists who tries desperately to be a pop star in an indie rock shell, her voice carries so much confidence, you end up siding with her whether you acknowledge the music or not.

Instead of military regalia and braces, Rodriguez is PolyStyrene in an evening gown. Her bluntness slices like a knife as she growls out words like “I won’t keep wasting my time. Shut up and decide,” from the song “Decide.” It does not get more upfront than that.

Zigmat’s self-titled release is a nice combination of upbeat dance electronica and jittery indie rock that blend in well together. At first, the pop structure of “So Sure,” a song that could be easily found on an early morning VH1 video show, is a failed attempt at sounding Top 40, but when the chorus kicks in, the song veers away from the slow motion fabricated beat and into a more stabilized environment for the band.

When Rodriguez lets her guard down, she falters. This album sounds best at its angriest. That’s when the emotion explodes and we get the truest form of music this band can make. Sure she sounds an awful lot like Bjork in “Discosuave” and Karen O in “Glowstick” but most times she sounds like an ‘80s New Waver with nothing to lose. Not just the lyrics but the combination of spanish and english, helps Rodriguez create an identity for the band with a cross-cultural bond.

If this band wanted trendy then they wouldn’t be cutting themselves all over the place. And by the end of it all and a couple “spanglish” remixes of songs, the album as a whole is not too shabby.

Cross-Reference: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, VHS Or Beta, CSS