Bad Zu was created three years ago and remained a well kept secret of Moscow underground until it got signed to Berlin's finest Through My Speakers label. Soon after Bad Zu played more shows in Berlin than in Russia for a while, but eventually Moscow rave crowds started to fall in love with the fusion of African traditional music and grime and the band played huge shows for thousands of party and festival people before they were even present on the social media. More releases followed via Through My Speakers and #internetghetto.

"Zupreme" is the first full length album by Bad Zu. It elaborates and develops the extravert "Ritual Rave", where the audience and their state of consciousness are always in the focus, rather than the creator of the music and his thoughts. 10 tracks for dancing and sex, infused and mixed with our reality: from fake brands and darknet, to being beaten up for the wrong look in the club.

CAT: HYPR065
Release type: Digital (all formats) 
Mastering by iBenji
Cover art designed by German Kapitonov

Zupreme

BAD ZU - SMILE AGAINST BULLET

Not your run-of-the-mill working-class Eastern European non-binary DJ. The producer, vocalist, but also visual and digital artist strives for innovative sound design and visceral body response, despite (or maybe coupled with) raw emotion that permeates their musical output. They’re a proud member of the Ciężki Brokat crew (with whom they run the annual Warsaw Pride official afterparty), co-creator of Radio Kapitał, Polish ambassador for Keychange and SHAPE Platform 2021 resident.

Their own music has morphed several times throughout the last 15 years – from industrial or purely synthetic timbres, through polyphonic singing with Pleśni to a perplexing fusion of rhythmically and sonically jagged compositions, bass-heavy club tracks on their EPs, 'Gusła (Human Rites)' on Tańce, a limited vinyl release on London-based 51-53 Records, 'Doolska' and the latest, more experimental 'Lamenty' EP.

They presented their music during numerous festivals (Unsound, CTM, Schiev, Up To Date, Tauron Nowa Muzyka, Les Siestes Electroniques, Audioriver) and an assortment of clubs (including the legendary Berghain) in Poland and abroad (Berlin, London, Prague, Oslo, Copenhagen, Ljubljana). They remixed tracks by Kamp and Baasch, recorded mixes for Resident Advisor, DJ Mag, HӦR and CRACK, composed and created impromptu live music for interactive theatre plays: Method of National Constellations, quadraphonic sound for Jawić się, music for a Women’s Strike street theatre Manifesta and original score for Ideologix, a US-written and directed queer opera.

In the club their seventeen-year experience of supporting queer, anti-fascist and underground scenes results in an almost annoyingly disparate selection of the most forward-thinking sound offered by today’s scene. In their series of DJ-sets and club nights they blend unusual rhythmic patterns kicked up a notch with their improvised vocals.

BAD ZU - SMILE AGAINST BULLET

Hyperboloid Records