20.03.20

Has the world caught up with Zebra Katz? When the artist, songwriter and producer released his first single, the acerbic Ima Read, way back in 2012, the lexicon of the queer black experience was not nearly as ubiquitous as it is now, and the track’s shady spitfire was unlike anything to hit the club in a long time.

Fast forward to the present day: RuPaul is hosting SNL, Pose is snatching awards left and right and, for better or for worse, those once-fully underground aspects of queer culture are as entrenched in the mainstream as they’ve ever been.

For his debut album, you’d almost expect Zebra Katz to rest upon those laurels and casually release Ima Read Part 2, but instead, LESS IS MOOR is a rage-filled, brain-throbbing collection of bangers that culls equally from techno, industrial, hip-hop, drum‘n’bass and post-punk. Zebra Katz’s flow is still as exacting and staccato as ever, reaching military-grade levels of precision on songs like standout single ISH. His ability to seamlessly shift cadences and tempos carries the album through its many moods, while maintaining the same unsettling-yet-enticing atmosphere.

Eight years after introducing himself to the world, it feels like Zebra Katz has finally arrived, and LESS IS MOOR is as incendiary and indelible a calling card as any.

Cameron Cook