Shackles' Gift

Zun Zun Egui - Shackles' Gift
Critic Score
Based on 10 reviews
2015 Ratings: #135 / 1021
User Score
Based on 80 ratings
2015 Rank: #387
January 27, 2015 / Release Date
LP / Format
Bella Union / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

90
musicOMH
This is a difficult album to find fault with – not only on an immediate, aesthetic level, but also on a more considered, objective one.
90
AllMusic
This time they have not only trod on the toes of many of their peers, they have left them in their wake.
85
The 405
The way the band supports and jumps off one another - moving from quiet, introspective moments to brash rallying cries in the blink of an eye - means that there's rarely a dull moment on the record.
80
Drowned in Sound
Zun Zun Egui's endlessly enjoyable second album is a bold and brilliant statement - an amorphous thing that entices and beguiles whilst simultaneously delivering heart-quickening thrills.
80
DIY
It’s a record of brilliant diversity that crosses easily between different musical cultures.
80
The Line of Best Fit

We have Shackle’s Gift, a multilingual, experimental freakout of fusion, funk and free jazz that draws influences from every corner of the world (both physical and musical) and reforms them as solid, sedimentary rocks of pop music.

tinymusiccritic
68

I really wanted to like this record, particularly after my ears so enjoyed the Talking Heads-esque chorus to African Tree, but something about it just puts me off. The album sounds great (Andrew Hung of Fuck Buttons infamy handled production duties and his work with the low-end is awesome) and there's an undeniable energy; however, the vocals are just too obnoxious, self-important and cock-posturingly rocky for my liking - like Robert Plant at carnaval. With his penis out. Whilst the ... read more

EMR
72

A welcome surprise in early 2015. This amorphous, energic and vibrant but still enigmatic record sounds like an unstoppable earthquake, as the band seems eager to explore unnusual ideas in one song after another. Zun Zun Egui brings to Shackles' Gift the energy and virtuousness of bands like The Mars Volta with the tingling rythmic darkness of this year's Mbongwana Star with very incisive results. Rigid Man and African Tree incorporate african drumming and rythms while Ruby and I Want You to ... read more

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Contributions By
patton, thisisabtlgrnd, erik, Glitchy


Added on: December 29, 2014