Photo by Jasmine Safaeian
As a member of the M|O|D crew, then located in Boston, Colby Zinser, better known as C.Z., saw a pretty remarkable rise into the popular consciousness a few years ago, going from an unknown music student making hip hop beats with friends to an early instigator of the sound we now call “trap”. While Zinser, as well as fellow M|O|D members Arnold, Lil Texas, Rewrote and Yung Satan, were initially swallowed by the burgeoning EDM behemoth, the C.Z. sound has always been more than that, both in terms of its contemporary references and the manner in which fans interact with it. Despite taking a break from M|O|D collaborative work, C.Z.’s star has only risen in the past year, having collaborated on production work for Elijah Blake’s “I Just Wanna”, toured China and Japan and continued to fine-tune his Iceboi project, a series of edits and originals aimed at the colder, more cutting end of the club music spectrum.
His latest project, the I Don’t Feel So Good EP, is the inaugural release on Paul Devro’s Murky Rips label and sees a merging of the C.Z. and Iceboi aesthetics, finger waving anthems that reside in a frozen alien landscape, recalling the work of Kid Antoine and Drippin. And like the aforementioned producers, the references on I Don’t Feel So Good are endless, from grime and trance on “Ready” to UK-derived mechanical drum beats on “Playtime Is Over”. Like much of the music C.Z. and M|O|D champion, the EP involves a lot of sensory overload and Zinser’s Astral Plane mix is no different, comprised mostly of C.Z. originals and edits including a collaboration with the aforementioned Drippin. In the mix, clouded rap from Glo Gang member Lil Flash butts up against an ecstatic synth workout from Murlo before C.Z. delves into more traditional speed garage. Grab I Don’t Feel So Good here and check out the full C.Z. interview below.
The Astral Plane 