Zombie Nation

• Genre: U.K./Euro Techno

About

Zombie Nation enjoys the rare position of being famous even to millions of people who have no idea of his existence. That's thanks to his song "Kernkraft 400," a minimalist electro track from 1999 that inexplicably went on to become a sports-event anthem. But there's a lot more to Zombie Nation's Florian Senfter than Jock Jams. Drawing from both classic electro's clean, machine-set cadences and the murkier sonics of experimental techno, Senfter has carved out an idiosyncratic body of work. Having established his electro credentials with 1999's Leichenschmaus and its runaway hit, he returned in 2002 with "Unload," an Italo-disco vamp featuring Berlin minimal-house diva Cassy Britton. In 2006, sophomore album Black Toys offered a richer vision, with fluid arrangements and somber tones offsetting brittle rhythms and overdriven synths. The album sounds like a missing link between Kompakt's brand of electro-pop and Britain's cheekier breakbeat enthusiasts. In 2009, Zombie Nation returned with Zombielicious, a brash collection of galloping jams with its zombie eye clearly focused on fans of LCD Soundsystem and Justice.

- Philip Sherburne