Hollywood Video Game Kill-Bot – 2035
Zachary Chacon is not someone who wastes his time chasing trends. From Lawndale, California, he has spent years building his own universe of experimental electronic rock music under the name Hollywood Video Game Kill-Bot, playing all the instruments himself and making use of samples and digital production software. His influences, Kraftwerk, Skinny Puppy, Duran Duran, Ministry and Bruce Haack, are not names you would normally throw together, but here they form the logical building blocks for a sound that seems to come straight out of a 1987 school computer, albeit upgraded and with sharp edges intact. ‘2035’ is his most coherent statement to date.
Anyone familiar with Chacon’s earlier singles and albums, already knew this album would sound like a game cartridge fed through a distortion pedal. And ‘2035’ delivers exactly that, but with more direction than ever before. The record sounds like a soundtrack to a science fiction film that was never made, somewhere between an arcade hall and an abandoned data centre. The production rests on layered 8-bit textures, crackling synths and rhythmic structures that owe more to the motorised precision of krautrock than to the polished electronic pop of the moment. That is a deliberate choice, and a refreshing one.
‘Wild Crazy’ is the undisputed highlight of the record. The track opens like a digital avalanche and maintains that kinetic energy for its entire duration. It is the kind of song that functions as a direct injection for anyone whose ears need waking up. ‘Backroads’ is its counterpart: where ‘Wild Crazy’ attacks head-on, ‘Backroads’ works through layered guitar riffs and cybernetic synths that continuously warp and expand. ‘Race Track’ and the Kraftwerk-like ‘Fuzz’ are compact, aggressive bursts that keep the momentum going, while ‘Alley’ creates some breathing room with a darker, more cinematic character.
There are also moments where ‘2035’ slows its own energy without any clear reason for doing so. ‘Music Making Box’ lingers a little too long in its own structure, and ‘When You Get a Guy’ lacks the urgency that defines the stronger tracks. The album would have gained something from slightly tighter editing. The production is also unmistakably DIY, which for many listeners is precisely the charm, but anyone in search of polished sounds should look elsewhere.
That said, this is exactly what makes the project compelling. ‘2035’ sounds like music made by someone who does not ask for permission. It is outspoken, idiosyncratic and rooted in an aesthetic that comes from nowhere else but the nerd brain of someone who grew up with arcade cabinets and synthesisers. For anyone who ever thought the golden age of Atari, early video game soundtracks and synthpop could be fused into something messy but exciting: this is that album. (7/10) (HVGKB)
