Elements 2024: Corporate Wooks Mix – ZIÑO (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

I have to say that I love the randomness of working as a music writer, one who is open to all sounds, styles, genres, and approaches. One minute, you are writing about sedate classical music; the next, anthemic metal, and then artists like ZIÑO.

His latest one, Elements 2024: Corporate Wooks Mix, is an exciting concept even before we get to the music itself. With Elements EDM Festival offering grassroots musicians the chance to play their Sound Camp event, each entrant had to download the core stems of the track and turn them into their own musical submission to win over the judges and secure a place. With just the loose idea that it should fit a general EDM vibe, the contestants were free to take the music where they wanted.

ZIÑO has created a glitchy, dubstep piece, all skittering percussion and random electronica running over a bass and beat groove, at least to begin with. Over the not-quite 30 minutes of music, the track has plenty of room to evolve, changing form to take in everything from Dub-heavy bass interludes to walls of cavernous sonics, from electronic, grime-infused salvos to deft and dexterous digital raps…and everything in between.

Music should be adventurous; it should subvert expectations and reinvent itself as it travels…build the plane while it is in flight, as the saying goes. And this Corporate Wooks Mix does all of that and more. Would I watch his set? Would I throw some crazy shapes, flip my wig, cut a rug, or whatever the dance squad calls it these days? Hell yeah!