Zzoorrcchh

The first full-length by the Austin duo Zorch leads off with “My Joy Is Explosion,” and seldom has an album opened with a more self-descriptive track. This record bursts out breathlessly in a million directions at once, seeming to revel in each simultaneously. In that sense, the album title itself even seems like some kind of onomatopoeic gesture: the sound of a giant cosmic kiss being planted on the mouth of the universe. There’s so much happening here that it’s hard to believe it’s all the work of two people, but Zac Traeger and a man known as Shmu harness all manner of electric, acoustic, and electronic tools to create one long, ecstatic, and sometimes dizzying statement of jubilation. There’s little left untried, as neo-hippie drum circles meet neon-coated raves and post-psychedelic indie rock collides with a Frank Zappa bootleg fed into a particle accelerator. Primal polyrhythms, mass vocal chants, and giddy synth arpeggios are all part of the plan, but it seamlessly blends into an exultant, eclectic whole; you'll be too taken aback by it all to applaud the master builders.