8/10

Zach Tabori has always been one to take a hacksaw to his influences and turn them into a symphonic post-mortem of our hyper-digital lives. And with his new album 'Attack of the Clout Chasers', the LA-based shapeshifter unleashes an explosive, whip-smart album that fuses satire and spectacle into something too wild for any playlist algorithm to contain.

Built like a concept record for a collapsing society, 'Clout Chasers' is equal parts rock opera, dystopian theatre, and jazz-drenched fever dream. Tabori, best known as a core member of Dweezil Zappa’s band and a contributor to the likes of Jaden Smith, uses the record as both scalpel and grenade, unpacking everything from performative politics to social media vanity with equal doses of precision and chaos.

It opens deceptively soft with 'Rotten Pt.2', a skeletal moment of reflection that hints at the existential underbelly beneath all the absurdity. But it’s not long before the walls blow out with 'Nann Ray', a full-blown musical meltdown that collides orchestral drama, mutant funk, and sci-fi apocalypse into a track that sounds like Blade Runner reimagined by Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Tabori’s sense of humour is razor-sharp throughout. '...In A Thin White Shirt' is absurdist commentary with teeth, dissecting male fragility and the whiplash of cultural shift with a wink and a wince. 'JFK' punches heavier, diving deep into sanitised family mythologies and national amnesia with a historical lens sharpened to a blade. Elsewhere, the wonderfully titled 'Taliban Boogie' lurches with weaponised groove, a track that could soundtrack a dance party in a Pentagon bunker if anyone dared to throw one.

The record’s closer 'End Of The Fucking World' is both operatic and intimate, an orchestrated collapse captured in odd time signatures and haunted ballet, acting as a final note of beauty in the wreckage.

But what makes 'Attack of the Clout Chasers' so thrilling is the fearless cohesion of it all. Zach Tabori takes styles that rarely share a room, such as baroque jazz, punk snark, art-rock maximalism, and makes them coexist. It’s a full-tilt experience, designed to make you laugh, wince, think, and dance, often at the same time. If you were wondering where the next generation of prog provocateurs might emerge, here’s your answer: wearing an alligator mask, holding a mirror to the mess, and grinning through the noise.