Zombies are the new vampires. AMC has scored record ratings for "The Walking Dead" and the ghost of Richard Nixon is being summoned to fight zombies.  Zombies are on the march.

But Nocando and Nobody aren't followers. The genesis of their Bomb Zombies collaboration stems from an auspiciously fated trip to Japan, where Nobody warded off insomnia by downloading hours and hours' worth of rap radio hits. After presumably synthesizing everything from "You're a Jerk" to "Lollipop," he proposed that he and Nocando do an entire EP riffing on the sound of modern-day mainstream hip-hop.

The result is "Sincerely Yours," a funhouse with a stripper pole installed, pregnant with minimal Roland 808 handclaps, Auto-Tune and enough bass to melt ice. This is no big surprise -- the DJ born Elvin Estela spent much of the spring making beat kids touch their toes by playing Ludacris' "How Low" on the Low End Theory's marrow-splintering sound system. But he's best known for making glitchy psychedelic headnods for the likes of Busdriver, Freestyle Fellowship and Nocando -- the latest stand-out alumni of the Project Blowed club.

Spinning freaky tales of groupies and random debauchery, Bomb Zombies is the beat scene's version of a 2 Live Crew record. Stripping the intelligent out of the so-called Intelligent Dance Music subgenre of the late '90s, the pair bridge the gap between the contemporary L.A. underground and classic Miami bass -- two scenes mutually bonded by their love of heavy low end.

One of the highlights is "Over the Edge," with its beat that sounds like "Boyz n the Hood," had it been constructed in the era of surplus swag, and with a hook pilfered from Grandmaster Flash's "The Message." An unusually versatile MC, Nocando steers from the more heady abstractions offered on this year's stellar "Jimmy the Lock" mixtape to spin a tale of strippers and getting sauced. Thankfully, his intricate wordplay and charisma stays intact.

Released this week on Nocando's own Hellyfyre Club Records -- an imprint of Alpha Pup -- Pop and Hiss is premiering the track in question.

Download: (Pop & Hiss Premiere)
MP3: Bomb Zombies (Nobody and Nocando) -- "Over the Edge"

-- Jeff Weiss

Photo: Nobody and Nocando. Credit: Bnut

Jay-Z's epitaph to auto-tune never made it to Nobody, the venerable local producer, DJ and,  now, singer-songwriter. One can interpret this only as a good thing. Granted, the addiction to artificial vocals endemic in contemporary urban music mostly breeds limp party music, but when properly employed it's capable of conveying a sense of robotic alienation and poignancy.

Thankfully, "Sleep for Daze," the first single from Nobody's "One for All Without Hesitation," channels the darker side of the studio tool, allowing the erstwhile Elvin Esela to project a bombed-out and blunted despondency.

Sounding like an "808s & Heartbreak"-era Kanye West doing a cover of a Free the Robots song, the cumulative effect makes you think of the first line from Craig Mack's "Flava' in Ya Ear": "That ol' robotic futuristic George Jetson, crazy joint."

Over a bedrock of martial drums, Nobody displays a fully formed knack for composition, dividing the song into mini-suites filled with slashing distorted guitars and vocals that sound bathed in battery acid. The refrain, "I don't care how long it takes... as long as you hear me," splits the difference between sad and sinister -- something like an industrial analogue to Darkstar's "Aidy's Girl Is a Computer."