Salami Joe Louis' Zdenka 2080 is a fascinating, unpredictable cosmic trip

If you hadn’t guessed it from her stage name, Salami Rose Joe Louis isn’t your ordinary, straight-laced kind of woman. She seems to live her life on a slant; a different angle from the rest of us, which brings a unique perspective to her music and story-telling. A sweetened, hazy mellow encompasses every note she touches. Is it something she’s smoking? Well, sort of, as she explains:

“I live in a very strange and sleepy little town. There is a giant sugar factory and the whole town often smells like marshmallows and caramel, which is ideal.”

Zdenka 2080 is like an intense sugar rush, so intense that you find yourself hurtling down a mind-bending rabbithole, far more futuristic than the one Alice fell through. Inspired by apocalyptic sci-fi novels, Manga, and Louis’ own love of the slightly-off-centre, this record is part psychedelic short story, part bizarre beat tape. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Stereolab, Flying Lotus and Herbie Hancock, the album tells a tale of a dying Earth, as a young earthling travels through different dimensions in search of a way to save her planet. We won’t spoil the plot for you, but it’s one hell of a ride.

Louis’ music is a progression from the L.A. beat scene sound that was born in the late 2000s. She takes the woozy, sub-bass-soaked beats and splashes glittering melodics over the top, adding her own little sprinkle of icing sugar. Listening to Zdenka 2080 is a little like how it would feel to be floating through space: disorientating and fascinating, leaving you with a constant tingly feeling upon your skin as your drift ever closer to the sun.