Lawndale, California multi-instrumentalist Zachary Chacon has long treated electronic music as a shifting, unpredictable canvas. Operating under the moniker Hollywood Video Game Kill-Bot, Zachary has previously used releases like ‘Wild Crazy’ to establish a reputation for fearless, erratic sonic exploration. His latest offering, ‘Tough’, doubles down on this aesthetic, delivering three and a half minutes of uncompromising, experimental electronic rock that demands absolute focus from the listener.
Zachary openly draws inspiration from pioneering electronic and industrial titans, noting, "My style of music that I make is experimental electronic rock. My influences are Skinny Puppy, Bruce Haack, Kraftwerk, Duran Duran, Ministry, and many more." Those reference points are starkly apparent throughout ‘Tough’, which marries the mechanical precision of classic synth-pop with the harsh, grating textures of late-80s industrial noise.
True to its title, the track refuses to offer an easy listening experience. It opens with an immediate assault of sound, throwing the listener directly into a turbulent whirlwind of frenetic, clashing frequencies. The arrangement is built around a chaotic jangle of textures, where scattered digital notes and 8-bit chip-tune melodies battle against a backdrop of relentless, hammered chords. Instead of standard verse-chorus arrangements, the song structures feel fluid and alive.
Zachary’s guitar work is particularly notable; rather than sitting passively on top of the electronic production, his playing aggressively interacts with the digital architecture, bending and morphing alongside the synths to craft a deeply cerebral, futuristic environment.
While the sheer density of the noise can initially feel overwhelming, patience reveals a compelling central hook buried beneath the digital debris. It is an unapologetically avant-garde piece of music, less suited for casual radio rotation and far better tailored to fuel late-night creative flow or inspire vivid, cinematic imagination. Some listeners might find the fleeting melodic moments a bit too sparse amidst the overall turbulence, but as an exercise in pushing boundaries, it succeeds wildly.
Plug into their digital universe by tracking Hollywood Video Game Kill-Bot across streaming platforms, Instagram, and Facebook.
