If you don’t get goosebumps at least a couple of times on your first listen to the the Zulu album, then I don’t even know what to tell you. Zulu, the Los Angeles hardcore band, have been building an identity and an aesthetic for a few years. They play fast, intense, heavy music, but they combine it with interludes of funk and jazz and hip-hop and spoken-word, and it all works together to create a specific but panoramic depiction of Black American culture and experience. Today, they release their full-length debut, and we might not get a more ambitious hardcore record this year.

Right now, Zulu are on a beast of a tour with Show Me The Body, Jesus Piece, and Scowl. I showed up too late to catch Zulu at that show’s Richmond stop — don’t be like me — but everyone has been saying that their sets have been crazy. I believe it. The hard parts on Zulu’s new album A New Tomorrow are really, really hard. Zulu combine those parts with songs that go in vastly different directions, and with samples of reggae and Curtis Mayfield classics that are sometimes longer than the Zulu tracks themselves. That omnivorous approach can keep you from getting into a groove with the album. (The funk instrumental “Shine Eternally” was killing me at the gym this morning.) But with a band like Zulu, rupture is the point. You’re not supposed to get into a groove.

A New Tomorrow can be angry and defiant, but it can also be celebratory. Even the quieter parts burst with energy and expressiveness. I have a feeling that this record is going to blow some minds. We’ve already posted the early tracks “Fakin Tha Funk (You Get Did),” “Where I’m From,” and “We’re More Than This.” Below, you can hear the whole record and watch their absolutely stunning new video for “From Tha Gods To Earth.”

A New Tomorrow is out now on Flatspot Records.