Review: Estonian label RR Gems continues to fly the flag for the finest experimental jazz music, introducing the world to the sound of EEG Coherence. Recorded at the legendary Hotel 2 Tango studios in Montreal, their debut album is a flowing, engrossing affair which flirts with free jazz forms while keeping a certain smoky, groove-minded vibe at the centre of the rhythm section. It lopes and slopes, letting prominent guitar work needle its way around looming basslines and splashy, spaced-out drums with splashes of vocals, flutes, sax and keys darting about in the mix for good measure. If you value free jazz you can latch onto, this album is a must-check.
Review: Mukatsuku are long-time friends with Norway's Espen Horne so it makes sense they have moved to issue a couple of instrumentals following on from the quickly sold out success of a limited 7" he dropped on Wah Wah 45's in late 2023. This hand-numbered 45 features 'Bakeren' which in vocal form was a big hit with Gilles Peterson and Craig Charles amongst others. On the flip is a version of Bergen Sunrays', here renamed 'Rory's Sunrays', and featuring some great organ work from London-based musician Rory More.
Review: Jacob Long's fourth full-length LP for Kranky hears the artist otherwise known as Earthen Sea expand his repertoire to an almost full reimagining, taking to the now longstanding Earthen Sea moniker from the fresh incarnation as a "piano trio", rather than a solo production effort. Though we gather this might not genuinely be the case, all it took was a simple shift in self-imagining to fashion a completely different take on a still so far meditative sound. Here elements were chopped and resampled, then layered with bass, drums, percussion and additional keys; the result is a fusion of live band acoustics and downtempo loops, sculpted into nine smoke-and-mirror dubs of fractured jazz, soft-focus noir and trip hop dust.
Review: There is much debate these days about whether albums should even exist any more in the face of playlists and streams and the consume what you want when you want era in which we live. But that won't stop people from trying, and try they should, especially when the results can be as rewarding and compelling as this record from the duo from Even Drones. It is a 20-track double 12" approach like a classic album of the 60s and 70s with all four sides adding their own chapter to the overall whole. Twisted arrangements, danceable tracks, leftfield house, downtempo, ambient and more add up to a superb listen.
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