Review: Leron Thomas, the Houston-born, New York-based musician behind Pan Amsterdam, has spent a life's career shearing genre boundaries; the rapper, jazz trumpeter and producer interprets a dreamlike audio-space where irreal textures intertwine, and his latest album Confines embraces this permuting sound by way of freer improvisations, merging sharp ideas with instinctive spontaneity. Pan An's offbeat, free-associative, streamy lyrics tackle race, identity, and pop culture gleeful insight, while shredder samples from gospel, jazz, and even the Grateful Dead pepper the mix with a swingeing MPC's hand. Also a tribute to his late father, Confines confides in the listener as a musical and spiritual rebirth.
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