Brokenbeat / Nu Jazz Recommendations September 2011

Review: Dan Snaith revisits his Daphni alias for two more highly creative and wonderfully oddball edits. The punk-funk strut of Kiwi outfit Orchestra Of Spheres gets the treatment on the A-Side, with "Hypersphere" tweaked into a floor pleasing melange of smoky guitars, tinny percussion and a quick-but-not-too-quick 4/4 stomp. On the flip Snaith introduces our ears to the lo-fi West African quirk of "Baladins": it's all about the vocals and utterly brilliant /insane guitar line on this one. If you want to add something interesting to your record collection, and let's face it every decent DJ or collector should be striving to do just that, then this is a more than worthy investment. Limited pressing on heavyweight vinyl too...

Review: Impossible Ark serves up this impeccable final edition of the trilogy of Examples of Twelves recordings overseen by Nostalgia 77's Riaan Vosloo. Arriving in highly limited format - only 300 copies have been pressed - Things Will Be sees the Examples Of Twelves ensemble swell to a nonet, yet ably swerve that old adage about too many cooks. The elongated opener "The Way We Were (Nocturne)" eases you in, working through three distinct sections that lay out the ensemble's manifesto for this LP to work to musical structures. From thereon in, gentle pianos are given the space to captivate; horn sections brassily ride out rough and tumble percussive rhythms and on the album's longest track "The Glass Bead Game" all manner of moods are delightfully introduced. Things Will Be is a truly absorbing listen from an ensemble steeped in musical excellence.

Review: Bjork's "Crystalline" has been plucked apart, torn to shreds and pieced back together again by three immense artists for the Crystalline Series. Omar Souleyman, Serban Ghenia and, on this 12", Matthew Herbert, turn "Crystalline" on its head. Herbert's jerky and twisted remix leaves Bjork's lyrics relatively untouched because lets face it, there's not a lot you can do to make Bjork's voice any more experimental and intriguing than in its original form. It's the pretty and almost nursery rhyme music that Herbert gets his genius hands on though and comes up with broken rhythm sections, ricocheting madness and dark, mysterious corners. The instrumental version is exactly that and stripped of Bjork's voice is a musical soundscape that really shows why Matthew Herbert is so revered.