jimmie.hu

great stuff ahead folks: badbadnotgood, the young and super fresh jazz trio from canada just dropped their latest album BBNG2. its a digital release only, it comes with a beautiful photo booklet and artwork - and its completely free. its pretty new so i did not have the chance to listen to it extensively yet. but i can say already that this one is a good one! it features the actual trio of matthew a tavers on keys, chester hansen on bass and alexander sowinski on drums. the three of them got backed up by leland whitty on sax + luan phung on guitar. they considered it important to point out that no one involved in the production of their album was actually older than 21 years. it’s impressive, i admit, but i stopped wondering about young super-musicians years ago (this actually reminds me to share some great stuff by austin peralta with you guys soon. dope shit). what gets me way more is that fact that it was recorded in a 10 hours live recording session, including al electronics, synthies and what have you. that is seriously great stuff ad give the album a somewhat compact and intense feel. its a really refreshing mix of catchy, electronic sometime a bit poppy jazz sounds that will definitely enter my top list for this year straight away. bbng2 holds nine original compositions + 2 covers - and after BBNG, their debut from last year, that was including covers only (pretty good ones though) its great to hear some more originality this time.

so. no more writing and reading. click right here to get your share.

intriguing. that would be the least you can say about tigran hamasyan. the 24 year old pianist from armenia manages to meet just the right balance between complexity and music tension.

this video was produced by mathieu mastin for kidam and their jazzed out series in paris. you might know it actually, the new york edition that is - it featured a lot of great musicians like eric harland, jose james, steve coleman, lionel louke, gretchen parlato and many more. great stuff!

but let’s get back to tigran, shall we. over the past weeks i really fell into his music. its always exciting and kind of refreshing i recon. while moving through obscure, highly energetic rhythmical and harmonical compositions hamasyan always conveys a very precise and distinct musical picture, that might have come from an improvisational journey but has arrived at a clarified and well composed level. he has released and recorded several albums since 2006 to this point already, which makes him a rather prolific musician. and a versatile one: in 2009 he got together his own ensemble, called aratta rebirth (featuring the great nate wood on drums amongst others). their release red hail is not only super energetic but also a quite powerful statement, linking his carefeully arranged jazz works with the spirit of frank zappa, led zeppelin, the beatles - and some pretty massiv sound sculptures. however red hail might seem quite distict from his early albums like world passion in 2006, you will always find his very personal characteristic note that has this refreshing and deeply embedded understanding and consciousness of armenian folklore. however, when i talk about this pop-character earlier, that does not mean his music is becoming more and more simple or even lowbrow. he just manages to convey his pretty demanding musical message i a very catchy, convenient and melodic way.

this gets obvious especially on his 2010 solo release a fable: in 14 well composed pieces that all hold an almost mystic atmosphere, floating between dissonant, strange and sometime unsettling elements and warm harmonic patterns, lucid melodies and folkloresc song elements. this makes it easier to listen to on the one hand - but also may be a reason that at least some of his songs are certainly clearer and quicker to fully understand than others. i’m not sure yet, what to think about that… throughout the album you will hear him singing, fizzing and whistling, making his music natural, tangible even. this impression fits quite well to his latest release from 2011, EP N°1, a full instrumental album, bringing in the like of jeff ballard and nate wood as well as traditional instruments and sounds, that are carefully integrated and definitely enrich the whole record. eventhough some of his works might seem just a bit too poppy - for my taste at least - hamasyan is definitely worth a close and careful listen. for now though, you can check him out right here! :)

just recently I came across a noticeable jazz trio from up north. splashgirl combine vibrant and colourful jazz music with distinct field recordings, electronic and acoustic sounds and patterns - and just the right susceptibility for a well-balanced mix of all that. their music alters between thouroughly composed ensemble pieces and massive and rather obfuscating noise sculptures, between pulsating time and ambient, moonily sound scapes. splashgirl consists of pianst andreas stensland løwe, drummer andreas lønmo knudsrød and bassist jo berger myhre. you actually have come acros the two latter ones when playing with blokk 5 (definitely worth to check out). originally from norway they released three album thus far of which the latest - pressure - clearly struck me the most. the trio got backed up by several guest musicians on most of their records. being well connected to many other projects and band through out the norwegian jazz scene this brings some nice fresh wind into all of their albums.

after their debut doors.keys. (aim) in 2007 - a decent still, but rather ‘settled’ piece of art, exploring the dimensions of free and yet well organized trio works - they released their follow-up arbor (hubro) in 2009. this one (for me at least) kind of marked a hint to the direction they would move from here on, set well in between structured trio jazz music and experimental, open and inclusive compositions as heard on their latest release. i in love the wide spaces, the precise and thoughtful moves and patterns that evolve throughout arbor. like all their music this one is often set together by minimalistic repetitive structures that through time gain this staggering, pulsating energy. their latest release pressure however was also released on hubro (by the way a beautiful label, featuring mats eilertsen, kjetil brjørnstad, huntsville and more), just another two years after arbor. it features guitarist juhani silvola and partly combines the qualities of the former ones and yet dares to go the whole way, unafraid of any distrubing, abrupt or unsettling findings there may be.

i fell in love with the whole album, but already on my very first listen, i just got struck by one piece in particular: concerning this square caught my attention right away. starting off in a pretty dense, scurrying manner it just builds and builds over time (guests erik johannesen’s trombone and martin taxt’s tuba manage to bring in this wonderful warmth) until it all opens up, revealing a beautifully light, warm and lyric piano ending. you should actually go ahead and have a listen right here. an then check out what else they have got.

oh, they are actually touring right now, so make sure to check their schedule if they are somewhere near you.

i like jazz music. i like electronic music. i dont like either-ors.

having said that, let’s talk about some guys who might see this equally. first off is a wonderful four-men jazz group around sebastian studnitzky that calls itself portico quartet. they have been praised for their cool and uncomplicated yet unique and fascinating deep sound scapes. and i totally agree: their latest release islas (real world recordings) gets me literally every time i listen to it!

second is someone i have been talking about earlier before. he is calls himself sbtrkt, he is from london, and he does something that some people call ‘future garage’. he is well respected (and played) by guys like sinden, mary anne hobbs, and gilles peterson and he did some really awesome remixes for the likes of modeselektor, basement jaxx, gorillaz and (of course) jose james. until today i’m not yet sure what it is, but something about his sound is just unique - and it really gets me.

now what happened was quite lucky: sbtrkt revisitd and remixed a tune by portico quartet. what came out is a stunning little three-track-ep that does not loose the hypnotic sound of portico’s original and yet kind of gets the groove in there. my today’s repeat-all-album.

so check out portico’s original (by the way a beautiful video, shot by york tillyer).

and click play for sbtrkt’s point of view:)

introducing: mr jose james. he escorted me through the day and im still listening to his vibrant sounds right now at my sofa. after his debut the dreamer on brownswood in 2008 mr james didn’t take long to present his follow-up blackmagic in 2009. he of course sticks with his patron and colleague, the legenday gilles peterson (classic). however after the cool, jazzy and acoustic sounds on the dreamer, we now find a rather lively compilation of decent tracks between hiphop, soul and electrified jazz on his follow-up. in combination with his unique soft voice this makes up to a wonderful and varied record. an absolute recommendation!

well, the actual trigger for this post was however another finding i stumbled upon the other day: in april brownwood released a stunning 3-track-ep featuring remixes of james’ track “warrior” that has originally been released on blackmagic. the personnel on this one is once again giving reason for high expectations: sbtrkt is featured as well as jus wan and (my personal favorite) rockwell (soon to be featured here as well). I’d say, once again mr peterson proved impressively you can rely on him :)

or to put it with his words: They all killed it.