That space where electronic music crosses in to tough jazz beats is something that should be shouted about more often. It’s such a large space that’s still constantly explored, but not directly pushed forward.
Maybe it’s the accepted diet of samplers such as Q-Tip, Madlib and Ras G turning it in to something new that the term loses relevance, or the perceived snobbery of jazz writers and aficionados over what is accepted in their inner circle. Or maybe it already happens but both sides of the coin are more determined to push their own thing than be labelled with a sound seen as sampling fodder.
Whatever the cause, the truth is that when it’s done correctly the melding of the spirits creates something really special, existing in a unique sonic space miles away from the imitators.
And here’s where this record seems to fit in. Taking their name from the Museum of Natural History in Berlin (or at least that’s the first hit when you stick it in google), the duo of Naturkunde Museum Ostkreuz (NMO) have captured the freewheeling and organic spirit of hard improvisational jazz drums and covered them in industrial electronics built for the club.
The end result is that you don’t know whether to jack, ball change or chinstroke, though likely one of the first two as this definitely has the vibe to get people moving.
Released on the ever-adventurous Death of Rave label, Tropycaliptic Excursions is three tracks where computer music and live musicianship come together. Muddy keys, synthetic squelch’s and fuzzy manipulated bass travel along at a cracking pace, all of them completed works layered inside and out at every frequency.
A very good record this, one of the best we’ve heard all year, and no matter what you’re in to it’s worth a listen. Quality pressing as always from The Death Of Rave, served up on blue vinyl, limited to 500 copies. If you’ve not got one yet get on it quick.
The Death of Rave are gassed to present the 2nd vinyl release of roiling, computerised No Wave by exciting pan-European duo, N.M.O. Under the mantra – As Strict As Possible – their ‘Tropicalyptic Excursions’ combine militant snares and amorphous SuperCollider shapes in disciplined dancefloor arrangements, p’raps best compared with a melted hybrid of Powell’s cranky engines and EVOL’s mutant rave signals dosed with Low Jack swagger.
They’re dead strange, semi-organic dance creatures, stripped to the bare essentials of shifty rhythm and biting tone, bristling with a concentrated energy that belies their hypnotic, body- scattering effect on the ‘floor.
Without resorting to overly masculine tactics or conventional structures, they carve a path from kinky, pendulous percussion and grinding globular bass squelch laced with computer gremlins in the title track, to the bashy, percolated jag of ‘Talkingabouttalking’ with its metal-tearing build-up, and over to the whooping industrial bounce of ‘Zaragoza Variations’, cut loud and clattering for the B-side by Matt “The Alchemist” Colton.
Like the duo’s striking ‘Nederlandse Maatschappij Ontwikkeling’ 12” and ‘Dominant Akkord’ cassette for Barcelona’s Anòmia label, this 12” is a refreshing inversion and diversion of dancefloor strictures – getting down with a wickedly raw, awkward and freaky rave flex. If you ever get the chance, make sure to check their aerobic live shows for a radical take on contemporary live electronic performance.