7/23/2023 0 Comments Lightspeed university tumblrAnd yes, there’s even a touch of jazz here, though while mature enough to merit the “adult” moniker, I wouldn’t by any means call it easy listening. Drums clatter and clack with a mind of their own. A trombone helps anchor several tracks, buoying the end of “Hum” through the rafters, only to settle to a soft landing once again on “Bonedigger”. “Idiot Mantra”, drenched in echo and studded with electronics, sounds like eavesdropping on a pagan ritual in the deepest jungle. “Pigeon Skulls” traces a haunting Celtic melody over folksy guitar and autumnal cellos. The icy glitch-blues of “Springful” cracks open into a chiming guitar-stomp breakdown, then just as quickly refreezes into chilled synth wash. Despite their youth, the band experiment here wisely and fruitfully. ![]() Burying the most infectious parts of a sublimely-constructed pop song four minutes into your album’s intro seems like a risky move on paper, but Adult Jazz pull it off brilliantly.įrom there, the record’s pieces are scattered all over the page. It’s not until halfway through that the drums kick in, and they do so in halting stop-start fashion, stumbling over themselves for two bars before locking into a deliciously funky groove. ![]() The melody lilts every which way over the cathedral buzz, dancing gracefully around the tangled mouth of its empty well, until it lurches and drops suddenly into a brilliant key change and pitch-shifted harmonies. It asserts itself as quietly challenging and uncompromising from the get-go, with an extended drone and vocal warm-up that forms the first movement of eight-minute opener “Hum”. All I know is, Gist Is easily ranks as one of the most appealing releases I’ve heard all year, and by far the best debut. I don’t know anything about the band, outside of names and what little information I could glean from their few interviews. quartet from Leeds University: Adult Jazz. But were I to throw all my money in on a single band to make a lasting impression in the current UK (and world) circles, based entirely on the strength of one phenomenal first record, I’d go with the other A.J. I mean, if we’re speaking solely in terms of slightly skewed sonic elements and song structure, sure, let alt-J qualify as “art rock”. Foals are art rock, right? Or at least used to be? Wild Beasts? Wikipedia tells me alt-J, causing me to glance at a nonexistent camera like Jim from the Office. Lines are smeared to near-unrecognizability. ![]() But in the wake of the post- Kid A era, virtually everyone’s been extending the limits of all music, mad scientists synthesizing outlandish genre fusion. You’ve probably already got an image of your favorite modern indie auteurs in mind - perhaps Dirty Projectors, Swans, Liars, Ponytail? According to our friends at Wikipedia, it's a form of music which wanted to extend the limits of rock & roll, and opted for a more experimental and conceptual outlook on music". What the hell is “art rock”, anyway? Since the amalgamation of art & avant-garde tendencies by pop bands in the 60s, the term’s gotten harder and harder to define. But over the weekend, I discovered one of the best new albums I’ve heard in a long time - I literally CANNOT STOP LISTENING TO THIS - and it happens to come from a virtually-unknown little UK art-rock group. (Seriously, though.) And it’s seldom that a band will throttle me back into review mode straight out of a months-long writing slump. I haven’t been reviewing much lately - perhaps out of ennui with writing, or life in general perhaps because it’s just been a really weak year for music.
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