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You can stream this week's RecommNeds and previous featured releases through these
handy RDIO and Spotify
playlists as part
of the JamBase channels for each.
Jazz is the new punk rock is the new jazz…
Mehliana :
Taming the Dragon
Take the names Mehldau and Guiliana and mash them together and you’ve got Mehliana,
a name that evokes
something different and bigger than the sum of its parts. Take the piano of the former and
the drumming of the latter
and you have something that’s unexpectedly different and bigger than the sum of its parts.
The music on Taming
the Dragon is not your father’s Brad Mehldau; these songs drowned piano trio jazz in
the bathtub. The album
starts with a narration of a weird dream interspersed by a futuristic funk groove. From
there it’s a totally electric and
electrifying set of keys-and-drums duos: part Electric Miles, part kapow!
Spotify: Mehliana – Taming the Dragon
Rhapsody: Mehliana – Taming the Dragon
Badbadnotgood :
III
Another group starting from a jazz base that evolves into a vanilla-chocolate swirl is
Badbadnotgood, from
Toronto. Their new album, III, showcases their piano-trio-meets-hip-hop sound,
with nine well-honed tracks.
The formula seems simple, but it’s all in the execution, and BBNG takes the individual
flavors of their influences and
mixes them into a unique sound. Also, it’s pretty damn groovy. One of my favorite “jazz”
albums of the year so far.
Enjoy!
Spotify: Badbadnotgood – Can't Leave The Night
Rhapsody: Badbadnotgood – Can't Leave The Night
Free Nelson
MandoomJazz :
Double EP
Sticking to this week’s theme, I’ll wrap up this week’s picks with Free Nelson
Mandoomjazz from Edinburgh. Their
new album is actually two EP’s, The Shape of DoomJazz to Come and Saxophone
Giganticus,
whose titles play on two classic, groundbreaking jazz albums from Ornette Coleman and
Sonny Rollins. Maybe it’s a
little presumptuous to put themselves in such company, but I don’t think it’s too serious.
The music, though? That’s
some serious business: heavy, slow-moving “doom jazz” – jazz meets metal -- with
traditional sax blowing matching
some seriously fuzzed out electric bass. To give you an idea on where these guys are
coming from, the final track is a
cover of “Black Sabbath”…and it’s pretty darn good.
Spotify: Free Nelson MandoomJazz – Double EP
Rhapsody: Free Nelson MandoomJazz – Double EP
Written By: Aaron Stein
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