| | | Ratings (9) |
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| 3.5 great | Bedex | April 20th 20 |
Up to the last two tracks, I was going to 3.8 this. The album has a soul and lots of great moments. 1 is probably the weakest before those last two closers - I don't like the prod on it (and it is the only track where prod was a problem) with over-agressive cymbals, and while some of the rhythm changes are cool they often feel contrived. 2 after that is a far better track, with a nice piano+bass transition section and a fun conclusion. 3 is probably the best track here, more on the emotional pretty side of things, emphasised by the bowed bass (? string thing) which turns it into a superb jam. 4 continues in that style, then 5 intelligently brings the energy and groove before superbly albeit derivatively ending on Hisaishi chords. 6 already shows sign of the decline the album will undergo, with weird sections where the drums come in and go abruptly early on and in the midtrack. While imperfect, it still has cool moments - I love the key change from 5 in the intro, the section between the intro and the midtrack is nice and the bass solo in the last third is fun as a hell - and wouldn't have prevented this from being a 3.8. But the last two track feel like they prolong the album erratically and unnecessarily, going into weird electronic grooves - while I appreciate the intent, I don't think it is executed well. From the midtrack on, 7 goes back into the earlier album style and is quite nice and groovy, but 8 is all over the place. The conclusion in particular is symptomatic of this, and the two tracks bring this down to a 3.65
Bump |
| 3.7 great | Erwann S. STAFF | March 26th 20 |
The Polish trio comes back with their tight and cinematic nu jazz fusion. The production is incredibly crisp, as each hit on the toms pounds hard and brings a new hardness to the band's sound. However, if everything sounds good, the mix is not always perfect, as the bass is only shining when it's soloing; the rest of the time, it's lost behind the piano and drums. The electronic bits are present as expected, but in a discrete way. It's clear the goal here was to use these Moog bleep bloops as a way to enhance the trio progression rather than as a true fourth instrument. While that often works, it would be interesting to see the band experimenting with this sound and offer an electronic-led jazz piece. They aaaalmost do it on Intensity but it's not exactly there yet. I'm niggling, as you could always ask more of an artist/band. All in all this is really cool, but in all honesty I sometimes felt like I was listening to a 2014 BBNG record
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | TwigTW | January 7th 21 |
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