Mixing jazz with electronic beats is as about as old as the creation of electronic beats. One could even link it back to rap acts of the 1980s like Gang Starr who used almost exclusively jazz samples to back Guru's spoken rap style or Stetsasonic used both a backing band and DJ king Prince Paul. In the post-Tortoise, post-Aphex Twin world, the mixture of beats and jazz has really become the new fusion, a more exciting breed of jazz than what the old guard is doing, but fairly ignored by jazzbos due to its impure origins. While Squarepusher moves the Aphex Twin one-man-band model into a purer fusion frame, German bands like Kammerflimmer Kollektief and The Tied + Tickled Trio use a full orchestra and (re-)mix that with assorted electronics. Continuing along the same lines as the Germans, Jaga Jazzist is a ten-member strong group of Norwegians who create a undeniably listenable mixture of jazz and electronics. Animal Chin is the band's first American release and is very much a promotional EP being sold in stores as it features three songs off the band's last album A Livingroom Hush, one song off of their upcoming album The Stix, a 15-minute remix from a 12", and two other tracks. Title track "Animal Chin" opens the song with a frantic vibes part but then injects some sonic razor stubble to throw you off the melody. Headphone music at its best, the song fills your ears with sounds, bouncing back and forth, inciting synapses to fire. The epic 15-minute remix, "Going Down" by fellow Smalltown Supersound artist Kim Hiorthey, is also stellar—one of the best long remixes since the "DJed" EPs—slowly evolving and unfolding, creating a very mellow vibe. While most of this EP is great music, the one unreleased, non-remix song, "Tristar," is a bore, sounding like two Weather Report songs played simultaneously. While Animal Chin does serve as a great introduction to this great band, it will soon become worthless after you immediately go out and buy the old and new albums. Both should be available in the US soon through Ninja Tune.
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