Garajazz

This is not the kind of album you'd expect from Musea, even from its Musea Parallèle imprint. Progressive drum'n'bass? Symphonic electro free jazz with a worldbeat touch? Not sure, but in such cases, micro-classification means very little. The enigmatic Saul was once a member of the group JCBB and started as a jazz/blues musician. On this platter of warped electronica, he handles everything: guitars, percussion, flute and violin, plus lots of keyboards, sampling and programming. The first thing you think of is drum'n'bass — ultra-fast snare drum/bass drum patterns, synthetic moods, hyperkinetic drive. However, alien elements quickly impose themselves on the listener and genres get blurry. Noise guitar, soundscape experiments, wild free jazz samples and ethnic music quotes all drag the music "elsewhere." And then, there is the way the music is structured: complex, prog rock-like changes, even though tracks remain short. Numerous influences pop up along the way, from Portishead ("Little Lucile") to Rachid Taha ("Kebab") and Art of Noise ("Lynch Mode"), but they are like ephemeral landscapes on a frantic train ride. The album's title (a wordplay on "garage jazz") refers to the D.I.Y. way Saul put these pieces together, but there is nothing demo-like in them. Yes, some samples are rough around the edges, but, like Art of Noise used to do, this sharp-cutting becomes its own style. Garajazz is definitely not for your average progressive rock audience, which is Musea's main market, after all, but music fans eager to be taken off-guard — and fans of mutant techno — will probably find this unusual release to their taste. Recommended. ~ François Couture, Rovi