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Trollheart · 01-26-2016, 11:25 AM

Title: Zen J Jazz
Artiste: Jarboe
Genre: Um...
Familiarity: Zero
Recommended by: bob

Expectations: This is an interesting one. No sign of it on her discography on Wiki, Discogs has it but shows all songs untitled, then when I find it on Spotify (which was something of a surprise) there are titles for all tracks. So I'm going to go with those titles. As far as what I can expect, not the first scooby. Jazz is in the title, so I may be running for cover, but we'll see.

1. It's on me: Pretty ethereal, sort of tribal, Arabic, something like that. Relaxing. Very nice. Seems to be almost thirty seconds of unnecessary silence at the end though.
2. Running with mystics: More uptempo, with again tribal drums, though whereas the opener reminded me of eastern countries (Middle Eastern and Asian) this is more kind of African in its rhythm. No real vocal other than heavy breathing. Very impressed.
3. The symphony repeats: This is a bit of a mess. Mad discordant piano blasting over a repeated horn (?) line. Don't like this at all.
4. Jazzboe: Another hypnotic bass and percussion combination. Little in the way of vocals.
5. Mmm mmm: Would be a whole lot better without the crashing discordant piano.

6. Scat singer dance: Love the bassline in this. Almost entirely bass, with a little soft percussion. Some hard guitar kicking in now, some singing.
7. The reach: This is pretty ambient with a sense of drama.
8. Red skies choir: Kind of as expected, a choral vocal. Full choir it would seem, unless she's multitracking her voice. Like this a lot.
9. Strip your ego: This has more “conventional” singing on it, good horns and a pretty sultry, sexy feel to it.
10. War is coming: IN contrast, this has a very dour, hollow sound to the percussion, almost like someone banging on a barrel or something, then something like kazoos or something cuts in. It's a hard, punchy, doomy line being played, very much in tune with the title and gives the right feeling. A lamenting croon helps add to that.
11. Red skies: Pretty much the same tune/continuation of same with added choir.
12. Win this race: Nice dramatic feel, kind of an angry vocal. Weird ending.
13. Running with victory: Back to great hypnotic, mesmerising basslines and percussion. Bit of jangly guitar too. Some vocals, damn good closer.

End result: Much better than expected. Not saying I'm going to become a fan of hers or anything just yet, but it was very interesting and I enjoyed pretty much all of it. So there's only one way this is going to go, isn't there?

So, Love or Hate? Gotta be a Love.

01-26-2016, 11:25 AM	#7 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Title: Zen J Jazz Artiste: Jarboe Genre: Um... Familiarity: Zero Recommended by: bob Expectations: This is an interesting one. No sign of it on her discography on Wiki, Discogs has it but shows all songs untitled, then when I find it on Spotify (which was something of a surprise) there are titles for all tracks. So I'm going to go with those titles. As far as what I can expect, not the first scooby. Jazz is in the title, so I may be running for cover, but we'll see. 1. It's on me: Pretty ethereal, sort of tribal, Arabic, something like that. Relaxing. Very nice. Seems to be almost thirty seconds of unnecessary silence at the end though. 2. Running with mystics: More uptempo, with again tribal drums, though whereas the opener reminded me of eastern countries (Middle Eastern and Asian) this is more kind of African in its rhythm. No real vocal other than heavy breathing. Very impressed. 3. The symphony repeats: This is a bit of a mess. Mad discordant piano blasting over a repeated horn (?) line. Don't like this at all. 4. Jazzboe: Another hypnotic bass and percussion combination. Little in the way of vocals. 5. Mmm mmm: Would be a whole lot better without the crashing discordant piano. 6. Scat singer dance: Love the bassline in this. Almost entirely bass, with a little soft percussion. Some hard guitar kicking in now, some singing. 7. The reach: This is pretty ambient with a sense of drama. 8. Red skies choir: Kind of as expected, a choral vocal. Full choir it would seem, unless she's multitracking her voice. Like this a lot. 9. Strip your ego: This has more “conventional” singing on it, good horns and a pretty sultry, sexy feel to it. 10. War is coming: IN contrast, this has a very dour, hollow sound to the percussion, almost like someone banging on a barrel or something, then something like kazoos or something cuts in. It's a hard, punchy, doomy line being played, very much in tune with the title and gives the right feeling. A lamenting croon helps add to that. 11. Red skies: Pretty much the same tune/continuation of same with added choir. 12. Win this race: Nice dramatic feel, kind of an angry vocal. Weird ending. 13. Running with victory: Back to great hypnotic, mesmerising basslines and percussion. Bit of jangly guitar too. Some vocals, damn good closer. End result: Much better than expected. Not saying I'm going to become a fan of hers or anything just yet, but it was very interesting and I enjoyed pretty much all of it. So there's only one way this is going to go, isn't there? So, Love or Hate? Gotta be a Love. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018