These guys are so deep underground you'd have to get a bulldozer to drag them out of the mausoleum. Released to little fanfare earlier this year, I only discovered this remarkably groovy debut thanks to windsock on another thread, and since that point I find myself returning to it's strange, affecting atmosphere often. It sounds both like and so unlike anything that's out there that it's hard to pin down their exact musical coordinates. The singer is the easiest reference point for me - he's the long lost cousin of both Jim Morrison and Gordon Lightfoot, and his wistful, soulful approach to these cavernous little pieces is quite something to behear. While the best 'hook' of the album is reserved for opener "Maybe In Time', there's also touches of Tropicalia and the darkness of early 70's acid folk seeped into the DNA of 'On The Corner' and even a little early Chicago (sans horn section) punch to closer 'She Waits'.

Phenomenally moody yet crackling with underlying energy, these guys have amazing potential and I think this is just a taste of what's to come.

A dreamy, difficult to describe jazz smorgasborg of great ideas and spontaneous eruptive power, completely improvised in studio by some of the most accomplished guys in the new jazz era. You've got Robert Glasper on piano, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah on trumpet, Derrick Hodge on bass, and a whole host of others who really bring their A-game. In some ways, this album is everything Kamasi Washington wants to be but can't quite get his grip around: some of the best players in the world coming together into a cosmic sort of synthesis with no pretensions.

But what's so interesting overall here is how good the songs ended up becoming once they got into studio. 'Change Of Tone' is a delicious opening vamp, featuring some of Glasper's best key exploration in conjunction with some Herbie Hancock-esque vocoder work from the masterful Terrace Martin, who also lends some nice lyrical flow to the smooth yet vibrant 'Reflect Reprise' on side 2. And those are just two great songs of many here!

Needless to say, this was my favorite jazz-anything experience of the year. Touches all the sweet spots (modal, fusion, nu-jazz, jazz rap) and somehow weaves it all together into something cohesive and spectacular all at once.