One of the most adventurous labels is Rare Noise Records. I’ve heard things ranging from heavy metal jazz to almost liturgical masses from this creative UK-based company. Here are a couple recent releases to show how wide and deep the term “jazz” can take you.
Drummer and composer Sean Noonan brings together Jamaaladeen Tacuma/b, Ava Mendoza/g, Alex Marcelo/key and Malcolm Mooney/voc for a mix of jazz, soul and spaciness. Hard rock grooves are palpable on “Gravity and the Grave” and “Tell Me” while the atmosphere can get dark and ominous with Mooney’s voice on “Boldly Going” and “The End of the Inevitable.” Some pretty colors are painted on “Martian Refugee” with pieces like “Girl From Another World” taking you to modern Star Trek soundtracks. Definitely Warp Speed material.
The quartet Chat Nor brings together Michele Cavallary/key, Luca Fogagnolo/b, Daniel Calvi/g-synth and Moritz Baumgartner/dr for some thick electronic wizardry that ranges between synthesized disco (“Blisters”) and sonic ambient wallpaper (“Glimpse”). Thick throbbing pulses ooze like tar during the sticky “Humanity” and “Overcome” hovers like a space craft and a robotic texture rivets forward during “Quasar.” Mechanical musings from a lost planet?
The band Shamania mixes tribal beats with otherworldly sonic forays. Leader and composer Marilyn Mazur plays a ton of percussion, the kalimba and the balaphone while mixing and matching with a wide collection of artists. Lotte Anker’s spacey sax gives off radiation on “New Secret” and eerie voice by Josefine Cronholm chants on “Rymeritual.” A duret between mazur and Anker create textures on “Talk For Two” and swirling keyboards by Makiko Hirabayashi join togerh with Sissel Vera’s sax and voice for an alternative universe during “Shabalassa.” Lots of bumps, Third World beats and tribal chants, mixing electronica with trips to Equatorial Africa.