Ninja Tune
2003
The Stix
About This Album
The second full-length by Norwegian jazz enfant terribles Jaga Jazzist proves to even the most ardently pigheaded that their debut, A Livingroom Hush, was no fluke. (Jazz "purists" -- as if jazz were a "pure" music -- will even have to take note on compositional, swing, and improvisational levels but will no doubt, like any music fascist, dismiss this as somehow inauthentic because of the presence of electronics.) The Stix ups the ante a notch and foregoes much of the restraint displayed on the previous album, delving deeper into jazz motifs and the latest innovations in electronic music with a vengeance. Featuring ten original compositions by Lars and Martin Hornveth, Jurgen Munkeby, and others from the ensemble, The Stix moves into realms of ensemble interaction that cross barriers of swing, soundtrack architectures, sampladelica, and modal jazz often in the same tune. Melodic lines become riffs that give way to ensemble counterpoint and solo improvisations. Here, as on "Another Day," horns, electric guitars, looped snares, acoustic bass, strings, and an insane, treated trumpet solo offer a view from the pastoral to the incendiary in a seamless fugue of harmonic and scalar interludes.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7)

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