Jazz meets up with Blues and Funk for an evening of reminiscing and
comparisons of record collections. As the evening drifts into the early
morning the booze flows and soon the old timers become mellow enough to
drift off into the land of sleep. That is pretty much what you get with
ulu's(they insist on non-capitalization-the rebels) self titled debut album,
a musical journey which is mainly 90's coffee bar jazz, but with enough
of an understanding of its time and place to make it just that bit more
interesting.
Take the rather spiffy opener "Canine Brigade" for example, it sounds
like a cover of some cool 1970's detective show. Track two starts of with
a laid-back hip-hop style backbeat before the horns take it away into another
realm. "Spongebath" isn't afraid to pull out some cheesy keyboard riffs
whilst several of the other tracks have percussion a shade more aggressive
than you would expect. Beneath it all though is an improvisational Jazz
heart that never skips a beat.
It must be said I have never been a fan of improvising for the hell
of it, but that is me, and whilst there are a couple of sections where
I instinctively reach for the skip button, as a whole this is an album
based around tunes, and tunes are something I do have a lot of time for.
They are gaining a rabid fan base by all accounts, allegedly the people
are known as 'members of the ulu nation'. A strange notion for a band that
are an extension of the old cabaret/supper club style band. The type of
band that provided the background to your night out rather than the focus.
Certainly to me this music would seem horribly out of place in anywhere
but in the most intimate of surroundings.
So overall good background music, soothing, enjoyable but not exceptional
by any means.
Jazz meets up with Blues and Funk for an evening of reminiscing and
comparisons of record collections. As the evening drifts into the early
morning the booze flows and soon the old timers become mellow enough to
drift off into the land of sleep. That is pretty much what you get with
ulu's(they insist on non-capitalization-the rebels) self titled debut album,
a musical journey which is mainly 90's coffee bar jazz, but with enough
of an understanding of its time and place to make it just that bit more
interesting.
It must be said I have never been a fan of improvising for the hell
of it, but that is me, and whilst there are a couple of sections where
I instinctively reach for the skip button, as a whole this is an album
based around tunes, and tunes are something I do have a lot of time for.
They are gaining a rabid fan base by all accounts, allegedly the people
are known as 'members of the ulu nation'. A strange notion for a band that
are an extension of the old cabaret/supper club style band. The type of
band that provided the background to your night out rather than the focus.
Certainly to me this music would seem horribly out of place in anywhere
but in the most intimate of surroundings.