Been meaning to write something about this album ever since I first caught a listen to a few tracks on Michael Linney’s Hedonist Show about a month back. Although I’m a big fan of Futuristica Music’s output, this one flew under the radar until thankfully we discovered each other care of the radio show and its been making my morning commute a lot more bearable ever since. ‘Messages’ is the debut album from promising young Manchester beat maker / musician Rise (real name Evan Jones), and it is possibly one of my favourite releases of 2011 so far.
This is no ordinary jazz record. Taking a cue from the sample heavy loose jazz pastiches of Madlib, Rise (who also records under the aliases Mecca:83 and Redefinition) pairs hip hop drums with percussion and snippets from a dusty jazz collection to produce a modern-day take on the spiritual jazz sound of the Sixties and Seventies. However, whereas the West Coast veteran’s work often results in tracks of an eclectic and deeply experimental nature which sometimes can seem sprawling, Rise manages to create a perfect blend between the two worlds and over thirteen tracks delivers an album of some promise.
From the opening gambit of the Cannonball Adderley dialogue in the intro and the sweeping Middle Eastern vibe of “Messages Part 1â€, the scene is set for a downtempo selection of deep and uplifting sounds channeling the works of Coltrane, Sanders, Lateef and Sun-Ra. Such is the influence of these artists and sounds of the past, tracks like ‘Psalm 64’ and ‘Dusk in The Sudan’ both seem like lost recordings from the celebrated Impulse catalogue whilst the album standout ‘Shine Down’ with its righteous refrain and bubbling drums, bounces along in a style not too dissimilar to former label mate Kira Neris’ sampled works.
Rise never really veers too far away from his hip-hop template however, and as such, each track here benefits from an assortment of well crafted beats and loops that sit beautifully together to produce an intriguing record.
The album is available now to buy via Juno and should you wish to try before you buy you can stream snippets of the album via his Bandcamp widget below.