Nils Jacobson

Reviews

Gutbucket: A Modest Proposal

By Nils Jacobson

The primary interest of this music lies in the rampant juxtaposition of styles, themes, moods, rhythms, and melodies, all very much chosen on purpose and carefully planned out along the way. [20 April 2009]

Novalima: Coba Coba

By Nils Jacobson

You can dance to it on your feet or in your head, but either way, this collision of folklore and technology is contagious and irresistible. [2 April 2009]

Lars Horntveth: Kaleidoscopic

By Nils Jacobson

The second solo album from the young Norwegian leader of Jaga Jazzist is best suited for listeners attuned to its subtlety and lush, string-rich orchestral sound. [18 February 2009]

Burning Spear: Jah Is Real

By Nils Jacobson

Burning Spear's roots reggae, to indulge a cliche, is very much alive and true to its original colors on Jah Is Real (red, gold, and green, to be precise). [26 September 2008]

Matthew Shipp Trio: The Multiplication Table

By Nils Jacobson

High drama, stoked by tension and channeled through unpredictable shifts in course, is ultimately what makes this music most compelling. [22 July 2008]

Perú Negro: Zamba Malató

By Nils Jacobson

Peruvians have long been hip to this retro sound, which locals call "Afro". But for the rest of us, it's been a real eye- and ear-opener. [16 June 2008]

Etran Finatawa: Desert Crossroads

By Nils Jacobson

The feeling of never being quite fixed pervades the entire disc, just like the people behind it, and lends it an invitingly mysterious, ethereal, trance-like quality. [2 June 2008]

Think of One: Camping Shaâbi

By Nils Jacobson

The band's stated aim, "to get many of us Westerners deeply addicted to the groove of Shaâbi," will probably work -- if only it wasn't packaged so comfortably in the familiar Western mold. [21 May 2008]

Steve Lantner Trio: What You Can Throw

By Nils Jacobson

The jazz tradition is the best part of Steve Lantner's music, regardless of whatever other words you choose to slap on it. [12 May 2008]

Jef Stott: Saracen

By Nils Jacobson

It's extremely mixed up, yet entirely coherent: part trance, part dance, part jam, all groove. [6 May 2008]

Ryan Blotnick: Music Needs You

By Nils Jacobson

Be sure to listen in its hour-long entirety, not mixed and mashed on an iPod. It is a manifesto, after all, and an inspiring one at that. [25 April 2008]

Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin: Holon

By Nils Jacobson

The quirky intellectual details of his music are regularly subsumed by funk and the groove -- so what comes out is both odd and familiar at the same time. [17 March 2008]

Elliott Sharp’s Terraplane: Forgery

By Nils Jacobson

The rough, melancholic, soulful, rambunctious, and misbegotten qualities of the blues shine through on Forgery. [20 February 2008]

Cheb i Sabbah: Devotion

By Nils Jacobson

This is no half-assed India/Arabia/electronica fusion, because all three parts are done right, and they're put together in weird, interesting ways. [5 February 2008]