Skalpel S/T

Description

If the electronic musicians of Western Europe and America ever run out of likely samples — and every session of Solid Steel deforests at least three or four pristine, previously untouched performances — it will be left up to others to dredge the world of recorded music for the sample sources needed to evoke what they will. The duo Skalpel, discovered in Poland by Russian expatDJ Vadimon a tour, reportedly has a large collection of, and affinity for, Polish jazz. Their self-titled debut for Ninja Tune, which appears after several underground mixes never widely available, illustrates that Skalpel bring the delicious tensions of Cold War-era jazz to the much less inhibited filmic funk of Ninja Tune acts such asMr. ScrufforCinematic Orchestra.

Sampled or not, Skalpel is a very live-sounding record; despite the occasional crackle of a dusty LP, the duo at times uses extensive soloing passages from the musicians they’ve either hired or sampled (much of it excellent). And the range of that sampling is broad; Skalpel surveys several decades of jazz, from late-’50s beatnik cool to late-’60s distorted, electric jazz-rock to the deep, exploratory fusion of the ’70s. via AllMusic

Label: Ninja Tune
Format: 2 x Vinyl, 12″, 33 RPM, Album, Stereo
Repress: 2024 / Original Release: 2004
Genre: Electronic, Jazz
Style: Abstract, Future Jazz, Downtempo

File under: Downtempo