Record Reviews

INNERCITY ENSEMBLE ~ III ISTANT CLASSIC 047 ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Rock-World Fusion Recorded: 2015 Released: 2016 This is the third album by Polish Improvised Music group Innercity EnsembleFind albums by this artist, which consists of trumpeter Wojciech JachnaFind albums by this artist, guitarists Jakub ZiolekFind albums by this artist and Artur MackowiakFind albums by this artist, drummer Tomasz PopowskiFind albums by this artist, percussionists Rafal IwanskiFind albums by this artist and Rafal KolackiFind albums by this artist and Radek DziubekFind albums by this artist, who is in charge of electronics. In fact all the members play a plethora of different, mostly percussive, instruments on this album, which is characterized by this powerful percussive sound. Together they perform seven original compositions, which are not credited on the album´s packaging and therefore are assumed to be co-composed / improvised by all seven members of the band. For improvised music this album is remarkably well organized, with clear melodic themes and steady, although polyrhythmic intense percussive background. The music is beyond simple classification, as it mixes many diverse genres, like Jazz, Ethno, Jungle, Ambient and many other flavors, but the important thing is of course that the result sounds beautifully coherent and highly fascinating. The music creates a trance-like atmosphere, which absorbs the listener completely, taking him away from reality into an imaginary world of its own. Jachna plays most of the solo parts and his heartwrenching performances are the absolute centerpiece of this album. In the course of just a few years Jachna established his position as one of the most creative Polish trumpeters on a scene exploding with talent and fiercely competitive. Music connoisseurs with a developed imagination could envisage this music as "Miles DavisFind albums by this artist in a jungle". But of course the rest of the band also contributes beautiful sound vistas and percussive backgrounds, which are rich in textures and intricate details. Although there is a certain element of repetition, the mantra-like parts are never long enough to become boring and are always ornamented by a multitude if minimalistic musical gems. Overall this is a beautiful and fascinating piece music, which explores and probes uncharted territory, as music always should. This is definitely something ambitious music livers should enjoy immensely and as such is wholeheartedly recommended!

Updated: 11/11/2016Posted: 11/11/2016

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