I'm loving the new Jaga Jazzist album, "What We Must"

Here's a sample, let us know if it makes you feel ill.

http://www.jagajazzist.com/v2/news.php

mp3 here
http://downloads.ninjatune.net/oslo_skyline.mp3

Anyway you're right Jena, you're better off not watching. It's like seeing how sausage is made.

Now, that'd be a good video!
"F'real", as the kids are apt to verbalize.

The album is great, too, though I tend to just listen to the first two tracks on repeat. And yeah, the video is awful, despite the somewhat redeeming presence of a stuffed monkey.

A friend of mine does an amazing version of Cichli on tuba.

I didn't like that much actually.

They're back after a long layoff, with gigs in the UK and Japan this autumn and a new LP on the way. Can't wait.

They were fantastic at the Barbican this week, not a very busy thread tho' so obv not much JJ love on ILM.

I think these dudes are great!

playing in Tokyo tonight apparently... hurry up and do a European tour boys!

European tourdates now announced but nothing in my country which really blows hard

Wow, I'm enjoying this new one quite a bit. Never heard them before this. What album should I check out next?

(New one = One Armed Bandit)

haven't listened to them in years, and i'm not really interested in going back to the old stuff for fear of early '00s ninja tune-style corniness. i'm curious to hear how they sound now, though.

shining >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> jaga jazzist

listening to new stuff on their myspace. it sounds so awesome at first, jazz fusion drums + sweet synths + impeccably recorded horns & woodwinds, but it all gets kinda busy and anime-soundtracky after a while.

"toccata" sounds pretty dope, but i think all "music for 18 musicians" rips are pretty dope.

it's just a bit finickity. shining (who share some band members/musical mentality with JJ) are killer and righteous where this lot noodle

they've still done some killer stuff but it's diluted imo

will probably at least hear the new stuff

listening to shining's myspace, not really feeling the metal riffs.

jaymc, you SHOULD hear 'what we must' because it's got a couple of stunning, stunning songs ('all i know is tonight' and 'swedenborgske rom'); they're actually the LONGEST tracks on the album but they're more focused and effective than the others imo

jordan, the *track* (not the album) 'in the kingdom of kitsch...' was in my decade-end song-list; i love it so very much. if it's on their myspazz you should give it a listen

(last two tracks of WWM, 'mikado' and 'i have a ghost, now what', are pretty effective and interesting li'l pieces as well, although a lot more subdued than the widescreen heroics of the other two i mentioned...it's a solid album! i haven't listened to it properly in a while; maybe it holds up better than i thought)

it does have the trademark wackiness (and ADD/stream-of-consciousness approach to songwriting) that puts me off most lj music. nothing personal.

xp

but it's a structured assault upon the senses! i mean sure i had to hear it about 10 times before i figured out what was going on, but it sucks you into its world and pulls a whole load of awesome tricks in order to keep things ratcheting up - JJ are 'wackier' imo - Shining are more concerned with writing '22nd century schizoid man'

if it helps, your friend's band's last album, representative of a more chilled-out form of art-jazz-post-whatever, is easily in my '09 top 10

i am glad you like the cougar record, more people should hear it. when i first heard it i didn't think it was as good as the first one but it's really grown on me.

the new shining is brutality

i think the new cougar is easily their best so far! especially the second half, which is plain beautiful

am getting the new shining asap because the myspace tracks are (for me) highly promising

i wish people could hear the original version of 'endings' (which another friend recorded in college), because it's basically my favorite electronic track ever.

I went to see JJ last night and at times I found myself thinking "this is very impressive, but do I actually like it?" On the other side of the coin, some of it was terrific, like Toccata and Animal Chin. Please help me to see what I couldn't 'get' at the time.

They've released a new song from an upcoming album which I think is really really good and can be heard here if you wish:

https://soundcloud.com/ninja-tune/jaga-jazzist-starfire

I absolutely love What We Must and One Armed Bandit and this seems to be a continuation of that kind of quality whilst experimenting with different colours/flavours.

The whole album's really amazing. Jus' saying. Sigh.

How so? Willing to believe they can still put out something decent, even if much of their stuff comes off as trite now

I'm not a fan of their first releases really, and if you don't get much out of what we must/one armed-bandit there won't be much for you here.

idk it's richly detailed, and the melodies/arrangements are really good. I know I'm alone on this probably