Nils Petter Molvaer: Khmer (LP)

Massive beats and throbbing grooves underpin the Norwegian trumpeter's fiery solos in a project that forms a bridge between ECM's improvised soundscapes and the brave new world of trip-hop, drum'n'bass, ambient/illbient, techno, industrial, electronica and samples. Khmer topped the German jazz charts, and Molvær's band has been highly successful on the festival circuit… Now released for the first time on vinyl, 180g with a free download code. "[The album] draws from techno, drum 'n' bass, and ambient music, yet makes no attempt at dancefloor populism, instead concentrating on texture, abstraction and sound quality. Funky digital grooves are disrupted by shifting time signatures; weird natural sounds are rendered unrecognizable by treatments; Indo-Arabic rhythms threaten to get funky but remain joyously understated throughout. And on top of everything comes Molvær's trumpet – lonesome, haunting and utterly majestic." - John Lewis, Time Out