In These Times
A lush, meticulously edited tapestry of modern jazz where orchestral strings, cascading harps, and intricate hip-hop-minded drum loops seamlessly intertwine.
A lush, meticulously edited tapestry of modern jazz where orchestral strings, cascading harps, and intricate hip-hop-minded drum loops seamlessly intertwine.
Orchestral peak
A sharp, syncopated rimshot cuts through a lush swell of harp and orchestral strings, locking seven years of live concert archives and home-studio edits into one seamless, breathing groove. This is where the Chicago drummer stops merely sampling the past and starts conducting it, fusing the warmth of spiritual jazz with the tight, repetitive physics of hip-hop production. You can feel the physical weight of the wooden bass strings vibrating against the crisp, digital snap of the snare. It is a sprawling, polyrhythmic map of modern community, proving that archival collage can sound as intimate and alive as a packed basement club.
The record introduces a rare, profound engagement with existential themes, grounding its intricate instrumental tapestry in a heavy, philosophical weight that the catalogue has never previously explored.
Critics widely praised the album’s rich blending of jazz with elements of hip-hop, folk, and classical strings, admiring its intricate rhythms and sophisticated production. Reviewers warmly embraced the record's dual nature, finding the music to be both intellectually engaging and effortlessly relaxing to listen to.
“The hybrid jazz drummer and producer’s latest album uses his familiar post-production techniques but feels more deftly orchestrated and rhythmically complex”Read review
“In These Times has almost as much in common with library funk, instrumental hip-hop, and Bartok-ian folk as it does with more codified, traditional notions of jazz. It works wonderfully camping on a relaxed beach or in the most ostentatious concert venue, worthy of rigorous intellectual inspection yet just as easy to get high and chill to”Read review
“With its long gestation period, In These Times accumulated an arresting abundance of ideas, sounds, textures, and styles. The album is its own jazz labyrinth, and as such is destined for repeated listening and startling discovery”Read review
“Hip-hop breakouts, machine music and sumptuous strings vie with out-and-out jazz brilliance on the US drummer-producer’s latest”Read review
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