– GUERRILLA WARFARE –

To describe Athletic Progression’s sound as being based in hip-hop and jazz would be like calling the legendary magician, Merlin a bloke in a baggy dressing gown. It’s not untrue but it sort of focuses on one quite small element while missing all the other craziness that is left in its wake.

The Aarhus trio wear their Yussef Kamaal and Flying Lotus inspirations on their own considerably-sized (that’s another wizard reference) sleeves, conjuring up earworms and sonic spells from Jonas Cook’s keyboards at will.

And while Club Berlin may start like the bit at a rave before all the uppers kick in, like all the best sorcerers, it shapeshifts multiple times, stretching and crushing the boundaries of time by first squeezing in as many notes as the bar will fit before stripping it right down to the bare minimum.

Before you know it, you’re grooving along to Jonathan Jull Ludvigsen’s funky hi-hats and Justo Gamula’s swaggering bass and you’re looking around, aghast, like some pillock in a Dynamo show, wondering how they did that.

Club Berlin comes from the album Dark Smoke which is out now.

MORE FROM THIS WEEK’S MIX:

ISAAC BIRITURO & THE RAIL ABANDON: YESU YAN YAN
HEROES ARE GANG LEADERS: LAND BACK
AVANTDALE BOWLING CLUB: YEARS GONE BY
BRYCE DESSNER, KATIA & MARIELLE LABÈQUE AND DAVID CHALMIN: HAVEN

You can find all of the tracks reviewed above in the 45 Revolutions per Minute playlist below or click to access the 45 RPM Playlist on Spotify itself.

If you like what you hear (or even if you don’t), please engage in dialogue with me @45rpm_Reviews on Twitter. And, if you’d like to receive updates weekly, please subscribe to the email list to get these recommendations sent to your inbox weekly.

– SV –