(10.08.06) The Funcken brothers add another pseudonym to their extensive roster
of aliases: Automotive. Their first release under this moniker,
The Digil Parker Project, finds them exploring jazz territories
albeit with their glitch and blip toolkits in tow. A collection of
fourteen tracks that merge strains of Charlie Parker with the
scattered polyrhythms of Funckarma and the phat beats of Shadow
Huntaz, Automotive slips across the genre tracks, hops the fence and
scampers off for the urban coffee houses and hip fusion restaurants.
The “Juando Theme” weaves serpentine guitar, wooden flute, and bell
tree together, making for a fog-shrouded Oriental journey, a
dream-jaunt through time and space to the Edo era of Japan; while
“Funparr” gurgles with a stiff-shouldered bass, waterfall guitar and
the quiet coo of a saxophone. More saxophone tumbles through “Orirac”
over a bed of heavy bass and precise drum kit while tiny digital
elements squirt and chatter in the background. In a lot of ways, this
is the most mainstream-ly accessible work the Funcken brothers have
done, though quite subversive in the ways they sneak microscopic
noises and bleeps of electronic wonkery into the mix.
While “Juissa Theme” undulates like some waterlogged instrumental
version of a Roxy Music standard, “Paronez” hits the spot with a
snapping rhythm section, a full-frontal shit-kicker of a theme song
for sleek lotharios working the streets and chain-linked parking lots.
“Digil Parker” hiccups and spins like a DJ going down on his vinyl —
the most overtly IDM track on the record — yet still manages to sound
like a free-from jazz session, all William Parker and Hamid Drake
lighting up a Thirsty Ear recording session. “Leave It” is equally
full of double bass resonance, a slumbering shuffle of a track that
coaxes synthesizer and saxophone into a diaphanous duet. “Juondo”
streaks on by like an outtake from a Nils Petter Molvaer session;
while “Jugofu” channels Sesame Street histronics through a
crank-influenced studio session.
Automotive is the sound of Don and Roel Funcken having fun with the
history of jazz music. Clearly influenced by Miles Davis, DJ Krush
and some of the aforementioned artists, they’ve grafted their
influences onto their own distinctive style of programming and beat
wrangling. The result is a record that seems like it should be found
in the jazz bins, but clearly has the spark and punch to knock out its
way out the racks and into the post-rock and experimental electronica
sections. Watch this one; who knows where it will end up in the
store.
The Digil Parker Project is out now on Couchblip!.
