MUZORAMA 210726

This edition of Muzorama travels through the fluid territory between psychedelic jazz, future soul, broken beat, spiritual improvisation, cinematic funk and bass-oriented electronic music. The cover presents the curator as a pilot inside a futuristic cockpit, navigating an open and unfamiliar universe. It is an appropriate visual metaphor for a programme driven not by fixed genre boundaries, but by exploration: moving between musical scenes, traditions and technologies in search of unexpected connections.

Across these sixteen tracks, jazz is treated less as a closed category than as a creative method. Live musicians interact with programmed rhythms, acoustic instruments are reshaped through electronic production, and soul vocals move through abstract, bass-heavy environments. Psychedelia appears not simply through effects or retro references, but through repetition, atmosphere, altered perception and the feeling that each composition contains its own interior world.

London DJ, broadcaster and producer Alex Nut appears with “Bright,” featuring the unmistakable voice of Steve Spacek. Alex Nut’s work has consistently connected jazz, hip-hop, broken beat, soul and experimental electronic music, while Spacek remains one of the defining voices of UK future soul. On “Bright,” swinging percussion and luminous keyboard textures create space for Spacek’s fragile falsetto. The track feels intimate and futuristic at the same time: recognisably soulful, but constructed through the rhythmic and sonic vocabulary of contemporary electronic production.

Naarm/Melbourne keyboardist, vocalist, DJ and producer Kuzco contributes “Be Loved.” Inspired by UK street soul, downtempo, new jack swing and underground electronic music, Kuzco filters these influences through a contemporary Australian perspective. Saturated drum breaks, acid-coloured bass and echoed vocals give the track both emotional intimacy and rhythmic weight. It connects the sensibility of 1990s street soul with house, electro and modern beat production without becoming a straightforward revival.

The spiritual dimension of the programme is strongly present in Hill Collective’s “Fire in Orbit.” The ensemble combines saxophone, flute, piano, double bass, guitar, drums, congas and communal vocals in a piece built around collective interaction. The music is expansive but never overstated. Repetition creates a hypnotic foundation, while the musicians move between structured passages and open improvisation. “Fire in Orbit” reflects the continuing relevance of spiritual jazz as a living, communal practice rather than a historical style.

The more abstract side of the selection is represented by two releases associated with Dpercussion Recordings, a label focused on broken beat, jazztronica, future jazz and underground rhythm experiments. Opaque Structures’ “Dark Primula” combines compressed jazz breaks, heavy low frequencies and a shadowy late-night atmosphere. The track belongs to the lineage of bruk and bass music, but its structure remains unstable and deliberately difficult to classify.

Colombian trio BALTHVS bring a different form of psychedelia with “Liminal Stages.” Their music combines spacious electric guitar, deep bass and restrained percussion with influences from Latin American rhythm, global funk and neo-psychedelic rock. Rather than relying on dramatic solos, BALTHVS construct their sound through economy, repetition and gradual transformation. “Liminal Stages” is hypnotic precisely because it refuses to reveal everything immediately; the groove develops as a state of mind rather than a conventional song structure.

London artist MADELEINE contributes “Meet My Soul in the Water,” a dreamlike composition situated between neo-soul, nu-jazz and electronic music. Vocals, keyboards and synthesisers are joined by live drums and harp, producing a fluid soundscape in which the individual elements appear to dissolve into one another. The imagery of water, reflection and emotional connection is embedded within the arrangement itself. The track’s soulfulness comes not only from the voice, but from the emotional space created around it.

Ori Kaplan and Lihu Melamed’s “Merveille” brings modal jazz, psychedelic rock, Middle Eastern references and cinematic composition into the same frame. Kaplan’s saxophone background and Melamed’s work as a producer, engineer and multi-instrumentalist create a sound that is both organic and carefully designed. Guitar, flute, baritone saxophone, synthesisers and restrained percussion move through an asymmetrical rhythmic structure, suggesting the soundtrack to an imaginary Mediterranean or European film.

Berlin future-jazz trio Future3 collaborate with producer and singer-songwriter Kota No Uta on “Mystic Sheep,” a dreamlike piece that connects psychedelic jazz, neo-soul, folk and electronic music. Future3 consists of Irina van der Plas on keyboards and synthesisers, Miguel Couto on bass and synthesisers, and Rodrigo Ambrogio on drums. Their wider sound draws from contemporary jazz, fusion, electronic music and punk, while retaining the interactive character of a live trio.

The composition existed for some time before its release and developed through several versions as Future3 performed it live. According to the group, the piece only found its final form after Kota No Uta joined the project. Her involvement substantially transformed the material, making “Mystic Sheep” Future3’s first recorded song to include lyrics and their first composition to be co-written and co-produced with another artist.

Kota No Uta is a Berlin-based artist, producer and singer-songwriter whose experimental work is rooted in neo-soul, jazz and folk music. Her delicate vocal presence gives the track an intimate, floating quality, extending Future3’s instrumental language into a more lyrical and emotionally expressive space.

Berlin-based producer Fred P contributes “Nurture Bliss,” a meditative electronic composition shaped by deep rhythm, ambient space and jazz-informed harmony. Fred P’s music often moves beyond the functional expectations of house music, using rhythm to construct emotional and architectural space. “Nurture Bliss” occupies the border between future jazz, spiritual electronics, broken rhythm and ambient music. It is precise without sounding mechanical, and introspective without losing its physical pulse.

Dutch producer Martyn appears with “Phantom Jazz.” His work has long connected dubstep, Detroit techno, house, broken beat and bass music, but this composition makes the relationship with jazz particularly explicit. Live drumming interacts with electronic structure, allowing swing, syncopation and human timing to reshape the production. The track does not simply place jazz instrumentation over an electronic beat; it allows improvisational logic to enter the machinery of the music itself.

Toronto-based Orbital Ensemble contribute “Razão,” a piece influenced by Brazilian psychedelic music, MPB, jazz fusion and funk. Led by Brazilian-born multi-instrumentalist Felipe Sena, the ensemble combines drums, percussion, bass, guitars, saxophone and flute with additional vocal and orchestral textures. The music preserves the responsiveness and warmth of a live group while leaving room for cosmic atmosphere and studio experimentation. “Razão” belongs to a wider tradition of Brazilian music in which rhythm, spirituality and psychedelic imagination remain closely connected.

Bristol producer Sentinel 793 collaborates with vocalist Colonel Red on “Some Things Change.” Rough broken-beat drums, synthesiser stabs and deep low-end support Colonel Red’s mature and expressive soul performance. The track demonstrates the continuing vitality of bruk as a hybrid form: part bass music, part jazz-informed club production and part future soul. Its strength lies in the tension between the roughness of the rhythm and the warmth of the voice.

Henny Fat Mouth’s “Morada Hop” approaches jazz from another angle. Rather than reproducing the form of a traditional ensemble, it reduces jazz to rhythmic fragments, harmonic colour, texture and percussive interruption. Lo-fi electronic details, broken drums and downtempo movement create a compact example of jazz functioning as beat architecture rather than conventional composition.

Berlin-based trio Future3 contribute “Breeze on the Menu,” a warm and spacious piece of contemporary jazz fusion. Built around Fender Rhodes, analogue synthesisers, electric bass and live drums, the track combines instrumental fluency with a relaxed electronic sensibility. Jamichael Frazier’s flute adds an airy, almost weightless layer, giving the music the feeling of movement through a wide-open environment. Future3’s approach reflects the contemporary international jazz landscape, where improvisation, studio production and influences from soul, funk and psychedelic music exist within the same composition.

“Ela”, by Resavoir and Matt Gold, represents a more delicate meeting between jazz, Brazilian composition and psychedelic studio craft. Resavoir, the project led by Chicago trumpeter, arranger and producer Will Miller, is known for combining jazz instrumentation with orchestral pop, library music and intimate recording techniques. Matt Gold’s guitars, bass, synthesisers, percussion and electronic rhythm contribute to a track that feels handmade, warm and quietly experimental. The result is Brazilian psychedelia viewed through the sensibility of Chicago’s contemporary improvisational community.

Muzorama 210726 — curated by Sergi.