The opening track from German supergroup Web Web’s debut album ‘Oracle’ satisfies the hot anticipation for uncut, forthright jazz. Kings of Forbidden Lands is an emotive and expressive blues-centred exploration of the jazz spirit.
Demonstrating a raw, live experience, the track is an ambitious assemblage, spanning several decades’ worth of styles. The initial juxtaposition of a very much urban jazz head above a freight train like blues rhythm churning relentlessly below soon becomes thoroughly ingrained. The familiarity of the blues angle gives solos added freedom and comfort that, in honesty, renders this piece fairly easy on the ear.
Later we’re transported forward in time by a number of years, still nowhere near the present day, but to the whine of analogue synthesisers of the 1970s television studio performance and out of the dim-lit wood-clad studio. Bizarrely, with the likes of Air continuing this swelling synth tradition, this addition may well feel far more familiar than the artist originally intended. Web Web’s performance should be praised as a natural, living jazz arrangement that skilfully retains its vibrancy throughout.
Released on 1st September, ‘Oracle’ is the first live jazz release on Compost. Although performing sporadically in 2017, Web Web will tour in 2018.
This review of Kings Of Forbidden Lands by Web Web was originally posted on the Somewhere Soul Music Blog.