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LP
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DOOKAH 082LP
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AM Jazz was the moment we all became truly acquainted with Alan Roberts; the melodic maestro beneath Jim Noir's dandy exterior. No less than 12 months later arrives Deep Blue View -- not so much of a follow-up, as a mini-flipside moving the Jazz from AM to PM, between city and sea. Usually by now, Daveyhulme's own could-be John Barry would have left distractions of success for suburban side-projects and writing with his fellow Mancunian musicians, but AM Jazz left unfinished business -- and, with 50 or so session recordings leaving a litter of sonic debris strewn about the cutting room floor, one major clean-up. Deep Blue View is six brand new tracks crafted from its reconstructed and revived remnants, unfurling like Sinatra's Wee Small Hours to reinforce the strangely beautiful atmosphere of Al's now revered repertoire. Just as AM Jazz was created in the spirit of his earlier working style on debut album Tower of Love, Deep Blue View fuses Al's love of finding the "right" in the odd, weird, back-to-front and everything in between, with the hi-fi meets lo-fi sounds of his crate-digging curiosity and empathy for TV themes and movie soundtracks. Guided by melody, his home-based sorcery of working with analog, tape and field recordings opposed to the lure of studio mechanics allowed his inner subconscious to tap at the door and reveal itself in new musical forms. Setting his inner autopilot to flight mode, "Peppergone" adds to the tracks' nocturnal narrative and appears reborn after a last-minute culling from AM Jazz's initial tracklist. Like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, it is a fitting tribute to dearly departed best friend "Batfinks", written in the middle of a tough night. Also revived from AM Jazz's archive is the simmering groove of "Night Talk Late Street" and instrumental "Star Six Seven", whilst "Have Another Cigar" weaves its own semi-autobiographical fairy-tale with lyrics written and sung by long-time pal and former housemate Aidan Smith. Transformed from backing track into a cool morsel of story pop, it recalls the drunken joy of when the pair would make recordings together between singing the Everly Brothers at full volume. "String Beat" meanwhile, soars like a beautiful Bond theme with the shimmer of Lee Hazlewood holidaying in Palm Springs, alongside perhaps, the waltzing string-like synthonies of some long-lost rhythm and blues orchestra of Davyhulme, introduced to him by Super Furry Animals' Cian Ciaran. Clear vinyl.
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CD
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DOOK 150482CD
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Jim Noir's A.M Jazz is a multi-layered album that features close friends including those dearly departed. 15 years since he recorded the first ever Jim Noir EP, A.M Jazz is the record all Noirheads won't be surprised Al Roberts had inside him. Letting the Beatlesesque stylings of his most recent album Finnish Line be (2014), A.M Jazz suits the Noir repertoire of his catalog so far and is another homegrown offering which sees the Davyhulme composer tinkering in his suburban Manchester studio once more. Whilst writing and creating with friends, he has worked on electronic pet project, FAX with former Alfie guitarist, Ian Smith, and the vintage analog house meets electro sound of his own solo EP Granada Personnel Recovery, as well as producing local band, Shaking Chainsor, and helping long-time musical colleague, Aidan Smith. Never not sonically exploring or being inspired by the sounds around him, there was even a red-carpet moment when he appeared as a film premier guest after a couple of his songs were selected for the OST of director Jason Wingard's film Eaten By Lions (2018). Performing all A.M Jazz's instrumental parts himself but also, at the right moment, bringing in present and past pals along the way, sexy lounge song, "Hexagons" features Phil Anderson and Mark Williamson singing and playing "legendary OTT guitar solo" respectively. Meanwhile the orchestration of "Peppergone" waltzes like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata -- a tribute to dearly departed best friend Batfinks who originally wrote the chords in his song "Peppercorn". Culled from around 50 tunes, A.M Jazz moves like the time of the day, from dawn to night, stirring from the pop of "Good Mood" and the Beta Band groove of "Upside Down". Mellow "TOL Circle" is like Percy Faith's "Theme From A Summer Place" synthesized, capturing the style of TV library music or movie soundtrack obscurity that has always stirred Al's curiosity, and the album plunges into a vast chasm of instrumental exploration with "Mystermoods", visiting Japan's funky synth whiz duo Testpattern and Hakabashi Sakamoto. Darkening and deepening in intensity, "Eggshell" is like an undiscovered gem from Angelo Badalamenti's cutting room floor, the Panda Bear shimmer of "Lander" is where blissful positivity and sadness meet, about another of his friends who left the world too young.
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LP
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DOOK 30882LP
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LP version. Gatefold sleeve; edition of 200. Jim Noir's A.M Jazz is a multi-layered album that features close friends including those dearly departed. 15 years since he recorded the first ever Jim Noir EP, A.M Jazz is the record all Noirheads won't be surprised Al Roberts had inside him. Letting the Beatlesesque stylings of his most recent album Finnish Line be (2014), A.M Jazz suits the Noir repertoire of his catalog so far and is another homegrown offering which sees the Davyhulme composer tinkering in his suburban Manchester studio once more. Whilst writing and creating with friends, he has worked on electronic pet project, FAX with former Alfie guitarist, Ian Smith, and the vintage analog house meets electro sound of his own solo EP Granada Personnel Recovery, as well as producing local band, Shaking Chainsor, and helping long-time musical colleague, Aidan Smith. Never not sonically exploring or being inspired by the sounds around him, there was even a red-carpet moment when he appeared as a film premier guest after a couple of his songs were selected for the OST of director Jason Wingard's film Eaten By Lions (2018). Performing all A.M Jazz's instrumental parts himself but also, at the right moment, bringing in present and past pals along the way, sexy lounge song, "Hexagons" features Phil Anderson and Mark Williamson singing and playing "legendary OTT guitar solo" respectively. Meanwhile the orchestration of "Peppergone" waltzes like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata -- a tribute to dearly departed best friend Batfinks who originally wrote the chords in his song "Peppercorn". Culled from around 50 tunes, A.M Jazz moves like the time of the day, from dawn to night, stirring from the pop of "Good Mood" and the Beta Band groove of "Upside Down". Mellow "TOL Circle" is like Percy Faith's "Theme From A Summer Place" synthesized, capturing the style of TV library music or movie soundtrack obscurity that has always stirred Al's curiosity, and the album plunges into a vast chasm of instrumental exploration with "Mystermoods", visiting Japan's funky synth whiz duo Testpattern and Hakabashi Sakamoto. Darkening and deepening in intensity, "Eggshell" is like an undiscovered gem from Angelo Badalamenti's cutting room floor, the Panda Bear shimmer of "Lander" is where blissful positivity and sadness meet, about another of his friends who left the world too young.
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