Trance Groove: Driving South

Glenn Astarita

Senior Contributor since 1997

Longtime contributor to AAJ and Downbeat, Jazz Review, EjazzNews, Radio DirectX.

Recent articles (1,632 total)

Published: September 1, 2000

With their first studio recording titled Driving South, Germany based “Trance Groove” continue their hip - grooving –ways. And while there might be a glut of relatively indistinguishable bands performing highly energized dance beats along with the customary onslaught of turntables and funk/dub rhythms, this outfit performs as though they wrote the book! Enhanced by a beautiful recording and intelligent production, the musicians meld jazzy riffs with ethereal synth backwashes, turntables, scratches and slightly cosmic ruminations amid passionate interplay and jolting rhythmic developments. Hence, there is fairly good probability that you will find it difficult to remain apathetic during the listening experience. Yet, if you feel compelled to just sit and listen there is enough happening here to sustain interest.

Essentially this band possesses a remarkably broad scope especially when considering the bulk of what their peers are churning out these days. Overall, Driving South is an explosive and thoroughly entertaining extravaganza and should rank among the best of this increasingly popular genre. Recommended.

* * * * (out of * * * * *)

( Intuition )

( Trance Groove )

Record Label: Intuition
Style: Beyond Jazz