Pareidolia

Melbourne has a remarkable music scene: with more music venues per head than any other city on earth, it has a huge and close knit population of working musicians who collaborate freely. This has notably led to a thriving soul-jazz scene often featuring electronic or hip hop elements — as showcased by Gilles Peterson in the 2019 Sunny Side Up compilation. The undisputed leaders of this scene in terms of global profile are Haitus Koyote who have over the years inspired endorsements and collaborations from no less an array of talent than Erykah Badu, Questlove, Q-Tip and Prince. Perrin Moss aka Clever Austin is HK’s drummer, but also adept on just about any other instrument he picks up, as well as with a sampler and mixing desk. His solo album, for London’s Touching Bass imprint, covers untold bases — Khruangbin-like minimalist psyche-funk jamming, post-Dilla beat-staggering, Don Cherry globalism, full on 70s spiritual jazz preaching, gentle post-rock and more — and guests including local talent like Laneous and CASEUX OSLO, as well as Texas’s Jon Bap and the mighty Georgia Anne Muldrow from California, yet there’s a single clear and present vibe flowing through it all and amazingly it holds together just fine.