Berlin-based collective Jazzanova present their willowy (re)inventive aesthetic in a starkly literal, flourish-free manner. The crisply regimented creative Hydra reared to prominence in 1997 through a self-titled EP and series of animated regrooves. And the majority of the group’s “proper” full-length releases are portfolios culling the six-deep production cadre’s remixes—consequently labeled things like The Remixes (1997–2000 and 2002–2005 most prominently). Other CDs have compiled complementary aesthetes’ tracks—most recently on 2004’s so aptly titled …Mixing.
Further showing their blurring of boundaries, the cooperative center their international stable of like-minded associates on the fittingly named Sonar Kollektiv, and the group’s moniker cobbles together “jazz” and “bossa nova,” tipping the hat to the J-Nova disc jockeys and disc junkies’ stylistic antecedents. But jazz and bossa nova are building blocks, as is the manner in which the three DJs and three studio engineers of Jazzanova—who only collage in duos—work. The DJ/producers—who consider themselves more b-boys contorting samples than musicians—filter glossy melodic hooks through fractured funk, tweaking tonality, and cohabitating deep pockets whether in the form of breezily swinging broken beat, percolating deep house, or Afro-Latin boogie.
And much like Berlin’s brisk spirit of (re)unification, Jazzanova develops, tracking supple, jazzy melodies and unfurling percussion into syncopated interpretations of neo-soul strut and extended disco-dappled spirit that blissfully uplift dance floors.