Jaztec - Broads
From the Norwich based electronic production duo Jaztec comes Broads, a clean and ambient thirty-minute experience. It blends electronic, hip hop, jazz, drum and bass and more, with a focus on collaborating with artists they enjoy, especially those from Norwich.
The journey begins with Blue, which employs a thumping bass drum littered with synths and other dream-like instruments. Luke Peter Foster has a lazy, monotone flow to his rap which works with the instrumentation, but isn’t very interesting. When I Get Lost brings a punchier tempo, with high pitched electronic sounds and the introduction of the saxophone, expertly played by Rob Milne. This continues into I Got the Vibez, with Eyera delivering near-angelic vocals on top of a jazz lounge instrumental - utterly gorgeous.
The rest is relatively forgettable - Tingaling delivers a very empty instrumental that works but also leaves a lot to be desired, and Obsession closes the album with sudden and average drum and bass influences. This is very apt of the entire project - lots of ideas are tried but only a few really work. It is a solid piece of experimentation, but the intended ambient electronic sound is not quite what it could be.
6/10