JAZZ
BY ANDY COWAN
Binker & Moses
★★★★★
Feeding The Machine
GEARBOX. CD/DL/LP
The first studio LP in five years from London jazz scene’s breakout stars traces new ground.
Freewheeling tenor sax and drum duo Binker Golding and Moses Boyd had nothing written when they entered the studio with Max Luthert (a fellow veteran of Zara McFarlane’s touring band). Luthert’s modular synths and tape loops, often manipulated in real time, add an extra textural dimension to the wistful meanderings and brooding menace of Feed Infinite and Asynchronous Intervals, as piercing long notes give way to a gathering storm of polyrhythmic perversions. While previous outings majored on Golding’s way with a hook, his melodies are less linear here, as parping Sony Rollins-like basslines, John Coltrane-ish mid-range riffs and high-pitched Evan Parker-esque chorales (breathtaking on Because Because) flutter above Boyd’s lightning-fleet beat science. Packed with urgency, edge and scope, it’s light years ahead of the competition.