If you take classical jazz with a slice of occidental style and you mix it up during the 90s when electronic music was climbing faster and faster up the music mountain and that you finally cook everything together in the « zen-ness » of the land of the rising sun, what do you think you'll get ?
Well, a brilliant project undertaken by the lovely pioneers UFO (United Future Organization).
Their album 3rd Perspective (notice how the title fits perfectly to their music, just as their moniker) has been released in an era when music became a land of experimentation with the popularization of sampling and lead every genre to get involved in a huge jumble. The three Japanese artists succeeded to create a very dynamic and sensual fusion between jazz, hip hop, funk, swing, soul and other beats that sometimes reminds us of Brazilian samba. By using titles for their songs in English and French (eg: « Waltz (Le serpent rouge) », on which the allusion to Serge Gainsbourg can barely be denied), they demonstrate a positive impact of globalization, taken as an opportunity to open one’s mind to other cultures but going even further than simple world music, adding a mystic Asian touch that makes all the difference and allows us to travel in through time and space.
More than 20 years after, their music is still surprisingly modern and remarkably stirring.
By Leon
