darker

Living in an alternate universe, where groove is paramount regardless of where it finds its inspiration, Mungolian Jet Set's debut, Beauty Came to Us in Stone (Jazzland, 2006), found its primary members - turntablist/sonic manipulator DJ Strangefruit, known in this dimension as Pål Nyhus, of Nu-Jazz progenitor/trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær's group until recently, and sound sculptor Reider Skar - creating sonic collages that defied any kind of easy categorization. The double-disc We Gave It All Away...Now We Are Taking It Back is a little more predictable in the persistent beats that make it perfect for dance clubs. A remix/collaboration album, it still holds plenty of surprise in the stylistic breadth of recruited musical friends beamed, at least temporarily, into the sonic universe that Mungolian Jet Set - originally from Norway, but now living, well, elsewhere - inhabits.

If there's any doubt that Mungolian Jet Set functions, at least some of the ...
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Mungolian Jetset is everything you love about dance music. Disco? They’ve got it. Techno? They’ve got it. Pop? They’ve got it. Call it mutant or call it Balearic, Mungolian Jetset provides the “boom-chik-clap” in ways that most acts only dabble in. On the double-CD set We Gave it All Away…Now We Are Taking it Back, the collective runs between original tracks and remixes like they own the place, creating a debut the likes of which are rare, if even existent, before now. Whether it’s on the wonkily funky “Creepy,” with a vocal track that sounds like a young Jello Biafra, or the slow but steady groove of “Darker” that the Jetset crafted with jazz trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer, one can sense higher powers are at work on moving your hind quarters. With the album’s 16 tracks averaging over eight minutes apiece, We Gave it All Away… appeals more to the background sounds of ...
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