Jaga Jazzist ~ Day (EP)
This EP lifts and
redoes a couple of tracks from Jaga’s second album Stix (third if you
count the soon-to-be rereleased mini-album Magazine from 1998). If seaside
ice-cream was a sound it would be Day’s lead melody. Subtly remixed
and chaperoned by a whole brother/sisterhood of horns and vibes, it’s
a pleasure to hear outside of the context of the album, which just hasn’t
engaged, unlike its predecessor A Livingroom Hush. Second track, Two Things,
could only previously be found on Rune Grammofon’s celebratory book/2cd
release, Money Will Ruin Everything. Where The Stix was disappointing because
it seemed too much of a repeat of Hush, this track points to a creative route
out of a potential cul-de-sac. It deconstructs Jaga’s template of bigband
flow into the kind of stop/start exhibited by a learner driver unsure of their
clutch/brake pedals. Given Herbert’s meddling with an older version
of big band jazz on Goodbye Sweetheart, he’s an ideal candidate to mess
with Jaga. His remix of Day delivers by giving the track both a technological
sheen and a fine adenoidal groove. DAT Politics show no respect whatsoever
to Reminders, Stix’s track six. Which is probably a good thing really.
The more messing the better I say.
Colin Buttimer
May 2004