The Cosmic Range: It’s a Bit of This and a Bit of That

Title: New Latitudes 

Label: Idee Fixe 

I listen to a lot of music but I’m obviously not listening fast enough because this outfit has totally passed me by. I say ‘outfit’ but I actually mean Toronto-based Matthew ‘Doc’ Dunn who has been at this music-making malarky for around 10 years. The general feeling is that this music offers jazz (including free jazz) plus funk but there is something wholly space-like in its presentation. To the extent that, if you are into ambience (although a lot of this work is anything but) or intelligent techno (although most of this work is anything but) or even prog (which it really isn’t) then I reckon you will like this album a lot. I know, that doesn’t help much  but what I trying desperately to convey is that, while this music doesn’t firmly nail its colours to these musical genres, there are enough tags and links and familiar stylings that will reach out to fans of all of those genres. The repetitive nature of ambience and the almost meditative nature of that genre is here, the beats featuring an intricate melodicism of intelligent techno is here with the melodic narrative replete with tempo changes and tangents will attract prog fans. There’s also plenty of electronic avant-garde noises in there, just to spice up the mix.

This is a major work that is complex and intricate and refuses to be labelled. It may take the listener years to work out properly.  On the surface, there is a few basic signposts to note but if you stand back and take in all of the detail, you’ll realise that this album is full of subtleties and nuances.

In audiophile terms, I was happy with the mastering quality. No loudness issues, plenty of scope for dynamic reach in midrange terms and the bass is full and punchy.