Nostalgia 77 – Everything Under The Sun

Listening to Birghton (UK) based Benedic Lamdin's solo project under Nostalgia 77 alias I am reminded once again of his light, playful, and jazzy compositions. The last album I recall hearing was Songs For my Funeral, which I remember being more downtempo with a sprinkle of breaks bordering future jazz. One of those great tracks to compliment a chillout compilation (as a matter of fact, there was a double disk comp, Chilled Beats Sessions, where Nostalgia 77 appeared alongside Skalpel, The Cinematic Orchestra, Bonobo, Blockhead, Daedelus, Plaid, Boards of Canada, Prefuse 73 and many, many others [Sessions, 2005] ). Then there is, of course, The Nostalgia 77 Octet with a great Weapons Of Jazz Destruction release on Tru Thoughts last year. The latter deserves a separate review, but I'll briefly mention that the octet is formed from the Royal Academy of Jazz graduates and NYJO Alumni. For his sixth full length album (including the afore mentioned live project), Lamdin gathers his group of talented jazz musicians to walk up and down the modal scale with ease. Lizzy Parks returns with her lovely voice adding a perfect element to an already wonderful selection of songs. "I wanted to continue developing the ideas I've explored in the other records, to take the emotional moods that are there and to vocalize them. I wanted to write lyrics that reflected them," says Lamden. I personally applaud and enjoy following the artists that continue to not only reinvent themselves, but perfect their musical composition. It seems that many musicians, after consecutive successful releases want something more and end up turning to the roots of live, improvisational, or organic sound - I'm thinking here of The Herbaliser, The Landau Orchestra, and even Amon Tobin. The 2008 double-disk compilation of Nostalgia 77's One Offs, Remixes & B-Sides is a must for any serious catalog collector.