[Wagon Repair]

After what seems like a lengthy hiatus (at the current release rate, two years in the house/techno 12″ market feels more like 10) and lukewarm reviews of their debut album, 23 Seconds, Cobblestone Jazz’s return makes no apologies for directness. The band’s penchant for improvisation is a driving force in their creative process and always features heavily in their live performances, but with the “Traffic Jam EP” there is less jazz spontaneity on display and more techno fundamentals at work. The trio makes use of programming assistance from occasional band partner, The Mole, from The Modern Deep Left Quartet. Where their previous collaboration resulted in raw house experimentalism, this EP doesn’t pussyfoot around.

“Fiesta” fashions a steady groove of analogue elements including subtle acid pulsations, modular bass, and their trademark vocoder usage; in other words, the type of sounds these guys can manipulate in their sleep. However, it never fully takes off and ends up keeping the dance floor too much in mind in its trackiness. Maybe that’s The Mole’s influence at play, stretching the track out for maximum product at the DJs disposal, but I can’t help but feel that Cobblestone Jazz have done this before and done it better. “Traffic Jam,” on the other hand is a welcome counterbalance. Its bouncy rhythm composed of thumping kicks, a modulating, deep bass current, loose drum programming, and metallic percussion fills drives the track into heavy techno terrain. What elevates “Traffic Jam” beyond is the keyboard refrains emitted sporadically like hot charges coming out of Herbie Hancock’s Rhodes. This is techno-jazz fusion the way Cobblestone Jazz originally proposed. Let’s hope they continue down this path.