Jazz and tech have undoubtedly met at some point in their lives. Unfortunately, much like relatives who secretly think (or ‘know’) each other are crazy, they only see each other every so often (usually when there are presents or free turkey involved). As a result, the art of merging two vastly different genres may have yet to be mastered. Lord knows AAM (Antiguo Automata Mexicano) gave it his all on Chez Nobody but even still, there is room for improvement. Kicking things off with the title track makes for a strange first impression as the cool, encompassing strings and arpeggiators melt into drums and synth sequences. This is fine, but the timing of everything is juxtaposed in such a way that may jerk the listener from one comfort area to another. Chez Nobody also ends a bit bizarrely, as ‘The Order (LOD Mix)’ is chock full of sounds that, while creative and definitely electronic, are just unpleasing overall. What sorts of sounds? Imagining mice dj-ing on turntables made out of other mice and robots enduring spasms as they pull out their own wiring-sounds fun, right? Not that it’s all like this though. There are beautiful, soothing, ambient moments to be found amidst such irregular musical pieces (see: ‘Jukebox Essentiele’). However, it is when these occur that Chez Nobody is at its strongest and there just isn’t enough of them to balance the chaos.
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