Soul Jazz Vinilo y CD

Review: There's a lot going on here, and a lot of pure goodness at that. Fans of the Soul Jazz imprint rarely shut up about the label's output quality, and this latest LP from Trees Speak - their second to date - is a case in point. A record that sounds as though it was raised on some of the finest outsider music from the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the whole thing is saturated in pop references but doesn't come across forced or lazy.

You don't have to listen hard to hear the kind of proto-electro and Krautrock that came from the likes of Can, Popul Vuh and Neu!, John Carpenter's movie scores or traits of the No Wave movement that took subterranean New York by storm a few decades ago. Stylistically, the result is a sonic place that has as much attitude as it does edge, equal parts grit and groove, funk and rock, soul and sleaze.

Review: Tucson, Arizona-based band Trees Speak have been exploring the interplay of 1970s German electronic music and modern production since the early 2010s. Their latest release, Mind Maze, showcases their penchant for intricacy, dreamweaving psychedelic rock, krautrock, and electronic music into a lengthy 19-track tapestry. The band's mesmerizing live shows, featuring live projections and intricate lighting design, have garnered them a cult following - but that barely scratches the surface of their conceptual scope, with their name drawing inspiration from the concept of harnessing future technologies to store information and data in trees and plants, with the idea that trees are able to communicate within their root systems. A convincing continuum of kosmische cool.

Review: TimeFold marks a thrilling evolution for Trees Speak, the Tucson-based duo of Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz. This album expands their sonic palette, traversing vast cosmic soundscapes and evoking the charm of imaginary 1920s silent film scores. The blend of hypnotic krautrock rhythms, angular post-punk textures, and synth motifs reminiscent of Stranger Things creates a mesmerising auditory journey. Rooted in the enchanting desert landscapes of Arizona, Trees Speak draws inspiration from the notion that trees and plants can serve as repositories of information, communicating in profound ways. Their music embodies this concept, merging elements of German krautrock, no wave, and psychedelic rock to forge a distinctive and enthralling sound. Since their debut with Ohms in 2020, their prolific output on Soul Jazz Records has culminated in TimeFold, the sixth album in just four years. This latest release seamlessly weaves together organic and electronic influences. With TimeFold, Trees Speak are innovative as they are engaging, celebrating the intersection of nature and technology in a truly unique sound.

Review: So much for a psychedelic lifestyle - we're talking music rather than intoxicants, obviously - proving bad for productivity. Tucson, Arizona's Trees Speak have managed to record three albums in the space of a year for Soul Jazz and been praised as creating a "Dark Side of the Moon for the 21st century" in their most recent, Timeforms. Hot the heels of that success comes a limited (to a super select 150 copies), hand stamped 7" containing two even newer productions, with 'Wave Healer' proving a swampy, glorious mess of echoing, ring modulated voices and vintage synth soaring pinned down by a Broadcast-style organ and Mo Tucker-esque floor tom thump. 'Psychic State' meanwhile, on the flip, goes hither and zither with a slower and more off kilter beats and controls set for the heart of the echo again. This is most definitely what the fuss is all about.