12 Points Plus Artists
12 POINTS PLUS 2012 ARTISTS
From the Coax Collective in Paris, Actuum are not afraid to express an ambitious manifesto with implications of chaos and instability, and they’re well equipped to give it a very convincing musical representation with nicely controlled violence.
In a more lyrical vein, Helsinki's Big Blue have beautiful use of space and dynamics over taut rhythmic structures, with an unforced dialogue that builds to big finishes, and their debut CD is just off the presses from forward looking Italian label Cam Jazz.
Raucous, muscular and groovy, there is a playful aesthetic at work from Londoners WorldService Project that oscillates between the conventions of formal composition and outright grunginess.
12 Points Plus 2011 artists (available until spring 2013)
Long form grooving from France's MeTaL-O-PhOnE with the brilliant innovations of Benjamin Flament, taking the vibraphone into exciting new terrain that evokes its roots in West African blues and Javanese gamelan.
Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler is the breakthrough artist of 12 Points 2011, her lyrical compositions shaded with colours of the Eastern Med, and played by a quintet of Amsterdam based players who have a very empathic on stage rapport.
Saxophone, voice and drums are the base elements of the Finnish trio Elifantree, making liberated music that defies easy categorization, with feet planted defiantly in both the jazz and rock camps.