Nik Bartsch's Ronin

Stoa (ECM) ****

By John Bungey

Are you a bored habitué of Radio 3’s Mixing It who thinks that he or she has heard everything — every mix of electro-acoustic-ambient- hardcore-trance? Fret not, because the vivid music of Bartsch, a Swiss composer and pianist offers a new sound vista. At first, his small, mainly acoustic ensemble appears to be playing Steve Reich-style minimalism but, seven minutes in, the electric bass cranks up and suddenly the music is surfing over James Brown funk.

Is it jazz? Only in so far as Bartsch improvises a little on piano over the shifting grooves and the album is released by a label known mainly for jazz. Bartsch chooses to call his musical journeys “Zen-funk” and by the fifth piece — which he terms Moduls — the relentless momentum, as odd and even-metered rhythms merge and mingle, proves to be thoroughly hypnotic.

It is difficult to know where your local HMV is going to stock this (possibly near those Australian jazz minimalists the Necks), but it’s worth seeking out. And one day it would be fascinating to hear Bartsch and his team carry off this intricate, mesmeric music live.