
Standing alone in the desert, pre-dawn. A chill wind whipping up dust devils that catch the bright moon light.
For a moment.
Then the focus is pulled to the great spires that fill the horizon. Glimmering against the deep blue sky. Their windows filled with fire, their structures reconfigured by the light emanating from their crumbling floors.
The dust devils know where the party’s at.
Running into one of the many concrete valleys — which has slowly filled with encroaching sand — our vessel for this post’s extended metaphor plunges through the forest of cyclopean futurist hulks, the distorting, tape-bent beats pounding off the walls. High above Gavin Russom watches from a former car insurance office (now sans walls) and smiles to himself in the knowledge that there are others. Glancing upwards for a moment he catches the forms of Derrick May and Carl Craig huddling around a fire, lit on an equally exposed floor of an old financial institution.
Down below the vessel nears the source of the sound as light cascades from the rising sun. 100s of people throb around a fire giving thanks to those who came before, those who provided us with such riches. A badly painted cloth hangs from an old piece of corporate art and reads: ‘Things should be made anew before they are destroyed again.’
Mi Ami‘s transmogrification may have been foretold long in advance of their gonzo mixtape for this web-zine but that Ballardarian car crash seems like the appropriate forge from which Dolphins emerged. Sunrise, the only instrumental on their latest EP is easiest to slip into the late 80s Chicago haze that stuffed Daniel’s record bag on their last trip to the UK but the entire EP is a love letter to much that 20JFG and Daniel and Damon (who now make up Mi Ami) hold dear.
Out as part of the Dolphins 12″ on March 14th on Thrill Jockey.
she watches it all through the faded glass of a mysteriously and unexplainedly suspended window, covered by evenly spaced chrome bars that break the moonlight into slowly moving bars; each one highlighting the goosebumps that betray her heightened sense of surrounding. She doesn’t know whether to hate them for not noticing or, as an act of voyeurism, read their brutish abandon as a parent reads, often out of disgust/hatred, the inability of their young offspring to grasp the cold and anachronistic rituals they’re expected to learn. And then the window reminds her . . .
Yours sincerely
JC25th February 2011
i love the new design but bring back the black background!
:(
Yours sincerely
trrr25th February 2011
wow, layout..
Yours sincerely
jesse25th February 2011
I like the new layout, because you can do no wrong
Yours sincerely
nm25th February 2011
Hi, I’m in Eastbourne and I have a little record label called Attractive. I’d love to throw some mp3s your way. Just preparing vinyl 7″s 3/4/5. Much love.
Yours sincerely
Steve L25th February 2011
Hi Steve,
Hit us up at coms@20jazzfunkgreats.co.uk
Yours sincerely
xxjfg25th February 2011
New design is so awesome, thank you.
Yours sincerely
Main Mane25th February 2011
Don’t like the new design much. Sorry
Yours sincerely
dee25th February 2011
interesting layout, reminds me of a fancy restaurant
Yours sincerely
Tonsofice25th February 2011
I like the new design!
Yours sincerely
Xander Harris26th February 2011
Fabulous letter style, so formal and beautiful…and yet inviting – wait – I think I smell the distinct aroma of Ye Olde Spice tinged with the olfactory delight of new vinyl wafting from the exquisite parchment…..
Yours sincerely
Treakiepop esq.26th February 2011
bring it back dudes, since when did y’all go fuckin yuppie
Yours sincerely
evil guo26th February 2011
It’s cool. I’m into it. Nothing wrong with a little comic sans every once in a while. The new design is better than the old design. Thanks.
Yours sincerely
Douglas Lyle Thompson26th February 2011
we adore 20jfg
Yours sincerely
the frequency monsters from chicago26th February 2011
Jeez, this new design is really corny. Bring back the black background and embedded player
Yours sincerely
c'mon son27th February 2011
Layout is great, I believe that some of the dissenters would rather have polaroids and grainy found images (So 2010). Thank you 20jfg for keeping us in the 3000′s.
Yours sincerely
J Sauce27th February 2011
I love it when we change designs…
- the player is still there. Indeed it works better than ever as you can now skip within the track by clicking on the timeline.
@J Sauce – that was definitely a consideration during the change.
As always – new theme is work in progress – could be something different again by monday :)
Yours sincerely
20jazzfunkgreats27th February 2011
This new theme has left me completely out of my comfort zone, is this a good thing?
Yours sincerely
OscarKhan27th February 2011
ganz schlimmes layout, furchtbar, beste musik schlechteste grafik.
Yours sincerely
doomdirk28th February 2011
this new design is too twee for me.
Yours sincerely
isis k.1st March 2011
i really/don’t-much-at-all like the new design. big fuckoff deal? no
Yours sincerely
dexvaldinho/& cetera1st March 2011
you and altered zones should trade site designs. they’ve got the whole psychedelic space voyage thing down pretty good and this look fits much more with their “saving the recording industry one name drop at a time” credo.
Yours sincerely
Marshall1st March 2011
I wouldn’t want to say that our transition was a wilful attempt to steer away from Sci-fi looks without sci-fi substance, but to some it may look like that.
Yours sincerely
20jazzfunkgreats1st March 2011