Jonah Sharp, a.k.a. Spacetime Continuum, is a perennial techno traveler. But his latest disc incorporates a jazz musician's chops (Sharp was formerly a drummer) in a streamlined techno stew more animal than astronaut.
Playing live drums, electric piano, and organ--with other sources sampled--Sharp creates a nocturnal, Crusaders-styled mixture; the plush production is buttressed by electronica's ubiquitous buzzes, whooshes, and drones. Like Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi group jamming with Cameo, beats of all types rule, with sleepwalking melodies blooming alongside hypnotic grooves. The odd-metered robo-funk of "Biscuit Face" recalls empty parking lots and barren interstates; the freeform techno of "Different Bend," flying moths dying in a lamplight; the 6/4 workout of "One At A Day," with its aromatic keyboards and Latin rhythms, is a modern take on slick CTI jazz.
Double Fine Zone's cover art depicts a blurry expressway at sunset, that moment before the moon appears and the daylight fades. Lonely sounding and curiously comforting, DFZ is like being lost in the stars.
