"'Jason was a godsend. We gave him some pretty far-out chords, but he brought a jazz sensibility to re-voice them… Jason's synthesizer didn't have a computer with souped-up programs like Omnisphere on it, he would just do it with guitar pedals, making all the sounds unique...’”
– Tony Visconti for Rolling Stone
Jason Lindner, a keyboardist with eclectic musical sensibilities that intermesh to create a unique voice that has served as a key ingredient for numerous projects, including David Bowie's final album "Blackstar", presents his New York-based band's third album (and first for Jazzlandrec), "The Buffering Cocoon".
Broad in scope, grand in ambition, and possibly a wormhole to a different musical dimension, the album takes the listener on the musical journey and experience that defies clear classification by any traditional measures. If music is about ideas expressed via the right notes in the best possible configuration using the best sounds, this is what Now Vs Now delivers. The ideas are focused on the future: the future of humanity, society, the planet. The themes of each track are interconnected, and their musical expression is perfectly attuned accordingly: no excess notes in the name of ego-based skill exposition, no scarcity of sounds where the concepts demand them. From the moment you press play, to the final drone and tick-tock of "Buffer Failed. Restart" you are taken on a journey with a perfectly planned and executed itinerary, a journey from an uncertain present to possible futures.
Genres become grist for Now Vs Now's musical mill, stylistic compass points to orient the listener. Chick Corea's description of Lindner as a "musical universe" is shown here to be a truth rather than mere hyperbole. They produce electronic music tinged with jazz, funk and soul, with nods to relaxing vaporwave ("Accelerating Returns"), analog synth-pop (the percolating "Cloud Fishing"), danceable darkwave (the propulsive, '80s-reminiscent "Motion Potion"), and modern electro-R&B ("The Scarecrow"). On other songs, IDM's taut beatkeeping, jazztronica's livewire energy, and elements of the cutting-edge Wonky subgenre popularized by Flying Lotus and J Dilla contribute verve and velocity.
