Jimi Tenor: Cinema Dadaab Vinyl 7"

Middle-Eastern tinged jazz-funk, with a splash of psychedelia. Finnish musician Jimi Tenor is known for his extensive and varied career, creating everything from IDM for Warp Records in the mid 90's to Afrobeat funk for Strut throughout the 2000's (peep his '08 collaboration with Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen). On this release, released on his own Ronet Records label, Tenor surprises again with a blisteringly-strong 4-track 7" for the Finnish movie, Cinema Dadaab. The movie centers around the inhabitants of Dadaab - one of the world's largest and oldest refugee camps - who use film as a means of mental escape. While in the field of jazz-funk, the tracks on this 7" all have heavy hints of Middle Eastern tones, psychedelia and avant-garde mixed together, sounding almost like a combination of The Heliocentrics, Mulatu Astatke's ethio-grooves and Lloyd Miller's Persian jazz. It's a release that reaches far and wide without losing its footing. Recommended.

• 4 tracks in all
• Ronet Records 2018

reviewed by Ralphy Corduroy 1/2019