7 / 10
Black and white sleeve art? Unpronounceable name? Oblique reference to Thomas Pynchon's novel The Crying
Of Lot 49, in the title? Seems like one of those cerebral sound adventurers, right? But, hold your fire, because Gorodisch, aka Stephen Cracknell - one time member of Badly Drawn Boy's backing band - has produced a gem of a mini-album.
'Thurn & Taxis' is a pleasantly sun-dappled stew of fractured psychedelic folk, jazz and '60s rock fed through odd effects and filters. Keen on melody, pithy and refreshingly unpretentious, Cracknell lends the psych-country of 'B.O.F' and the dubbed-up folk rocker 'Blues For Pablo Honey' a fresh, slightly tapped dimension. His world-jazz tracks, meanwhile, sound like the pick of a Gilles Peterson set. The full-length debut is due next year, until then - stay cool, you cats.
Tony Naylor
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