GoGo Penguin
A Humdrum Star
Release Date: Feb 9, 2018
Genre(s): Jazz
Record label: Blue Note
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Album Review: A Humdrum Star by GoGo Penguin
Excellent, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Go Go Penguin's genre-bending, EDM-influenced brand of jazz has earned the Manchester-based trio plaudits, including being shortlisted for the Mercury Prize in 2014. The band's fourth studio album, and second for Blue Note, 2018's atmospheric A Humdrum Star, finds them delving even deeper into an electronic-influenced sound that favors texture and mood over standards or jazz-based elements. Once again featured are bassist Nick Blacka, pianist Chris Illingworth, and drummer Rob Turner.
Based on rating 4
Bizarrely named Manchester-based instrumental trio GoGo Penguin made their initial breakthrough back in 2014, when their album v2.0 received a Mercury Prize nomination. Their music, built around pianist Chris Illingworth's minimalist piano motifs, fuses elements of modern classical, electronica and jazz, with the bass and drums combination of Nick Blacka and Rob Turner completing the triumvirate. Because of their influences, GoGo Penguin have been compared to everyone from Aphex Twin and Massive Attack to Brian Eno and Debussy, but on new album A Humdrum Star they don't really sound like any of these stellar artists.
'A Humdrum Star'
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