Pursuit Of Ends (LP)

Drawing on bebop, punk rock, shoegaze, hip-hop, and electronic music, experimental jazz act High Pulp present Pursuit of Ends, their first full-length album with Los Angeles's ANTI- Records.

High Pulp's music is both vintage and futuristic all at once, hinting at times to everything from Miles Davis and Duke Ellington to Aphex Twin and My Bloody Valentine. The songs on 'Pursuit of Ends' balance meticulous composition with visceral spontaneity, and the performances are nothing short of virtuosic, fuelled by raw, ecstatic horn runs ducking and weaving their way around thick bass lines and dizzying percussion.

While the Seattle-based collective is centred around a crew of six core members, they also make judicious use of a broad network of collaborators on the album, wrangling special guests like sax star Jaleel Shaw (Roy Haynes, Mingus Big Band), harpist Brandee Younger (Ravi Coltrane, The Roots), GRAMMY-nominated trumpeter Theo Coker, and keyboardist Jacob Mann (Rufus Wainwright, Louis Cole) to help stretch the boundaries of their already-expansive sonic universe. The result is a lush, cinematic collection that's as unpredictable as it is engrossing, an urgent, exhilarating instrumental album that manages to speak to the moment without uttering a single word.