Supposedly ‘Electric’ Miles Davis is the kind of jazz that rock fans can get down with. And it is true that many notables such as Johnny Rotten, Alex Skolnick and Sunn O))) – whose last album, Monoliths & Dimensions, contained a track called Aghartha, a partial nod to the godlike trumpet player – idolise him (the curious should pick up Bitches Brew, Live Evil and jazz’s very own Reign In Blood, Dark Magus).
Italian drum/keyboards duo Satelliti are obviously fans of Miles’s jazz fusion work (1968-1975) but they’re no muso copyists. They use his ‘electric’ blueprint and energy as a jumping-off point to create something blistering and new.
In particular, Dalle Luche’s reverberating, metallic electric keyboards link back to Joe Zawinul (part of Miles’s band) but he adds whole new layers of stern EBM basslines and squelching Roland TB-303s that could have come straight from Front 242 and Aphex Twin. Elsewhere the monolithic figures of Sun Ra, Herbie Hancock and Can loom over proceedings. An interstellar mindfuck for open minds.
