Nu Jazz are building something gloriously unhinged. The experimental New York six-piece have announced their second studio album and label debut, ‘Un Jazz’, out July 24 via Orange Milk, alongside lead single “369.” The record sits at the underground crossroads of free jazz, hardcore, and electronic music. Listen here.
The band sum up the album with one wild image: “Woodstock ’99 at Montreux Jazz Festival.” It’s a fragmented mash of genres and maximalist noise, what they call wartime music for the digital trench, aimed squarely at the power structures eroding democracy, individuality, and independent thought. That ambition comes through loud.
Lead single “369” makes the case immediately. The track plays out as a jagged waltz, moving between simmering lows and frenetic peaks with righteous anger and total abandon. It pulls the group’s inciting sound into focus, a restless distillation of everything they’ve been working toward and a badge of their perennial outsider status.
The lineup reads like a who’s who of the underground. Danny Orlowski (Deli Girls) hurls blown-out screams in lockstep with Ryan Easter (WRENS), whose blistering 16th-note runs and synth-like effects reimagine what a trumpet can do. Ben Shirken (29 Speedway, Ex Wiish) builds churning worlds from modular synths and jagged samples, while Adam Turay’s (The Narcotix) riffs weave and bloom. Kevin Eichenberger (CGI Jesus) anchors the low end with deft bass and compositional instinct, and John Bemis (Murderpact) brings a rhythmic palette of swing, breakbeat, and hardcore. Their individual projects have drawn notice from Pitchfork, Bandcamp Daily, Artforum, The FADER, Dazed, Resident Advisor, and The New York Times.
The road work runs deep too. Since forming in 2022, the band have sharpened their sound across rooms like Pioneer Works, Public Records, Long Play Festival, Cafe Oto, Trauma Bar und Kino, Jazz Is Dead, and Hyperreality Festival. ‘Un Jazz’ captures that convergence at full strength, an indefatigable spirit slashed against a timeline bleaker than any fictional dystopia.
Un Jazz Tracklist:
- “Return of the Rant”
- “In My City”
- “Sublimation”
- “369”
- “Vaporization”
- “Rearview”
- “Who Do You Work For?”
- “Recombination”
- “I(V)”
- “Civil War”
Shows:
July 24 @ The Compound – Baltimore, MD
July 25 @ Nightclub 101 – New York, NY (w/ OHYUNG, Matt Bent & Jon Starks)
