Confines contains 12 tracks from prolific jazz polymath, Pan Amsterdam, and finds the Houston-raised, New York-based trumpeter, rapper, producer perverting the genre with his own personal twists. Bending it into unique drum machine-driven shapes, and shoving it into places it doesn’t normally go. Born Leron Thomas, the alias itself arose out of his frustration at the limited possibilities within the conventional jazz scene. 

Pan Am’s prose, usually spoken, sometimes sung, is stuffed full of pop culture references and soaked in social commentary. Its subject matter criss-crossing, making seemingly abstract, but actually sly, wry connections in quick fire bars. Its attention, jittery, jumping all over the place, to fast to translate / accommodate. Packed with wordplay and puns, its wisdom can only be deciphered after 2, 3, 4, 5 listens (1). 

The music is similarly, purposefully hard to pin down. Moving from Day Out’s woozy, wonky, rattling, clattering “post-house” (2), to Venus Fly Trap’s bass-y analogue drones. Meeshy J squeezes in nods to `90s IDM electronics. Evening Drive’s seismic, slo-mo explosions of sound are sourced from a shredded slice of slinky, polished `80s pop (3). 

A couple of cuts revisit old tunes. NYC Town (pronounced “nice town”) first appeared as a shiny, bright synth-pop collaboration with Metronomy. Here it becomes a piece of plaintive, indie-rock, almost shoegaze-y guitar picking, that builds to a finale of flailing, free fire music drums. Plus One comes from Pan Am’s 2018 debut, but the new re-imagining has Iggy Pop – who’s a huge fan – breathlessly recite the lyrics over a moody, minor key noir. Sedated, sluggish and sleepless, its muted horn and synth washes would make a cool score for a futuristic remake of Taxi Driver. 

As the album proceeds, the jazz at its root, does become more apparent. This could, however, simply be your brain searching for familiarity as it attempts to acclimatise to the freaky weirdness. Pai Mei, for example, showcases its Papa’s significant chops on horn and piano over a super syncopated rhythm constructed from funky, truncated, treated thuds and thumps. Sure is robotic, but soulful R&B. The surreal Children Of Bear Creek begins as a reverb rich ballad, serenaded by accomplished trumpet and key flourishes, but ends in cathartic crashing and sonically, strangely Stereolab-y. 

The closing, title track is a comment on pigeon-holing, biased preconceptions and our sadly still segregated society. Conveyed in Pan Am’s characteristic, stream of consciousness 21st / 22nd Century beat poetry. The music, like a frazzled, fried fusion, is accompanied by a video whose kaleidoscopic, psychedelic visuals contrast the song’s restricted horizons with a Kubrick Stargate-like trip through an ever expanding universe. As the big man says, “Stay unrehearsed.”

Pan Amsterdam’s Confines is available via a collaboration between Def Pressé and Heavenly Recordings. You can order a copy directly via Bandcamp. 

Notes

(1) I haven’t listened to much rap since the turn of the millennium, but a point of reference for me is Mike Ladd’s Welcome To The Afterfuture.

(2) Sonically I was reminded of Kai Hugo’s Palmbomen II project, on Beats In Space.  

(3) I’m pretty sure the samples come from a much-loved modern “Balearic” classic.