There is no mistaking: Fusion is back! However, what Robert Glasper, Donny McGaslin, Derrick Hodge, Thundercat, Flying Lotus and Eric Schaefer & The Shreds do are not museum follow-ups to George Duke/Billy Cobham-Band or Herbie Hancocks’s mirthless funk groove retreats. A lot has happened since 1976! Eric Schaefer & The Shredz’s jamming improvisations are based on their experiences with a vibrant club culture that is consistently undergoing transformation and enriched with dub, techno and minimal repetitions, and reference the “Ocean of Sound” (David Toop) of electronic Miles Davis and Bill Laswell and Illbient’s subsonic experiments. Interim goals have promising names like “Abstract Dub”, “LongJam” and “SlomoJam”. There is a promise at the end of it: bliss!
