Opaque blue vinyl
Isotope 217 is made up of Dan Bitney, John Herndon, and Jeff Parker from Tortoise along with Rob Mazurek (Chicago Underground, Exploding Star Orchestra), and Matt Lux (Iron and Wine). Drawing from free jazz, hard bop, funk, dub and post-rock, without resulting in some featureless muddle or lifeless ‘fusion’, the group’s aesthethic simultaneously recalls different aspects of early 70s musical experimentation: The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Bitches Brew / On the Corner - era Miles Davis, and vintage King Tubby. Isotope 217 don’t merely assemble these diverse elements in one place, but rather explore the common ground that already underlies them: a shared emphasis on texture, timbre, space, and groove.
