Electronic Breakbeat Jazz

This might not qualify as 'breakbeat' but it is certainly electronic and jazz. Kevin Yost blends smooth, atmospheric sounds with funky house grooves and jazz solos.

Oftentimes I'll avoid the house-jazz sound of, for instance, Rainer Truby, for being a little too smooth. But then again, I like St. Germain (especially that "put your hands together" track). So, I'm definitely open to jazzy house, if it's done right.

I guess my only problem with the Truby stuff (and some of Kevin Yost, to be honest) is that it's a bit too clean and smooth. I like my jazz to be gritty, raw, real. I just feel like some of the latin-tinged jazzy house can be too smooth.

But, I don't want to put down these guys who make it, because it's obviously crafted very well. Just, for instance, on Yost's Welcome Home, I would have really preferred the keyboard-acoustic-guitar be left out. (Reminds me of Basement Jaxx - Bingo Bango) ... But don't let this discourage you from checking out his work, I think it's really just a matter of personal taste.

I personally much prefer the gritty, unrefined aesthetic of DJ Premier, DJ Cam or Medeski Martin & Wood to the smooth, refined stuff like Truby Trio and a lot of the deep house out there. Maybe I'm just not much of a deep house fan, when it gets down to it.

Also, Yost seems to do some downtempo, groovy stuff as well, so perhaps my comment above about it not qualifying as breakbeat was misplaced. (Though, Yost's primary forte seems to be house music).

I especially like the atmospheric sounds, and some of the stuff with more depth, like What is Cool. That song, as well as the other downtempo ones, seem to have more interesting drum sounds and sonic textures, unlike the deep house material which is just too clean and purely electronic for my taste. I like acoustic drums, and hearing sounds with a bit more depth than a drum machine alone can produce.

I've only heard a few samples of his work (like this one) but I've heard enough to recommend it, for the funky improvisation, solid (albeit tried-and-true) grooves and the excellent use of atmospheric sounds and ambient effects.

(Link to www.kevinyost.com)

(I originally found out about Kevin Yost from Silver's Boogaloo)