The doom/dark jazz concept continues to be a fascinating marriage of jazz and drone music. German quartet Bohren & Der Club of Gore seem to be the masters of creating these ultra slow movements which create solemn moments of stillness time almost in a standstill. The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble is another ensemble with a similar approach.

Founded by none other than breakcore freak Jason Köhnen (aka Bong-Ra) and partner in crime Gideon Kiers, the ensemble is named after the African mountain Kilimanjaro but bears no recognizable trace to African music. Unlike Bohren, the beats in TKDE’s music are electronic and there’s an whole other layer of electronic noises/glitches a la Ikue Mori’s work on Phantom Orchard or Death Ambient. In fact it’s safe to say Mutations their newest EP on Ad Noiseam is not a descendant of jazz, but a fusion of postrock and IDM. The expansion of the cadre from two to seven which sees them incorporate violins and trombones as well as the vocal talent of French vocalist Charlotte Cegarra led Mutations to be more accessible than their previous work on Planet Mu, appealing also to fans of acts like Telefon Tel-Aviv etc. Subjectively though this mutated sound is not as interesting as their previous album or their similarly named project “The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation” which is a beatfree soundscape with darker drones wreaking havoc.