Last year saw the release of Zest, the sixth album by BRUUT! and their first on Excelsior Recordings. Maybe not the most obvious home base, because isn’t Excelsior mainly known for alt-pop bands like Daryll-Ann and Caesar? Still, the jazz quartet fits in there perfectly: both band and label are from Amsterdam and both have been following their own unique path for years. Over the past decade, BRUUT! has created a recognizable identity, described by them as “super jazz”. Sharply dressed (complete with ties!), they play music that is often energetic and danceable, understated on occasion, but invariably cool, and cinematic. With Zest, they take listeners to a world where electronics meet Spaghetti Westerns, accurately described in their press release in these words: “As if Keith Flint [The Prodigy] walks onto the film set of A Fistful of Dollars.”
