Issue #003 (March 2003) Kopernik - Self-Titled (Eastern Developments / Couchblip) Email this article to a friend Eastern Developments is an affiliate of Chicago’s Hefty Records and is run by the globe-trotting Prefuse73’s Scott Herron. But for those expecting glitched-up hip hop the label offers instead a solid platter of lush experiments in organic rather than inorganic music. Hu Vibrational’s stunning African drumming polyrhythms opened the label and from there the most straight thing has been the DJ Smash-styled hip hop instrumentals of Dabrye. So onwards to Kopernik .A two piece that sounds like much more, Kopernik features one of the players, Tim Delaney, who has worked with Heron as Savath + Savalas on upright bass alongside Brad Lewis on electronics whose first band Herron sampled for an early Delarosa & Asora record – all quite incestuous. Immediately Kopernik recalls the 70s astral jazz of Alice Coltrane, Pharaoh Sanders, the opener Ondoyant et Divers and Man, Myth & Magic using the upright bass to dive into swirling near-Eastern structures ever so slightly affected by subtle DSP effects. Elsewhere on Ava, Peacefully and Found Photograph there are strong elements of both modern classical and 70s ambient music, whilst Kopernistan and Faraday explore post-rock territory not far removed from Yo La Tengo’s recent The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science. All up this 8 track mini-album is a stunning spacious excursion into a slowly changing sound cocoon that will have you reaching into your Impulse re-issues. Sebastian Chan