berlioz

berlioz (aka Jasper Attlee) is an enigmatic producer, beatmaker, and jazz-house auteur clocking over a hundred millions streams in the last 12 months for his bold visual and sonic aesthetic.

If Matisse made house music, it would sound like berlioz.

His unique blend of music and vivid visuals proved to be an imaginative and uplifting elixir for fans coming out the dystopian dismal greys of the pandemic in 2021. berlioz was flooded with messages about how his music pulled them out of dark times. In return he used those messages as permission to release more music than ever before, no matter how personal.

Spoken word riffs and positive affirmations swirl like saccharine smoke across the 11 tracks of ‘open this wall.’ On the title song the vocalist sends powerful manifestations into the universe over sun-soaked sax. Followed by the deeply cinematic and meditative ‘peace’ and the captivating ‘nytmp’ which features an evocative French vocalist talking about the powerful feeling of the New York, Milano, Paris and Tokyo jazz, modern and world music scenes.

Elsewhere spellbinding harmonies ignite a cosmic trip on ‘indigo dream.’ While ‘ode to rahsaan’ expresses berlioz’s capabilities as producer, composer and his jazz influences with one of the most musically ambitious and exquisite songs on the record. Here berlioz pays homage to multi-instrumentlist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, arguably the one of the most exciting saxophone soloist in jazz history. He gives a house heavy lick to gravity defying sax and a vocal monologue from Rashaan. Who much like berlioz was a prolific; multi-talent’ and known for his virtuoso improvisation mixed with comic banter, political ranting, and the ability to play several instruments simultaneously.