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When I first moved to Columbus OH and would ask people who was doing crazy electronic music there, every single person mentioned Jacoti Sommes. He has been a staple of the music scene as a performance artist in the group Hugs and Kisses and with intense improvised dance music under his own name. Travel Time, his first album with Orange Milk, takes that live drum machine and synthesizer improv energy but channels it through tight compositions. The track “Pulse Start” is probably the best place to start, when I first heard it live I thought he was covering a forgotten electro funk classic, it has an almost shockingly precise and simple composition that I don’t hear often. You could make comparisons to someone like Dam-Funk, or see Jacoti as keeping the vast Ohio funk legacy going (Zapp & Roger, Ohio Players, etc.), but there are also indications of 90s outsider electronics, deep synth ambience, and some Aphex Twin vibes at work. I know first hand how versatile of an artist Jacoti is, Travel Time represents only a portion of his creative output, but what a great portion that I’m happy to present.

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