Weird is the new normal
February 01, 2023
The new weird jazz - making jazz cool again
"This movement has been bubbling on YouTube and TikTok for years, but is now more prevalent than ever. Its exponents are musicians, many but not all of them quite young, who have jazz educations and aren’t afraid to show them off, but sense something faintly ridiculous in their own virtuosity. They love pop and bebop equally; they roll their eyes at the mere mention of the lick; they regard Thundercat as an elder statesman and the meme-fluent jazz YouTuber Adam Neely as a wisecracking uncle. They have managed to once again make jazz, or something like it, seem cool to their fellow kids" - Pitchfork introduces the new weird jazz movement/genre. Some of the weird jazzers are DOMi and JD Beck, Spilly Cave, MonoNeon, and Louis Cole.