The Cinematic Orchestra – Motion

Very distorted highs on the record, changed needle and cartridge, the problem prevails.

Oh man, clever stuff this. But not dickhead clever.
I’ve had this for a long time and I when it came out it was a bit different.
Nice use of inventive sampling of live players with vinyl samples, sparse arrangements and cool looping leading to some truly magical tunes like ‘…and relax’ with its female vocal amd piano coda that sounds simultaneously like a rainy Monday January morning and a lost jazz soundtrack from 1971. Deeeeeep….
This keys in to that Alice Coltrane and Ahmad Jamal type Strata East deep spiritual Jazz shizzle of the 70s and recreates that dark ebony vibe.
Amazing record, the pressing is fookin top class.
I’m also not a huge fan of most of their gear after this. It’s just not in the same cool vibe, maybe someone left the group or summat changed. Fuck knows!

Weird you would mention Sorcery, True2. Because I'm pretty sure Durian on this record samples the bass part from Abercrombie's song Sorcery I (from Gateway, back in '75). Check it out!

One of my favorite records. I got this when it came out and it blew me away. I had started to collect ECM records at the time and I bought Abercrombie's Sorcery record at the same time and everything clicked. The way they used the samples and played over them is the antithesis of my tastes. It links hip-hop and jazz together in a sincere and forward thinking way. I can't gush more about this record.

Wow! No review. I can only guess people feel the music speaks for itself.
I caught Giles Peterson DJing one night in London and he played some of the tracks from this LP. I was duly blown away and managed to ask the MC he had that night what he had been playing. He just said look out for Motion in the shops soon. I bought it from Reckless as soon as I saw it and It didn't leave my turntable for so many months. It is a masterpiece of manipulation. How quite disparate pieces of music can be brought together and sound like it's a single band just blew me away. Pure genius IMHO - there are glimpses of this on Everyday but Motion for me will always remain as Swincoes' best compostion.

A pity this album is labeled "Future Jazz", because it's not about the future at all. And a pity it's released on Ninja Tune, cause people might fend it off as "just another boring trip-hop album".
The Cinematic Orchestra actually didn't get any better than this. Samples from old crackling jazz records creates a spooky film noir atmosphere that is so thick that most movie soundtrack composers would be jealous. If you close your eyes and listen, you hear more similarities with jazz legends like Buddy Rich and David Axelrod, than the boring trip-funk of The Herbaliser.
7 track in all, with most of the songs being about 7-14 minutes long, this album is definitely NOT for the dancefloor, which is good. It's simply a piece of brilliant cut-and-paste jazz music for home listening pleasure.

<I>Motion</I>, the Cinematic Orchestra’s first album, is, in a word, stunning. “Durian” starts out with slow strains then turns into a dark funk jam at the very end. “Ode to the Big Sea” takes a familiar jazz riff and sets it rolling like the ocean itself, with swells of horns, strings and drums and waves of piano and clarinet. That track is one of my favorites on an album that’s an embarrassment of riches. “Channel 1 Suite” is quietly devastating -- its vocal sample and gentle instruments have such an emotional pull. “And Relax!” encourages you to do just that. <I>Motion</I> shows how deeply felt music can be and has quickly become one of my favorite future jazz albums of all time.