Rainstick Orchestra

Ninja Tune’s latest act, Rainstick Orchestra, has more in common with their other Orchestra (the Cinematic one) than name alone. Both incorporate heavy elements of jazz into their styles while retaining a serious awareness of modern beats, but what makes Rainstick so inferior to Cinematic is that they’re more new age than jazz fusion and more into the KORG than the Rhodes. This not-so-dynamic duo focus on the lighter, admittedly cheesier sides of the modern electronic palette by churning out bubbly Tortoise-like patter on "Waltz for a Little Bird” and a brutal-era Tangerine Dream throwback in "Electric Counterpoint Fast,” to point out a couple obvious missteps. And like a lot of middle-aged journeymen posing as electronic gurus (1 Giant Leap anyone?) the tracks Rainstick Orchestra end up creating sound instantly dated. This kind of thing might be nice for a yoga class or realigning your chakras, but as foreground music it’s straight-up bland.