The release of Ian Simmonds/Juryman's previous two albums has provoked the emergence of a fanatic core of followers, a kind of international secret society whose most eminent members include the likes of Gilles Peterson, Kruder & Dorfmeister - he's just done a remix for Peter Kruder - or the Compost gang... not to mention the press, who hailed him as some kind of nu - electronic - jazz - messiah... but "The Hill", his uniquely deep new album, goes way beyond those categories: it's a self-contained universe, full of lights and shadows... the intense & emotional universe of an English dervish intoxicated with this world and its tighly interwoven strands of great beauty + great melancholy...

OK, OK, enough hyperbolism -- we do tend to wax lyrical on the subject of Juryman... some plain facts then: "The Hill" contains twelve tracks, four of which are deep electrojazz instrumentals, while the eight others are graced with the voices of Ian Simmonds, Alison Goldfrapp (who has appeared alongside Orbital, Tricky and Spacer) & Trinidad poet Roger Robinson. Apart from contributions by Spacer, by drummer Tim Weller and a couple of other guests, all the programming, the profound bass guitar lines and the other


SSR 224 CD + 2LP - release date : 28 February 2000