Audiopile Review: Producer and drummer Teppo Mäkynen must be one of the most in demand studio and live musicians in Finland, with hundreds of credits under his many pseudonyms, his loose jazz-funk stylings appear on some of the best known imports of the country, including Jukka Eskola and Timo Lassy. He’s even worked with renowned downtempo and jazz producer Nicola Conte! Under his guise as The Stance Brothers, he’s largely stuck to the 7” format, releasing a steady drip of singles of hip-hop inflected soul-jazz and instrumental funk. A mainstay of the Helsinki imprint We Jazz, the label offer up his first full length in almost 15 years, which sees the producer in a reclined state, slowing his usual funk-based, break-y pace for a record that meets at the intersecting paths of lounge, downtempo, astral jazz and library groove. Heavy on the vintage synths and vibraphone, Mäkynen channels a notably 70s aesthetic throughout, bringing to mind Ubiquity-era Roy Ayers or the Donald Byrd and Bobbi Humphrey jazz-funk odysseys issued on Blue Note. Madlib’s Mind Fusion mixes are mentioned in the label’s ad copy, but, to our ears at least, it mines a similar zone to Madlib’s many faux jazz outfits like Sound Directions, Monk Hughes, The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble. Enough splitting hairs, get this one on the decks ASAP and let it lift you up!

Finnish drummer/producer Teppo “Teddy Rok” Mäkynen returns with his alias The Stance Brothers. Lauded by the likes of Kenny Dope and Gilles Peterson, Mäkynen’s studio creation has been visible on the 7″ format during the recent years. Now, Mäkynen is back with a full LP, the project’s first in more than 10 years. Duktus is a treasure-trove for everyone into crunchy jazz funk à la Bob James and CTI, but this is no retro exercise. Teddy Rok moves forward in all directions, constantly bringing new elements into his sound, which is more layered and deep than ever before. At the same time, the crunch and the breaks are there when you need them. The basic core of The Stance Brothers is to be solo studio vehicle for Teppo Mäkynen to experiment across a varied instrumentation and musical ideas. After the project’s celebrated first album, The Stance Brothers took to the stage as well, creating one of the most beloved live outfits of recent history in the Helsinki scene. Now, after more than 10+ years of time spent in releasing one hard-hitting 7″ after the other, The Stance Brothers are back, both on the record and live on stage. Whereas the Stance 7″ sides are often dominated by crunchy drums and crystal-clear vibraphone melodies, the new album sounds broadens up into a more synth-heavy, “postmodern” realm, taking its space in a form resembling a mixtape. The funk is there, but Mäkynen is sensitive to the fact that an LP is not a 7″, and the ideas take their shape accordingly. Guest voices float in and out of the mix, blending in anonymously, true to the low-key spirit of the studio operation. RIYL: Roy Ayers, Mizell Brothers, Bobby Hutcherson, Cesar Mariano, Patrice Rushen, George Duke, Madlib’s Mind Fusion Mixtapes.