In this nascent decade, Washington D.C's alternative rap mavens, Raw Poetic and Damu the Fudgemunk (Jason Moore and Earl Davis, respectively), have released five albums together: Ocean Bridges, Moment of Change, BIG tiny Planet, Laminated Skies, and Space Beyond the Solar System. Each album feels distinct, but at a length of two hours, Space is the most sonically ambitious of the set, oscillating between spiritual jazz orchestration, funky psychedelia, and prog interludes patched through a plenitude of juicy synths.

Moore collaborated with his uncle, the canonical saxophonist Archie Shepp, for 2020's roomy, combo-oriented jazz album, Ocean Bridges. Shepp returns to bookend Poetic and Damu's quintet in Space. His expressive tonality floats amidst the backdrop of Damu's digital soundscape, a daemonic counterpoint to Raw Poetic's flow. There have been many exciting recent intersections between free jazz and electronica, but this meeting between generations refreshingly eschews the current...