- Loka are a band who are happy to take it easy, at least in some senses. They've been hiding in the dark folds of the Ninja Tune roster for at least ten years and in all that time they've released only two albums and to little fanfare, scorning the hype machine. I've heard them described as 'criminally under the radar', which may mean that they're using their music as a front for smuggling coke. Still, if it is a front, it's a very convincing one. Folks keep calling Loka a 'cult psychedelic' act and - sure - that's one of their tricks, but only one trick in a very big bag of 'em. That psych rock and pop shares space with a thoroughly, thrillingly energetic jazz music - you'll hear it on the big tune up the front of the new album, Passing Place, called As The Tower Falls. The rhythmic drive and arpeggiated harmonies are incredibly reminiscent of the work of fellow Ninja Tuners Jagga Jazzist. Both groups feature large memberships to help realise these sounds: Jagga Jazzist has eight members, while Loka counts within it's ranks the entire Seindorf Beaumaris brass band; I'm not quite sure how many folks are in that, but band photos of Loka are crowded, to say the least. Both the psych and the jazz are worked into a background that sounds thoroughly cinematic. Loka takes time to balance out the jazz highs or densely rocking numbers like single Sam Star with quiet, moody moments such as the wistful and melancholy sounds of The Art Of Burning Bridges or The Sound Stars make. Co-founder Karl Webb departed Loka before they embarked on this current album, but his partner Mark Kyriacou sounds like he was never short of material or inspiration. Loka are a thoroughly unusual beast in the modern music scene and if they only put out one album every five years, it just gives you more to look forward to. I'm going to play you that hair-raising jazz number As The Tower Falls, which features also a delicious spoken-word contribution from Loka's vocalist Eleanor Mante, hope you like it as much as I do.