SCHNTZL

If you've been following the Belgian jazz scene, then you're sure to have heard of this duo. Hendrik Lasure and Casper Van De Velde have been each other's muses since the ages of 12 and 14, respectively. Armed with a keyboard and drums, they happily colour outside the lines of traditional jazz, adding their own compositions into the mix, with healthy servings of improvisation and through-compositions. This gives their music a minimalistic feel, and their influences are particularly eclectic. They gently ease in the musical legacies of artists like Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and Nick Drake, plus those of others like Radiohead, Bon Iver and Robert Glasper; they later melded these sounds into their first album, which came out last year under the W.E.R.F. label. Listen to how this wonderfully wild world wrings out a clash between bright piano twangs, aggressive drums, shearing electronic waves, and even industrial rust.