Elefish Jellyphant

With a sound that resides somewhere near the intersection where jazz, hip-hop and ultra-experimental electronic music come together, this San Francisco trio draws on familiar musical elements, but can't be accurately compared to any one band. The opening track, "Prelude to a Jellyfish," features trippy sounds that wouldn't be out of place on a Radiohead album, but "Lesson #7" sounds more like Medeski Martin & Wood doing a jazz instrumental cover of a Beastie Boys tune. Combining hip-hop influences with improvisation and live instrumentation with sampling and turntable scratches, Livehuman makes studio-oriented music that genuinely sounds all the way live. Perhaps the most apt comparison is introduced via a sample on "Lost World," which borrows sounds from the Art of Noise songbook to create an ambient feel that combines spacey, ethereal textures, jazzy bass riffs and exotic percussion. I'm not sure how the eclectic smorgasbord of sounds the aptly-named group creates on Elefish Jellyphant is supposed to find its audience— it's too funky for jazz fans, too weird for hip-hop heads and not quite danceable enough for techno fiends. But if you enjoy visiting the intersection where jazz, hip-hop and ultra-experimental electronic music come together, you'll love Livehuman's distinctive fusionary approach.