Kokomo: Futura (digital outlets)

If you haven't heard of Kokomo – and they have appeared at Elsewhere a few times – that is hardly their fault.

Formed in 1991when Tauranga singer/guitarist Derek Jacombs hooked up with harmonica player Grant Bullot to play blues, they added members, played every festival possible from Sweetwaters 1999 to folk and jazz events, and along the way recorded more than a dozen albums.

The original Kokomo Blues became simply Kokomo and naturally the music changed with more originals, electric guitar arriving in the line-up and now a move into new territory with a dip into electronica alongside their standard instrumentation.

So here is the ambitious 11 minute-plus groove of Futura Motel (a pitstop on Kraftwerk's autobahn about seven minutes in for a guitar solo), mind-bending Arizona rock-blues on Turn the Light Down Low and uneasy electropop on the minimalist Sundog.

Bob Dylan's Dignity is overhauled into synth-pop for (In)dignity, Highway 29 Blues is a slightly menacing atmospheric piece and there are two mixes of Something Funny Going On, one edgy and the other more polished and poppy, with a furious keyboard solo taking it out.

Not everything here is successful – in places you wish for more punch – but you have to admire Kokomo, after all these decades they are up for the challenge of something new to add to their armory.

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Futura is available on CD and digital links are here. Contact Kokomo through their website www.kokomo.co.nz