In certain musical circles I’ve been lucky enough to stumble upon, Scandinavia has been hot shit for a couple of years now. No, I’m not talking about the umpteenth wave of indie pop to come from Sweden and Norway, though Peter, Bjorn and John and I’m From Barcelona have been getting their fair share of attention lately. I’m actually referring to the intersection where jazz and downtempo meet, an area that’s been given many names including acid jazz, broken beat (though that doesn’t really fit) and nu-jazz. That no one can agree on what to call the movement is somewhat irrelevant, though, because the important thing about the latest subversion of jazz isn’t what it’s called, but what it sounds like. For that, we have Jazzflora, a compilation series put out by Dealers of Nordic Music. Jazzflora is a great introduction and a landmark compilation for the genre.

Ïony, an electronic duo from Gothenberg, Sweden, is one of the featured artists on the Jazzflora CDs. Most of the duo’s music relies more heavily on beats and blurbs than the usual nu-jazz crowd, but “Logic of Space” serves as a perfect bridge between night-owl jazz and beat-heavy downtempo, the two combining to form a fantastic late-night urban soundtrack. The Jazzflora series is full of atmospheric excursions like this one, and the two albums are worth tracking down if you suddenly find yourself hankering for some Scandinavian nu-jazz.