Terry Hunter
Madness EP

Vels Trio has been bubbling away for some time on the London jazz underground, wowing audiences with a suitably deep, cosmic and gently colourful take on jazz-funk shot through with musical spirituality. Celestial Dreams is the former Total Refreshment Centre regulars' first full-length excursion and it's very good indeed. After beginning with the Tangerine Dream style synthesizer soundscape that is 'Dormant Days', the talented threesome flits between dazzling, jazz-fired workouts (see 'McEnroe' and the similarly skittish, high-octane 'The Winter Games'), laidback downtempo groovers ('The Wad', the deliciously deep 'May as Well Be'), cuts smothered in vintage synthesizer sounds ('Pop Stuff', the drowsy '40.2') and spacey, quick-fix bursts of energy ('Ceegee').(Juno Review)