Viberatto | Beautiful (independent)

After playing jazz, reggae, funk, trip/hip hop, and rock in Boston and the Lower East Side and engineering the Strokes’ major-label debut, musical maven Jimmy Goodman relocated to Stone Ridge, where he opened his increasingly popular Leopard Recording Studio. Perhaps best described as a kind of jazz/ambient/chamber ensemble, Goodman’s Viberatto project features the leader on vibraphone, synthesizers, piano, and programming, along with a hand-picked crew of his accomplished upstate friends: cellist Jane Scarpantoni, bassist Chris Maccia, percussionist Scott Hanna, guitarist Nat Russell, and our own Ross Rice on additional piano.

The outcome as heard on this well-named EP is five tracks of cool, fragile, crystalline loveliness akin to the Modern Jazz Quartet jamming on the “ice palace” set of Dr. Zhivago. The opening title cut and the Far Eastern-tinged “Glacier” (again, perfectly named) float like soft lullabies in the arctic air, while the driving “Flight” works in clubby drum ‘n’ bass rhythms to hypnotic effect. And, in a seeming nod to this music’s partial electro roots, “After” hijacks Suicide’s “Che,” laying swirling vibes and lines over the top until everything melts into a gorgeous whirlpool of transfixing translucence. The only complaint about this release is that at 16:19 it’s just too damn short. No worries, though: Goodman is currently at work on next year’s follow-up.

www.myspace.com/viberatto