When I was a kid my Dad had some great records. But I didn’t admit this at the time of course. Because as a kid, you’re not gonna realise, or maybe it was just me, that The Beatles, Chuck Berry, and certainly not jazz, are all actually pretty fucking good. Cos you’re listening to your own shit, the soundtrack of your own generation. But then it gets to a stage where popular music has developed so much, and so quickly, that the work of some artists seems to have come full cycle. Nostalgia 77, or Ben Lamdin, describes the work on his new Album, The Garden, as ‘a combination of soul and jazz compositions, with computer based production techniques.” Starkly different from the funk-infused breaks he’d earlier been releasing, to great success, on Brighton’s Tru Thoughts imprint.

Over the phone this well-spoken Oxford native describes his drift towards making old-school jazz new. “After I finished the first record I started meeting people who had the skills and jazz training, I thought this’ll be good to do jazz recording, to be getting away from samples.’ He’s been quoted as saying ‘I suppose I just wanted to do tracks that were interesting and sat together. Although he plays guitar and piano, Ben claims he’s ‘not a great instrumentalist like these guys who practice really hard’, in reference to the talented musicians he was lucky enough to bring together. ‘The straight-up jazz scene is very self-contained and marginalised; players of my generation often don’t get the press or the opportunity. I worked with people who older cats would love to work with.’

As the standout tune, it should be noted that included on, or in, The Garden is the fantastic stripped down cover of White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army, featuring the outstanding vocal  oomph of label mate Alice Russell, which seems to have been deservedly doing the rounds. In reference to the way the finished piece sounds, he admits he ‘used sneaky bits of drum samples, but recorded some live too, but some samples have a weight and a heaviness that make them great to use.’ ‘I bought the Album (Elephant) and think they’re great performers, and great songwriters. They’re some of my favourite musicians in the charts.’ And as for Alice Russell? Alice has one of the best voices around, and people are starting to hear more about her. People from Massive Attack and Groove Armada are starting to prick up their ears…She’s just gonna get more fans wherever she goes!’

Yet he’s not resting on his laurels. ‘I’m just out and about at the moment, really just trying to cover different towns, and make connections outside of Brighton. I guess I’m just building a bit of a profile…Ubiquity  took the Record in the States so maybe I’ll go out there.’ He’s already racked up a fair few tours, taking in places like Hungary, which he describes as different to the UK, being a ‘really good, really young jazz club scene, where the club goes till everyone sleeps, everyone just treats it like a normal Club-do!’ There are no immediate plans for a down-under tour, although he concedes when the album’s had a bit of time it’ll be a definite consideration. No doubt since the recent warm reception of Tru Thought’s cohorts the Quantic Soul Orchestra, Nostalgia 77’s medleys will receive a warm welcome, as his work becomes increasingly noted for what it is, great jazz music tidied up a little bit for 2005.

Nostalgia 77’s latest album, ‘The Garden’, is out now through Tru Thoughts/Creative Vibes.