It is with a feeling of holiday freedom found in a state of mind rather than a physical point of arrival that I introduce to you Entropic, whose improvisational electro beats are redefining what it means, and the pleasure associated, with being loose as a goose and vibey as all hell.

In a live performance, Entropic will no doubt have you give some part of your body over to their free rhythmic beats. Their energised performances even inspire the regular toe tapper to find movement in ankle joints rarely explored. Yet, armed with the tools of a traditional jazz band playing organic electro beats, Entropic mark somewhat of an unusual case in the world of electronica.

When some of your greatest influences are electronic acts such as Roni Size, LTJ Bukem, EZ Rollers and you are wanting to situate yourself and be recognised as an electronic act, why not embrace all the gadgetry of the digital?

As Robbie Mudrazija, drummer from Entropic, explains, “Entropic are like some kind of experiment really. We found this approach that gives an underlying idea behind the band and guidelines, if you could call it that, that we can experiment within, so it becomes about more than just playing music”.

So, we are to believe that lugging around a classic Fender Rhodes is all part of the greater creative sacrifice and that Entropic are not just the leftover spirit from the clan analogue era. The line these boys have drawn is less about remaining analogue purists and more about trying to contribute something original to the electronic genre by taking a unique approach.

Entropic admit, in the recording of their album Braille, set to be released in May, that their analogue approach, along with their highly improvisational nature, made the recording process particularly challenging.

“Doing an album was actually really hard for us, you go into a studio and you can do anything you want, so it was like where do we draw the line? The way we did it, all the tracks are live take from start to finish. We did improvise a bit, and on the electronic side we did use these mad old analogue tape delays and retro gear but we tried to keep that analogue feel to it”, says Robbie.

With an understanding of where Entropic are coming from creatively, what are we to make of their latest release, Rendezvous – a remix album. Does this not, by its very nature, contradict the practise that grounds them?

In simple terms, no, not really. The raw material is still there and for Entropic the idea of mixing it up with that sort of music, as Robbie calls it, has been part of the greater plan all along.

“We had the idea in our head from the beginning and mainly because we were trying to slot ourselves into the electronic genre. It is a good way to expose our music to that area and we want to do more stuff, even performance wise, in that area ” says Robbie.

For the remix album they invited fellow electronic artists to have a play. They were overwhelmed by the response received and the completed project is a seriously slick album that ranges from anywhere between dance floor Drum ‘n’ Bass, by Monk Fly, to Meems down tempo house.

The whole live band/electronic scene that Entropic are a part of is still a hard one to figure out. With bands like Entropic, Tracky Dax and Baggsmen playing music that you can seriously dance to, the question posed is, are we going to see bands breaking into the club scene? We saw the trend of bands being taken out of clubs and replaced by DJs in the 1980s, is there enough incentive for the clubs to bring them back? In the current musical climate, it seems doubtful, but I am sure there will be many willing punters to support all attempts made.

Click here to read ITM’s review of Entropic – Rendezvous.