The best thing about music is the way it continually presents you with people that have been doing their thing for time, and very well indeed, but have somehow managed to do that thing far from your wandering ear. Introducing John Carroll Kirby, just one star in the constellation of Los Angeline music, but one who has worked with the likes of (drum roll, please) Solange, Norah Jones, Frank Ocean, Miley Cyrus, and Bat For Lashes, among others.

In truth, you can probably hear as much of those artists as you can another of his conspirators, Connan Mockasin, here. Cryptozoo is a record out of time, but perhaps not timeless. We wander through strange ambient jazz, elevator hooks, and cut scenes from a forgotten Final Fantasy game. It's the past and present, it's familiar and yet exploratory, and it makes perfect sense as aural accompaniment to a movie about metaverse beasts.