Common Ground

 2010 release. On the face of it, a seemingly unbridgeable stylistic chasm separates innovative Jazz maven Sebastian Rochford and Portugal-born, London-based rapper Jyager Maktwist. But as anyone familiar with either artist's work will appreciate, categorizations have little meaning. In the six years he's been recording as leader of Polar Bear, Rochford has demonstrated an innate feel for creative collaboration, and records like (Mercury Prize-nominated) Held on the Tips of Fingers pays scant attention to attempts to pigeonhole him. Polar Bear's fourth album, Peepers, released in March 2010 to almost universal acclaim, has only consolidated his reputation as one of British music's most diverse and in-demand percussionists. Anyone who heard the mixtape he compiled earlier this year wouldn't be surprised that he's a longtime fan of Hip Hop and Grime.