This is the best fine art 12" (180-gram) vinyl packaging that isn't from Independent Project. It's fold-out cardboard with vivid colors hand-screened, in a limited edition of 500. Musically, this Madison, WI collective led by Eric J. Hartz was known for indie analog synth pop, but this long two-songer (played at 33) is a different realm than 2004's Victims of Vultures. It's mutant free jazz, disconnected, disconcerting, and discombobulating, with grumpy and blaring horns tooting and snorting like an elephant battling a car horn -- and imposing jazz rock squalls. With guests such as
Bernie Worrell,
Roscoe Mitchell, and
Richard Davis, it's somewhere between
Miles Davis,
Sun Ra, and
Albert Ayler, perhaps. Chanteuse Courtney Collins is not involved this time, but disembodied chatter from an answer phone adds another element to an ambitious avant-garde art platter package. A CD is also included for those missing turntables. ~ Jack Rabid