If the band name and album title don't say it all, then you're not paying attention. Greg Tate and Jared Michael Nickerson create the canvas, and an assortment of folks throw in improvisation after improvisation. The studio assembly is deft and almost sonically invisible, resulting in some of the slinkiest 70s fusion I've heard in ages.

Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber Angels Over Oakanda (self-released)

While some of the solo improvs are at least as adventurous as Sun Ra and his Arkestra, the bones of the music is kinetic in the funkiest way possible. The sound is immediately immersive, so much that it threatens to strip away consciousness at times. More than once I got lost, and it took all I had to find the threads of my mind and wander back.

This is a good thing, by the way. Music can activate the psychoactive regions of the brain, and stuff like this mainlines those areas. In other words, Burnt Sugar will cause you to hear (and see) things that may not be there. It's at once totally unsettling and utterly thrilling.

And yes, this would be best enjoyed in a shag carpeted basement apartment decked out in blacklight posters and beads in the doorways. But if all you have are hardwood floors and IKEA furniture, two minutes of this in the headphones will transport you. Be not afraid. The journey is most excellent.

Jon Worley