Fontanelle: F CD

Former Jessamine cohorts Andy Brown and Rex Ritter and friends step up the flow of their liquid space jazz funk to the next level. Whereas their debut was doused with the textural jams of Miles Davis, F's stitched- together improvisations exceed the boundaries of trippiness - and strangely enough these are tracks from the same sessions as the debut. There's a heavy implementation of experiments with electronic goodies and other rich, mellifluous analog keyboard propulsions. Recorded by themselves at their own Magnetic Park studio in Portland, OR, the immediacy of the drums are so raw and sonically unscathed that they make the tracks sound as if they are straightforward and pristine monitor mixes. At other times the eeriness factor is so strong that they could have easily provided the soundtrack to the original Twilight Zone television series. I can see it now- the band jamming in their darkly lit studio that is jam-packed by Serling's cigarette smoke as he stands in the shadows silently nodding with approval. (www.kranky.net)