Bassist Anna Butterss, synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, saxophonist Josh Johnson, percussionist Booker Stardrum, and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann teamed up under the name SML to release last year's debut album Small Medium Large on Chicago's phenomenal International Anthem label. It was a jazz record, sort of, but with all those eerie drones and hyperactive rhythms, you could be forgiven for calling it post-rock. (I'd call it Chicago post-rock, specifically, though SML are from Los Angeles.) Small Medium Large ruled, so it's with great joy and anticipation that I relate the news of a second LP from SML.
Set for release in November, How You Been was created in much the same way Small Medium Large was made: The members of SML sorted through recordings of their live sets and added lots of post-production edits. The results are billed as a breakthrough in the band's musical language. Our first exposure to those fruits is "Taking Out The Trash," a kosmiche-inspired jazz-funk throwdown that arrives with a video by Nespy5euro. Check it out:
TRACKLIST:
01 "Gutteral Utterance"
02 "Chicago Four"
03 "Taking Out The Trash"
04 "Plankton"
05 "Chicago Three"
06 "Daves"
07 "Old Myth"
08 "Stepping In / The Loop"
09 "Brood Board SHROOM"
10 "Odd Evens"
11 "How You Been"
12 "Moving Walkway"
13 "Mouth Words"
How You Been is out 11/7 on International Anthem. Pre-order that.
