Jeff Parker/Kevin Drumm/Michael Zerang

The second in the Atavistic series of improvised trio sessions puts together three Chicago musicians who cross the boundaries of modern music. Parker is best know as a guitarist in Tortoise while Drumm splits time between electronic and guitar-based improvisation in groups and solo and Zerang is a drummer in a number of free jazz outfits. The first couple of tracks are somewhat disappointing. The opener, "Lacerate,” resolves a lengthy haze of overdriven electronics into timid and disconnected clusters of percussion and guitar. Zerang’s choices never seem to find purchase on the bedrock laid by the other two musicians. The third track, "Onslaught,” rehabilitates the disc with an outpouring of propulsion that locks itself into a moebius strip of energy with nowhere to escape. The last track is the flipside of this strategy; instead all three quietly unwind layer after layer of texture, letting notes and sounds hang together, drop and resolve. Finally they find, not common ground, but common air.