So let’s set the record straight: this is a bizarre album. Bordering on the fringe of rational, four-to-the-floor music, The Woodstock Sessions Vol. 2 is an unprecedented experimental display of avant garde jazz music. Medeski Martin and Wood teamed up with Wilco guitarist Nels Cline for a live concert/recording session hybrid, and the result sounds, well, it sounds just like that. It grooves at times, yet is discordant and borderline-uncomfortable at others.

Medeski Martin and Wood are no strangers to the bizarre. Hailed as one of the premiere jazz acts of the 21st century, the keys-bass-drums trio have collaborated for over twenty years. They regularly bring guitarists into the mix, and have found a spacey match in Nels Cline. The whole sessions were improvised, essentially a two-hour-long peculiar jam session.

The album opens up with “Doors of Deception,” two minutes of synth-leading musical nonsense. The meandering attitude continues into the next track, “Bonjour Beze,” which only develops into a bass-driven groove after about four minutes of crescendoing clutter. Even when the bass drops, the whirlwind synth keeps you on your toes while you listen along. If it isn’t the whirling synth, it’s the hammering, distorted guitar driving the soundscape. Eventually, the mayhem settles (somewhat) into a steady rhythm around 7-minutes into the 11+ minute track. 

This is generally how the album proceeds, with grooving funk ideas intersperse with maniacal musical offerings. Whether it’s atonal bass melodies, experimental guitar timbre, or discordant keyboard sounds, this album is weird, plain and simple.

It’s really up to the listener to qualify this weirdness. Whether it’s good or bad is a matter of personal preference; it seems MMW+C aren’t particularly concerned with your musical sensibilities. They’re out there doing their thing, loving every minute of it. Sometimes you get a funk-bass driven jam, like “Mezcal,” other times you get a shape-shifting saga like “Los Blank.” 

There’s no question that these are all talented musicians, consciously averting musical norms. Some may call it pushing the envelope, others call it avant-garde, and still others consider their efforts to be mindless noodling. Perhaps all three classifications are valid. 

You can listen to the song “Jade” from the album, via the Wall Street Journal. Woodstock Sessions will officially be released on April 22nd.

-David Melamed (@DMelamz)