4 out of 5

Produced by: Bablicon

Label: Misra

Excuse the Elephant 6 roots: Bablicon leaves your 60s pop/psych behind for avant-garde jazz spazz, the zeitgeist of improv captured in the live-to-tape nature of this recording and its free-for-all cover art, which was literally crowd-sourced during a concert.  Does that make it a wank for art’s sake affair?  Over-indulgence, thy names are tracks like Agustus Syphilus and Chunks Of Syrup Amidst Plain Yoghurt?  Nah, man; if Bablicon wasn’t so down with atmosphere and groove – these may be majorly improvised but they are songs – sure, the guitar / bass / drums / millions of other instruments jams would probably fall into the “you should see ’em live” pile, as suggested by the “I saw ’em live” Allmusic review, but I’ve never had the pleasure and I still get a kick out of this disc.  It’s definitely a scattered affair, though: track to track (and sometimes within a track) we jump around, never gelling into an “album”, but each song is so resplendent with mood or attitude – whether it’s lullaby soundtracks or music scores and jazz freakouts – that you get swept up in each 3- to 4-minute cut before you ponder too much on how it butts up against what precedes it.  Opener The Green Line is a sort of musical Fuck You, though, consisting of several disconnected starts and stops, as though to make sure you’re in this thing for the long run.  …I suggest you should be.  In a Different City’s title is fitting, not only for the unique vibe lain down by each song, but also for the way Bablicon establishes itself as a standout amongst their avant-jazz peers, with an ear for rhythm and rock and flow and whatever else, and apparently managing that on a whim.