4 out of 5

Label: ugEXPLODE

Produced by: Weasel Walter

It’s 2025 as of this writing; with 240+ “instruments & performance” credits to his name on Discogs, and multiple per any-given-year releases since the first recorded release in 1992, it cannot definitively not be said that Flying Luttenbachers ringleader Weasel Walter was dormant between the group’s previous, 2007 release, Incarceration By Abstraction, and the NY-based reincarnation of the Luttes on 2019’s Shattered Dimension. Endless guest contributions, and recordings under his own name or full-fledged other bands, not to mention the hundreds of technical credits to his name as well; Walter, as always, has kept busy. And, as always, that output reflects various things capturing his interests that then could be analyzed as affecting his Luttenbachers work, while the rotating cast of that band would naturally cause adjustments that would sneak back into his other output as well.

But twelve years is a long time, and even with a rotating cast, changing the base location of the collective / group from Chicago to NY may be a trigger, and indeed: Shattered Dimension is pretty different sounding. It kicks off an almost more “formal,” post-rock leaning variant of the Luttes, but Shattered Dimension has the benefit of rawness as well, of not quite knowing that that formality would be the approach for a few albums, and while that prevents the disc from feeling like it has a narrative – a long-running shtick of FL’s full lengths – the way it’s able to bounce from the spazzy math-rock of opener Goosesteppin’ to the krautlike drone of Cripple Walk, to a more “classic” Luttes free jazz on Epitaph, to sludgey post-rock funk on Sleaze Factor, then back to all out freak out jazz on closer Mutation… well, the “narrative” might be the shattering of the traditional Luttenbacher dimension, as suggested by the title. These are the shards of the band’s many different modes, played with a hard-edged vitality that gives the record absolute bite.

Again, the compilation-esque vibe of this is rather unusual, but it’s for the best: had the Luttenbachers just gone back to business as usual, though I bet that album would’ve kicked ass, it would’ve lost that edge, which is responsible for making Shattered Dimensions a representational release of a new area for the group.