Two discs of ambitious and diverse music, inspired by AACM and the notion of moving beyond abstraction by drawing on the whole history of jazz – without looking backwards. Sheffield's Martin Archer has spoken of his intention to keep the music “considered, spacious and open, without sacrificing any of the improvisational heat and energy which places its exponent players firmly in the avant-garde tradition”. But he also says that the debt to the tradition of jazz and blues remains strong, even when the music reaches its most abstract. These tracks, anything up to 36 minutes in length, reveal his rejection of both postmodernism and retromania; instead, he attempts to establish a sort of alternative history jazz could have taken from the 1980s. With a diverse line-up of superb musicians (four percussionists, violin, vibraphone and so on) and musical reference points that are no less diverse (Archer, who founded Discuss, is currently involved in everything from avant rock to experimental music choir and laptop jazz), this is vital, engaging stuff.