Over the previous decade or so, the three musicians listed in the personnel above have in various permutations contributed a lot of interest in New York's experimental underground jazz scene. The new recording Combobulated marks their 10 years as a trio. It's an edgy yet exuberant collection of band originals, as is the mark of the idiosyncratic drummer Tom Rainey's ensembles. Halvorson continues to refine her unique sonic identity with every new recording and this is no exception. Her guitar's inventively shifting canvas is pivotal, tastefully drawing from various hip rock guitar cultures as well as alt. jazz traditions. There's an unpredictability about it, a shimmering urban blues sonic goes via Beefheart through road movie score music and grungy garage sounds with her signature writ large. Rainey's hypnotic, spikey drum mantras brim with tension while the former London-based saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock continues to raise her own bar. Her playing here is modest but striking: she knows exactly when to support or lead, complementing rather than diverting the action. Highlights include ‘Point Reyes’, that sounds a bit like Velvet Underground at a free jazz hang, while ‘Fact’ has Halvorson's slashing Hendrix-inspired chords punctuated by Rainey's violently crashing skins. Conceptually, it's both bold and assertive.