Sick Gazelle – Veld [LP]

With their second LP Veld Sick Gazelle take their cosmic and instantaneous group communications to new levels of clarity and structure without losing the spark of the jam. The band expands from longtime Chicago underground players Eric Block on guitar (Veloce) and vocalist/saxophonist Bruce Lamont (Yakuza) with drummer Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) to include Douglas McCombs (Tortoise) on bass. Though these five tracks are sculpted from improvisations theyve been refined into song forms that illuminate the strengths of both the individual players and the chemistry of the quartet version of the combo. This comes through in Velds moments of reflective subtlety on tracks like Ill Come Running in the foreboding tension of the cinematic Ocean Always Wins as well as in the charged grooves and dubby undercurrents of the sideways rocker Hippies.side A:1 February2 Hippies3 Ill Come Runningside B:4 Ocean Always Wins5 Maybe You Were Right