Isotope 217
The Unstable Molecule

What happens if post-rock meets jazz?
If Miles Davis on one of his countless wanderings stops in the Windy City or Ornette Coleman marries the funk of New Orleans?
And if a group of musicians from the Chicago scene meet for some sessions and decide to blend rock, jazz, funk, and electronics?
I don't know exactly, but something quite similar to Isotope 217 may emerge, a project that took shape in 1997, around jams led by Rob Mazurek, featuring among others some members of Tortoise such as Dan Bitney, John Herndon, and guitarist Jeff Parker.

This "Unstable Molecule" is certainly the most successful episode; the album (released by Thrill Jockey, a historic label of the post-rock scene, and beyond) is, as I mentioned, entirely permeated with a jazz-fusion vein that unmistakably recalls episodes of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and late '60s Miles Davis; and features Mazurek's trumpet, a jazz musician from the Chicago scene, who more than once in his career has indulged in digressions into rock, as in Tortoise's "Tnt" or Gastr del Sol's "Camoufleur."
The album opens with "Kryptonite Smokes The Red Line," which, like "Prince Namor," seems to have come straight from "In A Silent Way" or "Bitches Brew"; it continues with "Phonometrics" and "Audio Boxing," which are the funkiest tracks, while "La Jeteè" explores the realms of ambient and space rock.

In conclusion, what emerges is truly a good album, an original and disarming mix of jazz, infused with funk with incursions into minimalist electronics and hip hop reminiscences to be embraced unconditionally by genre enthusiasts, yet highly enjoyable for everyone else as well.