Swirl some mathy noise rock in a jazz decanter and serve hot. Sick Boss has the anarchic precision of Zappa filtered through that dirty Touch and Go sound. Loud, exacting and often spooky. Something that's certain to get the skin crawling.

Sick Boss Businessless (Drip Audio)

And the proper distinction is distortion rather than dissonance. The mix pins the needles on some of the instruments (trumpet and strings in addition to the usual drums, guitar and bass)—but not others. In that way the musical themes come and go freely.

The sound is what makes this the polar opposite of Zappa's pristine production. Sick Boss wallows in static and such, rarely providing any clean lines. I like the effect. This music is from our world, but not necessarily part of it.

Far too structured to be abstract, and way too practiced to be improvised, Sick Boss is nonetheless free with its interpretation of jazz and other styles. A solid colon cleanser if you've been bloating up from so much holiday cheer. Highly enjoyable medicine.

Jon Worley