As proven on their strange and beautiful new album Mudglimmer, the looming specter of artistic oblivion pushed The Slaps to lean into their idiosyncrasies: snaking rhythms, complicatedly interlocking guitar riffs, grubby yet alluring poetry, and homespun post-modern Americana sing-alongs all surge with a free-wheeling improvisatory verve informed by free jazz. It’s a stunning DIY comeback story, a doubling-down on avant-garde impulses that pays immediate dividends.

Spontaneous composition and earnest, threadbare folk collide on Mudglimmer. It’s a marvel of influential synthesis, evoking Slint’s comfortability with ominous tension (“Mudglimmer”), Tortoise’s slinky push-pull grooves (“Filthy Sex Manuevers”), Waxahatchee’s slice-of-life Americana gems (“Flip”), elliptical funk-punk a la The Minutemen (“Forward”), minimal grunge-pop in the vein of Sebadoh (“King”) and so much more.

Mudglimmer, in short, rips. Faced with existential threats, The Slaps reconfigured and reenergized — finding purpose, not in reaching for a brass ring, but in becoming fully, unashamedly, their own wonderfully confounding thing.

Pateka (formerly known as Aaron Space & his Terrestrial Underlings) is an experimental art rock/soul act composed of keyboardist/vocalist Elihu Knowles, guitarist Dylan Ransley, bassist Quinn Girard and drummer Ryan Higley, as well as occasionally performing saxophonist Hayden Dekker. The group’s shared background as close childhood friends and jazz musicians deeply influences their soulful and experimental tunes. Their music has been compared to a variety of artists including Palm, Sweet Trip, Mid Air Thief, Jon Bap, Sun Ra, Pulgas, Os Mutantes, and Standing on the Corner. The band recently finished production of their first full length studio album.

The members of Pateka live together in the Bay Area, CA. The group recently completed a midwest and east coast tour and performs regularly at venues including the Independent, Bottom of the Hill, Eli’s Mile High Club, the Ivy Room, the Elbo Room, Thee Stork Club, El Rio, and the Little Hill Lounge. They recently changed their name to accommodate lineup changes and a new musical direction reflected in the forthcoming album.