Medeski, Martin and Wood

For their Radiolarians series, MMW write tunes quickly and only start recording after they've worked them over on the road. The result here mixes raw, dirty scuzz-funk with deftly melodic acoustic jazz. It's how they roll these aspects together that makes their music so special (even a classic juke joint piano number like "Riffin' Ed" contains rumbles of apocalyptic electro-funk). While the neo-hippies have taken MMW to their collective breast, the group's music shows the stoner dream turning into a paranoid, oppressive nightmare, making it more A Scanner Darkly than Woodstock.