Steamboat Pilot & Today

Medeski, Martin and Wood's latest album "End of the World Party (Just in Case)" proves that, if anything, is going on in music, the band is one step ahead of it.

The album was produced by John King of the Dust Brothers who produced Beck's "Odelay" and "Guero," and it shows.

This album takes the band's ability to improvise into a whole new realm in no way limited by the instruments they have available.

They bring in samples and sounds, creating a conceptual landscape.

The landscape, if I were to draw it for you, is a surreal mesh of amusement park and gritty urban streets.

According to the MMW Web site, this album is full of "theme songs for the next generation ... soundtracks that may accompany the end of the world in a more positive setting."

"End of the World Party (Just in Case)" is the band's first album since "Uninvisible," released in 2002.

The album is another landmark in a musical career that made experimental music palatable to the masses.

Their sound was created in Manhattan, playing with avant-garde musicians such as John Zorn and Mark Rebo and the Lounge Lizards.

Although people often refer to Medeski, Martin and Wood as a jazz band, the sound the band developed throughout the years isn't jazz, Chris Wood said in a 2004 interview. "To me, jazz is the four letter word that's lost its meaning."

Instead, he calls their sound, "Medeski, Martin and Wood."

"We've been together long enough that we have a sound that sounds like us," he said.

"Nothing is planned. We start (writing a song) from nothing, and we sculpt it. All the initial thrust is just through improvising."