Emergency Group :: Mind Screen

Emergency Group don’t have anything to prove at this point, at least not around these parts. Over a pair of albums (and an all-timer Lagniappe Session), they have shown themselves one of the most lethal improvisational rock units around. But while everyone would have welcomed another helping of their headlong neo-kraut assault, their new album goes in a different direction entirely. In Mind Screen, Emergency Group have made a smoldering late-night record, all quiet interplay and expansive spaces.

Emergency Group at the Milwaukee Psych Fest

The overwhelming theme of the Milwaukee Psych Fest earlier this month was the disappearing line between psychedelic rock and electric jazz. Right at the point intersection sat the ferocious Emergency Group, who meld diamond-cutter funk grooves, jazzy keyboard cascades and electric guitar squall. Thanks to a pristine soundboard from Milwaukee Taper, you can now hear the Brooklyn quartet rip apart the upper midwest.

The Lagniappe Sessions :: Emergency Group

Brooklyn’s Emergency Group emerged earlier in 2023 with Inspection of Cruelty, a radical cassette on Island House Recordings. Blending electric Miles adventurism with kraut-y psychedelia, it was an auspicious debut — and its two extended tracks left you hungry for more. Fortunately, the quintet is already in the planning stages for a second LP, this one in collaboration with Psychic Temple / Big Ego mastermind Chris Schlarb. While we wait for the fruits of those sessions, dig Emergency Group’s first Lagniappe Session — it’s a doozy.