Steam

(DIGIPACK) the group's new release, Steam, combines collective freely improvised jams with new writing from Hopper, Etheridge and Travis. Gone are the keyboards that so defined 1970s Soft Machine. In their place are modernistic sampling/looping and sonic processing, creating expansive soundscapes not possible during Soft Machine's heyday. Between Etheridge's broad sonics, Hopper's legendary bass loops and "fuzztonics" and Travis' system of ambitronics - allowing him to sample his saxophones and flutes in real time and naturally layer unpredictable harmonies - Soft Machine (Legacy) often sounds larger than a quartet. Powerful rock rhythms, funky jazz-rock grooves and abstract interaction are interspersed with muscular soloing and dense textures.