SML : How You Been

SML is a supergroup of sorts. A supergroup for those in-the-know. Comprised of Anna Buttress(bass), Josh Johnson(saxophone), Jeremiah Chiu(synths, electronics), Gregory Uhlmann(guitar, sampler, electronics) and Booker Stardrum(drums), all of these amazing musicians orbit the worlds of modern jazz, experimental, electronic, and underground music. And all have recorded with each other in different projects associated with Chicago’s great International Anthem Records.

SML released their debut album small medium large last year, and it was a totally unique and new sound. Oddball rhythms accompanying the sound of synthetic and organic instrumentation coming together in this jazz/funk/skronk vibe. Heady in the sense that these five musicians are wizards in their field, yet they left the pyrotechnics at the studio door and decided to just have a great time making rhythmic, playful songs that you couldn’t help but to move to.

Not wasting any time the quintet known as SML went back into the studio and recorded a follow-up to their stunning debut. How You Been exceeds in matching their debut’s singular sound, while pushing the joy of movement and optimism even further. SML surpasses their debut and gives us an album of pure sonic joy. How You Been is one of the best albums of the year.

What you hear when you hit play on How You Been is the pulsating sound of the future. “Gutteral Utterance” sounds like a newscast broadcasting from some interplanetary TV station. It bubbles to life in electronic wobbles and waves. That leads directly into the great “Chicago Four”, a head bobbing conglomeration of groove which is led by the rhythm section of Anna Buttress and Booker Stardrum. Jeremiah Chiu’s modular electronics give it all a mad scientist vibe, like Cluster scoring Frankenstein.

The album is steeped in funk and groove. It’s a record about movement and “steady Freddie” vibes. “Taking out the Trash” is all about the groove of humans connecting on a musical level. There’s a joy in that that cannot be matched. SML seem to have drawn lines from the worlds of jazz, funk, and experimental and they all interconnect within this quintet. Josh Johnson’s saxophone, while usually more understated in projects like Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes and Openness Trio, is blasting like Let’s Dance-era Bowie. Then something like “Chicago Three” brings to mind Jeremiah Chiu’s excellent 2023 record In Electric Time with its modular electronic wobble.

Even in something as discordant and chaotic as “Daves” you still get that rhythmic connection. “Stepping In/The Loop” has the wonky funk of Herbie’s “Hang Up Your Hang Ups” while still bringing to mind more forward-thinking 80s electronic albums from bands like Art of Noise and Talking Heads. I hear a lot of the Eno-era Talking Heads on this album. Remain In Light especially rings here in the record’s rhythmic pulse.

There’s no single misstep, and every song connects intellectually and with a constant groove. From “Brood Board Shroom” and its wavering electronics to title track “How You Been” and its On The Corner-meets-Cluster & Eno futuristic street funk. And album closer “Mouth Words” is ripe for sampling, ready for any MC that wants to make their mark.

How You Been is the best record you haven’t heard yet this year. Five of our best musicians working in the jazz/electronic/experimental world today, coming together and making some seriously fun and funky future sounds.