The L.A. musical quintet known as SML have had a couple incredibly productive years. The band -which includes Josh Johnson(sax), Anna Butterss(bass), Jeremiah Chiu(electronics), Booker Stardrum(drums), and Gregory Uhlmann(guitar)- have given new spark and excitement to the world of improvisational music. Their 2024 debut, Small Medium Large, was built with these jumpy, kinetic tracks that explored rhythm and atmosphere in a singular, exciting way. And last year’s masterpiece How You Been pushed those ideas forward. They explored everything from Afro Beat, experimental electronic, and improvisatory musical excursions that felt they had as much in common with 70s German Krautrock as they did Talking Heads’ Remain In Light.
SML have just released Spontaneous Music Live, a two-track live record. The album contains “two side-length pieces of unedited improvisation, recorded live at Los Angeles venue Zebulon during SML’s December 2025 three-night residency, just weeks after the release of the band’s second album HOW YOU BEEN.” This is yet another masterstroke from SML.
Spontaneous Music Live opens with side one’s “The Drums”, a rhythmically-rich exploration that sees the band building over the course of 23-minutes. Shots of saxophone, electronics and guitar bites build atmosphere as drummer Booker Stardrum keeps a steady rhythm flowing. The band seems to be in conversation via instrumentation. We’ve all seen bands live that go off on musical tangents, and lets be honest not many can hold us in deep connection for very long. SML is one of the few that keep the listener at the edge of their seat. The song builds in celebratory exaltations, then ending in subdued clings and clangs of bells and electronics.
“Roundabouts” fills out the entirety of side two’s 24-minutes. Opening on a rhythm created via modular synth, with Stardrum’s snare ring hit giving us a metronomic heartbeat. The song slowly builds with layers of sound and vision, a glorious coming together of the organic and the synthetic. Five minds controlling hands, syncopation, and performance in both a secular and spiritual kind of way. Again, there’s a mixture of Afro Beat melding into 70s German electronic music in a most beautiful and creative way. It’s hypnotic, alien, and entrancing.
The worlds of jazz, experimental, and dance music are coming together in new and exciting ways. SML are at the forefront of this movement, and Spontaneous Music Live is a fascinating slice of their live experience. This feels and sounds like the future.
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