Just In: New Album by The Bad Plus

Many of you are already aware of my love for indie music, but I doubt a lot of you know of my affinity for jazz. I just picked up the new album by The Bad Plus, an eclectic trio that performs "genre-busting, renegade acoustic jazz," at least according to the sticker.

I saw them live a couple summers ago with my friend Gerry and they were quite awesome. They do a lot of bizarre jazz covers of famous rock songs like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Iron Man," but they also make some innovative original songs, too. I used one of their songs, a cover of The Pixies' "Velouria," to chilling effect in Kaylee Swanson's short film Slugger.

What I like about the band is that they have the uncanny ability to make organized chaos. Most of the songs on their new album, Suspicious Activity?, have some form of avant-garde ruckus that makes you feel like the group is losing control of their instruments, only to find the early melodies of the song have resurfaced and put back in command of the madness.

I wish I had an MP3 of these guys to share with you, but I don't. They do have a blog you can check out. If you want to do a little research on them on iTunes, here's the songs I recommend you purchase:

"Flim (Aphex Twin cover)" from These Are the Vistas
"Layin' a Strip for the Higher-Self State Line" from Give
"We Are the Champions (Queen cover)" from Blunt Object Live in Tokyo
"Lost of Love" from Suspicious Activity?

iTunes also has a bunch of exclusive stuff by the band, including covers of The Police's "Every Breath You Take" and ABBA's "Knowing Me, Knowing You".