News
SML prove Spontaneous Music Live is not a title but a working philosophy
By Editorial Team - June 30, 2026
Summary
Pitchfork reviews SML’s Spontaneous Music Live, a Best New Album live document built from unedited Zebulon performances by the L.A. electronic-jazz quintet.
Key Facts
- Category: News
- Published: June 30, 2026
- Tags: sml, spontaneous music live, international anthem, los angeles, electronic jazz, improv, best new album, Los Angeles Improv / Electronic Jazz
SML’s Spontaneous Music Live enters the 30 June review cycle with the kind of title that refuses to hide the method. The Los Angeles quintet have made earlier records by remixing and reassembling moments from gigs, but this International Anthem release presents two long unedited live takes from a three-night run at Zebulon. That shift matters because it lets the group’s actual performance chemistry become the point rather than the raw material. Bassist Anna Butterss, saxophonist Josh Johnson, modular synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, guitarist Gregory Uhlmann and percussionist Booker Stardrum move through slanted jazz, electronics, krautrock pulse, ambient jazz and live-sampling chaos with enough joy to keep the whole thing from collapsing into academic cleverness. Spontaneous Music Live sounds like a band proving that the room is not where the record begins. The room is the record.
Source: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sml-spontaneous-music-live/