Internationa

With Touch, the Tortoise bandmembers — Jeff Parker, Dan Bitney, Douglas McCombs, John Herndon, and John McEntire — harness their collectivist songwriting approach, a slightly anarchistic but resolutely egalitarian process where ideas triumph over ego towards an abstracted muscularity. While there are still excursions into the dusky, elegantly gnarled jazz ambience that flourished on landmark works like Millions Now Living Will Never Die and TNT, Touch is perhaps most remarkable for Tortoise's unapologetic embrace of grand gesture. Aerodynamically re-engineered Krautrock, hand-cranked techno rave-ups, and pointillist spaghetti western fanfares are all imbued with Tortoise's now-signature internal logic — equally alluring and confounding, a puzzle to be savored rather than solved.

Cassie Kinoshi's Seed: Gratitude [Vinyl LP]

Skinner Tom: Voices of Bishara Live At 'Mu' ... [CD]

Alabaster Deplume: Come With Fierce Grace [Vinyl LP]

Burch Bex: There Is Only Love And Fear [Vinyl LP]

"Mighty Vertebrate" is Anna Butterss' International Anthem debut and their second solo effort. The record collides influences and eschews genre categorization, blending jazz compositions with tinges of rock, gentle folk, and even country subtleties. The roster brings together LA jazz and improvised music heavyweights such as Josh Johnson, Gregory Uhlmann, Ben Lumsdaine, and Jeff Parker, performing as a convincingly tight unit.

Branch Jaimie: Fly or Die [Vinyl LP]