It’s hard to think of a more daring and singular album for International Anthem to stake their potential existence on. The live recording at Chicago club Curio that got the label rolling in the first place, this December 2012 show led by cornet player Rob Mazurek is an exercise in attention-demanding ambient, the kind of minimalist yet prismatically dense impact that earned his playing the same Mark Rothko comparisons as the multidisciplinary artist-musician’s own paintings. Meanwhile, the near-rhythmless but subliminally propulsive drone supplied by bassist Matt Lux and organist Mikel Patrick Avery gives the two-part compositions of Alternate Moon Cycles a waxing and waning, tide-turning roar.

– Nate Patrin