The trio of Tim Berne, Jim Black, and Nels Cline got together in September of 2008 to perform for a live broadcast on WFMU. Berne and Cline had played together in the late '70s when Berne was spending time out in LA and Black was an integral member of Berne's group Bloodcount so the matchup was a natural. This CD captures a gig at The Stone when the three reconvened in the summer of 2009.

While the CD is indexed into nine pieces, the recording captures the three as they careen their way through a continuous hour-long set. From the first skronking guitar shards, stuttering drum clatter, and headlong alto cries, the three hit hard and push the music with a charged abandon. The collective improvisations are structured around splintered melodic riffs, shredded rhythmic stomps, and eddying walls of texture. Cline draws on his arsenal of effects-laden scrims of atmospherics and buzzing distortion, but it is when he unleashes snarling line of full-on cutting attack that things really click in. Berne sounds like he is having a ball driving the music with stop-start phrases, circuitous themes, and crying overtones. Black is the perfect foil for the two, jumping between crunching drive and lithe, open textures.

The three navigate their way through blustering barrage, opening up for sections of melodic ruminations and ephemeral abstractions. As might be expected with an ad hoc meeting like this, there are times when the improvisation meanders a bit, but when all three lean in, the music really takes off.