The Dutch band The Ex have claimed a great bit of turf. On their own, the band - which formed in 1979 - is one of the last 'real' punk bands, playing with a ferocity and intelligence that recalls the best of the early British bands, groups such as Gang of Four and Wire.

Over two decades, they've refined that sound without losing the spirit. But along the way, they've discovered what only a few other punk oldsters (Sonic Youth, Henry Rollins, Yo La Tengo) have realized: that their brand of energy is not too far removed from hard jazz and improv. They've done two records with the late American cellist Tom Cora, and three more with members of the Dutch Instant Composers Pool, all to great results. Individual members have also worked with Phil Minton, Iva Bittova , Kaffe Matthews, Leonid Soybelman and others.

This project pairs guitarist Terrie with Dutch saxophonist Ab Baars, a part of the ICP collective who has been involved in other Ex collaborations, to moderate success. Baars is a great listener and finds interesting pockets within Terrie's electric utterances. The pair finds a number of nice textures, but the overall effect is a bit textbooky; they go through the staccato piece, the flutter piece, the wailing single-note piece - all quite well, but never seeming to develop beyond an initial premise. Such a project can work as a solo effort - Matthew Shipp and Joelle Leandre have both made records attempting to lay out their languages across a series of pieces - but for a duo, at least this duo, the whole of the project falls a little flat.