Guzheng virtuoso Bei Bei and prolific producer Shawn Lee team up to deliver what will be one of the year’s finest albums, a tour through funky down-tempo jams and Kung-Fu flavor that is driven by the tactile beauty of an ancient Chinese instrument.

With its third album, Algernon places greater emphasis on synthesizers and sprawling song structures, but at its core is the combination of accessibility and technicality that has defined bandleader Dave Miller’s style.

And in a great week for releases, the Chicago Underground Duo releases another dichotomy of avant-garde jazz, grooves, and programming, while electronic composer Noah Creshevsky crafts musical patchworks from samples of orchestras, vocalists, pop music, and much more. (more…)