**1/2 Isotope 217

THE UNSTABLE MOLECULE

(Thrill Jockey)

Clocking in at just more than 30 minutes, this is a rather thin slice of atmospheric instrumentals peppered with electronics by a group of Chicago-based musicians who, judging by the sparse liner notes, don't care if you know who's playing what. (Thrill Jockey aficionados will recognize guitarist Jeff Parker from the post-fusion group Tortoise, and others may ID cornetist Ray Mazurek, who has garnered some press with a group called the Chicago Underground Orchestra.) The frontline of cornet and trombone is perfect for the dour little thematic gewgaws devised by whoever the composer is, and the added percussion and anchoring bass-lines supply just enough hypno-busyness to hook those who don't necessarily care for jazz. The group's components mesh best on the more reflective pieces -- a quite lovely "La Jetée" (named after the famous Chris Marker short which was expanded into the movie 12 Monkeys) and the moody "Prince Namor," which slides into the kind of protracted suspended-time finale for which headphones were invented. Elsewhere it sounds like good ideas not fully realized (the funk-like "Phonometrics" is especially clunky). Still, good ideas are rare, fully realized or not, and Isotope 217 manages to cram in quite a few.

-- Richard C. Walls