Milwaukee's Alpha Transit makes jazz fusion funk for prog space rockers. Or is that spacey funk for fusionist proggies? However one wants to brand the foursome's instrumental musings, the seven tracks rumble, whoosh, bump and soar like the highfalutin spawn of the Yellowjackets and Hawkwind, with Frank Zappa, Tangerine Dream and F/i somewhere in the lineage, too. It's semi-improvisational, proud of its virtuosity yet playful enough to throw a curve like the occasional blues lick or three.
On an imaginary late-night FM R&B station of the mind circa 1978, Alpha Transit's discursive jamming might have made the perfect segue from Parliament to Spyro Gyra. Melodic yet experimental, slick yet of questionable commercial potential, Alpha Transit makes music for a cult phenomenon that is perhaps a mere heartbeat away from happening. And likely nothing could please a prog-fusion-funk-rock constituency more.
