Pairing one of today’s most gifted jazz guitarists (Anthony Pirog) with one of rock ‘n’ roll’s fiercest rhythm sections (Brendan Canty and Joe Lally) was always going to be a recipe for success, but on their sophomore LP Anthropocosmic Nest, Washington, D.C.’s The Messthetics are blowing past the old goals and delivering one of the most raucous and satisfying releases of the year. Wildly inventive with surprises awaiting the listener at every turn, Nest is an ecstatic proclamation of skronk-and-circumstance that says not only are The Messthetics BACK, but they’re here to stay!

Eight years ago, before To Pimp A Butterfly, before The Epic, the West Coast Get Down was a rising force in the Los Angelas jazz scene...who recorded their epic work in Kamasi Washington's garage.

On The Optimist, WCGD trombonist Ryan Porter is unleashing some of the group's early work as scrappy young jazz savants and in the process revealing the heart of what drives its member's dominance of the music world to this day. Bandcamp's Marcus J. Moore joins Kevin and Marcus K. Dowling (Iconoclasm) as they dig in on this sumptuous slice of music history.