Chicago Underground Duo - Hyperglyph (2025 International Anthem Vinyl LP)

Chicago Underground Duo, the enduring collaboration between cornetist/composer Rob Mazurek and drummer Chad Taylor, return with Hyperglyph, their latest exploration of free jazz, cosmic improvisation, and Afrofuturist aesthetics. Released 15 August 2025 on International Anthem Recording Company, this album continues the duo's quarter-century practice of creating expansive soundscapes from minimal instrumentation. The 11 tracks range from concise improvisations like "Click Song" through the three-part "Egyptian Suite" that closes the album, Mazurek's cornet and electronics combining with Taylor's drums and percussion to create music that honours free jazz traditions while incorporating contemporary production approaches and global influences.

Chicago Underground began in 1997 as an outgrowth of Chicago's experimental jazz scene, Mazurek and Taylor developing a musical language that draws from free jazz pioneers (Don Cherry, Sun Ra), Brazilian music, African traditions, and electronic experimentation. Their duo format allows maximum flexibility and interaction, each musician's contribution clearly audible yet always in service of collective sound. Mazurek's cornet playing ranges from lyrical melodicism to abstract sound exploration, his use of electronics adding layers of processed sound and rhythmic loops. Taylor's drumming combines jazz tradition with global percussion approaches, creating both propulsive grooves and textural atmospheres that support and challenge Mazurek's sonic explorations.

International Anthem's release of Hyperglyph situates Chicago Underground Duo within the label's roster of forward-thinking jazz and experimental music, connecting their long-running project to contemporary artists like Makaya McCraven, Tomeka Reid, and Jeff Parker. This worldwide pressing makes their latest statement available to the audience the label has built for boundary-pushing improvised music that honours tradition while refusing to be bound by it.