Sunwatchers: Music Is Victory Over Time

Few bands blow away dem ol’ kosmic kobwebs as expeditiously as jazz-rock-etcetera quartet Sunwatchers. Beginning with their ecstatic opener “World People,” the New Yorkers’ fourth album, Music Is Victory Over Time (Trouble in Mind), answers the brute forces of politics, history and biology with instrumental exaltation from a wide array of mystical and festive sources. Sharing a vibe lane with just-intonation warriors the Horse Lords, guitarist Jim McHugh and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Tobias dabble in (big influence) Albert Ayler’s free-jazz rapture and Pharaoh Sanders’ spiritual exaltation on the combined 15-minute double-dipper of “Foams” and “Tumulus.” Cronus really doesn’t stand a chance.