The third release from NNCK satellites Izititiz, Lucky Bird is structured as a cartoon myth-play base around the odyssey of a drummer that looks suspiciously like Animal from The Muppets in his search for a mythic box of Cuban Jade hidden in a paper bag. At points the music, drawn from live blowouts at NNCK’s Hinthouse and the Ecstatic Yod Collective, orbits the more daredevil end of European improvisation, with bassist Matt Heyner (Dream Aktion Unit/Test et al) spooling enough ragged wire to allow Ras Moshe’s horn and James Duncan’s trumpet access to some singularly oblique tonal regions without losing their connection to the narrative drive. But it’s Carter Thornton’s guitar that situates the disc somewhere beyond the reach of established jazz strategy, loosing note blips that sigh like balloons and lunar rundowns that make plenty of sonic sense while remaining melodically obscure.