They've gone straight up free/spiritual jazz. It's good!

Natural Information Society with Evan Parker - descension (Out of Our Constrictions) (live, free improvisation, experimental)
Andy Stott - Never the Right Time (electronic, ambient)
Vladislav Delay - Rakka II (post industrial, dark ambient)
Kink Gong - Zomia Vol. 1 (field recordings, sound collage)
Lea Bertucci - A Visible Length of Light (electroacoustic)
Wadada Leo Smith / Douglas R. Ewart / Mike Reed - Sun Beans of Shimmering Light (avant-garde jazz, third stream)
Jon Hopkins - Piano Versions (EP, covers, modern classical)

Andy Stott always delivers

It'd be cool if he made enough off of his music to drop working for Grubhub to supplement his income.

Missed a couple:

John Zorn - Chaos Magick (experimental, avant-garde metal, avant-garde jazz)
Tom Rainey Obbligato - Untucked in Hannover (avant-garde jazz)
Irène Schweizer & Hamid Drake - Celebration (avant-garde jazz)
Nate Wooley - Mutual Aid Music (avant-garde jazz, modern classical)

Paysage D'hiver - Geister (atmospheric black metal)
Neptunian Maximalism - Solar Drone Ceremony (psych rock, drone metal, avant-garde jazz)
Khalab & M'berra Ensemble - M'berra (african blues, experimental rock, electronic)
Rudimentary Peni - The Great War (hardcore punk)
Bruno Pernadas - Private Reasons (psychedelic pop, exotica)
Cabaret Voltaire - BN9Drone (drone, industrial)
Dinosaur Jr. - Sweep It Into Space (alternative rock)
Alan Vega - Mutator (archival, electronic, industrial)
Alfa Mist - Bring Backs (nu jazz)

I liked the darker, more experimental approach to this a lot more than Dekadrone.

Old post, but man is this wrong. The latest offerings from Aksak Maboul are in an art pop vein. I didn't know about Figures, though I will get to know it well soon now that I am aware of it.

Their Ex-Futur album (2014) had some great songs on it.

Hope you enjoy it more than I did. I'm sure you'll catch the Zappa similarities when you hear it. That can be a good thing but it's usually middling at best and that's about where Figures lands.

I have heard a fair share of Zappa as well as copycats. He has one of rock's biggest discographies and made music in several genres and it's not really hard to find similarities between Zappa and other avantgarde bands or artists. Sometimes, they are obviously mimicking him, other times not.

While I haven't listened to Figures, I know Ex-Futur and have seen some relatively recent concert footage on youtube.

While I'm sure you can find similarities like you can with so many avantgarde bands and artists, they have a different sound from Zappa as well as musical ideas and aesthetic that sets them apart. Hence, dismissing them as Zappa worship just seems like a cheap shot.

If so, *flicks penny at their new album*