After years of writing political punk songs, the most vulnerable thing Yummi Wisler felt he could do was abandon words altogether. “I felt like there was nothing more to say with lyrics,” he says. “Instrumental music was the way to go. And I understand that I’m lousy at jazz — so I needed to invent my own genre to be good at it.” Along with drummer Amir Bresler and bassist Gilad Abro, Yummi created his Yummi Wisler Guitar Combo — and the trio’s Raw Tapes debut, The Albanian Connection, is 11 tracks of new-but-nostalgic Mediterranean boogie-woogie. Taking cues from Spaghetti western soundtracks, psychedelia, Gershwin ballads, surf rock and film noir, the music seems to grin right at you. The combo recorded fast and furious — each song on The Albanian Connection is a first full take to “give the sense that they might collapse at any minute,” says Yummi. They don’t, but the feeling of risk creeps through. “It’s like you’re in an unknown city and you don’t speak the language,” Yummi added. “You want to party, but something dark is going on.”