EVIYAN is Iva Bittova, Gyan Riley & Evan Ziporyn - 3 unique composer/performers merging into a singular sound, an intimate, acoustic blend of world roots, post-minimalism, jazz, rock, and cabaret.

Two monster proponents of noise esthetics, representing two continents whose cultures have often been described as incompatible, meet in the celebration of noise.

Braxton's Composition 361 is a staggeringly detailed 70 minute tour-de-force for his 12-tet, a work of shifting layers, counter-structures, quiet tensions and scorching explosions.

On the 30th anniversary of the Victo Festival Anthony Braxton took to the stage for a magnificent solo performance on the alto sax, performing 8 spontaneous compositions and an 8+ minute version of "Body and Soul", seamlessly crossing lyrical and complex approaches to the horn using his unique intervallic, trimbral and diagrammatic language, a stunning and embraceable accomplishment.

Braxton's Diamond Curtain Wall Trio with Mary Halvorson and Taylor Ho Bynum live using laptop and interactive electronics at the 24th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville.

American and London artists Anthony Braxton and Derek Bailey performing as a duo at The Victoriaville Festival in 1986, an amazing exchange between two noted masters of free improvisation.

Compositions 159, 148, 161, 158 and John Coltrane's "Impressions", performed with Marilyn Crispell, Mark Dresser and Gerry Hemingway.

Composer/saxophonist Braxton performed "Composition NO 347 + 62'37" " at the 2011 Victo Festival with the "super-group" of Braxton alumni - Mary Halvorson, Taylor Ho Bynum, Jessica Pavone, Jay Rozen, Aaron Siegel, Carl Testa", on their respective instruments + iPods.

Victoriaville celebrated European Free Jazz legend Peter Brotzmann's 70th birthday by presenting two concerts: one solo, and one with the amazing Trio Roma of Massimo Pupillo and Paal Nilssen-Love, both presented on this essential 2 CD release.

"This set by longtime collaborators Dave Burrell and David Murray (playing exclusively tenor sax here) was recorded at the Victoriaville Festival in Quebec in 1991. The live sound is good, the performances exceptional (even by their sta...

"The album title, Moment de Bonheur, is rather trite, but the concert was marvelous and the recording preserves all of its intensity and charm. This was a first meeting between Jean Derome (flutes, alto sax) and Louis Sclavis (clarinets...

"This trio allies the spirited lightness of the Italian scene with the pastoral feel of the Swiss. Italian bassist Daniele Patumi and Swiss pianist John Wolf Brennan already played together in Pago Libre, an ensemble sharing a lot of af...

The late trumpeter Bill Dixon's final performance at the 2011 Victo Festival, performing with and directing an incredible group including Taylor Ho Bynum, Rob Mazurek, Stephen Haynes, Graham Haynes, &c. &c.

1. Aventure Quebecoise I 13:13

2. Aventure Quebecoise II 8:35

3. Aventure Quebecoise III 9:37

4. Aventure Quebecoise IV 10:23

5. Aventure Quebecoise V 15:39

Great duo set from bassist Dresser and "hyperpiano" (read: heavily prepared) player Maroney.

"Even for the avant-garde fan acquainted with the Far East Side Band's first CD, Caverns, Urban Archaeology cannot fail to surprise. The group's blend of Oriental and Occidental instruments and music forms provides quite a change of sce...

A live recording from the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in 2009 of extended improvisations between guitarist Fred Frith, French clarinetist Louis Sclavis, and percussionist Jean-Pierre Drouet.

Two masters who rarely play together--guitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist Evan Parker--performing together as a duo at the 30th Musique Actuelle Festival in Victoriaville, Canada for an amazing exchange of ideas and intensely subtle dialog.

"When Gianni Gebbia performed with his trio Terra Arsa at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in May 1997, he was already well-established in the Italian new jazz scene. His style draws from Coltranian jazz, ...

Avant noise guitarist Haino Keiji and experimental sound artist Masami Akita (Merzbow) in a powerful and varied live set at the Victoriaville, May 2007.

"Since the release of Sudori with his Sud Ensemble in 1995, Italian trumpeter Pino Minafra remained discreet as a leader, preferring to blend his voice among others in large-scale groups like the Italian Instabile Orchestra, Gianluigi T...

"Sudori is, simply put, an avant-jazz rollercoaster with blues, Dixieland, circus music, and free improvisation all tumbling in your stomach with strong Italian herbs and spices. Trumpeter Pino Minafra is accompanied by his Sud Ensemble...

"In 1996, Thurston Moore was still mostly known for his work with the rock group Sonic Youth. In 1996, the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville was an established institution in the realm of serious experimental, ...

1. Jolly Ollie 6:03

2. Never To Return 7:08

3. Firestorm 9:26

4. Dedicated To Ronnie Boykins 5:28

5. Almost Unison 6:13

6. Systems 5:25

7. Eureka 9:23

8. Dedicated To Wilbur Little 7:42

Documenting a reunion of Musica Elettronica Viva's founders Frederic Rzewski (piano and vocals), Richard Teitelbaum (keyboards and computer) and Alvin Curran (keyboards, computer and shofar) at the 32nd International Festival Of Current Music in Victoriaville, Canada in 2016.

"Canadian baritone saxophonist Charles Papasoff has, with this recording, pulled off the heretofore unimaginable: pulled together a sextet comprised strictly of baritone players from Europe and North America and commissioned each member...

Intense meeting of saxophone legend Parker and the remarkable Tuvan improvising vocalist Namtchylak performing live at Music Gallery in Toronto, 1996.

UK multi-reed master Evan Parker brings an all-star electroacoustic septet to the 2014 Victoriaville Festival for the massive and wonderfully detailed two part composition "Seven", performed with Peter Evans, Okkyung Lee, George Lewis, Ikue Mori, Sam Pluta, and Ned Rothenberg.

The Rova Saxophone Quartet performing compositions by Lindsay Cooper, Fred Frith, Barry Guy, and Larry Ochs, live in the studio in 1996.

Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq in a bizarre and amazing performance at the Victoriaville Festival in 2010 with Drip Audio director Jesse Zubot on violin and Barnyard boss Jean Martin on drums, computer, trumpophone.

The title to be taken literally, these two solo concerts recorded in Canada by French-based US bassist Barre Phillips, the first recorded at Vancouver Western Front in 1989, the 2nd from the 35th International Festival Music Festival of Victoriaville in 2019, both exemplary concerts showing his masterful skills and ability to captivate then and now.

"When it was released in 1992, Toronto Töne was one of the first albums by trombonist Konrad Bauer to see the light of day outside Germany (West and/or East). This solo set was recorded live in Toronto in October 1991. Bauer's tromb...

"Recorded (and released) one year after Konrad Bauer's Disques Victo debut Toronto Tone, a solo-trombone-with-electronics affair, Three Wheels: Four Directions features his favorite trio at the time. Bauer, bassist Peter Kowald, and dru...

"Sombre is an unlikely pairing yielding unexpected results. The classically trained harpist Helene Breschand meets the maverick avant rock guitarist Jean-Francois Pauvros. She plays an electro-acoustic harp, which -- unlike Zeena Parkin...

"Music for Three Rivers presents four improvisations (totaling 45 minutes) from British pianist Chris Burn's performance at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in May 1996, as well as five studio recordings f...

"The long-standing improvisation outfit CCMC recorded sparsely. A short tour of Quebec in May 1997 opened the door for a live album on the label Disques Victo. The CD aCCoMpliCes culls excerpts from shows at the Festival International de...

Eugene Chadbourne and Kevin Blechdom (aka Kristin Erickson) performing songs from their 2007 Victo performance, warped banjo rock instrumentals and songs.

"Amazingly, it was only the second time the two guitarists had ever played together, and the first time in North America. Both are strongly influenced by the country and folk traditions, and it was a real twisted hoedown that took place...

"The background: Xavier Charles has recorded an album (La Pièce) with the duo Kristoff K. Roll (Jean-Christophe Camps and Carole Rieussec); Diane Labrosse and Martin Tétreault record and perform together as the duo Parasite...

"Even though Canadian saxophonist Paul Cram has led his orchestra for years, first in Toronto and then Halifax, Campin Out is the first recording by this ensemble since the 1987 LP Beyond Benghazi. One cannot accuse Cram of being too pr...

"Taken from a 1987 solo date at Quebec's venerable Festival Musique Actuelle, Labyrinths finds avant garde jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell balancing Cecil Taylor's cataclysmic and staunchly free piano style with her own melodic and spacio...

"Even though J.A. Deane has collaborated with many American avant-garde musicians, his solo albums are few. Sadly, his most accessible is also one of his less interesting. Nomad is an untypical release in the catalog of the label Disques...

Jean Derome's extended Dangereux Zhomes opened the 25th Victo Festival in 2008, adding Joane Hetu, Lori Freedman, Bernard Falaise, &c. for an incredible and expressive orchestra.

Live recordings in France, 1999 from the trio of saxophonist Michel Doneda, turntablist Erik M, and guitarist/electronic/object player Jean-Marc Montera, a frenetic concert of sonic mayhem.

"Elevations is one of the very rare albums on which bassist Lisle Ellis assumes leadership. It was recorded in a San Francisco studio in June 1993. At the core of the instrumentation is Ellis' quartet, which includes Christopher Cauley a...

"The first completely solo Charles Gayle recording was recorded during a break in the Victoriaville Festival in 1994. Gayle went into a Montreal studio and played tenor on three tracks and bass clarinet on one, and preached while accomp...

"Recorded in studio in November 1996, Ben Goldberg's project Eight Phrases for Jefferson Rubin was his second composition for sextet (after Twelve Minor, released by Avant in 1998). Rubin, who died tragically at the age of 35, was one o...

A duo of contrasts and compatabilities from German violinst Gunda Gottschalk and guzheng virtuoso Xu Fengxia, exotic and beautifully textured improvisation live from Victoriaville, 2008.

"The Hard Rubber Orchestra is a funkier incarnation of the NOW Orchestra. Led by trumpeter John Korsrud, it uses a similar pool of Vancouver musicians, although the instrumentation here focuses on brass and a rhythm section. Cruel Yet Fa...

"The quality of an album roughly depends on material for 75 percent; the other 25 percent is pacing. Rub Harder scores a hundred. The Hard Rubber Orchestra's first CD (Cruel Yet Fair, 1998) suffered from improper inclusions, a lack of fo...

"This weird little album was made by a quartet of improvisers from all ends of the improvisational planet, who came together in 1993 for a recording date. Edited by Oswald in Toronto, the result can be found here. With two guitarists (K...

The trio of violinist/vocalist Carla Kihlstedt, bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Matthias Bossi explore the language of memory and dreams through songs, improvisation, and field recordings.

"Prior to the release of this CD, Mexican flutist/pianist Roberto Morales Manzanares was virtually unknown in North America. He met Japan-born violinist Mari Kimura when she played at Callejon del Ruido, a new music festival Manzanares ...