July 5, 2025:
Apologies for the lack of a real entry this week — between the shortened week for the U.S. Independence Day holiday, the sale we ran to mark the occasion, and the rough start to our week caused by a lightning strike at our building... well, there simply wasn't time. Here's what I posted to Facebook and Instagram about the storm event:
Yesterday we spent the day recovering from what must have been a close lightening strike near our office @ Squidco. Despite having a UPS and surge protected strips, we lost a switch, a wi-fi router, ethernet ports on two mac minis, and our internet provider had to replace their cable modem.
For those who don't believe that climate change is creating stronger storms, this is the 3rd time in the last year that I've lost gear to these ever-more-powerful storms here, at home, and in my studio. I'm spending time this week buying new, more powerful protection gear for Squidco's equipment, and suggest to everyone that it's worth beefing up your surge protection with outlets that protect up to 3940 Joules of power or more, and if you use ethernet, ethernet surge protection.
It's sad that the US is going backward on fighting climate change when the real expenses of doing nothing are happening right in front of us.
Despite all of that, Squidco is fully back to normal, and our website, which is located in a separate data center, was never affected.
After the network was re-established, we discovered that every unit in our office complex had suffered a similar fate, with one business losing two computers entirely. Four days after the lightning strike, one of my powered speakers — a Tannoy Reveal 802 — mysteriously died, which I suspect was also due to the surge that ran through the building. We escaped with just a few hundred dollars in damages, so it's safe to say we were lucky in our unluckiness to get hit. The building owner told us it was the first lightning strike in the 42 years since he built the place — further proof that climate change continues to supercharge storms, as most Americans (outside of our leadership) now understand.
Squidco Publishing Roundup:
These are the updates to Squidco and The Squid's Ear over the last week. You can view our latest fully cataloged albums in the Recently Section.
You can also browse new titles as they enter our Just In Stock Section — meaning we physically have the album and can ship it, though we may still be updating additional information about the release.
To see restocks of previously listed titles, visit our Recently Restocked page.
And if you're interested in a future release, you can ask us to notify you by email via our Upcoming Releases page — no obligation necessary.
June 27, 2025:
The oppressive heat dome that's settled over the U.S. East Coast this past week has kept many of us indoors, searching for relief from the unrelenting temperatures. While the sun scorches the world outside, we've found a bit of solace in sound — the exceptional albums we've added to Squidco this week have provided a much-needed escape. These recordings don't just fill the room — they cool the mind and soothe the spirit, offering a kind of auditory shade amidst the swelter. When the world feels like it's melting, it's music that brings us back into balance.
New Directions in ezz-thetics:
The biggest news this week at Squidco comes from the Swiss label Hat Hut, whose ezz-thetics by Hat Hut, Ltd. series we've proudly carried for the past several years. Hat Hut is a core part of our catalog, thanks to founder Werner X. Uehlinger's visionary approach that has embraced free improvisation, contemporary composition, electroacoustic experimentation, and essential reissues of foundational free jazz and traditional jazz forms — genres that continue to inform and shape the music we support.
After decades at the helm, Uehlinger has passed the baton to a newly formed Board of Directors, which he will continue to guide in the near future.
We remain both the U.S. distributor and a dedicated supporter of the label and its extensive catalog. Below is the official announcement from Hat Hut regarding this new direction.
Hat Hut Records Looks to the Future
Basel, June 23, 2025
The iconic Swiss music label Hat Hut Records is reaffirming its legacy and forging ahead into the future. Just after celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Basel-based label has re-established its direction under new leadership. Musician Marco von Orelli and Melanie Imhof now helm the label as part of a newly formed Board of Directors, joined by founder Werner X. Uehlinger, Swiss saxophone pioneer Co Streiff, and long-time friend and companion of the label, Christian C. Dalucas.
Founded in 1975 by Uehlinger, Hat Hut Records began as a bold, independent initiative inspired by his meeting with pen pal Joe McPhee, a saxophonist and trumpeter, during a business trip to the U.S. The label's first releases featured elaborate three-part LP sleeves designed by artist Klaus Baumgärtner, with the now-iconic hat as a visual centerpiece. From that moment, Hat Hut was born.
Over the decades, Hat Hut evolved into an internationally respected label, moving from limited vinyl editions to a series of tastefully produced and ecologically sustainable CD releases. From the beginning, Hat Hut placed strong emphasis on graphic and cover design, creating a distinct visual identity with high recognition value. Releases were often accompanied by insightful packaging texts, offering a kind of philosophical extension to the listening experience. Each album stands as a unique work of art.
"Impressed by the innovative broadcast of the catalog, coupled with the great merits of WXU for the avant-garde scene since 1975, I was also quite quickly fascinated by the clear, almost strict visual language of the cover art. Each piece is a collector's item. It should stay that way,"
- Marco von Orelli
He continues, "The music market is changing a lot; the needs of how music is consumed are an exciting challenge."
As the label enters its sixth decade, the new board remains committed to Hat Hut's artistic core and visionary orientation, while embracing new strategies to ensure its relevance and strength in the evolving musical landscape. The history of Hat Hut continues — with purpose, clarity, and renewed energy.
Unusually for our mailing list, this week's fully cataloged entries are split evenly, with half falling into our experimental and electronic categories. As a composer of electroacoustic music myself, I'm continually impressed by the artists represented in that catalog. Our local concert series — Hooked on Sonics — similarly focuses on sound art and experimental forms, making this a particularly engaging week.
Two albums stand out to me in this mailing. The first is a double CD of studio compositions by Francisco López, crafted from environmental sounds. The results are indescribably rich in nuance and sonic detail — López's compositional approach weaves these textures into fascinating narratives that are both reflective and deeply engaging.
The second is a collaboration between Marc Baron and Éric La Casa, whose work in field recordings and acousmatic composition I greatly admire. For this project, they visited the Hiventy laboratories in Joinville-le-Pont — formerly Pathé — to explore the film restoration process. Each artist created installation-like recordings based on their individual perspectives, then combined them into a compelling sonic statement about the act of restoration itself.
Following those two albums, I've highlighted seven additional Squidco Picks from our experimental and electronic categories. Each is a unique statement from artists pushing beyond conventional musical boundaries — all are well worth exploring.
 Lopez, Francisco: Untitled (2021-2022) [2 CDs] (Bu Lang Tribute Cake)
A double CD of composed environmental sound works from Francisco López, assembling raw field recordings from locations including Tenerife, Eswatini, Israel, Georgia, Chile, and the southwestern USA, along with a film soundtrack and a collaboration with Felipe Otondo, creating immersive, abstract electroacoustic pieces with intentional silences and textural extremes.
 Baron, Marc / Eric La Casa: Contrefacons (Swarming)
Exploring the fragility of recorded memory and the processes of cinematic restoration, Marc Baron and Eric La Casa capture, manipulate, and recontextualize sounds from the Hiventy film laboratories, transforming them through analogue treatments and dynamic re-recording into a compelling meditation on representation, decay, and the shifting nature of perception.
 Brass Clouds: Escape Vessels (Bathysphere Records)
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Dustin Dybvig crafts a layered and melodic exploration of existence, time, and cosmic themes through his project Brass Clouds, blending psychedelic textures, shimmering beats, and introspective soundscapes into a mesmerizing sonic journey across dimensions and dying worlds.
 Klinga, Erik: Elusive Shimmer (thanatosis produktion)
Swedish composer Erik Klinga crafts radiant electroacoustic works from Buchla synth, pipe organ, drum machine, and field recordings, weaving melodic ambient vignettes that shimmer with warmth and light, moving through celestial textures, gliding rhythms, and bird-like flourishes in a richly detailed debut recorded at Stockholm's Royal College of Music, the first of a planned trilogy on Thanatosis.
 Biota: Measured Not Found (Recommended Records)
A deeply immersive and meticulously crafted work from the reclusive Biota collective, blending microtonal instruments, electroacoustic techniques, and a wide array of ancient and modern timbres into a richly layered and human sound-world of instrumental and delicate song forms, unfolding across shifting textures and suspended time-the result of more than seven years of collaborative studio experimentation.
 Illusion Of Safety: Float (Full Spectrum)
An immersive electroacoustic meditation from Dan Burke's Illusion Of Safety project, exploring the sonic essence of water through field recordings, granular synthesis, and processed textures — an evolving narrative that honors water's beauty and power, while reflecting on our fragile relationship with the natural world through deep listening and multichannel design.
 Mori, Ikue: Of Ghosts And Goblins (Tzadik)
Electronic innovator Ikue Mori presents a captivating 9-part work drawing inspiration from Lafcadio Hearn's chronicles of Japanese folklore, through intricate laptop electronics and synthesizer work, conjuring a series of instrumental miniatures that evoke the ethereal presence of fox spirits, phantoms, and other spectral entities, a mysteriously enchanting and seductive work.
 La Casa, Eric: Zones Portuaires 2 (Swarming)
Working from recordings made at maritime ports between 2017 and 2023, sound artist Éric La Casa constructs a compelling suite of documentary compositions shaped by the industrial rhythms, constraints, and spatial tensions of global harbours, blending field recording and sonic observation into a tactile, immersive portrait of male-dominated coastal labor environments.
 Modelbau: 1x33.3 (Love Earth Music)
Recorded in March 2024 using an 8-track borrowed from Peter Duimelinks, Frans de Waard's Modelbau project presents a dark drone piece that envelops listeners in rich, immersive textures, exemplifying his adept manipulation of lo-fi equipment to create profound ambient soundscapes.
 Reger, Rick: Textures & Tonalities for Analogue Synthesizers & Percussion (Aural Terrains)
Blending vintage analogue synthesizers with resonant percussion, Chicago-based Rick Reger (The Margots) constructs an immersive electroacoustic soundscape that balances harmonic depth and atmospheric tension, sculpting evolving tonalities through Moog, Mellotron, Arp & VCS3 alongside gongs and singing bowls in a meditative and richly textured sonic exploration.
 Myers, David Lee: Oculus [2CDs] (pulsewidth)
A double CD of rich ambient work from New York City-based sound artist David Lee Myers, presenting four expansive compositions that blend electronics, lamellophone, feedback matrices, and hardware and software processing, evoking the ocular opening of the eye and architectural forms through immersive soundscapes that explore the interplay between organic and electronic elements.
 Birge, Jean-Jacques : Centenaire De Jean-Jacques Birge - The 100th Anniversary (1952-2052) (GRRR)
A retrospective spanning ten decades (1958-2018) celebrating Jean-Jacques Birgé's multifaceted career through compositions reflecting each era, blending archival recordings with new works through a remarkable ensemble of longtime collaborators, from brass and strings to electronics and voice; a sonic journey bridging past, present, and imagined futures with impressive orchestration and narrative.
 El Strom : Long Time No Sea (GRRR)
Recorded across studios in France and Denmark and at the Festival Les Enchanteuses, the charming and experimental trio of Birgitte Lyregaard (vocals), Sacha Gattino (sampler, percussion, zither, &c.), and Jean-Jacques Birge (Theremin, keyboards, reeds, &c.) blend experimental, jazz, rock, and folk influences, in a genre-defying amalgam of songs, free improv, rare instruments, and cutting-edge technology.
Squidco Publishing Roundup:
These are the updates to Squidco and The Squid's Ear over the last week. You can view our latest fully cataloged albums in the Recently Section.
You can also browse new titles as they enter our Just In Stock Section — meaning we physically have the album and can ship it, though we may still be updating additional information about the release.
To see restocks of previously listed titles, visit our Recently Restocked page.
And if you're interested in a future release, you can ask us to notify you by email via our Upcoming Releases page — no obligation necessary.
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Lisa Mezzacappa:
Schick / Tuerlickx / Zoepf:
Matt Mitchell:
Sophie Agnel / John Butcher:
Damon Smith:
Alexander von Schlippenbach / Dag Magnus Narvesen Duo:
Lotte Anker / Kamil Piotrowicz / Jacob Anderskov:
Killick Hinds:
Isotope Ensemble:
Satoko Fujii:
