The Squid's Ear
Recently @ Squidco:

John Butcher / John Edwards:
This Is Not Speculation (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

A remarkable live recording from Einstein Kultur in Munich, reuniting British free improvisation masters John Butcher on saxophones and John Edwards on double bass in four expansive, detailed, and often breathtaking duets, exploring abstract soundscapes with razor-sharp interplay, extended techniques, and an uncompromising sense of sonic exploration. ... Click to View


Jerome Deupree / Sylvie Courvoisier / Lester St. Louis / Joe Morris:
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Izumi Kimura / Lina Andonovska / Dominique Pifarely:
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Recorded live at Dublin's National Concert Hall, the trio of Izumi Kimura (piano), Lina Andonovska (flutes), and Dominique Pifarély (violin) weave a poetic and deeply intuitive improvisational performance, blending extended techniques and refined sensitivity into a dreamlike suite of tactile, intimate, and emotionally resonant sound worlds. ... Click to View


Lava Quartet feat. Almut Kuhne / Jordina Milla / Goncalo Almeida / Wieland Moller:
Ethereal Chant (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

The debut from the international Lava Quartet — Almut Kühne (voice), Jordina Milla (piano), Gonçalo Almeida (bass), and Wieland Möller (percussion) — capturing the ensemble's dynamic interplay and fearless improvisation across two European venues, blending extended techniques, expressive freedom, and unconventional sonic textures in a deeply creative and spontaneous journey. ... Click to View


Joe McPhee / Susanna Gartmayer / John Edwards / Maria Portugal:
Monster (Klanggalerie)

Recorded live at the 2023 Music Unlimited Festival in Wels, Austria, this powerhouse quartet of Joe McPhee, Susanna Gartmayer, John Edwards, and Maria Portugal delivers an electrifying set of spontaneous composition, blending fierce improvisation, commanding technique, and bold interplay in a dynamic performance brimming with vitality and creative approaches to improv. ... Click to View


Kim Jae Jung:
Shamanism (Relative Pitch)

A powerful and ritualistic session from South Korea's free improvisation scene, with tenor and soprano saxophones (Jung-Jae Kim & Sunjae Lee) and dual drum kits (Junyoung Song & Sunki Kim) channeling ancestral Korean shamanic ceremony through raw, primal energy, breath-driven phrasing, and a spiritual aesthetic that bridges indigenous tradition and contemporary free jazz expression. ... Click to View


Signe Emmeluth / Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten / Axel Filip:
Hyperboreal Trio (Relative Pitch)

Drawing on deep collaborative history and shared risk-taking instincts, the trio of alto saxophonist Signe Emmeluth, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and drummer Axel Filip deliver a debut of fierce, textural improvisation, recorded in Trondheim and shaped by dynamic interplay, shifting atmospheres, and a fearless drive to chart new sonic terrain. ... Click to View


Amy Cimini:
See You When I Get There (Relative Pitch)

The first solo album from West Coast violist Amy Cimini, blending amplified distortion, percussive textures, and spacious effects into a deeply personal and genre-blurring performance that channels experimental noise, tuneful abstraction, and the spirit of feminist rock and protest music into a resonant and evocative sonic journey. ... Click to View


Makoto Kawashima :
arteria (Relative Pitch)

A wild solo performance recorded at GOKsound in Tokyo by Japanese alto saxophonist Makoto Kawashima, whose intense and introspective improvisations balance fierce tonal expression with fragile silences, drawing from the lineage of Abe and Shiraishi while establishing his own haunting and highly individual voice in the realm of free improvisation. ... Click to View


Marco Eneidi Quintet (w / Johnston / Finkbelner / Smith / Anderson):
Wheat Fields of Kleylehof (Balance Point Acoustics)

A fiery and tightly woven 2004 quintet session led by alto saxophonist and composer Marco Eneidi, recorded before his move to Europe, with trumpeter Darren Johnston, guitarist John Finkbeiner, bassist Damon Smith, and drummer Vijay Anderson performing dynamic, sharply articulated compositions that balance exuberant improvisation with finely honed structure. ... Click to View


Eric Shorter:
Shorter Bendian Shields (577 Records)

A dynamic debut from multi-talented saxophonist Eric Shorter, joined by pianist David Shields and percussionist Gregg Bendian in a spirited trio session that replaces the traditional bass role with open, aleatoric freedom, creating an engaging interplay of spontaneous composition, expressive lyricism, and inventive harmonic exploration. ... Click to View


Ernesto Rodrigues / Ana Albino / Hernani Faustino / Carlos Santos:
A Glimpse To An End Of A Cycle (Creative Sources)

Recorded live in Lisbon in 2025, this quietly immersive quartet session from Ernesto Rodrigues, Ana Albino, Hernani Faustino, and Carlos Santos unfolds as a single extended movement of enigmatic timbral interplay, blending modular synth, electric guitar, viola and bass in a sparse, introspective soundscape shaped by mystery, fluidity, and subtle dynamic shifts. ... Click to View


Paula Sanchez:
Pressure Sensitive (Relative Pitch)

Recorded in Switzerland in 2021, Argentinian cellist and interdisciplinary artist Paula Sanchez pushes the cello to its sonic limits through six radical performances that merge acoustic and processed sound, combining cello, cellophane, and ring modulation to evoke a visceral, poetic, and at times merciless exploration of embodied sound and ephemeral transformation. ... Click to View


Camila Nebbia / Kit Downes / Andrew Lisle:
Exhaust (Relative Pitch)

Recorded live in Berlin, the debut from Camila Nebbia's working trio with Kit Downes and Andrew Lisle captures six dynamic, unrestrained pieces that navigate shifting textures and rhythms, fractured lyricism, and tightly woven interplay, avoiding individual soloing as the group explores contrast and transformation through raw energy, deep listening, and collective momentum. ... Click to View


Le Vice Anglais (Pires / Parrinha):
vas-y (4DaRecord)

A fiercely expressive debut from Portuguese duo Ricardo Guerra Pires and Bruno Parrinha, blending electric guitar, alto saxophone, subtle electronics, and noise-infused improvisation into a raw yet controlled exploration of sonic extremes, channeling the spirit of free jazz, punk energy, and avant-garde texture into six powerful and provocative pieces. ... Click to View


Marc Baron / 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. ... Click to View


Francisco Lopez :
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. ... Click to View


Eventless Plot | Haarvol:
The Subliminal Paths [CASSETTE + DOWNLOAD] (Innovo Editions)

An intimate, restrained electroacoustic collaboration between Eventless Plot and Haarvöl, unfolding in two extended, meditative movements that explore a nuanced dialogue between piano, field recordings, tapes, and electronic expression, gradually revealing layered sonic detail and immersive depth through spacious, dramatic momentum. ... Click to View


Eternities:
Rides Again [CASSETTE] (Sacred Realism)

The duo of Katie Porter on bass clarinet and Bob Bellerue on electronics, zither, and feedback create rich, multidimensional drones through live performance, blending harmonic wind tones with resonant feedback and overtone manipulation in two expansive recordings from Berlin and NYC that explore the porous boundary between intention and indeterminacy. ... Click to View


Elka Bong (Margolis / Wright / Bouchard):
Without Walls (Love Earth Music)

Integrating live coding, field recordings, IFM synthesis, and an array of electroacoustic instrumentation, the trio of Al Margolis, Walter Wright, and Sara Bouchard craft an unbounded and exploratory work that embraces technological transformation and sensory disruption, channeling Marshall McLuhan's insights into a richly layered and prophetic sonic landscape. ... Click to View


Karl Evangelista Quintet feat. Bobby Bradford and William Roper:
Solace Angles (Asian Improv)

A heartfelt tribute to Los Angeles and its resilient creative community, guitarist Karl Evangelista leads a stellar quintet with Bobby Bradford on cornet and William Roper on tuba, blending both lyrical and eclectic improvisation, deep-rooted West Coast traditions, and a spirit of resistance into an evocative and deeply personal album that honors place, legacy, and the power of collective expression. ... Click to View


Sleep Of Reason Produces Monsters, The (Rasmussen / Mitelli / Rezaei / Koenig):
The Sleep Of Reason Produces Monsters (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

An electrifying session of genre-defying free improvisation from the international quartet of Gabriele Mitelli (trumpet & electronics), Mette Rasmussen (sax), Mariam Rezaei (turntables), and Lukas Koenig (drums & bass synth), delivering an explosive, high-energy album that blurs the lines between noise, jazz, and avant-electronic intensity with visceral spontaneity and tightly channeled chaos. ... Click to View


Akmee:
Sacrum Profanum (Nakama Records)

Recorded in Oslo's Toyen Kirke, this spiritually resonant second album from the Norwegian quartet Akmee explores acoustic possibilities with lyrical counterpoint, trance-like repetition, and intuitive improvisation, as trumpeter Erik Kimestad Pedersen, pianist Kjetil Jerve, bassist Erlend Olderskog Albertsen, and drummer Andreas Wildhagen stretch melody and rhythm into expressive, otherworldly forms. ... Click to View


Ernesto Rodrigues / Guilherme Rodrigues / Maximilian Glass:
Beyond The Mist And The Unforeseen Encounters (Creative Sources)

An intimate, texturally rich trio session recorded in Berlin between Ernesto Rodrigues on viola & crackle box, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, and Maximilian Glass on percussion, navigating misty lowercase atmospheres, glitch-box coloration, and finely balanced interactions that unveil subtle surprise and collective improvisation within a tight, exploratory sound world. ... Click to View


Sveio:
Latent Imprints (577 Records)

A fascinating exploration of human-machine collaboration from UK trio Sveio — James Mainwaring on saxophone, Federico Reuben on laptop improvisation and live coding, and Emil Karlsen on drums — using AI in real-time to generate uncanny textures and forms, resulting in a spontaneously composed and constantly evolving electroacoustic sound world. ... Click to View


Kommun:
Kalpa (thanatosis produktion)

Expanding to a sextet, Swedish guitarist Finn Loxbo's Kommun deepens its exploration of cyclical time and collective improvisation, weaving acoustic steel-string guitar, piano, strings, and percussion into evolving, harmonically rich phrases that merge individual lines into fluid, slow-burning forms — meditative, intricate, and poised between structure and dissolution. ... Click to View


Various Artists:
Archipelago (Bathysphere Records)

A benefit compilation in support of marine restoration through ORAI, this diverse collection features 13 experimental and ambient works — including evocative soundscapes by Scott Solter, Cristina Cano, and others — each track a donation from artists celebrating the sea’s mystery, fragility, and power through deeply personal sonic reflections. ... Click to View


Mat Watson:
Reflective Hits (Eternal Music Projects)

Extracted from archival sessions at Imaginary Sound Fields in Melbourne, Australian synthesist Mat Watson assembles a limited-edition set of vivid modular compositions — ranging from library-inspired cues to exploratory electronic abstractions — capturing the tactile nuance of a Eurorack modular as he sculpts asymmetrical, colorful soundscapes that blur nostalgia, experimentation, and inner space. ... Click to View


Unredeemable (Tracy Lisk / Andrea Pensado):
Preverbal (Love Earth Music)

A dynamic, spontaneous duo collaboration by percussionist Tracy-Lisk and multi-disciplinary performer Andrea-Pensado, this LEM-347 release unfolds through drumming, cymbal washes, voice and live electronics into a fluid, improvisatory dialogue that balances rhythmic sensitivity and textural exploration within an intimate, acutely reactive sound world. ... Click to View


+DOG+:
Our Beloved..... (Love Earth Music)

A fierce and immersive set of three extended noise pieces from the six-member experimental collective of Steve Davis, Bobby Almon, Chuck Foster, Edward Giles, LOB, and Mackenzie Kourie, recorded in multiple locations, blending dense textures, static-laced improvisation, and electroacoustic intensity into a raw and unapologetically visceral listening experience. ... Click to View



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Op-Ed (Opinions and Editorials)


  The Upside of Dowloading  
by Scott MX Turner

This is what it's come to: A 12-year-old girl in New York was sued by the Recording Industry Association of America, those asswipes, for fileswapping / filesharing / downloading.

The mighty mouthpiece of megacorporate music. Hey, I like that alluring alliteration, so much so I'm gonna upper case it. Those Asswipes, The Mighty Mouthpiece of Megacorporate Music ... suing a 12-year-old for acquiring "If You're Happy And Your Know It, Clap Your Hands" without paying for it.

A fucking campfire song.

As you know, Those Asswipes are suing hundreds of filesharers throughout the land in the belief that free downloads are killing music.

How adorable!

Those Asswipes are on a nostalgia trip, just like the rest of us. They're reliving the good old days of "home taping is killing music," "radio broadcasts are killing music," "recorded music is killing music" and "sheet music is killing music."

They're so cute!

Especially since it's music that's killing music.

More precisely, the music biz that's killing music.

Here's why sales are down so badly that Universal has reduced suggested retail prices by a whopping 30%:

1) CDs are obscenely overpriced;

2) The music biz promotes increasingly smaller numbers of acts of increasingly worse quality;

3) CDs are obscenely overpriced;

4) The biz capriciously switched formats, from vinyl to digital, and now has to lie in the cold and soulless bed it made;

5) CDs are obscenely overpriced;

6) Said format change has reduced fans' appreciation and need for artwork, making downloads a less unattractive alternative;

7) CDs are obscenely overpriced;

8) Politically and culturally conservative Clear Channel is locking up radio stations nationwide, rendering radio itself a wasteland of Lee Greenwood anthems and Timberlakeian pop drivel...the opposite of "limitless possibilities."

9) CDs are obscenely overpriced.

Since I subtly got you thinking about the retail price of today's compact disc, let's have a little look, a little see...

For indie artists like myself, a CD costs $1-2 to manufacture on an order of 1,000 discs - the standard order for most bands issuing their own releases. The larger the pressing order, the cheaper the discs. Indie bands have learned what the major labels haven't: You don't need to blow million$ to make a great album.

Obviously, the Megacorporate Music Labels get much larger bulk discounts on the manufacturing end. They just refuse to pass the savings on to you.

And obviously, Megacorporate Music Labels spend more on one artist's in-store posters than most indie bands make in a year.

They're entitled to the discounts - they do press a lotta discs. But not the immoral expenditures keeping their publicity juggernauts afloat.

Unlike P. Diddy and Sir Elton, indie bands don't generally put a gun to their labels head for overwrought videos, Courvoisier and Lear jets. More to the point, indie labels can't afford it. Major labels should urge spoiled brat superstars to experiment with anatomically impossible solo sex acts, and instead divert the money to signing good bands, getting 'em out on the road, and really bringing down the price of CDs.

Sticking to the basics means better music at cheaper prices.

The Megacorporate Music Labels haven't learned that one just yet, even though screams of "ohmyfuckingGodwe'redoomed!!!" can be heard coursing through the hallways at Bertelsman, AOL Time Warner, Sony, Universal and their megamates.

Now that the expected bumper crop of the analog-to-digital forced march - everyone buying the CD version of Dark Side Of The Moon to replace their vinyl copy - has waned, the big labels are running on fumes. Weirdly, they're only starting to learn how to use the Internet to make money. The biz is like your old, grouchy Uncle Fred, the one who never gets it and won't take anyone's advice.

Then again, how weird can it be when you're dealing with people who couldn't predict the utter ease of counterfeiting and bootlegging digital releases?

As for radio - the free downloading of choice in the '70s, '80s and '90s, thanks to blank cassettes - the Clear Channels are making sure that less, and less imaginative, bands are coming to the forefront. Very few commercial channels are freeform these days. Not the hippie freeform playlists of 20-minute live tracks, but rather djs being allowed to think for themselves ... having the freedom to choose tracks they believe in.

The last remaining bastion of alternative radio, smallpower college stations, are under attack from the FCC, local religious groups, conservative on-campus student organizations, and funding cuts at universities across the land. The FCC periodically makes noise about repealing college stations' exemptions and forcing commercial-standards compliance they can't possibly meet.

Know this: the battle over downloading is the same as any other socio/political/economic struggle in the world today, a war between the haves and the have-nots.

The haves, represented by Those Asswipes,

Here's how most musicians make money these days: live dates, touring and selling merchandise. Record sales are the primary source of income for a small percentage of musicians.

How could they be? The average pre-taxed take for major label musicians on their album sales is 3 to 7 cents on the dollar. If you're in the MetallicaLLCoolJ stratosphere, you're making a lot of money from cds. If you're on any of the lower levels, you simply use cds as portal to earning a living.

Those Asswipes and the Megacorporate Music Biz are gonna have to change their way of thinking, buying, selling and promoting. If they wanna stay in business, they're gonna have to sell cds at fair value prices, prices that support a decent salary for working musicians (whose pay scale must be increased) and trim the fat from label heads and superstar artists (whose pay scales must be slashed). The more radical idea - that times have changed and recorded music now plays a support role to live music, not vice versa - must be embraced, and music labels need to make the shift. It doesn't mean layoffs, it just means learning new modes and skill sets.

And what of the kids? Those sweeties who spend their campus days searching for WiFi hotspots to download music? Are they part of an evil cabal to deprive us musicians the right to earn a living? Do they truly hate Metallica and Dr. Dre and - no! - Those Asswipes? Are they ... are they ... un-American in their refusal to embrace free-market capitalism?

Probably not, since many support bands whose music they download by purchasing t-shirts, concert tickets, books and magazines with their heroes on the cover. A lot of 'em end up buying the albums anyway.

People who download become music fans. Or they already are, and want to expand their horizons. In other words, just the kind of informed consumer Those Asswipes fear. Because the more access music fans have to music, the more support they give to musicians. Downloaders don't sit in front of their computers, gleefully rubbing their hands and churlishly celebrating depriving musicians of a salary. Rather, they're trying to remain music fans in the face of overpriced cds of limited choice.

And that's terrifying to a business controlled by Those Asswipes, their megacorporate clients, and the Clear Channels of the world.

Musicians should be paid a fair wage. We shouldn't have to nickel-and-dime with club owners and record labels who, without us, wouldn't have a pot to piss in. There need to be more organizations like the old Noise Action Coalition, which worked hard to fuse labor activism with the New York downtown scene in order to earn fair pay for musicians on both fronts.

The thing is, downloading and filesharing ultimately aren't about who gets paid, but rather, about new models for the distribution of culture. That, and our increasing independence from the old models, which have stood for exploitation of music workers and condescension toward music buyers.

And if that makes you happy and you know it, clap your hands.



The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Kim Jae Jung:
Shamanism
(Relative Pitch)



Joe McPhee/
Susanna Gartmayer/
John Edwards/
Maria Portugal:
Monster
(Klanggalerie)



Signe Emmeluth/
Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten/
Axel Filip:
Hyperboreal Trio
(Relative Pitch)



John Butcher/
John Edwards:
This Is
Not Speculation
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Izumi Kimura/
Lina Andonovska/
Dominique Pifarely:
Seven Dreams
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Jerome Deupree/
Sylvie Courvoisier/
Lester St. Louis/
Joe Morris:
Canyon
[2 CDs]
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Marc Baron/
Eric La Casa:
Contrefacons
(Swarming)



Francisco Lopez:
Untitled (
2021-2022)
[2 CDs]
(Bu Lang Tribute Cake)



Eventless Plot |
Haarvol:
The Subliminal Paths
[CASSETTE + DOWNLOAD]
(Innovo Editions)



Akmee:
Sacrum Profanum
(Nakama Records)



Karl Evangelista Quintet
feat. Bobby Bradford and
William Roper:
Solace Angles
(Asian Improv)



Sveio:
Latent Imprints
(577 Records)



The Sleep Of Reason
Produces Monsters (
Rasmussen/
Mitelli/
Rezaei/
Koenig):
The Sleep Of Reason
Produces Monsters
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)



Dan Brown/
Dan Reynolds:
Live At
The Grange Hall
[unauthorized][CASSETTE]
(Sacred Realism)



Matt Mitchell:
Sacrosanctity
(Obliquity)



Das B (
Mazen Kerbaj/
Mike Majkowski/
Magda Mayas/
Tony Buck):
Love
(thanatosis produktion/
Corbett Vs Dempsey)



Das B (
Mazen Kerbaj/
Mike Majkowski/
Magda Mayas/
Tony Buck):
Love
[VINYL]
(thanatosis produktion/
Corbett Vs Dempsey)



Mary Halvorson Septet:
Illusionary Sea
[2 LPS]
(Firehouse 12 Records)



Darius Jones:
Legend of e'Boi (
The Hypervigilant Eye)
[VINYL + DOWNLOAD]
(Aum Fidelity)



Irene Schweizer/
Rudiger Carl/
Johnny Dyani/
Han Bennink:
Irenes Hot Four
(Intakt)







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