Stirrup + 6 (Lonberg-Holdm / Macri / Rumback):
The Avondale Addition (Cuneiform)

The Stirrup trio of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nick Macri (bass), and Charles Rumback (drums) is merged with improvisers from Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra project--Keefe Jackson & Mars Williams on reeds, guitarist Peter Maunu, violist Jen Clare Paulson, trumpeter Russ Johnson & Zoots Houston on electronics -for this compelling structured performance at Elastic Arts. ... Click to View

Tashi Dorji / Tyler Damon:
To Catch A Bird In A Net Of Wind [VINYL] (Trost Records)

Fully free improvisation from Chicago musicians, electric guitarist Tashi Dorji and drummer/percussionist Tyler Damon, performing live in a concert at Horatio N. May Chapel in 2018, the resonance of the location adding a rich reverberant level to their evolving dialog, building to ecstatic sonic states and releasing to energetically ruminative discourse. ... Click to View

BROM (Lapshin / Ponomarev / Mikensky / Kurilo):
Dance With An Idiot [VINYL] (Trost Records)

Raw, raucous and dauntless improvisation from the Russian quartet of Anton Ponomarev on alto saxophone, Dmitry Lapshin on bass guitar, Felix Mikensky on guitar & electronics, and Yaroslav Kurilo on drums, in 7 passionate collective improvisations with a dark melodic bent with titles like "demon" or "iron hair", plus a twisted take on Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts". ... Click to View

Berangere Maximin :
Land of Waves [VINYL 2 LPs + DOWNLOAD] (KARLRECORDS)

The sixth album of embraceable electroacoustic and acousmatic French composer Bérangère Maximin, who's work with Ina-GRM, Stockholm's EMS points to her extraordinary skills in organize other-worldly sound, imbued with her ability to create warmly embraceable works with mystery amongst propelling rhythm, here exploring recordings from city parks & abandoned properties. ... Click to View

Sun City Girls:
Live at the Sky Church - September 3rd, 2004 [VINYL LP & DVD] (Twenty One Eighty Two Recording Company)

A 2004 live performance in LP and DVD from the experimental, irreverent and twisted rock trio Sun City Girls performing at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, from strange songs of weird, blunt or vulgar intent to experimental cutups--an unorthodox exorcism in sound--all presented with bizarre theatrical accompaniment as documented on the accompanying DVD. ... Click to View

Matias Riquelme / Fernando Ulzion:
La Trahison Des Mots (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

Using the natural resonance of the Apodaka church in Alava, Spain, the Bilbao-based experimental improvising duo of cellist Francia Matías Riquelme and saxophonist Fernando Ulzion on soprano and alto, present an introspective and informed set of works titled as iconic jazz compositions, an implication of the impressionist approach their expansive and thoughtful playing invokes. ... Click to View

Machinefabriek / Anne Bakker:
Short Scenes (Zoharum)

While developing a soundtrack with violinist and violist Anne Bakker, Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek, began editing a series of Bakker's improvisations, creating new works from those recordings by layering them into succinct short works or "scenes"--twenty of them in the end--that he sequenced into this album of confidently dramatic and delicately beautiful episodes. ... Click to View

Master Oogway:
Earth And Other Worlds (Rune Grammofon)

The second album from the Norwegian electric jazz quartet of Havard Nordberg Funderud on guitar, Lauritz Lyster Skeidsvoll on saxophone, Karl Erik Horndalsveen on double bass, and Martin Heggli Mellem on drums, after their 2018 album The Concert Koan on the Clean Feed label, here in six powerfully thrilling tracks of youthful exuberance and impressive skill. ... Click to View

Master Oogway:
Earth And Other Worlds [VINYL] (Rune Grammofon)

The second album from the Norwegian electric jazz quartet of Havard Nordberg Funderud on guitar, Lauritz Lyster Skeidsvoll on saxophone, Karl Erik Horndalsveen on double bass, and Martin Heggli Mellem on drums, after their 2018 album The Concert Koan on the Clean Feed label, here in six powerfully thrilling tracks of youthful exuberance and impressive skill. ... Click to View

Thumbscrew (Fujiwara / Halvorson / Formanek):
The Anthony Braxton Project (Cuneiform)

The Thumbscrew trio of NY improvisers Tomas Fujiwara on drums & vibes, Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Michael Formanek on double bass, turn their focus to their shared history with composer and reedist Anthony Braxton as he celebrates his 75th birthday, performing 11 previously unheard compositions selected from Composition No. 14 through No. 274; masterful and profound. ... Click to View

Toyozumi / Yandsen / Countryman:
Future of Change (ChapChap Records)

The collaboration of American alto saxophonist living in the Philippines Rick Countryman with legendary Japanese free improvising drummer Sabu Toyozumim, also performing on Erhu, continues with this outstanding performance at the LIMBO Art Gallery in Makati, Philippines in 2020, joined by Malaysian tenor saxophonist Yong Yandsen for a burning set of free jazz. ... Click to View

Bonjintan (Akira Sakata / Jim O'Rourke / Giovanni Di Domenico / Tatsuhisa Yamamoto):
Dental Kafka (Trost Records)

The 2nd release from the Bonjintan quartet led by Akira Sakata on saxophone, clarinet & voice, with Jim O'Rourke on double bass, Giovanni Di Domenico on piano & Hohner pianet, and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto on drums, an international grouping with experimental approaches to improvisation and avant music, yielding unusual results of great character, tension and pointed expression. ... Click to View

Bonjintan (Akira Sakata / Jim O'Rourke / Giovanni Di Domenico / Tatsuhisa Yamamoto):
Dental Kafka [VINYL] (Trost Records)

The 2nd release from the Bonjintan quartet led by Akira Sakata on saxophone, clarinet & voice, with Jim O'Rourke on double bass, Giovanni Di Domenico on piano & Hohner pianet, and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto on drums, an international grouping with experimental approaches to improvisation and avant music, yielding unusual results of great character, tension and pointed expression. ... Click to View

Various Artists (Barry Guy/Joelle Leandre/Rafal Mazur/Paal Nilssen-Love/Zlatko Kaucic/Agusti Fernandez/Mats Gustafsson/Ken Vandermark/Mikolaj Trzaska/Peter Brotzmann/Steve Swell/Per Ake Holmlander/Maya Homburger):
Not Two... But Twenty [5 CDs in Wooden Box] (Not Two)

Not Two Records celebrates their 20th Anniversary with a festival in Wlen, Poland, inviting 13 of the finest European & US improvisers--Guy, Leandre, Mazur, Nilssen-Love, Kaucic, Fernandez, Gustafsson, Vandermark, Trzaska, Brotzmann, Swell, Holmlander, & Homburg--performing in configurations from duo to quintet, released in a limited 5-CD wooden box set. ... Click to View

Dustin Laurenzi Snaketime:
Behold [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD] (Astral Spirits)

Originally planned for release in conjunction with their appearance at the 2020 Pitchfork Festival, saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi's Snaketime Octet celebrates the theoretical 104th birthday of eccentric NY composer Moondog with 4 tracks intended for his 2019 Snaketime album, performed with Jason Stein, Nick Mazzarella, Chad McCullough, two drummers and bass. ... Click to View

Giuliano d'Angiolini :
Antifona (Another Timbre)

Another Timbre's second CD of chamber works by the Paris-based Italian composer Giuliano d'Angiolini: Four pieces - ensemble works performed by Apartment House and the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, a duo for flute and piano, and a piece for solo piano played by the composer, all performed at the 2018 AngelicA festival in Bologna Italy. ... Click to View

Alva Noto:
Xerrox Vol. 4 (Noton)

The 4th of 5 Xerox releases from electronic and sound composer Carsten Nicolai, based on the concept of digital replication of source material, Nicolai replicates his recordings and utilizes their changes, in Volume 4 creating melodic ambient works, warm tones that are colored and affected by subtle texture, creating a beautiful set of 14 cinematic expressions. ... Click to View

Alva Noto:
Xerrox Vol. 4 [VINYL 2 LPs ] (Noton)

The 4th of 5 Xerox releases from electronic and sound composer Carsten Nicolai, based on the concept of digital replication of source material, Nicolai replicates his recordings and utilizes their changes, in Volume 4 creating melodic ambient works, warm tones that are colored and affected by subtle texture, creating a beautiful set of 14 cinematic expressions. ... Click to View

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. feat. Geoff Leigh :
Chosen Star Child's Confession (RIOT SEASON)

The Japanese space rock collective Acid Mothers Temple led by Makoto Kawabata & Hiroshi Higashi, reformed in 2015 with new members and here featuring Henry Cow wind player Geoff Leigh on flute and sax, take on a free-form and sometimes mellower psychedelia as the band dips in and out of our space, dimension, and time while re-imagining the best of kraut/prog/spacerock. ... Click to View

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. feat. Geoff Leigh :
Chosen Star Child's Confession [VINYL] (RIOT SEASON)

The Japanese space rock collective Acid Mothers Temple led by Makoto Kawabata & Hiroshi Higashi, reformed in 2015 with new members and here featuring Henry Cow wind player Geoff Leigh on flute and sax, take on a free-form and sometimes mellower psychedelia as the band dips in and out of our space, dimension, and time while re-imagining the best of kraut/prog/spacerock. ... Click to View

Francois Carrier / Masayo Koketsu / Daisuke Fuwa / Takashi Itani:
Japan Suite (NoBusiness)

Saxophonist Francois Carrier joins Shibusashirazu director & double bassist Daisuke Fuwa, drummer Takashi Itani, and alto saxophonist Masayo Koketsu (also of Shibusashirazu) for a live performance at Yamaneko-ken, in Saitama to capture this 6-part suite of intensely creative free jazz, the inventive rhythm section driving both saxophonists into both raucous and beautiful territory. ... Click to View

Sam Rivers Trio feat Dave Holland / Barry Altschul:
Ricochet (NoBusiness)

Captured live in San Francisco in 1978, the lastest in the NoBusiness Sam Rivers Archive series finds the masterful wind player in peak form with the trio of Dave Holland on bass & cello, and Barry Altschul on drums, Rivers on tenor & soprano sax, flute & piano, in the 52 minute free jazz epic "Ricochet", a high-energy work of diverse mood and character; superb! ... Click to View

I Like To Sleep:
Daymare (Rune Grammofon)

Taking their band name from a Thelonious Monk quote, the Norwegian power trio of vibraphone player Amund Storløkken Åse (son of keyboardist Ståle Storløkken and vocelist Tone Åse), guitarist Nicolas Leirtrø and drummer Øyvind Leite bridge the divide between 70's progressive rock, classical music, jazz and improvisation with a unique instrumentation. ... Click to View

I Like To Sleep:
Daymare [VINYL] (Rune Grammofon)

Taking their band name from a Thelonious Monk quote, the Norwegian power trio of vibraphone player Amund Storløkken Åse (son of keyboardist Ståle Storløkken and vocelist Tone Åse), guitarist Nicolas Leirtrø and drummer Øyvind Leite bridge the divide between 70's progressive rock, classical music, jazz and improvisation with a unique instrumentation. ... Click to View

Roland Dahinden / Hildegarde Kleeb / Harris:
Dancing A Stone (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

With origins in Switzerland in the Recall Pollock duo of trombonist Roland Dahinden and pianist Hildegard Kleep, this trio with UK electronics artist based in South Africa Cameron Harris has its origin in the quartet CubeZ with visual artist Charbel Ackermann, here focused on their unusual language through acoustic improv altered and complemented by interactive electronics. ... Click to View

Machinefabriek / Anne Bakker:
Oehoe (Where To Now?)

The fourth collaboration between electronic composer Rutger Zuydervelt, aka Machinefabriek, and violinist, violist and vocalist Anne Bakker, in a work that merges and contrasts Bakker's string work and wordless vocals with soundscape, obscured field recordings and concrete sounds, using consonance and dissonance to create emotional pressure and release. ... Click to View

Ernstalbrecht Stiebler :
Fur Biliana (Another Timbre)

Four chamber pieces for strings, covering 5 decades of work by veteran German composer Ernstalbrecht Stiebler--each with his representative focus on concentration and quiet intensity--recorded in Bulgaria and performed by violinist Biliana Voutchkova, to whom two of the pieces are dedicated, with Michael Rauter (cello) and Nurit Stark (viola). ... Click to View

Cyril Bondi / Pierre-Yves Martel / Christoph Schiller:
Hyazo (Another Timbre)

A beautiful, melancholic soundworld created by three musicians who have a rare rapport--Cyril Bondi on Indian harmonium, Pierre on Yves Martel on viola da Gamba, and Christoph Schiller on spinet--following their previous CDs tse and awire by moving on to new territory in 3 compositions allowing for freedom from each musician, two from Schiller and one from Bondi. ... Click to View

Pierre Gerard:
Architect (Senufo Editions)

Belgian composer Pierre Gerard presents a work that examines what we see around us, and what sometimes remains invisible, in three dramatic minimal works of powerful tones and tension, silence and motion: the first is 'the mechanics', the second 'the structure of a rock on a high mountain', the third 'the distance between the elements in a small forest area'. ... Click to View

Charlie Parker :
Selections From The DIAL Recordings (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)

The first of two volumes in celebration of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker's 100th birthday, here remastering his landmark recordings for the Dial label on the US West Coast between 1946-47, performing with jazz greats including Miles Davis, Lucky Thompson, Erroll Garner, Barney Kessel, Red Calender, JJ Johson, Max Roach, &c. for some of Parker's best known and essential compositions. ... Click to View