The Squid's Ear Magazine
Jan 22-25: Squidco 20% Inventory Sale! — 200+ albums on sale @ 20% off!

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Squidco & The Squid's Ear

UPDATE
January 23, 2026

"I mean I want to be a force for real good.
In other words, I know that there are bad forces.
I know that there are forces out here
That bring suffering to others and misery to the world,
But I want to be the opposite force.
I want to be the force, which is truly for good."
— John Coltrane



 Essential Artists

• Liz Allbee
• Nicholas Bussmann/Sven-Ake Johansson/Yan Jun
• John Cage
• Angharad Davies/Burkhard Beins
• Kris Davis and the Lutoslawski Quartet
• Die 3 Diven
• Kai Fagaschinski
• Morton Feldman/GBSR Duo w/ Taylor MacLennan
• +Felladog+
• Fieldwork (Iyer/Lehman/Sorey)
• Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner
• Daniel Levin/Laurent Estoppey
• Meketa Power Electronics
• Rodrigues/Risch/Savic/Rodrigues
• Rodrigues/Rodrigues/Kim/Willers
• Jessica Williams

 Essential Labels

Another Timbre
Creative Sources
ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd
Love Earth Music

NI-VU-NI-CONNU
Pi Recordings
Pre-Echo Press
Pyroclastic Records



Squidco Inventory Sale

Squidco 20% Inventory Sale

This weekend we are reducing the price on more than 200 albums by 20% !

Shop the Inventory Sale!

These exceptional prices give our customers a chance to fill in their collection of these important and extraordinary albums of creative improvisation, composition, and the merging of both. Take a close look, as some titles are limited in quantity, and this sale ends Sunday, January 25th!

In-stock items only. Sold out items will disappear from store. Orders must be placed through our shopping cart. Price shown is discounted price. Sale ends Sunday January 25, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST. While quantities last. Discounted items will not receive Squidco Reward Points.

 New Releases





   Jazz & Improvisation

Bussmann, Nicholas / Sven-Ake Johansson / Yan Jun: Tea Time [Vinyl]
(NI-VU-NI-CONNU)


Bringing together robot-controlled piano, percussion, and voice, Nicholas Bussmann, Sven-Åke Johansson, and Yan Jun construct a dreamlike improvisation that balances playful artifice and genuine interaction, where fragmented rhythms, unconventional vocal techniques, and mechanized piano gestures blur distinctions between jazz, ritual, and abstraction.
   
Buy $34.95 Listen

 
Davies, Angharad / Burkhard Beins : Meshes Of The Evening [VINYL]
(NI-VU-NI-CONNU)


In this duo setting, violinist Angharad Davies and percussionist Burkhard Beins achieve an extraordinary level of focus and trust, unfolding detailed free improvisations through intersecting and consonant playing that moves through episodic, suite-like forms, where texture, space, and timbral transformation dissolve individual roles into a single, continuously evolving musical presence.
 
Squidco Pick

Buy $34.95 Listen

 
Davis, Kris and the Lutoslawski Quartet: Solastalgia Suite
(Pyroclastic Records)


Composed by Kris Davis for piano and string quartet and recorded in 2024 with the Lutosławski Quartet, this eight-movement suite channels the concept of solastalgia — homesickness amid environmental loss — through a deeply expressive dialogue between piano and strings, unfolding music that is elegiac, urgent, and resolute as it navigates climate-driven grief, instability, and a fragile sense of hope.
 
Squidco Pick

Buy $14.95 Listen

 
Die 3 Diven: RCHTN MTNCHTN
(Creative Sources)


Recorded live in Berlin and later in Hannover, this trio of acoustic and electric guitars, objects, electronics, and voice embraces playful disruption and material intervention, blending sounddrawings, tactile gestures, and noisy fragments into a volatile form of free improvisation that balances humour, abrasion, and performative tension within a constantly shifting ensemble space.
   
Buy $16.95 Listen

 
Fagaschinski, Kai: Aerodynamics [VINYL 2 LPs]
(NI-VU-NI-CONNU)


Two expansive clarinet-centered works explore psychoacoustic perception and collective illusion, the first album a swarm-like octet performance by The Paranormal Clarinet Society built from simple instrumental language with a rigorously structured multi-track, the second a solo improvisation that imagines ensemble interplay through breath, density, spatial awareness, and finely calibrated sonic detail.
 
Squidco Pick

Buy $48.95 Listen

 
Fieldwork (Iyer / Lehman / Sorey): Thereupon
(Pi Recordings)


BACK IN STOCK: Seventeen years after their last recording, the New York trio of Steve Lehman (alto saxophone), Vijay Iyer (piano, Rhodes), and Tyshawn Sorey (drums) reunite with dense, high-impact compositions and fearless interplay, blending complexity with groove as they reaffirm their status as one of the most vital ensembles in contemporary improvised music.
 
Squidco Pick

Buy $14.95 Listen

 
Lehman, Steve Trio + Mark Turner: The Music of Anthony Braxton
(Pi Recordings)


BACK IN STOCK: Alto saxophonist Steve Lehman leads his trio with bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Damion Reid, joined by tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, in a vibrant live homage to Anthony Braxton's small ensemble works, blending intricate modern jazz interplay with searing emotional expression in a bold, high-energy celebration of Braxton's enduring influence.
 
Squidco Pick

Buy $14.95 Listen

 
Levin, Daniel / Laurent Estoppey: Freedom From The Known [VINYL]
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)


In this duo setting, Daniel Levin and Laurent Estoppey engage in a deeply exploratory dialogue for cello and saxophone that blurs the line between intention and execution, unfolding mercurial, soaring improvisations that push the expressive limits of their instruments while inviting attentive listening without the need for explanation or resolution.
 
Squidco Pick

Buy $25.95 Listen

 
Rodrigues, Ernesto / Claudia Risch / Grgur Savic / Guilherme Rodrigues: Past Dreams In Rust
(Creative Sources)


Recorded in Berlin in 2022, this quartet of violin, flute/bass clarinet, alto saxophone, percussion, and cello unfolds a restrained improvisation focused on fragile textures, breath-driven tones, and microtonal tension, as shifting timbres and sparse gestures accumulate into a patient, weathered soundscape shaped by decay, resonance, and collective listening.
   
Buy $16.95 Listen

 
Rodrigues, Ernesto / Guilherme Rodrigues / Jung-Jae Kim / Andreas Willers: Points of Dichotomy
(Creative Sources)


This quartet of viola and crackle box, cello, tenor saxophone, and acoustic guitar/voice captured live in Berlin at Richten25 unfolds a finely balanced improvisation shaped by contrast and restraint, as acoustic textures and electronic disruptions interact through tension, fragmentation, and close collective listening within a continually shifting sonic landscape.
   
Buy $16.95 Listen

 
Williams, Jessica: Blue Abstraction: Prepared Piano Project 1985-1987 [VINYL]
(Pre-Echo Press)


Drawing from a period of intense experimentation in the mid-1980s, Jessica Williams transforms a prepared piano into a newly imagined and startlingly creative instrument, shaping music that moves from Satie-like lyricism to controlled cacophony through altered strings, tactile resonance, and deeply expressive melodic voicing-forward-thinking and intimate work unheard for nearly four decades.
 
Squidco Pick

Buy $32.95 Listen

 




   Experimental/Electronic

Allbee, Liz: Breath Vessels [VINYL]
(NI-VU-NI-CONNU)


Using self-built breath vessels alongside tuning forks, sine waves, and voice, Liz Allbee creates a form of speculative folk music shaped by respiratory rhythms, resonant drones, and tactile gestures, unfolding a quietly epic, intimate, and immersive soundworld that imagines future collectivity through shared breath, material resonance, and electro-acoustic communion.
 
Squidco Pick

Buy $32.95 Listen

 
+Felladog+: II
(Love Earth Music)


The second collaboration between Steve Davis and Jim Fellahean Szudy, recorded in 2025 and unfolding across fifteen carefully shaped tracks that move fluidly between droning loops, harsh noise, hypnotic textures, and death-ambient atmospheres, with each piece functioning as a self-contained narrative while contributing to a cohesive, emotionally charged whole of sustained intensity.
   
Buy $9.95 Listen

 
Meketa Power Electronics: Suffering
(Love Earth Music)


Steven Meketa, aka Meketa Power Electronics, in a solo work of sermons and electronics channels where Meketa's power electronics evoke a raw, faith-driven expression of endurance and confrontation, using grinding textures, spoken testimony, and sustained intensity to transform personal suffering into a stark and uncompromising sonic statement.
   
Buy $9.95 Listen

 




   Composed & Contemporary

Cage, John: Chamber Works 1943-1951
(Another Timbre)


BACK IN STOCK: A superb interpretation of John Cage's early chamber works, performed by members of Apartment House and pianist Kerry Yong, recorded at The Old School, in Starston, UK, highlighting Cage's intricate balance of rhythm and resonance through prepared piano, strings, and percussion, captured in detailed and intimate recordings by Simon Reynell at The Old School in Starston, UK.
 
Squidco Pick

Buy $15.95 Listen

 
Feldman, Morton / GBSR Duo w/ Taylor MacLennan: Trios [6 CD BOX SET]
(Another Timbre)


Spanning Morton Feldman's three expansive trios for flute, piano, and percussion, these performances by the GBSR Duo with Taylor MacLennan immerse the listener in an extended temporal field where quiet intensity, precise timbral balance, and fragile rhythmic relationships unfold with hypnotic patience, transforming duration itself into an expressive element of listening, presence, and sustained attention.
 
Squidco Pick

Buy $59.95 Listen

 


The Squid's Ear

The Squid's Ear is Squidco's companion online magazine,
featuring reviews of Squidco items from independent writers.



Webber/Morris Big Band: Unseparate (Out of Your Head Records)
Webber/Morris Big Band: Unseparate (Out of Your Head Records)

McPhee, Joe & Strings (w/ Maneri / Lonberg-Holm / Bisio): We Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (RogueArt)
McPhee, Joe & Strings (w/ Maneri / Lonberg-Holm / Bisio): We Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (RogueArt)


Alexander Zethson
The Squid's Ear Interview

Lao Dan: To Hit A Pressure Point (Relative Pitch)
Lao Dan: To Hit A Pressure Point (Relative Pitch)

Szilard Mezei Quartet: Old Book For Quartet (FMR)
Szilard Mezei Quartet: Old Book For Quartet (FMR)

MARANATA (Wesseltoft / Stiberg / Escalante): Ugly Euphoria (Relative Pitch)
MARANATA (Wesseltoft / Stiberg / Escalante): Ugly Euphoria (Relative Pitch)


Birgit Ulher
The Squid's Ear Interview

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

Ivo Perelman / Tyshawn Sorey: Parallel Aesthetics (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Ivo Perelman / Tyshawn Sorey: Parallel Aesthetics (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

Michel Doneda / Frederic Blondy: Points of Convergences (Relative Pitch)
Michel Doneda / Frederic Blondy: Points of Convergences (Relative Pitch)

Larry Stabbins / Mark Sanders: Cup & Ring (Discus)
Larry Stabbins / Mark Sanders: Cup & Ring (Discus)


Elliott Sharp
The Squid's Ear Interview



 Stay Current With Squidco

• You can see the newest additions to our catalog in our Just In Stock Section.

• You can see the latest fully cataloged items in our store by using our New Releases section.

• You can see Recently Restocked items on this page.

• You can ask to have us email you when Upcoming Releases are in stock.



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Squidco has been in business as a mail-order store since 2003. In 2010, we moved to Wilmington, NC, providing regional and visiting customers access to our catalog of over 9,000 items, including hundreds of discounted, used, and promotional items not listed on our website. We're open for visits by appointment during weekday afternoons, so if you're in the North Carolina coastal region, please email us to set up a time — we'd love to play some music for you!

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The Squid's Ear Magazine

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