The cult of Sun Ra via Hieroglyphic Being, plus Gilles Peterson on his new Sun Ra comp and Art Yard's Peter Dennett; Ernest Berk: Musique Concrete Meets Modern Dance; Collateral Damage: Unsound's Mat Schulz; Epiphanies: Kristin Hersh; Global Ear: Budapest, Hungary.

The longstanding collaboration of cornetist Bobby Bradford and reedist Frode Gjerstad (together since '86) with bassist Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten on bass and Frank Rosaly on drums, recording at Philadelphia Art Alliance in 2014, a powerful lineup of modern free players.

A limited LP from the trio of European improvisers Giovanni Di Domenico on piano and Peter Jacquemyn on double bass with American drummer Chris Corsano, recording in the studio in Belgium, 2013, for 3 free improvisations of dexterous and expressive playing.

Martin Kuchen (Angles, Fire! Orchestra, All Included, &c) on tenor and soprano sax, Jon Rune Strom on bass, and Tollef Ostvang on drums for an album of muscular playing and intense interaction, including a breakdown of All Included's "Satan In Plain Clothes".

A series of electroacoustic compositions from composer Slawomir Kupczak, combining the sounds of instruments via electronic means to create new hybrid sounds of alien character, released in carefully building works from near-minimal to unsettling eruptions of sound.

A diverse set of radio compositions by three Warsaw artists from different fields of art -- Martin Masecki, Wojtek Zra ka-Kossakowski and Martin Lenarczyk -- who reconstruct and commemorate the memory of Poland's most famous composer, Frederic Chopin.

The duo of cellist Anil Eraslan and contrabassist John Lindberg in a "rollicking adventure of sound explosions and subtle sensibilities, ragged expressionism and multi-faceted surprises and shockers. All from simple raw unfettered wood, strings, bow hairs, and flesh."

Tomek Mirt resurrects the memory of Norwegian composer Arne Nordheimie through this five part work of slowly shifting electronics, tense atmospheres, and gentle murmurs, detailed work that reveals its meditative depth through repeated listenings.

Composer Petit in an opus dealing with the dynamic of resonance and its incidences: a microphonic exploration of a single sound body made to resonate by means of different types of percussion, building a dramatic story from sampled and processed percussive elements.

Recorded and mixed on analog tape, MOPDtK combines historical jazz lineage and the 21st century perspective of MOPDtK's members (Jon Irabagon; Ron Stabinsky; Moppa Elliott; Kevin Shea), with each piece dedicated to an individual who influenced their compositional process.

Between 1973 and '76 Sunday afternoons at Rudolph's Fine Art Center hosted the superb John Carter Trio with son Stanley Carter on bass and Chris Carter on cymbals; these live recordings were originally released in a limited LP in 1977, now reissued with a rare '77 radio broadcast.

Two studio recordings recorded 2 years apart (1969, 1971) of "Frictions", a 6 part work, and the additional 2 part "Frictions Now" from the quartet of Michael Sell (trumpet), Dieter Scherf (sax & winds), Gerhard Konig (guitar & flutes) and Wolfgang Schlick (percussion).

Swedish saxophonist Martin Kuchen (Angles, Trespass Trio, All Included) with UK drummer/percussionist Steve Noble and double bassist John Berthling in a searing album of free improvisation performed live at Glenn Miller Cafe in Stockholm in 2014.

Guitarist Lundbom expands his Big Five Chord of Jon Irabagon (sax), Bryan Murray (sax), Moppa Elliott (bass) and Dan Monaghan (drums) to include Sam Kulik on trombone and Justin Wood (sax & flute) for a dynamic album of power jazz named after the prophet Jeremiah.

Recorded in 2001 at Gallery 2310 in Oakland, California, young Bay Area double bassist Damon Smith met German free improvising master Peter Kowald for two sets of lively, explorative and technically superb improvisations: "Broken Mirrors" and "Reflections".

A live recording at the Outpost from a tour in 2013, the first time the Desert Sweets trio of Biggi Vinkelo on sax & flute, Mark Weaver on tuba and didgeridoo, and Damon Smith on double bass, reuniting after their 2001 recording for a beautiful album of intimate improvisation.

San Francisco Bay Area guitarist John Schott (Junk Genius, T.J. Kirk, Tom Waits) in his 3rd release on Tzadik with his trio of Dan Seamans on bass and John Hanes on drums, 8 upbeat compositions including one for James Blood Ulmer; lyrical pieces with tight interplay.

Experimental jazz vocalist and pianist Jen Shyu with her Jade Tongue band of Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, Mat Maneri on viola, Thomas Morgan on bass, and Dan Weiss on drums in an intimate album that incorporates world traditions, instruments and languages.

The 3rd album from Zorn's trio of John Medeski (organ), Kenny Grohowski (drums) and Matt Hollenberg (guitar) in a long-form composition inspired by the work of Swedish poet, painter, alchemist and occultist August Strindberg, 7 pieces of dark, driving, ecstatic improv.

Rinus van Alebeek and Michal Libera made frequent excursions into Calabrian towns to follow Alvin Lucier's suggestions to make large and small resonant environments sound, presented through field recordings and readings of text adaptations of Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities".

Recorded at the festival Neposlusno (Sound Disobedience) in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2012, the AMM duo of Eddie Prevost on percussion and John Tilbury on piano perform an extend improvisation of tension and dynamic, delicately balancing sound in a rich dialog.

Superb free improvisation from the UK trio of Nathaniel Catchpole on tenor sax, John Edwards on double bass, and Eddie Prevost on drums and bowed tam-tam, three generations of improvisers pushing the envelope of spontaneous composition in accomplished and playful dialog.

Seven sonnets from William Shakespeare in a 50-minute song cycle that unfolds as an evocative journey using the perceptive words written in 1609 as a basis for compositions for quartet and countertenor, bringing depth and new appreciation to The Bard's sentiments.

Composer Zygmaunt Krause pays hommage to Polish art theoretician, painter, pioneer of the Constructivist avant-garde, and creator of the theory of Unism, Wladyslaw Strzeminski, through pieces performed by the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra, Silesian String Quartet, &c.

Sound essay, horspiel, reading, electroacoustic music, plunderphonics, sound portraits, collection of songs: a sonic exposition of melancholia from Tyto Alba, (Michal Libera and Ralf Meinz) accompanied by samples from classical music, birds, and saxophone playing by Martin Kuchen.

NY pianist and composer Matt Mitchell's quartet with reedist Chris Speed, bassist Christopher Tordini, and drummer Dan Weiss for an album of long-form improvisation that reflects on jazz tradition while expanding the possibilities between composition and improvisation.

Chicago drummer Frank Rosaly in a five track suite of sinister percussion and ambiguous space, using an acoustic drum set, contact microphones, oscillators, effects pedals and analog synths, mining jazz, Afro-Cuban, and non-idiomatic grooves using unconventional techniques.

High-charged improvisation balancing between free jazz, avantgarde and minimalism from the trio of American saxophonist John Dikeman, Belgian guitar experimentalist Dirk Serries, and legendary English drummer Steve Noble, performing at Soundsavers in London, 2015.

Under the name "Caught on Tape", Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore and John Moloney from Sunburned Hand of the Man deliver a set of heavy duos that swing through quiet dynamics and thick riffs, evoking both free/out jazz and beautiful SY-like rock moments.

Originally released on LP for Record Store Day 2015, this is an unissued Sun Ra concert from Amiens, France in 1973 with a 19-piece Arkestra performing live at Maison de la Culture, a good quality capture of this intense, ritualistic and visceral concert from the band's prime.

Sam Hillmer's NY based Z's in a trio format, with Hillmer on sax & electronics, Patrick Higgins on guitar & electronics, and Greg Fox on percussion & electronics, for an album of energetic and often abstracted beats, hyperkinetic electronics, and strange tonal music.

Each member of this free improvising trio--trumpeter Thomas Heberer, pianist and prepared pianist Achim Kaufmann, and double bassist/prepared bassist Ken Filiano--contributes challenging compositions to this sophisticated album recorded at Firehouse 12.

Free improvising saxophonist Simon Rose, on baritone and alto sax, meets composer/arranger Stefan Schultze on prepared piano for 11 exploratory works based around Schultze's "modules"--bits and pieces attached inside the piano--creating unusual platforms for free improvisation.

David Thomas continues the Pere Ubu project with band members playing a mix of rock elements and synths, electronics and computers, adding alienation and oddity to this soundtrack to Herk Harvey's 1962 low-budget shocker "Carnival of Souls".

New Haven instrumentalist Carl Testa and Chicago guitarist Christopher Riggs in a large composition for prepared electric guitar and live electronic processing that references Ashley, Stockhausen and Braxton while manipulating one's sense of time, space, and memory.

Wild free jazz grooves, another monster of an album from the trio of reedist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love with guests Anna Hogberg on alto sax and Goran Kajfes on cornet; intense, passionate, and precise.

With Tom Rainey on drums, Ingrid Laubrock on tenor saxophone, Mat Maneri on viola and leader Simon Jermyn on 6 string electric bass, Trot a Mouse's 2nd album is a sophisticated NY band blending lyrical and free approaches to a diverse set set of modern creative jazz compositions.

High-charged improvisation balancing between free jazz, avantgarde and minimalism from the trio of American saxophonist John Dikeman, Belgian guitar experimentalist Dirk Serries, and legendary English drummer Steve Noble, performing at Soundsavers in London, 2015.

A live performance at Judson Church in Manhattan as part of the 20th Vision Festival from the NY/France free improvising trio of Joelle Leandre on double bass, Mat Maneri on viola, and Gerald Cleaver on drums and percussion, two tracks of steadily building, incredibly compatible dialog.

The Swedish duo of percussionist Andreas Pollak and prepared pianist Johan Graden (Adam & Alma) in an album of references and innuendo, clandestine and furtive sounds that evoke great mystery and drama in beautifully shaped sound; evocative music that deceives to emerge from the electronic realm while in actuality coming from all acoustic sources.

The second volume of the project heard in the previous Creative Sources album, "Suspensao", here in a 9-piece electroacoust ensemble with viola, cello, doublebass, alto sax, trombone, piano, electric guitar, computer and percussion, suspenseful lowercase music that unfolds in mysterious, beautiful and rewarding ways.

Deux Maisons (Two Houses) is a chamber jazz quartet bringing together French and Portuguese players of the current generation: from France, 2 brothers, Theo & Valentin Ceccaldi (violin and cello); from Portugal, Luis Vicente (trumpet) & Marco Franco (drums).

Having previously worked together with Joe McPhee and Kent Kessler, this album distills the Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado and NY drummer/percussionist Chris Corsano to a concentrated sax and drum duo of earnest and edgy playing, bending jazz, free and blues idioms to their will with magnificent technique and power, both clearly elated in their meeting.

Two basses and a lower-end saxophone from the trio of Damon Smith on double bass, Andrew Durham on electric bass, and Danny Kamins on baritone sax, Durham also adding effects and "Radio Manipulation" to their deep sound, Durham & Kamins the core of CARL with Damon Smith adding extra underpinnings to their slowly developing, sometimes pensive, sometimes cantankerous, profound improvisation.

Recorded live at Silence Sounds in Guelph Canada, the duo of Xavier Charles on clarinet and Eric Normand on electric bass & objects eschew idiom in favor of their unique natural language on their instruments, applying patient development of truly idiosyncratic and fascinating command through a single extended work punctuated in seven diverse passages.

From 2008-16 until drummer Frank Rosaly moved to Amsterdam, alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella's Trio was an active part of Chicago's creative jazz scene; in early 2018 Rosaly returned for a visit and Mazzarella composed a suite of 6 new pieces to commemorate the trio's tenth anniversary, the exuberant result this excellent concert recorded at Co-Prosperity Sphere!

A beautiful solo set of 12 improvisations, Michael Attias performing on alto sax with his left hand and piano with his right, captured in the natural reverberation of La Maison en Bois in Abeville-La-Riviere, France; surprisingly his 1st solo album, developed over 12 years yet played in under an hour with no retakes, a wonderful nuanced reflection in tone, melody & color.

Recording in Toronto, the core trio of drummer Nick Fraser, saxophonist Tony Malaby and pianist Kris Davis are joined on four tracks by tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and trumpeter Lina Allemano, in an album of composed and collective improvisation, merging Toronto, NY and European influences in an accomplished album of diverse approaches and orchestrations.

The 5th release from the trio of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Keiji Haino, guitarist Jim O'Rourke and Oren Ambarchi on wineglass and percussion is an introspective and beautifully developed set recorded live at their March 2013 concert at SuperDeluxe.

Dark and demanding improvisation, each side of this album an extended foray into dark and dangerous explorations from the Los Angeles trio of Peter Kolovos on guitar, Patrick Shiroishi on saxophone, and Noel Meek on electronics and tapes, Shiroishi's sweeping tones matching the electronics and effected guitar in a glorious nightmare of darkly imaginative sound.

An extended and rich confluence of strings from R Keenan Lawler and John Krausbauer, using resonator guitar and banjo, sustained tones that intertwine in a beautiful and optimistic drone, minimalistic yet drenched in a profusion of harmonic detail; a beautiful and elusive dream mixing between an Indian raga and an alien electronic environment.

An excellent first meeting of two guitarists recording on a February afternoon and released in the sequence recorded with no edits or changes, from Jim McAuley on guitar and Scot Ray on lap steel slide guitar with effects, an innately lyrical blending of styles masking the strong technical skills and long histories of these two superlative players.

Quietly lurking as it prepares to attack, this Kobra is the free improvising quaret of Aurora Nealand on accordion, alto saxophone, voice & objects, Steve Marquette on acoustic & electric guitars, Anton Hatwich on bass, and Paul Thibodeaux on drums, captured live at Chicago's Hungry Brain during the Instigation Festival for a mysterious 2-part "New Omens" and some "Telly Attire".

'Spilla' means 'to play' in the language of Neapolitan musicians, and playing here are NY guitarist and composer Elliott Sharp and Italian guitarist Sergio Sorrentino, presenting world premier recordings of 4 works recorded live in Vercelli, Italy: two improvisations and two graphic scores performed on electric guitar with incredible technique and passion.

Stochastic music for percussion and synthesizers from New York avant conceptualist and keyboardist Charlemagne Palestine, here on piano & electronics, with the Italian duo Trrma' of Giovanni Todisco on percussion and Guiseppe Candiano on synth, in two side-long works of irregular rhythm, complexity and dissonance that build and recede in a suspenseful journey.

Ames Room drummer Will Guthrie in two extended works combining pulse and rthymic ideas with melodic and pitch based textures: "Timelapse" recorded using the resonance of the Chapelle Saint Jean in Mulhouse, and "Pacemaker" a multi layered and multi dimensional piece.

SLIGHTLY DINGED SLEEVE

A split 7" release between Cremaster (Alfredo Costa Monteiro (electronics) and Ferran Fages (feedback mixing board and electroacoustic devices); and the Komora A trio of Karol Koszniec (electronics), Dominik Kowalczyk (laptop) and Jakub Mikolajczyk (modular synth).

After the 2014 Rock In Opposition Festival in Japan, Richard Pinhas and Yoshida Tatsuya did a two week tour of Japan; one of the results was this CD compiled from several shows during that tour, an excellent album of improvised electronics and drums from Heldon and Ruins masters.