"A friction quartet, at times quite energized. In addition to viola, cello, and double bass, the instrumentation is notable for Kriton B.'s daxophone, a rather obscure instrument in the class of "friction idiophone," which consists of a...

Recorded in the studio in 2017, "Cyclic Symmetry" presents an electroacoustic trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, and CS mainstay Carlos Santos on field recordings, in a minimal work suggested to be heard on infinite loop, contrasting deep silence with sections accenting the slow, interwining harmonics of both Rodrigues' string work.

Named for the Leipzig, Poland location in which this live concert was recorded, the acoustic free improvising quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, and Johannes von Buttlar on percussion, explore extended ranges and approaches to their instrument in these building and detailed dialogs.

Two sets across two nights during CreativeFest #12 at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Portugal, in a septet of six acoustic sources--viola, cellos, flute, trumpet, piano and percussion--and electronics, an extended journey approached with quiet tension and incredible detail, the recording of the first set used as the basis for the 2nd to create a virtual ensemble.

An eruption of sound from the long-standing collaboration of violist Ernesto Rodrigues and Abdul Moimeme, here on prepared electric guitar, in a trio with unique percussionist Antez, whose intimate relationship with the percussive objects he uses creates a tectonic aural range of explosive flows and deeply churning cymbal vibration, caught live at Lisboa Incomum, in Lisbon.

1. Plane, Line Segments, Rays And Some Dissipations 49:49

"3 Phases", or different aspects of the approach that violist Ernesto Rodrigues applies to improvisation, in three different groupings over three different days, all live at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Portugal in 2018, here in an acoustic sax trio with strings, with Bruno Parrinha on soprano, Nuno Torres on alto, Paulo Galao on tenor sax.

1 Macaronesia 36:52

A unique take on the piano, with both participants--Ernesto Rodrigues and Carlos Santos--approaching the physical aspects of the instrument, somewhat beyond prepared piano, as the two record not just the strings but the wood, metal and most likely wheels of the instrument, creating a cantankerous display of sound that unfolds slowly; idiosyncratic and noteworthy.

Fragile and understated with long spacious sections, the trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, harpsichord, e-bow guitar and field recordings, Guilherme Rordrigues on cello, and Denis Sorokin on ukelele and pitch pipes, distill the sense of isolation amid patient motion through the red city, sections defined by cars passing and augmented with birds; peaceful and beautiful.

A three part improvised work for viola, trombone, electric guitar and double bass from, respectively, Ernesto Rodrigues, Eduardo Chagas, Abdul Moimeme, and Joao Madeira, an ascending conversation that uses innuendo, mystery, subtle movement, silence and swells to create atmospheric environments, each "voice" shifting enigmatically in sublimely hazy ways.

"At the same time risky attempt, masterpiece and manifest, Licht is a fine example of the radical, collective, demanding and disciplined approach of the best productions of Ernesto Rodrigues. Divided into seven parts entitled I-VII, Lic...

Three strings--cello from Guilherme Rodrigues, double bass from Adam Pultz Melbye, and viola from Ernesto Rodrigues--plus harmonium and objects from Kriton Beyer, in a live performance at Kuhlspot Social Club in Berlin, each of the 9 movements a concentrative work named with a three-letter onomatopoeia, as the players draw sound from a mysterious dark distance.

French double bassist Fred Marty joins Creative Sources core performers, violist Ernesto Rodrigues, cellist Guilherme Rodrigues and electronic artist Carlos Santos for an extensive improvisation exploring both lyrical and pointillistic improvisation, themed loosely around a garden quartet or frame, the music detailed, active and formidably sophisticated.

A lowercase meeting of strings, objects, microphones and computer between core Creative Sources members Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, and Karne Decorne (objects) and Simon Proffitt (microphones & computer), investigating microsound in four unhurried conversations that include moments of odd interjections, tones, and timbre.

Recorded on New Years Eve in Sintra in the Penedo region of Portugal, three strings--viola from Ernesto Rodrigues, cello from Guilherme Rodrigues, and a second cello from Miguel Mira--are joined by Carlos Santos on electronics for three extended and richly detailed improvisations, active yet concentratively controlled, using impressive and extended techniques.

An immersive album of collective sound from the Portugues quintet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, Eduardo Chagas on trombone, and Carlos Santos on computer, developing rich sonic environments of great detail and intense patience, a tremendous journey that rewards the careful listener.

An exceptional lowercase acoustic improvisation album from some of the finest of Europe's outside-technique free improv players, with frequent collaborators and label-mates Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Nuno Torres on alto sax, and Guiherme Rodrigues on cello, in quintet with Red Trio pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro and French improv drummer Naoto Yamagishi.

Portuguese violist Ernesto Rodrigues joins with German electronic improviser Has W Koch for an album of interactive acoustics and electronics, where textures from Rodrigues' viola are fed into Koch's electronics to create new and unanticipated transformations, both patiently evolving the textures to reveal sublime minutiae and detail.

A very open free improvisation of Portuguese musicians recording in Azores, PT from the quintet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Luis Senra on tenor saxophone, Gianna de Toni on double bass, Luis Couto on electric guitar, and Biagio Verdolini on homemade instruments, using space amid patiently evolving conversation with an overall acoustic feeling in three movements of "Dissonanze".

Three frequent collaborators--Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, and Abdul Moimeme on electric guitar--captured live in 2019 at Logradouro da Compostinha, in Lisbon, Portugal, each using their instruments with unusual approaches through extended techniques, in a half hour set balancing subtle aural ambience with rich, detailed activity; spellbinding.

Norwegian percussionist Stale Liavik Solberg (Gjerstad, VCDC, &c) joins frequent collaborators Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Nuno Torres (saxophone), and Carlos Santos (electronics) for a studio album of often pointillistic interaction, Solberg punctuating the unusual voicing and techniques of acoustic and electronic interactions as they permute the word "soon".

A live recording of a subtle improvisation led by Portuguese violist Ernesto Rodrigues in a quartet with winds and brass--Paulo Curado on flute, Bruno Parrinha on soprano saxophone & bass clarinet, and Eduardo Chagas on alto trombone--each using understated approaches to their instruments using extended and unusual techniques, aptly titled but rewarding close listening.

Nine numbered improvisations for viola, cello and analog synth from the trio of Ernesto Rodrigues, Guilherme Rodrigues and Richard Scott, recorded live at Audience, in Berlin, Scott's synth layers adding subtle nuance including vocal sampling and static and strange noise as a counterpoint to the Rodrigues' subdued but detailed techniques, textures and intense concentration.

Subtle acoustic improvisation from a global set of improvisors--Yu Lin Humm on cello, Pedro Frazao on euphonium, Ryoko Imai on marimba, percussion, Andre Hencleeday on piano, Philippe Trovao on tenor saxophone, and Ernesto Rodrigues on viola--in an attentive and tension-filled single movement, each player adding and reacting as ideas percolate and subsume.

Portuguese cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, an essential performer in the Creative Sources community of free improvisers, recorded this album from a personal need to share his freedom as a cellist, arriving at the studio and playing for almost two hours with nothing pre-planned, recording 23 concise improvisations that he describes as "fluid as a waterfall".

Recorded over a 3 year period, the trio of Portuguese string improvisers Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello met with New Haven, Connecticut double bassist & synth player Daniel Barbiero, developing this detailed, two part lowercase acoustic improvisation with a spacious, patient feeling that interacts with its ambient environment.

Saxophonist and bass clarinetist Andre Roligheten leads his quartet with Adrian Loseth Waade on violin, Jon Rune Strom on double bass, and Erik Nylander on drums and percussion through 7 original compositions and Ornette Coleman's "Kathleen Gray", writing for the players, particularly the combination of sax and violin, and the flexibility of a chordless quartet.

New York free jazz pianist Burton Greene and free jazz vocalist Silke Rollig recorded these thirteen improvisations at The Loft in Koln, Germany in 2013, a mix of lyrical free playing with scat and freeform vocals, accompanied by flute, and by sax, on one piece each.

American composer Dean Rosenthal's influential performance piece written in 2012 and performed more than 40 times throughout the world, a site-specific piece for any outside body of water with any number of performers, using stones to create percussive sounds in the water, here in five live performances from Newfoundland to New York to Wilbraham, MA (the composer's hometown).

Six years of songs and compositions reflecting the life and travels of the Montreal quintet of Geraldine Eguiluz (voice, guitar, compositions), Marie-Lys Trudel (violin & viola); Julie Babaz (cello), Sheila Hannigan (cello) and Stephane Diamantakiou (bass).

Four improvisations in a series titled "Etoile" [star] and one composition using graphic notation titled "Toile" [canvas], from French clarinetist Joris Rhule, working with multiphonics and extended harmonic technique to extoll unusual sonorities from the single reed instrument, from fragile to forceful, fascinating examples of extreme sonic exploration.

Composer, pianist and multi-instrumentals Joana Sa gives voice to texts by Goncalo M. Tavares as read by Rosinda Costa, where the text organizes the thoughts that filter the multiple, disorderly, eccentric, voluble mind described in Tavares' work.

The first of two planned volumes of studio improvisations between Brooklyn trumpeter & flugelhorn player Michael Sarian and keyboardist Matthew Putman, recorded in Sarin's home studio during the 2020 pandemic, allowing freedom in exploration as they sought out cadences, rhythms and melodies, this 1st volume presenting the finest of their investigations.

Titled for the Amazonas Indians, Brazilian sound sculptor Marco Scarassatti performs on his self-made instrument the Kraiser in a quartet with Creative Sources regulars Ernesto Rodrigues, Guilherme Rodrigues, and Nuno Torres for a dream-like set of improvisations named with indigenous expressions, blending neoprimitivism with creative acoustic improvisation.

"Like what happened in Rios Encausurados (Seminal Records, 2015), in the compositions / improvisations of Marco Scarassatti, the recorded sounds of the sound landscape are again of special relevance. In this case, are the own recordings...

Hanna Schorken is a published German writer & poet, jazz vocalist and free improviser, since 2005 living in Koln and developing a personal and idiosyncratic approach to sound poetry and experimental voice recordings, heard here in a 7 part work where each movement completes the titles of the poem "I So Liked Spring"; "You"; "Told"; "Me"; "How"; "To"; "Dance".

The free improvising Amsterdam quintet of Andrius Dereviancenko (tenor saxophone), Henk Zwerver (guitar), Nico Chientaroli (piano and keyboards), Raoul van der Weide (bass, objects and squat box) and Onno Govaert (Tilburg, drums) are heard in this live recording at Zaal100 in 2020 for a quirky and first rate free jazz album of wry humor and impressive skill.

Using a diatonic accordion and electronics, Robin Servant from Rimouski, Canada explores the acoustics of the places he visits by making them vibrate with his accordion and electronics, presenting 3 recordings from concerts in PiedNu in Le Havre, France, the Old Theater of St-Fabien, in Quebec, Canada, and at the Beaulieu Culturel du Temiscouata, in Quebec.

The 3rd volume in NY guitarist Elliott Sharp's "Octal" project, using a Koll 8-string guitar/bass, an electroacoustic hollow-bodied guitar with 2 extra bass strings, presenting unedited improvisations of technical and sonic power.

Writer Iain Sinclair joins The London Experimental Ensemble to perform his narrative work, a sequel to Living With Buildings: And Walking With Ghosts, telling a surreal story of the imaginary 25-year journey of a whalebone box, told in detailed images and incredible sonic support through keys, strings, brass, winds, guitar, electronics and voice; profoundly powerful.

New York reedist Josh Sinton takes the contrabass clarinet on a wild ride, performing live with no overdubs, using clip-on mics, a mixing board, a sans amp box, a volume pedal, and a bass amp, as he explores sonic possibilities and unexpected directions for this big reed instrument in his quest to redefine the old Slavic word for beauty or splendor: krasa.

Bringing together a wealth of experience in contemporary improvised music, Berlin-based cellist Guilherme Rodrigues and soprano and sopranino saxophonist Harri Sjostrom developed these 12 pieces, combining and contrasting their instruments, at times seeming to complete each other's phrases, in a remarkably sophisticated and virtuosic "Treasure".

A live performance at CreativeFest XIII at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon in 2019 from the quartet of Emilie Skrijelj on accordion, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Miguel Mira on cello, and Tom Malmendier on percussion, Lluvia referencing Rain as the quartet quietly builds and releases tension through subtle cues, persistent figures, tonal innuendo and shades.

Since 2014 the collective [SNDNG STTNS] has explored theatrical situations between musictheatre, staging and composition with live music, instruments, recordings, samples, speach and live editing, this work featuring cellist Guilherme Rodrigues bridges the art of the brazilian "violeros" with contemporary music, acoustic and electronic composition and improvisation.

SNIK IS led by trombonist Kristoffer Kompen and bassist Ole Morten Vagan, who provide the compositions for their quartet with saxophonist Kristoffer Berre Alberts and drummer Erik Nylander, in an album that ranges from meditative free playing to hard swinging bop oriented jazz.

West Coast sound artist Nicolas Snyder is a composer, filmmaker, sound-documenter, gardener, and forager; fascinated by the sounds of nature, he took recordings from streams and National Parks in Vietnam, Pennsylvania, and California and merged them with music composed in the studio to create these works of great beauty as a study of locational and emotional memory.

Assembling 13 tracks from obscure compilations released from 2011-2012 by the various monikers of 910 Noise artist August (September) Traeger, a wide-ranging and captivating set of approaches to sound & noise work.

The third part of Somnaphon's trilogy, a complex record that ranges from destructive sounds to convoluted construction of rhythm and noise, with the Pony Grabbers on 1 track.

Unusual noise work from Somnaphon (August Traeger) in a 3" CD format, weaving acoustic, electronic, and destructive digital sound into five varied and decidedly not normal pieces of sound.

Brooklyn's Sontag Shogun (Ian Temple-piano; Jesse Perlstein-electronics; Jeremy Young-tapes & electronics) in their debut album, compiling three years of composing and directed textural improvisations, presented in 9 rich musical works.

An exploration of space, not outer, but the space we give to each other, the space between events and the space between musical expression, as composed by electronic artist Rafael Toral, using acoustic & electronic feedback and amplification with his quartet of Hugo Antunes on double bass, Nuno Mora on drums & percussion and Nuno Torres on saxophone & electronics.

Two unusual approaches to the vibraphone in a duo--Dale Gorfinkel using the tremolo mechanism, additional motors, bows and creative percussive techniques; and Robbie Avenaim using homemade electronic sticks and vibrating objects to create rhythms and textures.

Rapid fire playing and a wicked humor fuels drummer Olie Steidle's album with guitarist Frank Mobus, keyboardists Kit Downes and Dan Nicholls, and bassist Phil Donkin, mashing together electro-jazz, art rock, hardcore and club music into upbeat and twisted music, building up to a narrative "Speed Junky on Funny Human Darts"; insanely embraceable and stunning.

Chicago free improvising mainstay Fred Lonberg-Holm's Stirrup trio with Nick Macri on double bass and Charles Rumback on drums crosses genres and grooves in an album balancing lyrical and hard-grooved tunes, with Lonberg-Holm taking up guitar on a number of tracks.

This supergroup of strings--16 musicians on violins, viola, cellos, double basses, piano, psaltery, zither, and guitar--in an intensely restrained collective improvisation recorded live at O'Culto da Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal in 2017, as String Theory's 4th album continues their title themes from the physical universe named here for the rare metalloid "Tellurium".

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A concept record from Gaudenz Badrutt (electronics & synth) and Christian Muller (electronics & contrabass clarinet), starting with an improvised piece which is then resampled live into 6 new pieces, changing the character with each pass, and presented in reverse order.

This "Sub-unit" from Boston's improvising Leap of Faith Orchestra presetns a duo between Eric Zinman on piano, percussion and synth and David Peck on an array of saxophones, clarinets, bassoon and other reeds, plus small percussion, Theremin and accordion, in a unique and active duo with both players suggesting a larger ensemble through diverse strategeis and instrumentation.

Ex-Spaceseed wordsmith/gizmoist Serson Brannen explores the outer limits of high tech spoken word space art .

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The third album on Creative Sources for this 10-piece ensemble with 5 string players, piano, sax, trombone, electronics and percussion, freely improvising in an extended work themed for the Greek theological, philosophical, and scientific term typically translated as nature or physics, in a rich tapestry of meticulous detail and profoundly subtle communication.

The fourth release from the Portuguese lowercase electroacoustic ensemble Suspensao, merging viola, cello, bass clarinet, alto sax, electric guitar, piano, double bass, percussion and electronics in intensely detailed, slow moving improvisation, revealing impressive tension and suspension of time in impeccably concentrative collective conversation.

A substantial live work from the 2019 CreativeFest XIII at O'Culto da Ajuda in Lisbon from the improvising ensemble Sfumato lead by violist Ernesto Rodrigues, fulfilling the title of the album in great tension and suspense as the 11 members improvise, generating waves of activity between concentrated and meditative moments, an incredible example of power and restraint.

1 Suspensao X 31:47

Known more for his double bass work, Christian Meaas Svendsen releases a stunningly beautiful album of unusually orchestrated pop songs with an 8-piece band of Nordic improvisers and performers, a dramatic album of tension and release which, despite lyrics in Norwegian, draws all listeners in through inventive and innovative musical structures.

Jeremy Young, aka Szilard, in his debut full-length release as a solo performer on guitar and sine waves, with texts from Charles Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs Du Mal" (1857) read by Aki Onda, Ella Joyce Buckley, Liam Singer and Catherine Metayer.

A sound project by experimental musician Luis Tabuenca with Wade Matthews and ethnomusicologist Ana Maria Alarcon-Jimenez, inspired by the sonic heritage of Aragon, in pieces that reflect and question issues of memory, space & place.

A string quartet of doubled cello and viola, recording in the studio in Berlin in 2018, as free improving innovators, Creative Sources cellist and violist Guilherme Rodrigues and Ernesto Rodrigues, meet contemporary compositional and improvising cellist and violist Hui-Chu Lin and Marie Takahashi, their complementary approaches bringing unique voices to a captivating encounter.

Canadian artist Ryan Waldron (The Riderless) works with collected and constructed instruments, here in a mystic release inspired by the sound and polyrhythms of frogs.

Finnish saxophone & flute player Jorma Tapio and his group Kaski of Ville Rauhala on bass and Janne Tuomi on drums & percussion, with both Tapio and Tuomi playing Kantele, a traditional plucked string instrument, present a beautifully rich and spiritual album named for a shaman's trip to the underworld, reflecting on local folk music and free jazz traditions.

Argentinean pianist Emilio Teubal has lived for more than a decade in NYC, presenting his blend of jazz and Argentinian music, rhythmically and harmonically rich compositions.

The 3rd Clean Feed album from this Portuguese band of unusual orchestration and intentions that cross jazz and rock idioms, from the trio of Sergio Carolino on tuba, Mario Delgado on guitar, and Alexandre Frazao on drums, with rapid fire attacks and tight compositional moments balanced by wonderful open, sonic moments, surprising with a cover of King Crimson's "Starless".

West Coast/San Diego violinist Keir GoGwilt and bassist Kyle Motl are Treesearch, improvising on contrabass and violin with warm strength and expression, using a mix of traditional and creative approaches to their instruments as they bridge jazz and modern compositional approaches to create their own unique approach to free improvisation.

The 2nd album from the trio of Keir GoGwilt on violin, Kyle Motl on bass and Nicolee Kuester on horn, the pieces combining original poems written by GoGwilt and Kuester with precise musical arrangement and poetic structures, around which the trio improvise with melodic and unexpected approaches, fascinating their listeners with peculiar insight and superb playing.

Combining folk and ethnic rhythms in traditional popular forms, the Trio La Soustraction of des Fleurs of Jean-Francois Vrod on violin & voice, Frederic Aurier on violin & voice, and Sylvain Lemetre on zarb & voice focuses on the music of the mountains of the Massif Central, melodic music with unique timbres, forms, pre-texts, and a richly complex set of musical objects.

The project of Southern Italy's Giovanni Todisco (percussion) and Giuseppe Candiano (synthesizer), since 2015 touring Japan and Europe to perform in festivals and venues, this album presents their experimental improvisation combining classic afrikaans and symphonic percussion with modular synthesis, merging ancient rhythms with modern electronic excitement.

The "guess" was guitarist and electronics artist Dave Tucker's educated guess that these four musicians--himself, pianist/keyboardist Pat Thomas, guitarist Thurston Moore and drummer/percussionist Mark Sanders--would create someting extraordinary if he brought them together for a concert at London's Cafe OTO, this boundary-pushing album the indisputably successful result.

A larger than previous Boston collective's Turbulence ensemble with 6 of the regular horn players from Leap of Faith Orchestra, performing multi-reedist and instrumentalist PEK's extended framework, with drummer percussionist Yui Zbitnoff; the ensembe breaks down to three duos and guest saxophonist Bob O'Brien, captured live at Outpost 186, in Cambridge, MA in August 2018.

David Peck's quartet rendering of Turbulence features Evil Clown regulars Bob Moores & Eric Dahlman on trumpets, Duane Reed and PEK on reeds and winds, all bringing electronic & electroacoustic instruments, alongside an arsenal of exotic percussion, following PEK's framework which balances moments of clarity with paroxysmal "seizures" of sound; gripping.

Turbulence Cosmocentric Edition, the extended horn section for the Leap of Faith Orchestra with the core of PEK on winds & percussion, Yuri Zbitnoff on drums & percussion, plus guest Michael Caglianone on saxophones, sheng, game calls and percussion, in an extended piece that holds reflections of Sun Ra's work through powerful rhythms and diverse and unusual instrumental passages.

Turbulence, the wind instrument and sometimes percussion branch of the Leap of Faith Orchestra is represented by leader and composer David Peck (PEK) on winds, reeds and percussion, and Yuri Zbitnoff on drums and percussion, with saxophonist Michael Caglianone joining and also performing on bells, as they perform an extended framework composition from PEK.

The extended horn section for the Leap of Faith Orchestra is heard here as a quintet with PEK (reeds), Jim Warshsauer (reeds), Bob Moores (trumpet), Eric Dahlman (trumpet) and Duane Reed (baritone horn), all using an a vast collection of percussive instruments, game calls and other devices, to create a journey of tone, color, interactive playing and rhythmic intervention.