The MaDam Electroacoustic Improvisation Collective based in Spain performs the first in Pisaro's 34 piece Harmony Series, which attempts to create the conditions for a harmonic situation without giving any actual notes, just numbers, durations of tones, and pauses; this work is based on "swell piece (for alison knowles)" (1967) by James Tenney.

Composer Burkhard Schlothauer, co-founder of Editions Wandelweiser and a member of Zeitkratzer and the Wandwelweiser Composers Ensemble, in a five part work conceived as a single part, combining previous works into various possible versions as "events", working with spatial distribution, slow beats, noise, and pulse, superimposed from their origins.

Montreal composer Chris Strickland used strategies of "deliberate uncertainty" to direct these 3 pieces of minimized technique, narrative, and emotion, performed by Montreal musicians Guido del Fabbro on violin and Solomiya Moroz on flute, with field recordings creating a hazy ambiance over the slowly evolving works.

Roman philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus named "Clinamen" the unpredictable (in time and space) swerve of atoms falling in the void, which aptly describes the unexpected directions taken in subtle free improvisation from this French trio, led by bassist Louis-Michel Marion, with Jacques Di Donato on clarinet, and Philippe Berger on viola.

A co-production between BeCoq Records and Creative Sources, the quartet of saxophonist Mathhiew Lebrun with 3 guitarists--Leo Rathier, Paul Menard, and Thomas Coquelet--use preparations, feedbacks, glass, cymbals, microswitches, and unusual sax techniques to create unusual sonic environments that ebb and flow in introspective and disquieting ways.

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.

Live recordings at LOFT in Cologne, Germany from the trio of George Wissel on prepared saxophone, Achim Tang on doublebass, and Simon Camatta on drums & percussion, performing seven "Movements" that use prodigious technique with reserve and direction, revealing the structure of their work as the pieces build and recede in fascinating ways.

A chamber opera that tells the story of the life of the Canadian doctor and humanitarian Norman Bethune by interweaving extracts from Bethune's own letters with poetry of the 1930s.

Five original chamber works for saxophone and ensemble by composer and saxophonist Tim Brady for his second release on Ambiances Magnetiques.

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).

Jason Kahn developed these graphic scores, commissioned by the 2012 now NOW Festival in Australia, to push these specific players into situations outside of their comfort zone, as heard in this double LP which includes copies of the score plus notes and interviews.

Double CD of bleak and sinister metal-oriented improv from the duo of Jamie Saft on keys and bass and Mike Pride on drums and hostile and freakish vocals.

An exquisite and subtle new composition by Macedonian composer Nikola Kodjbashaia realised by an ensemble of exemplary instrumentalists in a unique musical landscape.

A four part suite bridging compositional and improvisational music from Portugese pocket trumpeter Sei Miguel in a quintet including Rafael Toral on modulated electronics.

Summer 2011 issue of Canada's premiere music magazine and CD, with articles and tracks from Gregory Oh, Grimes, Doldrums, The Vegetable Orchestra, Terri Hron, Miguel Azguime, Rachel Wadham, &c.

Multi-instrumentalist improviser Novak, who has worked with Tim Daisy and Tatsuya Nakatani, in an eclectic and complex solo release of colliding genres.

For a decade, Brigitte Poulin has been commissioning and premiering works by composers who, she thought, could help better define our own piano culture.

Michel Gonneville's dreamlike, shamanistic journey, "Hozhro", in a brilliantly executed reading by Montreal's Quatuori Bozzini with vocalist Marianne Lamber & saxophonist Mathieu Gualin.

Composer Danielle Palardy Roger presents a work for a 13-voice mixed choir, two speakers, two soloists, and two percussionists in a satirical elegy that is an account of a man's last agonizing moments.

A diverse set of artist interpret a random page from Cornelius Cardew's "Treatise", using the score alone with each artist unable to hear what the other participants were playing, which Spool label-leader Daniel Kernohan assembled into these 10 incredible audio tracks, each roughly 4:35 long, in a great interpretation of Cardew's (in)famous work.

Collecting all four of Luc Ferrari's musique concrete masterpieces "Presque Rien" on LP for the first time, forward-thinking and well-considered work from one of the masters of electroacoustic music.

A collaboration between composer Michael Pisaro and AMM guitarist/improviser Keith Rowe, with each bringing scores which they improvised over, creating 13 discrete sections including samples from Shostakovich's 13th String Quartet, balancing activity, space and silence in patient ways that only two such experienced composer/improvisers could.

A work for eight glockenspiels and organ, a beautiful percussive work in the vein of Reich and Glass that creates hallucinatory illusions in sound as the piece progresses, testing "the science of attention and the counterpoint of daydreams".

Composer Ryoko Akama releases a 2 disc set of 23 scores in the crossroads of minimalism and sound compositions, quiet and loud, performed in a sextet with the composer herself plus Christian Muller, Cristian Alvear, Cyril Bondi, Stefan Thut, and d'incise, each section like a page in a notebook related to place, space, time or location.

An extended improvisation between spinet player Christoph Schiller and Boston-based composer/violinist Morgan Evans-Weiler, recorded in Schiller's workshop in Basel during Evans-Weiler's tour of Europe, a slowly moving exploration of pitch, timbre and texture executed with intensive concentration and utterly impressive control.

Morton Feldman's final composition, originally premiered in 1987, here performed by pianist Mark Knoop, violinist Aisha Orazbayeva, violist Bridget Carey, and cellist Anton Lukoszevieze, recording a year after their successful performance at London's Cafe Oto, maintaining focus and concentration on this large, unhurried work of micro-variations.

Wandelweiser composer Antoine Beuger presents 25 of the 50 pages of his "Ockeghem Octets", each piece dedicated to one of Beuger's heroes, performed by an octet comprised of melodica, concertina, harmonium, e-bow zither, cello, flute, accordion and alto flute, each player provided notes and a playing methodology to create these gorgeous soundscape.

Ist gefallen in den Schnee: A piece by Swedish composer-pianist Magnus Granberg, performed with Angharad Davies, Anna Lindal, Leo Svensson Sander, John Eriksson, Erik Carlsson, Henrik Olsson, Petter Wastberg and Toshimaru Nakamura; Despairs: A beautiful extended composition exquisitely played by an ensemble of fine musicians.

Recorded live in an Australian National Park on a 15-day walk, saxophonist Jim Denley performs solo on the alto saxophone in response to and in conversation with the environment around him using the natural acoustics of this rugged and awe-inspiring region.

Excellent recording made while on a canoe and camping trip by 11 improvisers from the Montreal musique actuelle scene on their fourth expedition of the kind.

Luis Jose Martins uses classical guitar, prepared guitar, electronics, and percussion in a solo album of incredible detail and lyrical, beautiful playing of original compositions that blend his playing with modern techniques and electronics into melodic masterpieces, performed in the natural resonance of the church of the convent of S. Bento in Avis.

At its core Jargon mixes strings, electric guitar, violin, cello and double bass, a modern and elastic sound exploring contemporary composed and improvised musics.

Michael Pisaro & Greg Stuart collaborate on a work scored for bowed crotales and sine tones in 4 large pieces, a challenging work that provide hallucinatory overtones that shift with the listener's perspective.

Prester John is guitarist Shawn Persinger with mandolin virtuoso David Miller performing original work and music from Janet Feder, Dave Kerman, and a song for Henry Threadgill to sing!

The Bozzini Quartet commissioned this work from the duo Derome/Hetu, which tackles the subject of making differences cohabit, calling for the musicians to move & improvise in response to a soundtrack in 4 languages.

3 live recordings from 3 ensembles - GGRIL, Ensemble SuperMusique and ECM+ - exploring relationsips between early music and contemporary creative music; with Jean Derome, Joane Hetu, Diane Labrosse, Bernard Falaise, &c. &c.

Pi-hsien Chen performs Arnold Schonbgergs, a small part of his oeuvre, yet significant in that they reflect the evolution and development of this great composer's compositional powers.

Matthias Schubert conducts nine dynamic and spectacular compositions dedicated to John Cage, Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith, Duke Ellington, &c. and performers including Scott Fields, Frank Gratkowski, Carl Ludwig Hubsch, &c.

The second volume of this excellent German sound magazine and audio CD, 9 artists working in sound art, electroacoustic composition; a "listenable exhibition" of modern compositional approach.

The third volume of this excellent German sound magazine and audio CD, 9 artists working in sound art, electroacoustic composition; a "listenable exhibition" of modern compositional approach.

Performances and discussion about a series of twenty metal sculptures created by Derek Shiel to be performed on as a set of percussion instruments or to be exhibited as sculpture.

The 1st release on the Ars Nova Classics label presents 'Eclecticism' composer Nick Vasallo in genreÐblurring avant and electro-acoustic works performed by several ensembles.

This trio joins 3 disparate approaches to composition and improvisation--Japanese improviser Ayumi Tanaka, Oslo composer Johan Lindvall, and ECM artist Christian Wallumrod-developing the engaging material on this album by focusing on elements like tuning, register, intervals and dynamics, for an absorbing album of compatible and concentrative playing.

This trio joins 3 disparate approaches to composition and improvisation--Japanese improviser Ayumi Tanaka, Oslo composer Johan Lindvall, and ECM artist Christian Wallumrod-developing the engaging material on this album by focusing on elements like tuning, register, intervals and dynamics, for an absorbing album of compatible and concentrative playing.

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.

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.

Violinist Seth Parker Woods presents four extraordinary compositions, the first for solo cello and voice from Edward Hamel, and then one work each for cello and electronics from Michael Clarke, George Lewis, and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, each sophisticated, suprising, and beautifully executed pieces taking the cello into unique creative territory.

A beautiful set of minimalist compositional drone from New York composer Phill Niblock, commissioned by the performers Natalia Pschenitschnikowa on bass flute and Erik Drescher on glissando flute, recorded at PIETHOPRAXIS, in Cologne, Germany by Marcus Schmickler, and in Berlin, Germany, by Thomas Ankersmit.

London-based composer Emmanuelle Waeckerle in a project of spoken word, flute and melodica with contributors including Antoine Beuger, using minimal and multiple narrations in texts that blend erotic literature, conceptual writing and verbal scores, presented as 2 Scores for voice(s) and instrument(s) based upon Pauline Reage's "Story of O".

6 works from a series of minimal compositions loosely based on the art & writings of Sol LeWitt, performed by the Edges Ensemble: Philip Thomas, James Saunders, Tim Parkinson, Angharad Davies, Stephen Chase & Rhodri Davies.

An uncommon solo guitar album from Andrew Smiley, a member of Little Women and the Chris Pitsiokos Quartet, creating textures on the guitar by applying unconventional techniques with his pick and fingers instead of using effects or guitar preparations, and accompanying himself on voice in Haino-esque ways, creating an album of sharp contrast and color.

Charlemagne Palestine conceived this composition of unique piano sonorities in 1977 as a trilogy, taking it's name from the potential of his Bosendorfer piano, writing the first section for the middle keyboard, the second section for two octaves above, and the third at the bottom of the keyboard, producing a deep and singular work of minimalism.

Reinhold Friedl's Zeitkratzer ensemble and special guests, vocalists Svetlana Spajic, Dragana Tomic, and diple / gusle player Obrad Milic, explore the possibilities found in traditional Serbian songs from and about World War I, including the classic epic "Assassination In Sarajevo", and songs chosen specifically by Spajic and Tomic.

Commissioned by Berlin's Maerzmusik Festival and premiered in 2014, Elliott Sharp's composition & soundscape is named after the Greek waking dream and inspired by John Cage, Sharp using a methodology to filter and process his musical manuscripts via Photoshop, which are interpreted through amplification of acoustic instruments by the Zeitkratzer ensemble.

Austrian avant-garde musician and multimedia artist Hermann Nitsch performed these powerful and mesmerizing solo organ drone works during the 2013 "Shut up and listen" festival in in the Jesuit church of Vienna, releasing the 4 recordings with an 8-page booklet of art and an essay from Nitsch himself, with mastering by Martin Siewert.

Austrian avant-garde musician and multimedia artist Hermann Nitsch performed these powerful and mesmerizing solo organ drone works during the 2013 "Shut up and listen" festival in in the Jesuit church of Vienna, with mastering by Martin Siewert.

Four original improvisations, taken from legendary AACM composer, improviser and saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell's "Conversations" album transcribed and performed by a twenty piece Bay Area orchestra, along with two orchestral improvisations and two duets with Roscoe Mitchell and flutist Wilfredo Terrazas.

Sound interpretations of Miron Bialoszewski's poetry, whose work focuses on the mundane aspects of the everyday life, usually from an autobiographical perspective and using an overtly colloquial language, interpreted by vocalist Mina Asi, aka Asia Bronisławska, speaking and singing over understated keyboard work.

Summer 2017 issue of Canada's premiere new music magazine, with a CD featuring tracks from selected artists covered in the magazine; Bekah Simms; Senyawa; Pantayo, HanHan, and Luyos MC; Brodie West; Artificiel; Another Timbre's Canadian Composers Series; Vicky Chow; Festival de International Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, 33rd Edition reviewed; &c. &c.

The fourth in the Elliot Sharp curated "Meta Guitar" series brings a wealth of diverse styles and approaches to the guitar, from Knox Chandler, Tashi Dorji, Monika Roscher, Rhys Chatham, Kalle Kalima, Ryan Choi, Marco Oppedisano, Bern Nix, Markus Reuter, Hahn Rowe, Pete Matthiessen, Robert Poss, Ron Anderson, Morgan Craft, Roberto Zorzi, and Erdem Helvacioglu.

Pianist Claudia Binder presents 3 concepts for solo piano - the introspective "Room for a Sound" and it's dramatic inverse, "Sound for a Room"; "Polyphony" in 3 parts using piano preparation, one part playful, one part serious, one part peculiar; and an inexplicable "It Takes Two to Tango"--in performances revealing a curious mind and tremendous skill.

A 1989 reissue of the 1977 Cramps release from their Nova Musicha series, this album is a piece for solo piano by John Cage, composed in 1969, an indeterminate piece created using the I Ching and based, rhythmically, on Socrate by Erik Satie.

NY free jazz drummer and composer Harris Eisenstadt brings his talents to the compositional world with this four movement suite performed by the Mivos Quartet of Olivia De Prato, Josh Modney, Victor Lowrie and Mariel Roberts, a creative composition blending melodic and textural approaches to the strings in a bold rendering of Eisenstandt's work.

Anthony Pateras performs on pipe organ alongside Erkki Veltheim on electric violin, presenting a single extended work joining both instruments as a unified timbral force, producing exquisite and hypnotic sensorial phenomena over 50 minutes, as the duo investigate spectral phenomena in sound; includes a 24 page illuminating booklet interviewing both artists.

In 2005 Australian pianists Chris Abrahams (The Necks) and Anthony Pateras multi-tracked 4 takes in each octave of the piano, superimposing them over each other to create a kaleidoscopic maelstrom of pianistic energy, layers of piano creating a hypnotic and dizzying set of textures and unexpected sonic intersections.

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Two beautiful piano solos in an open-ended modular form, written and performed by the young French composer Melaine Dalibert, who also played on Giuliano d'Angiolini's "Cantilena", using space, sustain and unhurried progressions to create hypnotic and resonant environments that captivate in ways reminiscent of Morton Feldman.

Kevin Good organized this composition from four field recordings collected near Avon, CT, isolating sounds that he found interesting and then attempting to recreate them on other instruments, finally adding the human voice sparsely utilized throughout the piece, all to promote the idea of listeners actively paying attention to the sounds of their environment.

Soprano vocalist Irene Kurka performs two works works by Antoine Beuger, and one each by Christopher Fox, Eva-Maria Houben, and Thomas Stiegler, accompanied by Antoine Beuger on flute for his composition "Chants de Passage"; 5 beautiful, unhurried works that bring the delicate beauty of each compositions, and of Kurka's refined voice, to a resonant foreground.

John Cage's 1957 composition in a visceral realisation for four pianos, played by John Tilbury, Philip Thomas, Mark Knoop and Catherine Laws, using chance procedures to assign each of the pianist's five of the twenty pages of the score, the pianists agreeing on an overall duration of 40 minutes and preparing their parts independently, performed without rehearsal.

Four fascinating compositions by Pascale Criton exploring microtonalities on instruments tuned in 1/16th tone (violin, viola, guitar) based on gestural processes developed in close collaboration with the musicians: one duo with Silvia Tarozzi and Deborah Walker, one solo piece with Deborah Walker, and two pieces performed by Dedalus Ensemble.

NY Composer and Zs founder Alex Mincek's first release since 2011 also launches Sound American's Young Composer Portrait series, presenting 4 chamber works--"Pendulum VII"; selected movements from "Harmonielehre"; "Pneuma"; and "Torrent"--performed by Wet Ink Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, and Yarn/Wire, in a deluxe hardcover book package with interviews and notes.