Developed from the 13th & 14th century concept of a "book of hours", a prayer book for laymen, and particularly the book of the Duke of Berry (1340-1416) which describes relationships between people; performed by Andreas Feilen, Eva-Maria Houben, and Erik Carlson.

Swedish composer and pianist Johan Lindvall in a series of 27 works performed solo or in an ensemble with Vilde Sandve Alnaes (violin), Kristine Tjogersen(clarinet), Jan Martin Gismervik(percussion), Henrik Munkeby Norstebo(trombone), Ina Sagstuen(voice), & Fredrik Rasten(guitar).

Christoph Schiller performs on the spinet, often improvising with electronics and objects; here he uses the spinet alone in patiently developing compositions that emphasize the individual tones and harmonics of the instrument played on the keys and inside the instrument.

Pianist Roger Admiral performs Canadian composer Mark Hannesson's "The Angel's Game", and "Memory Sustained", both minimal works for solo piano, the second using a set of instructions giving the performer advice and discretion over pacing and approach.

Luke Martin began this work with a field recording at Mentryville Park in Southern California, which was transcribed by himself and Amy Golden, Ben Levinson, Davy Sumner, and Ryan Gaston using Martin's system of notating silence, then combined into the final score for this recording.

A 2003 recording from The Ensemble Daswirdas performing John Cage's 1960 composition "Cartridge Music", described as: "For amplified small sounds; also amplified piano or cymbal; any number of players and loudspeakers; parts to be prepared from score by performers."

Two works from two distinctive composers from different periods--Jurg Frey and Luigi Nono--both for two violins, Frey using the two violins in parallel to emphasize their distinction; Nono using powerful gestures of divergence and contrast in a dream-like duo.

Raymond Boni performs on guitar and harmonica, using a fascinating set of approaches, for poems from Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, chosen from Lorca's "Romancero Gitano" (Gypsy Ballads), and read with substantial depth by actress Violeta Ferrer.

During 2012 Patrick Farmer walked half of the Welsh Coast, writing a series of observations, which on this release are read in environmental settings by Antoine Beuger, Jeph Jerman, Bruno Guastalla, Sally Ann McIntyre, Holly Pester, Daniela Cascella, & Michael Pisaro.

Emilie Girard-Charest is a Montreal cellist, composer and improviser, here presenting 5 works, one of her own and 4 from Fredrik Gran, Sergio Castrillon, Maxime Corbeil-Perron and Joane Hetu, using extreme techniques and electroacoustic accompaniment in both joyful and terrifying ways.

Joker brings together 12 vocalists, many core members of the Ambiances Magnetiques/Musique Actuelle collective including Joane Hetu, Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse, Michel F Cote, Lori Freedman, &c, performing unusual works of voice and narration composed by Joane Hetu.

Composed between 1926 and 1939, "Mikrokosmos" was Bela Bartok's attempt to solve certain technical problems in the art of piano playing, here adapted by the 5-piece Quartetski into a fascinating series of progressive exercises and etudes, oddly enough presented without a piano.

Montreal's Quatuor Bozzini string quartet worked with composer Christopher Butterfield, who wrote two of these pieces ("Trip" and "Fall") specifically for QB, alongside three other works from 20 years of composing that use unusual instructions and scores for the performers.

Juxtavoices is an anti-choir of 30 voices whose repertoire includes original compositions and arrangements of classic modernist poems and found texts, here in a CD/DVD release with a reinterpretation of early an Cabaret Voltaire recordings and a terrifying ascent into hell.

A masterful fountain of melodic ideas, intriguing rhythms, and exceptional technical skill from the duo of Hamid Drake on drums and frame drum, and Sylvain Kassap on clarinets and chalumeau, recording live at the France Musique at Studio Theatre dÕAlfortville and in the studio.

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.

Ensemble InterContemporain is viola player Garth Knox's string and percussion performance group, here called upon by John Zorn to present new interpretations of his "Book of Angels" Masada compositions, in nine magnificent recordings of great depth and intimacy.

Bridging contemporary and improvised music, Montreal double bassist Nicolas Caloia wrote these pieces for textured and impossible rhythms; blending pieces by Nancarrow and Grand Master Flash; and manipulating poems by Genevieve Letarte; with supporting improv from Jean Derome & Lori Freedman.

Two rich sound works: "Grounded Cloud" which gathers fragments of noise and tone into a continuous fabric; and "Hearing Metal (4)", an investigation into metallic resonance, performed by Pisaro with Dedalus members Stephane Garin (percussion) and Didier Aschour (guitar).

NYC vocalist, composer and keyboardist Judith Berkson in the debut album for her one-woman band Liederkreis (translating to "song-cycle", a reference to Schumann), taking a sharp turn from previous work through experimental synth, voice and effects in unique and often aberrant ways.

Silom is a Slovenian creative music trio using a variety of string, percussive, and melodic percussive instruments, focused on the acoustic aspects of complex evolving works that combine composed and improvised aspects to create rich music with ancient ethnic overtones.

Composer John Zorn's Simulacrum ensemble of Trevor Dunn (bass), John Medeski (keyboards), Kenny Grohowski (drums), Matt Hollenberg (guitar), and Sara Serpa (voice) in their 6th album of heavy improv, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the passing of painter Hieronymus Bosch.

Two long-form compositions combining acoustic and electronic orchestration by Antoine Chessex, convoluted works that take unusual twists and turns from spirited interaction to beautiful sonic passages, performed at London's Cafe Oto by an ensemble including Dominic Lash, Andrew Sparling, Jerome Noetinger, &c.

Draksler's interest in poetry drives this 2-CD release, with a chamber octet of improvisers and orchestra players, with 2 vocalists, two reedists (inc. Ab Baars), violin, piano, double bass, drums & orchestral percussion, performing Draksler's compositions for the words of Pablo Neruda and Andriana Minou.

The 20th anniversary of director Reinhold Friedl's Zeitkratzer ensemble, who have reinterpreted in surprising ways the music of a far-ranging and eclectic set of composers and performers, as they take on the innovative electronic rock band Kraftwerk in six interpretations from their first two albums.

Two major works from electroacoustic composer Luc Ferrari: "Heterozygote" written in 1964, where Ferrari attempts to engineer a language located both on the musical and on the dramatic plane; and "Petite symphonie intuitive pour un paysage de printemps" from 1947, part of a series of imaginary soundscapes based on recollections of a mountain landscape.

The 20th anniversary of director Reinhold Friedl's Zeitkratzer ensemble, who have reinterpreted in surprising ways the music of a far-ranging and eclectic set of composers and performers, as they take on the innovative electronic rock band Kraftwerk in six interpretations from their first two albums.

A split tape from Austin-based More Eaze (aka Marcus Rubio) and San Diego-based duo A.F. Jones and Steve Flato, More Eaze presenting a work of surprising twists, drone, and audio turns; Jones & Flato create an electronic composition of strange detail using a wide auditory palette encompassing the lowest to highest tones.

The 2nd release in a new series of small groups drawn from members of the Discus Music family, where the group meets, writes, rehearses and records in one single session, here developing ten compositions from all four players edited into a continuous sequence of structure and improvisation, embracing melody, texture and pure abstraction.

Canadian composer Martin Arnold is based in Toronto, writing melodic works that contain a meandering, psychedelic quality, as heard in these three compositions performed by Philip Thomas on piano and Mira Benjamin on violin, the first two pieces solos from each respectively, and the last a duo with both musicians.

Montreal-based Composer-percussionist Isaiah Ceccarelli, well known through his Ambiances Magnetiques releases, in 7 compositions, a mix of timbrally-based music in which he himself performs, and through-composed pieces that focus on harmonic progressions, performed as string duos, trios, and quartets.

The fifth CD in the Canadian Composers Series is also the debut appearance on Another Timbre by the Jack Quartet, performing works by composer Marc Sabat--two string quartets and a violin/cello duo--all combining an exploration of the soundworld of Just Intonation with a strong underlying lyricism.

Ten pieces dating from 1995 to 2015 from Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith, performed by Quatuor Bozzini and Apartment House, the first in Another Timbre's Canadian Composer series, a 2-CD release focusing on Smith's "equal and simultaneous drive toward abstraction and lyricism" in slowly developing, lush and sophisticated compositions.

Three works from Canadian composer Chiyoko Szlavnics, two electroacoustic compositions incorporating sinewaves, one with a saxophone quartet and the other with two accordions, two flutes and two percussionists; and a string trio of long sustained tones and slow glissandi.

A musique concrete compositions written in 1967 by Luc Ferrari used for a television program by C. Caspari, using recordings Ferrari made in 1966 at an exhibition of Jean Tinguely's frantically moving sculptures; plus a 1964 soundtrack to a 33 minute black-and-white film by Jean Barral.

Collecting John Zorn's recent compositions from 2013-2016, with the stellar assistance of performers that include Peter Evans (trumpet), Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Christian McBride (bass), presenting 9 works connected by a twisted and complex story of a magical descent into madness.

Composer, improviser, and trumpet player Nate Wooley continues to cement his place as an American iconoclast by releasing the complete recordings of his revolutionary solo [Syllables] compositions as a deluxe 4 CD set consisting of two reissues of out-of-print early works: 8 [Syllables] (2013) and 9 [Syllables] (2014) as well as the premiere recording of his 150 minute epic For Kenneth Gaburo.

Ensemble leader and tuba player Carl Ludwig Hubsch created this musical concept inspired by the guitar player Keith Rowe, exploring one static sound in the ensemble, maintaining it and in the same time interacting with utmost care and openness for any necessary change, in a 22-piece ensemble of exceptional players.

Spring 2016 issue of Canada's premier music magazine, including a 10-track CD of musicians featured in this issue's magazine. Contents include: articles on Craig Aalders' el8dEra 3m; , Eighty-five scores celebrate Pauline Oliveros; Toronto label All-Set! Editions; Thin Edge New Music Collective; electronic composer John Mills-Cockell; and much more!

Composer, sound engineer and teacher, Jaap Vink recorded these compositions at The Institute of Sonology in Utrecht, Holland, from 1968-1985, using electronic sources, feedback networks with configurations of analog tape recorders (delay lines), filters, and modulators to create these impressive and forward-thinking textural and drone compositions.

These recordings of pieces by John Cage were made at a performance called Silence & Transmission led by Peter Upreth conducting an ensemble of four performers using radios and voice, held at An Lanntair Arts Centre, Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides on 20th September 2012, as part of the celebrations for Cage's centenary.

Bristol sound artists Seth Cook presents a rendering of Stefan Thut's text-based score "aussen raum" realized in both stereo field recordings and no input field recordings, focusing on a botched water feature of the River Frome beneath Bristol's Harbourside that has been the subject of ridicule and reconstruction.

A dramatic work for solo piano, exploring sound phenomena in fast repetitions that generate whirlpools of overtones, "Blood Stretched Out" is the primary track on composer & pianist Anthony Pateras' first solo album in 10 years, paired with "Chronochromatics", recorded live at The Loft in Cologne as part of the Plush Music Festival in 2013.

Anthony Pateras was commissioned to compose this work by Synergy Percussion for their 40th birthday in 2014, performed with a six piece ensemble including electronic artist Jerome Noetinger, using the same instrumentation as Xenakis' "Pleiades" of more than 100 orchestral percussion instruments, including Xenakis' 17-pitch microtonal metallophones.

Antoine Beuger performs composer Maria De Alvear's 1995 contemplative work "Besando El Tiempo" (Kissing The Time) written using an automatic script and originally composed for the flautist Caren Levine; after hearing Beuger's interpretation she requested that he record it, the result this rendition that takes the composition on an introspective journey.

Three works, two for large ensembles of performers on sax, guitar, clarinet, voice, percussion, horn, flute, vibes, and objects that belie the size of the group in its fragile presences, with a shorter trio of Frey, Greg Stuart and Erik Carlson transitioning the large pieces; compositions conceived as both short presences within abundant orchestration.

The duo of Beat Keller and Philipp Bowee on electric guitars perform 6 subtle compositions from Turkish-born sound artists and composer Cem Guney's, including 'a bas relief of a talisman' dedicated to Charles Ives and 'soft kill incubator' dedicated to Sylvia Alexandra Schimag.

American organist and composer Carson Cooman performs three sontatinas, each in three movements, and the 2014 work "drones", by German contemporary composer Eva Maria Houben, a member of the Wandelweiser group, all slowly evolving works of tone and subtle harmonics.

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.

Toronto-based composer Nick Storring presents two highly textural, side-long pieces; "Field Lines" originally composed for Yvonne NG Peck Wan's dance piece, "Magnetic Fields", presenting a series of a brief, dreamlike clearings through clusters of tonal instruments; and "Yield Criteria" a work of drifting drones that ebb and flow in rich harmonies.

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.

The 35 poems found on Fortner Anderson's "Solitary Pleasures", performed with Michel F Cote, Sam Shalabi and Alexandre St-Onge, speak of the obsessions, phantasies and encounters of Anderson's life.

Bridging contemporary and improvised music, Montreal double bassist Nicolas Caloia wrote these pieces for textured and impossible rhythms; blending pieces by Nancarrow and Grand Master Flash; and manipulating poems by Genevieve Letarte; with supporting improv from Jean Derome & Lori Freedman.

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.

Previously played Squidco store copy, used for cataloging and samples, in excellent condition.

Review Copy, not new but in mint condition. May have a strike, the word "Promo" or a drill hole. Inquire on condition if you are concern...

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.

A beautiful collaboration between Luis Jose Martins on classical guitar, percussion & electronics, and Joan Sa on piano, toy piano, celestra, idiophones & electronics, gentle music that's nearly a song, but actually sophisticated, textured, and lovely contemporary improvisation.

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.