From their work together in the New York aberrant hardcore band Meta-matics, the electoacoustic duo of Frank Vogl and Chuck Bettis emerged, creating a peculiar and energetic dialog from Bettis' max/msp patches and Franke's tabletop prepared bass, performed live as improvised spontaneous compositions of great detail and unpredictability.

Recorded in concert during "Culture with a Big Q" in Toulouse, France in 2017, the duo of Xavier Camarasa on piano/prepared piano and Matthias Mahler on trombone, take Camarasa's compositions and arrange them to alternate between melodic free sections and contemporary abstract passages using extended techniques, heard in this captivating and versatile performance.

Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and clarinetist Rudi Mahall have been exploring the music of jazz and free improvisation for decades in their own bands or together in Globe Unity Orchestra; here they are heard in their essential element as a duo, pushing their music in rapid runs and elegant and emotional moments with imposing technique and authoritative confidence.

After their album "Autumn Songs" the Dutch improvising duo of Ab Baars on tenor sax, clarinet and shakuhachi and Ig Henneman on viola, celebrate the music of spring in "Canzoni di Primavera" (Songs of Spring) in 10 vivacious works blending free jazz and chamber music, with subtle use of timbre, dissonance and melody in pieces inspired by poets, composers and artists.

An unusual and absorbing record of percussion and electronic improvisation from bassist and tape machine manipulator Chris Tarry and Vancouver drummer and samplist Dylan van der Schyff.

Verge Music founder Daniel Kernohan aka Dee Kay and radio host Dan Lander developed this album of electroacoustic interaction between 1987-1989 in a dilapidated row house on "the wrong side of the tracks" in Toronto, using "instruments, toys, stuff, sound" to create an amusing, sometimes startling, and insightful series of interactions; unpredictable and interesting.

Marking their 20th anniversary working together, the collaboration between Chicago improvisers, saxophonist Dave Rempis and percussionist Tim Daisy, release their third duo recording, inviting an incredible list of improvisers to perform live with them at Elastic Arts in Chicago in 2017: Jason Adasiewicz, Jim Baker, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Steve Swell, Katie Young, and Aaron Zarzutzki.

Recording in Seoul, South Korea at Mullae Arts Village in 2016, the duo of Australian drummer/percussionist Will Guthrie and improvising noise artist Hong Chulki release 8 pieces with concise works under 1 minute to larger improvisations up to 8 minutes, contrasting interesting rhythms with indescribable electronics, found sounds, and unusual environments.

Largely derived from piano recordings by Netherlands pianist Reinier van Houdt, a member of both the Ensemble MAE and the Ives Ensemble and heard on the Wandelweiser label, expanded by several field recordings recorded by Michael Pisaro in Syros (Greece), creating a work in three pieces of rich environments that contrast peaceful passages with powerful ambiance.

The liner notes give good detail to each composition from these Japanese sound artists and composers Toshiya Tsunoda and Taku Unami, reworking and transforming field recordings from a diverse set of environmental locations by changing pitch, playback speeds, frequency, amplitude, &., creating 11 compositions, imbuing the mundane with unusual and surprising aural attributes.

Using piano, objects, charango, flute, voice, whistles, and a copy of the Editions Wandelweiser recording of Christian Wolff's "Stones", improvisers and composer Christian Wolff and Antoine Beuger present the two part "Where Are You Going Today", a series of events punctuated by silence and Beuger's brief recitations, creating great tension and mystery.

An hour-long interview in the French language between French improvisers, bassist and vocalist Joelle Leandre and guiatist Noel Akchote, originally released in 2000, Leandre very engaged and at times quite animated and in good spirits, the CD partitioned into six equal sections for easy indexing.

American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, known for the psych-folk duo Arborea with Shanti Deschaine, in his second solo album of mostly instrumental acoustic guitar work, rich, reflective and confident work that fits in a John Fahey mode, with Adele Pappalardo providing vocals on one track, and Nicolo Melocchi playing Basuri Flute on another.

The follow-up to 2008's Brotzmann/Lonberg-Holm duo album on Atavistic, "The Brain of the Dog in Section", this limited LP was recorded in 2011 at The Loft in Koln, Germany, bringing multi-reed legend Peter Brotzmann together again with Chicago cellist and electronic artist Fred Lonberg-Holm for a thrilling album of diverse, dynamic, and superb improvisation.

Pioneering West Coast flute improviser Robert Dick, whose command over the instrument is startlingly profound, is joined by young Bay Area drummer Tiffany Chang for nine studio recordings of brilliant interplay, from energetic interaction to introspective beauty, with unusual moments of extended flute technique, an astonishing and engaging album.

Chicago saxophonist Ken Vandermark is fascinated with the visual arts, and was drawn in the 60s to Toronto visual artist, director of the "New York Eye And Ear" film, and most notably here, pianist, Michael Snow; in 2015 they performed together for the first time, this startlingly explosive and informed album the complete recording of that event.

Unexpected directions in this meeting between Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and Chicago vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, in an introspective album of beautiful tonal conversations, relaxed and sophisticated dialogs that mostly eschews the more aggressive side of both musicians in deference to a thoughtful, reflective and elegant set of tunes.

Extending his interest in accompaniment with field recording, Chicago cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm took his cello into the Florida Everglades along with soundscape artist and field recordist Gustavo Matamoros, seeking out night creatures, particularly vocalizing frogs, edited down to six intriguing tracks of "outdoor interspecies improvisation".

Following on New York pianist Matt Mitchell's solo album of Tim Berne compositions, the two join in the studio to record these 8 compositions in a dynamic album of dialogs that includes energetic interaction, explorative playing, and beautiful lyrical work, a profoundly intimate and connected release borne from their long history of collaboration.

Five recordings from the duo of Jason Kahn and Yan Jun, recording ostensibly on voice, though all recordings from their rehearsals and live performances were muted, deleted, or suffered technical issues, so what remains are the extraneous sound of the rooms and concert spaces, alone or layered, the final piece layering incidental sounds from 5 concerts.

Recording in Kobe, Japan in 2014, the duo of Jin Sangtae, organizer of Seoul's long-running dotolim concert series and who gainfully employs cast-off computer hard drives as sound sources, and Tim Olive, who uses electro-magnetic pickups to give voice to consumer/post-consumer objects, for three tracks of recycled and unorthodox sound.

Two string players, Swedish acoustic guitarist and banjo player Niklas Fite, and German double bassist Alexander Frangenheim, recording in the studio in Berlin in 2017 for 10 succinct improvisations ranging from quick interactive discourse of a pointillistic nature to near silent meditations using unusual and extended techniques, a quirky and informed album.

Translating to "Swords Like Lips", the duo of Spanish guitarist Santiago Quintans and percussionist/drummer Ramon Lopez are captured live at La Fonderie in Le Mans, France for 10 improvisations of strong technical playing with lyrical intent and a varied program of kinetic and peaceful interplay, an album that would place well on the ECM label.

...

Swedish double bassist Johan Moir, who focuses on extended techniques, preparations, Just Intonation and psychoacoustic phenomena, joins with cellist Guilherme Rodrigues in the studio in Berlin to record these 9 dialogs of haunting string improvisations, pushing the limits of their "hollow wood" instruments to create a vast palette of sound and approaches.

Finding common ground between the acoustic past and the electronic present, the duo of Christoph Schiller on spinet and Eric Ruffing on analogue synthesizer present two extended improvisations of tempered interaction, exploring periods of extended sound, timbre and decay, scrabbling inside playing, restrained electronic whines, and active pointillistic playing.

Swiss electric guitarist Florian Stoffner (Manuel Mengis Grupp) and Spanish/Portuguese saxophonist Albert Cirera (Agusti Fernandez Liquid Trio) present the 8 part "IRMA" in concise free improvisations, restrained but alert and quick-witted dialogs that explore their instruments with alternate approaches to each in articulate ways.

A live concert in the Philippines from American expatriate saxophonist Rick Countryman and visiting Swiss drummer Christian Bucher, a classic free jazz drum and sax duo informed by creative playing and superb rhythmic interplay, balancing lyrical progressions with a wonderful stream of concepts, this is a great example of the far reach of free jazz.

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.

Using multiphonics, percussive effects, circular breathing and other extended approaches to the contrabass flute, composer/performer/improviser Robert Dick releases a mesmerizing album of improvisations, breaking new terrain by letting the largest of flutes lead his muse.

Vocalist Savoldelli in an exquisitely-crafted album of overdubbed vocal work, with help from trumpeter Paolo Fresu and bassist Jimmy Haslip; elaborite harmonies, interlocking rhythms, exultant influences.

A work for two quartets of voices about our relationship with the world, using four text sources from Rutherford Bowey & Westerberg, John Cage, Fernando Pessoa/Alberto Caeiro, and a critiques of "Vermeer's painting The Little Street"; a fascinating weaving of voice and song.

A compilation of two previous Matthew Shipp duo CD: "Thesis" with guitarist Joe Morris in 1997, and "Gravitational Systems" with violinist Mat Maneri in 2000.

With a discography of both contemporary and improvised music, Beligan pianist residing in Norway Jonas Cambien (Platform, Karokh) joins forces with Norwegian double bassist Adrian Myhr (Delius, Dorner, Buck) for an album that balances concentrative and muscular interplay, influenced by Cambien's piano preparations and Myhr's sophisticated techniques.

Two extraordinary players from two coasts--clarinetist Ben Goldberg from the West and cornetist Kirk Knuffke from the East--in an exuberant duo of lyrical and virtuosic free jazz that astonishes the listener with the ease of their interactions in both parallel and contrasting lines, supporting the other as they express themselves uniquely; an impressive achievement!

An extremely interesting experimental record of free improvisation and electronics from the duo of Dino J.A. Deane and trumpeter Stephanie Richards, whose work with Henry Threadgill and Butch Morris is felt in these pieces where Richards explores resonance in brass and percussion as Deane samples and manipulates her playing live; an inventive and effusive album.

The long-running Italian improvising duo of brothers Maurizio Opalio and Roberto Opalio, celebrating their 20th anniversary in this album using electric guitar, effects, loops, keyboards, and wordless vocalizations to create this hauntingly beautiful extended composition, an hallucinatory mediation with a repeating motif over which an interstellar tapestry of sound emerges.

An unsual album even by Chadbourne's standards, this reissue and remaster of material recorded in the 80s and 90s from his cassette series brings recordings from his noise group Chuck with Murray Reams and David Nikias together with recordings with Ut Gret (Joee Conroy and David Stilley) to create a hybrid of live experimental improv and found sounds.

One of a handful of John Cage's number pieces, this work for two pianists follows the forms of Renga poetry, composed with 36 lines of music, each containing 5 measures, and each line having 31 events occuring in the sequence 5-7-5-7-7, with the pianists allowed their own tempo but waiting to synchronize each measure, as performed by Mark Knoop and Philip Thomas.

The Toronto-based duo of Colin Fisher on woodwinds and percussion and Carl Didur on keyboards and bass bridge acoustic and electronic improv with science fiction sensibilities in their two part "Exegesis", a critical exposition of un-genred music that borrows from global sources in service to their unusual and exotic tale; a wonderfully perplexing album.

Two like-minded musicians with a history in compositional and improvised music, pianist and prepared pianist Elisabeth Harnik and double bassist and vocalist Joelle Leandre met at WIST, in Graz, Austria in 2016 to perform and record this live album of insightful and compelling dialog between two masterful musicians full of creativity and virtuosic skill.

Captured live, the excitingly assertive improvisation of Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen and Bhutan electric guitarist Tashi Dorji on the stage at Hotel2Tango in Montreal, Quebec in 2016, and at La Sala Rosa, each pushing the limits on their instruments while retaining control of their conversation, a taut balancing act of extraordinary playing.

Performing together since 2004 between Tokyo and Amsterdam, Dutch vocal improviser, innovator and electronicist Jaap Blonk meets Japanese vocal improviser and fellow electronics artists Tomomi Adachi at Lettretage in Berlin in 2017, recording this, the 5th in Kontrans Electronic Improvisation, for two extended and energetic dialogs of unique creative interplay.

"This set kicks off with a performance by the group Les Diaboliques, a trio of Leandre, British vocalist Maggie Nicols and Swiss pianist Irene Schweizer. Their quarter of a century collaboration is part cabaret/part improvisation. This ...

An inventive and lyrical set of duos between Chicago tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist Keefe Jackson and vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, nine concise pieces that blend free improvisation with compositions seamlessly in a really delightful duo.