Three tracks from Yoshio Machida's works for the SYNTHI AKS, the 1971 portable modular synthesizer developed by Electronic Music Studios using a generative music machine with a matrix patch panel allowing great flexibility in modulation, reverb, effect like delay, and glitch, in a 7.5" lathe cut vinyl release, numbered in a silk-screened antistatic package.

Four fragile and mostly minimal works by Victoria-based composer Alex Jang, performed by the Apartment House ensemble, with solo pieces by Heather Roche on clarinet + field recordings, one with Cristian Alvear on guitar, an acoustic quintet, and "any three players" designed for any mix of instrumentation, here on melodica, vibraphone & cello.

The second album from this NY trio, titled for the state it was recorded in, as the trio of Joe Moffett (trumpet) and Dan Peck (tuba), both playing cassette players, and percussionist Carlo Costa, slowly develop this long-form 2-part work from minimal interactions of objects, extended techniques, and abstract recordings, building to a tightly controlled ferocity.

Using lo-fi electronics and found objects alongside their acoustic instruments, the NY quartet of Ben Gerstein (trombone), Sean Ali (double bass), Michael Foster (saxophones) and Flin van Hemmen (percussion) freely improvise with textural, rhythmic and timbral interactions, captured live at New Museum accompanying an exhibition by video artist Cheng Ran.

A welcome reissue of two 1980s, forward-thinking albums of electronic compositions from Milanese ethnomusicologist composers, sound engineers and performers Giovanni Venosta and Roberto Musci, incorporating exotic field recordings from their world travels into accessibly sophisticated pieces, creating unexpectedly innovative, novel and melodically rich hybrids.

Many years after Pere Ubu and his work as a pilot, one of the world's most unique synth players, Allen Ravenstine, releases an album of composed works, 18 discrete hybrid miniature sound worlds that blend acoustic, real-world and synthetic sounds in unorthodox ways that elusively twist conventional approaches with unexpected elements and narrative twists.

Two electroacoustic improvisers and composers--Lucio Capece on reeds, analog synths, effects, field recordings, drums machines, speakers in motion, and Marc Baron on field recordings and analog devices--developed these 6 extraordinary recordings that blend motion, perspective, sound and noise, and concrete references in a mystifying and mesmerizing journey in sound.

The second collaboration between sound artist Vanessa Rossetto and writer and sound artist Matthew Revert is a monumental work that studies the evolution of communication through fragments of spoken words, and a rich tapestry of sound from acoustic and electronic instruments, field recordings, and perplexing and dramatic sources of sound.

Continuing her monthly releases for her 60th birthday, Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii meets Australian keyboard and electronic artist Alister Spence for their second meeting, touring Japan and recording this spellbinding album merging bells, gongs, electronics, and acoustic piano, inside and out, in a passionate album that balances melodicism and sound.

Many years after Pere Ubu and his work as a pilot, one of the world's most unique synth players, Allen Ravenstine, releases an album of composed works, 18 discrete hybrid miniature sound worlds that blend acoustic, real-world and synthetic sounds in unorthodox ways that elusively twist conventional approaches with unexpected elements and narrative twists.

Commissioned for the Chicago performing space LAMPO and The Renaissance Society, Olivia Block composed this large work of drone and sound from 2016-2017, premiered on the massive Skinner Organ at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel in a free concert that included a sound installation of 6 speakers placed through the chapel playing white noise, sine tones, and prerecorded organ sounds.

Drummer/percussionist, trombonist, pianist and importantly here, composer, Tyshawn Sorey in an amazing and ambitious work "Pillars", assembling an ensemble of virtuosic NY performers (Joe Morris, Todd Neufeld, Ben Gerstein, Stephen Hayes, Zach Rowden, Carl Test, Mark Helias) as he references Tibetan rituals, Stockhausen, and Anthony Braxton, and much more.

Vinyl edition with a unique 4-part, 4th "Pillar": Tyshawn Sorey in an amazing and ambitious work "Pillars", assembling an ensemble of virtuosic NY performers (Joe Morris, Todd Neufeld, Ben Gerstein, Stephen Hayes, Zach Rowden, Carl Test, Mark Helias) as he references Tibetan rituals, Stockhausen, and Anthony Braxton, and much more.

The long-running collaboration of Paris pianist Benoit Delbecq and Netherlands-born, Boston-area saxophonist Jorrit Dijkstra is joined by Boston drummer John Hollenbeck, the pianist and saxophonist also picking up electronics and bass synth as they improvise over 10 concepts of movement through texture and distinctive approaches to their instruments.

Separated by 1,000 KMs and speaking a different language, the collaboration of Quebec bassist Eric Normand and Australian saxophonist Jim Denley, both dedicated experimenters, share a common aesthetic in free improvisation as they release their third album: five dialogs using reeds, electric bass, drums, objects and tools to create unusual sonic conversations.

The Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Vertrek Ensemble of Vadim Budman on guitars and trumpet and Ron de Jong on percussion, in their first album, collecting solos, duos, and trios with guests Mark Kelly on banjo and Ian Birse on guitar & effects, predating their albums with legendary improvisers Derek Bailey and Euguene Chadbourne.

A unique sound document originally envisioned as a sound map of Ireland, collecting and composing with live recordings from performances in Doon, Dungarvan, Plaistow, Shoreditch, Singo & Stratford, using song, sound, spoken word, extraneous, ambient recordings and abstract and unidentifiable elements, making for an absolutely fascinating and somewhat bizarre album; recommended.

French composer and guitarist Clara De Asis composed the extended soundwork "Without" for the duo of Erik Carlson (violin) and Greg Stuart (percussion), defining a precise framework for the position and duration of each sound section and silence, with outlines for texture, volume, use of tone or noise, and percussive materials, but leaving space for many of the performers' choices.

Two distinct works by Swiss composer and bass clarinetist Jurg Frey: the 1st, recorded in Connecticut, a quintet composition from 2009 for bass clarinet, cello, violin, keyboard and electric guitar, Frey's harmonies creating an open instrumentation for the clarinet and cello; the second a 1997 composition for multitimbral field recordings and bass clarinet.

Composer & cellist Stefan Thut performs his composition with Ryoko Akama (electronics), Stephen Chase (guitar), Eleanor Cully (piano), Patrick Farmer (metal percussion), and lo wie (tingsha), where half of the group allow single percussive, ringing or electronic sounds to decay, as the other half play high register pitches, in between walking "about" and uttering monosyllabic words.

Drummer Weasel Walter turns to his love of furious metallic music in this intimidating album of chaotic, noisy skronk rock in a solo album played on guitars, drums and electronics accompanied by distorted grunts that add a disturbing layer to the madness; aggressively skillful and demanding, intended to be played LOUD, with a take-no-prisoners, no-apology attitude.

Resonant and upbeat exploratory free improvisation in the 2nd album from the Portuguese trio of Dead Combo guitarist To Trips, and String Theory members, Adrian Sa on zither, field recordings & reactive software and John Klima on electric fretless bass, in beautifully rambling melodic work with unusual sonic environments and asides, an appealing and absorbing album.

Slyly crossing modern improv and EAI approaches in a surreal take on early bottleneck, banjo and slide blues styles from the Quebec quintet of Arthur Bull on harmonica, voice, guitar & electronics, Eric Normand on banjo, voice & bass, Ben Grossman on "old wheel", Anne-Francoise Jacques on engines, and Gabriel Rochette on trombone; sincere and eccentric.

The 3rd phase of French sound artists Jean-Luc Guionnet & Thomas Tilly's art and research project, recorded at the Center for Contemporary Art at La Synagogue de Delme and joined by percussionist Will Guthrie, bagpiper Claude Grandjean, and violist Cyprien Busolini, creating a remarkably diverse installation of audio frequencies, voices, instrumental sections, rhythms and silence.

NY Tuba-driven trio The Gate led by Dan Peck on tuba & effects, with Tom Blancarte on upright electric bass and Brian Osborne on percussion, in a studio album of shorter pieces exploring the dark side of the huge brass instrument and the band's dark, enormous sound, with tongue-in-cheek titles like "Black Bird of Death Spewing Death Puke"; ominously impressive.

The NY based, long-running trio The Gate led by Dan Peck on tuba and effects, with double bassist Tom Blancarte and drummer Brian Osborne, in a cassette culled from live concerts in Hannover and Brussels while on a European tour in November of 2015, "a brutally unfiltered representation of The Gate's special brand of spontaneous composition."

"Ke I Te Ki" signifies the sound of an alarm, as frequent collaborators Akio Suzuki and Aki Onda push themselves in a live multi-track recording at the NY Emily Harvey Foundation (former home of Fluxus founder George Maciunas), using field recordings, objects, layers of melody and rhythm, sustained drones, and diverse textures and timbres to create these absorbing recordings.

Submerging the listener into the immediacy of pure perception through the economy of materials and atemporality, Catalan guitarist Ferran Fages presents the 3rd piece of his trilogy for guitar and sinteones, referencing Feldman, Lucier and Szlavnics as he specifies tunings for the guitar accompanied by pure resonating sinetones used as memory vehicles or shadows.

Very much in an AMM mold of electroacoustic improvisation, this album of intense cooperation and sonic depth presents five sections numbered by Roman numerals, performed in the studio by the adept and investigative quintet of Thanos Chrysakis on computer & synthesizers, Sue Lynch on reeds, James O'Sullivan on guitar, and Joe Wright on sax & dynamic feedback system.

A fun, odd and eccentric album constructed from extracts of hours of tape reels and audio cassettes by Montreal turntablist Martin Tetrault, a mix of plunderphonic sources, unusual turntable technique, and experimental audio collage drawn from an insanely diverse set of sources, in this sequel to his 1992 "Snipettes!" cassette, here with 31 new fascinating miniatures.

German saxophonist and leader of the Salon for Klang + Kunst started the Improx, or "The X for the Unknown and the Unheard" with Gunnar Geisse, here in the third edition of the series with Swiss free improvising vocalist Franziska Baumann, captured live at two performances in 2018 in Germany & Switzerland, for unusual, quick-witted and innovative interchanges.

"3 Phases", or 3 aspects of the approach that violist Ernesto Rodrigues applies to improvisation, in 3 different groupings over 3 different concerts at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, here in an electroacoustic ensemble with Miguel Mira, Guilherme Rodrigues, Joao Silva, Eduardo Chagas, Paulo Curado, Noel Taylor, Miguel Almeida, Andre Holzer, Andre Hencleeday, Carlos Santos, and Joao Valinho.

A live performance at Galeria Monumental, in Lisbon of diverse textures, extended techniques, and intent listening from the free improvising septet of Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Joao Silva (trumpet), Paulo Curado (flute), Bruno Parrinha (alto sax & bass clarinet), Miguel Almeida (classical guitar), Carlos Santos (computer & synth), and Joao Valinho (snare drum & objects).

Eleven instrumental works with each piece based on and emulating the sound characteristics of blackbirds, such as "whistling", "squealing", or "flutes", captured in a live concert at multi-reedist Udo Schindler's Salon fur Klang+Kunst in Krailling in Berlin, from the duo of Schindler and long-time musical collaborator, violinist Georges-Emmanuel Schneider, also on live electronics.

An adaptation from "Sileen", a composition commissioned by Musica For The Festival Oortreders at Neerpelt, Belgium, 2016 performed with 50 members of a local music school; "Sileen II" was realized with only Gareth Davis on bass clarinet plus sounds from Machinefabriek, recorded in the same pitch and tempo as "Sileen', then slowed to half its speed and one octave lower.

Two compositions, one by composer Michael Pisaro-Liu and performed by the electroacoustic ensemble "Ordinary Affects" including violinist Morgan Evans-Weiler, then an acoustic composition from Evans-Weiler himself performed with violin, clarinet, cello, harpsichord and piano; both exquisite works that draw out tone and time in patiently unfolding fluidity.

4 compositions from violist/composers Catherine Lamb & Johnny Chang, the 1st focusing on the mysterious compositions of Vedic-era composer Viola Torros, exploring monady, melody and harmony; the second, one composition each from Chang performed with the Suidobashi Chamber Ensemble, and from Lamb using the secondary rainbow synthesizer she developed with Bryan Eubanks.

Looking back and fondly imagining some of the locations and configuration that UK guitarist Ian Brighton played in the 70s, Brighton developed the pieces on this album, each compositions varying the personnel from life-long partners (Taylor, Wachsmann, Mattos) to musicians Brighton has performed with since his 2016 return to improvisation (Carrier, Beresford, Metcalfe).

Scottland's large improvising ensemble of around 20 musicians, merging backgrounds in free improvisation, jazz, classical, folk, pop, experimental musics and performance art, in a 2-CD release of a piece commissioned by the BBC and featuring pianist Marilyn Crispell and saxophist Evan Parker, written using graphic scores, through composition, photographs and artwork.

Recorded in 1989 and only now released, this studio album includes Pat Thomas on keys & electronics in a sextet with guitar & bass, synth, turntables, electronic wind instruments, drum machines, samplers, &c., merging ea-improv approaches with disruptively odd asides, fragmented voices, and swelling interventions, making something otherworldly out of then-revelatory technology.

Each track on this album is named for a tractor brand (Eicher, Kubota, &c.) and the liner notes are directions regarding a tractor's maintenance, as the ea-trio of UK improvisers Pat Thomas on piano & electronics, Dominic Lash on double bass, and Lawrence Casserley on a signal processing instrument provide 10 inventive improvisations that validate a sound working condition.

Using multiple voices, field recordings and electronics, Brazil-born composer living in Berlin Laura Mello works with spoken language as she explores human perception of acoustic phenomena in relation to spoken language, here in 8 compositions or excerpts that reveal hallucinatory and unusual aspects of speech complemented by elusive aural environments.

A quintet album of minimal/lowercase electroacoustic improvisation recordeded at Penedo in Portugal from Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Miguel Mira on cello, Anna Piosik on trumpet, and Carlos Santos on electronics, each performer using extended techniques, contrasting atmospheric tones with percussive, often pointillistic approaches.

Finnish guitarist Lauri Hyvarinen joins Portugues Creative Sources collective members Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Abdul Moimeme on electric guitar, and Carlos Santos on synthesizer, for a studio album whose title refers to the shell of an object, a mysterious reference peeled away by this quartet through subliminal playing of intense technique and concentration.

Live recordings of the performance on March 1st, 2018 at the Galerie arToxin in Munich, presenting compositions from Udo Schindler performing on bass clarinet, soprano saxophone & euphonium, Gunter Pretzel on viola, and Georges-Emmanuel Schneider on violins & live electronics, three artists of diverse background crossing boundaries to create something unique and exciting.

The unique Biota collective continues with this beautiful album of layered and organized sound work, a beguiling mix of acoustic and electronic instrumentation that flows in unique and exquisite ways, belying the incredible detail to process and mixing.

ReR's 3rd collection featuring the ondes Martenot, an early electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 by cellist Maurice Martenot; this volume, performed by the 4 piece L'Ensemble Volta + Antoine Alerinie is dedicated to Spectralist composer Tristan Murail.

The original Pere Ubu keyboardist Allen Ravenstine in a limited edition release of analog electronics, an extraordinary album of rich sound taking unexpected twists and turns while showing the power of the EML synthesizer, coupled with a theremin.

A mysterious album of viola, viola d'amore, organ, and field recordings, merging the compositional minimal approach of Wandelweiser artist Eva-Maria Houben with Creative Sources performers Ernesto & Guilherme Rodrigues, the field recordings creating a virtual setting of environmental stillness, evoking slow motion in the unique "thisness" of haecceity.

The long-running association of Chicago legends, trombonist George Lewis and saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, are recorded live at CTM Festival at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, in Berlin in 2018, accompanied by Lewis' laptop adding a third voice that responds and generates textural and rhythmic accompaniment in response to the playing of both improvisers; impressive and exotic.

Recording at the Pied Nu Festival, in Le Havre, France in 2018, the trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, and Carlos Santos on electronics present an extended and mysteriously subtle album of electroacoustic improvisation, detailed and remarkably controlled conversation of near telepathic anticipation from three intimate collaborators.

Drawn from 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland alongside their American variants, anthologised by Francis James Child during the second half of the nineteenth century, are here sung by Ed Pettersen in the fascinating intersection of traditional lyrics and experimental interpretations of melodies, performed by the 11-piece London Experimental Ensemble.

Electric guitarist Olaf Rupp, one of the leading figures of Berlin's Echtzeit scene, and Rudi Fischerlehner, an active Berlin improvising drummer, have been playing together as Xenofox for years, releasing albums and playing festivals, here captured at A L'Arme Festival at Radialsystem, in Berlin in 2017 with turntablist Joke Lanz adding to their controlled chaos.

Named for "Ten Hundred Inch Radii", a performance of film and music from the series "Environments" by composer and filmaker Phill Niblocks, shot in upstate New York in 1972 and released now for the first time on DVD, a mesmerizing and hypnotic film with two soundtracks: the original 1972 from analog tape, and a 2008 edition from the Nelly Boyd Ensemble updated in 2015

"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 ea-improv setting with Albert Cirera on tenor saxophone, Rodrigo Pinheiro on piano, & Carlos Santos on field recordings & sine waves.

Retrospective of Terry Rusling, a Canadian composer of electronic music working for the CBC in the 60's, who was introduced to the Electronic Music Studio at the University of Toronto, where he was awarded the title of Research Associate, receiving a Canada Council Grant to travel and work in Belgium, Utrecht, Paris, &c.; 2 of his graphic scores are part of John Cage's "Notations" project.

Blending free jazz, electronic music, glitch, and collective improvisation, the Swiss trio of Dominic Landolt on guitar & effects, Ramon Landolt on synth, samples & piano, and Mario Hanni on drumsÊ& effects, bring a modern and experimental edge to their diverse approaches to free improv, colored with electronica and rock overtones; a fascinating brew.

A compilation attempting to cover a wide spectrum of modern electroacoustic experimentation from the Greek Thirsty Leaves label, presenting Giorgos Christianakis, Shanyio, Fastus, Xu(e), Gusev K.P., Steven Sandberg, John Daly, Moody Alien, Zenjungle, KR Seward, & James Ross.

The Oakland, CA-based Fred Frith Trio with bassist Jason Hoopes on double bass and electric, and Jordan Glenn on drums and percussion, extend their sonic excursions in this 2nd album that finds Frith on electric guitar and organ, as they evolve incredible soundscapes or shred through intense and intricate interplay; a rich album of dexterity, mood and power.

Like mad scientists of sound, sonic explorers Tim Olive and Cal Lyall met in a Tokyo studio in 2012 armed with hydrophones, magnetic pickups and electronics to record this richly detailed and slowly unfolding work, blending organic and mechanical elements of indeterminate origin, finding absorbing dialog without clamor or tumult; intriguing and engrossing.

845 label leader and sonic explorer Tim Olive uses magnetic pickups and electronics in this meeting with radical living room concert sound artist, poet and improviser Yan Jun in Kobe, Japan, Jun using a variety of electronics, radio and field recordings as the two improvise in a wonderfully mischievous set of errant dialog and restrained deconstruction.

An unusual and thickly strung album bridging dark rock and improvised music from saxophonist Noah Kaplan, bassist and prepared bassis Giacomo Merega, bassist and prepared painist Wes Matthews, and vocalist Rosalie Kaplan.

Intricate interactions in free improv from the Portugese trio of violist Joao Camoes, cellist Miguel Mira (Open Field String Trio, Nuovo Camerata), and pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro (Red Trio), focused on the balance between contrasting counterpoint, polyrhythms and fluid soundscapes.

Thomas Bonvalet takes the banjo into unusual territory with Jean-Luc Guionnet performing on the organ at the protestant temple of Bergerac, France, in a beautifully terrifying album recorded during the MONC cultural arts centre's festival of avant-garde culture in 2010.

Recorded among the Alps, "Refugio" is Laboule's (Paolo Novellino) disclosure of an ancient, dusty and seaside soundscape where it's possible to discover the necessary asylum to grow and find a refuge for melancholy.

Two trumpeters 20 years apart, Germany's Axel Dorner and Japan's Itaru Oki are both known for their versatile approach to jazz, from traditional to the freest forms using extended techniques, in a unique dialog challenging the limits of the horn with fascinating results.

A live recording from 1999 in Vancouver, two extended improvisations from drummer Tiziano Tononi's UDU Calls Trio featuring William Parker on double bass; Tiziano Tononi on drums, congas, gong, bells & whistles; Daniele Cavallanti on saxophone, Ney flute and bells.

The 8-limbed creature that is Creative Source's Octopus presents their 3rd album of diaphanous improvisation, using two reeds (clarinet & tenor sax), trumpet, resonator guitar, viola, double bass, snare drums and electronics, as they slowly prowl in subaqueous and subtle improvisation of powerful technique, cautiously moving with rich details and deft direction.

A one-take improvisation recorded in Berlin by trumpeter Tom Arthurs, caught on New Year's Day 2018 using piccolo trumpet, mutes and binaural field recordings, intended for headphone listening, as he provides an incredible sense of location while stimulating his listener with subtle interventions that ultimately act as a backdrop for his distinctive and sly soloing.

Making something out of "nothing", audio explorers and sonic organizers Eric La Casa from France and Australian Eamon Sprod spent a week on the waste grounds in the North East of Paris along the Canal Ourcq, capturing field recordings which they used to develop these active compositions, captivating by morphing everyday sounds into something intriguingly mysterious and remarkable.

Bringing together two New York percussionists for a wild ride of that finds drummer Jason Nazary performing exclusively on electronics against and alongside Neither/Nor label-leader Carlo Costa's percussion, using glitch and aberrant electronics in actively constrained ways as the two dart and weave around each other in an exciting and unique improvisational dialog.

With two guitarists--Mary Halvorson and Susan Alcorn on pedal steel--and Ryan Sawyer on drums, New York trumpeter explores the Rocky Mountains Columbia Icefield, the largest icefield in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, through sophisticated compositions and superbly illustrative sound, an exceptional album of improvisation and intention from four modern masters.

A 5 CD box set of compositions written by Michael Pisaro-Liu using field recordings captured along the Grosse Muhl River in Austria during the 2011-15 Flussaufwartstreiben project, now accompanying performances made along that river by Antoine Beuger (flute), Jurg Frey (clarinet), Marcus Kaiser (cello), Radu Malfatti (trombone), Andre Moller (guitar), and Kathryn Pisaro (oboe).

Two meticulous works in two parts each using layered collage of acoustic instruments, objects, electronics, field recordings, voices, fragments of past compositions and early classical music samples, with A.F. Jones providing voice narration, from Venezuelan composer/artist Gil Sanson and Canadian-based composer/painter Lance Austin Olsen: "Pra Min" and "Meditations".

The North Carolina improvising collective Polyorchard, wrote this set of unusual and diverse improvisation for the 8th {Re}HAPPENING at Black Mountain College on March 31, 2018, this album a studio recording of that music featuring saxophonist Laurent Estoppey, Michael Thomas Jackson on clarinet and radio, David Menestres on bass and objects, and Dan Ruccia on viola and piano.

Blending two of the most unconventional voices on the planet--Ute Wasswerman and Jaap Blonk--with percussionist Michael Vorfeld, also on string instrument, light bulbs and electronic devices, Wasserman adding voice, whistles, kutu wapa, frog buzzer, and mirliton, and Blonk adding electronics; wonderfully eccentric while impressively informed and masterfully executed.

A mysterious and absorbing composition in 8 parts with 8 independent themes, composed to accompany the narrative of an exhibition in January 2018 by the Portuguese artist Sandra Gil at Galerie 9 in Lille, France, Bramnk's score combining acoustic, electronic, and studio components, this rendering adding viola from Guenola Fatout on several parts.

Acid Mothers Temple guitarist Kawabata Makoto meets Henry Cow wind player, percussionist and sound artist Geoff Leigh, with Aogu Tanimoto on violin & synth, as they are captured live at Delsol Cafe, in Yahata, Japan, performing a spiritually psychedelic five-part improvisation merging acoustic and electronic instruments in unorthodox and fascinating ways.

Portugese double bassist Carlos Bica joins forces with German saxophonist Daniel Erdmann and turntablist DJ Illvibe, the son of pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, for a unique album of improvisation blending experimental and jazz approaches with substantive layers of genre-blending from Illvibe's record arsenal, all handled with accessible control and lyrical sophistication.

With sections of dark grooves, wild free improv, seething electronics, and even moments of "Set the Controls..." surrealism, the trio of Alexandre Vaz on keys, guitar & saxophone, Joao Silva on synths & drum machine, and Vasco Marques on bass & synth, take their listeners on an unexpected and wide-ranging journey of uneasy and informed, rich exploration.

A live recording of the first encounter between Henry Cow/Radar Favourites/Ex-Wise Heads reed, wind and electronic artist Geoff Leigh and Acid Mother Temple guitarist and solo artist Kawabata Makoto, performing at Urbanguild, in Kyoto, Japan, in 2014 for a set of electronic, psychedelic improvisation of great detail using a vast arsenal of experimental approaches.

Using an electric guitar, preparations, and objects as a tool of reflection, Nicola L. Hein presents an album of philosophical bent, about the question of skepticism in music, or a skeptical form of improvisation, through tumultuous playing of impressive technique caught live at Spectrum in NYC, as each track title presents observations or questions that Hein seeks to resolve.

A quintet of audio explorers that includes Otomo Yoshihide, recording in NY for 11 abstract non-idiomatic improvisations using electronics, drums, turntables, 4 electric guitars, double bass, analog synth, and effects to create identifiable and aberrant sound sources, elements used for reverie or building into unlikely yet cogent grooves; fascinating.

A duo of Brussels audio explorers, Jean-Jacques Duerinckx on sopranino saxophone and Anatole Damien on tabletop guitar and electronics, contrasting acoustic "dry" and highly effected "wet" sounds, the two develop sonic environments that build and release using unusual reed techniques and mutated string scrabbling in a strangely compelling set of dialogs.

Using the natural resonance of the chapelle St Sylvestre des Brousses, French improvisers Michel Doneda on saxophone & radio and Mathieu Bec on snare drum and objects explore the space in four mostly acoustic improvisations, using masterful technique as their interactions intensify and recede, allowing space for each other and the unspoken third voice of the chapel itself.