Originally a solo project for cello, electronics and resonant objects, Ricardo Jacinto (Pink Draft, String Theory, LFU) expands his concept that focuses on the relationship between sound and space with this septet, captured live at CCC in Portugal and featuring an instrument developed for the project using multiple microphones on the cello connected to resonant objects.

Performing on both piano and bass drum, Italian improviser & composer Luca Sguera presents six works based around the physical sounds of the piano, traditional acoustic piano progressions and rhythmic arrangements fitting the development of each piece's sound, as much sound art as piano composition through sophisticated hybrids of acoustic and sonic environments.

Two movements from a live score for the classic silent film Terje Vigen by Sjöström composed and produced by Swedish pianist & keyboardist Alex Zethson (Angles 9, VÖ, Fire! Orchestra), two long-form tracks of dark and sombre, pulsating folk-drone featuring Norwegian vocal ensemble EMBLA plus appearances by, i.e., Christer Bothén, Kristin Amparo Sundberg and Goran Kajfeš.

Expanding on their decade-long collaboration with albums on Astral Spirits, Bocian and Confront (Ensemble Var), and both members of Fire! Orchestra, sound artist Joachim Nordwall on analog synth and tapes and reed & wind player Mats Gustafsson use extended approaches to their instruments through effects and close mic-ing to create powerful and hallucinatory sound worlds.

Black Vinyl - Expanding on their decade-long collaboration with albums on Astral Spirits, Bocian and Confront (Ensemble Var), and both members of Fire! Orchestra, sound artist Joachim Nordwall on analog synth and tapes and reed & wind player Mats Gustafsson use extended approaches to their instruments through effects and close mic-ing to create powerful and hallucinatory sound worlds.

Jade Vinyl - Expanding on their decade-long collaboration with albums on Astral Spirits, Bocian and Confront (Ensemble Var), and both members of Fire! Orchestra, sound artist Joachim Nordwall on analog synth and tapes and reed & wind player Mats Gustafsson use extended approaches to their instruments through effects and close mic-ing to create powerful and hallucinatory sound worlds.

A fascinatingly structured album conceived by Romain Clerc Renaud and Antonin Tri Hoang, the first CD constructing a complex poetic form made up of multiple themes, from simple (Encore, Petit Matelot) to rapidly complex (LetCo, Klaxon), unfolding in unexpected ways; the 2nd CD restructured in the studio by Marc Baron, transforming the music into seven engrossing electroacoustic compositions.

A high-intensity free jazz workout from the French duo of tenor saxophonist Bertrand Denzler and drummer Antonin Gerbal, long-time collaborators in their 3rd sax & drum duo album, anticipating each other's gestures to allow them flexibility in creating textural approaches to their dialog, challenging physical limits while subtly progressing their frenzied and arresting playing.

The second part of Umlaut's Cartographie de rythmes, a sound exploration guided by an imaginary map of rhythm, here investigating the relationship between text and music through mysteriously breathing clarinet lines & harmonics by Fabrice Arnaud-Cremon, and patient narration by Julien Gaillard, Karl Naegelen and Aurélie Maisonneuve.

A frequent collaborator with NY saxophonist and composer Tim Berne, French guitarist Marc Ducret takes on Berne's compositions, at times in multiple interpretations of the same work or by merging pieces together, performed with the superb support of trumpeter Fabrice Martinez, flutist Sylvaine Helary, trombonist Christiane Bopp and Ducret's son, cellist Bruno Ducret.

Working again with the 12-piece, expressive Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Norwegian guitarist and composer Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen recorded this double LP in the studio in Halden in 2021, for 9 long form epics that bridge and merge rock and jazz genres, in both instrumental work and songs that explore the nature of family and issues of social justice.

Four new tracks from the incredibly prolific Norwegian long form rock band Motorpsycho of Bent Saether on bass & vocals, Hans Magnus on guitar & vocals and the departing album for drummer Tomas Jarmyr, in a well-balanced release of songs and instrumental work including their longest piece to date, a theme from an imagined movie; sophisticated & intelligent modern rock.

Part of Peter Brötzmann's 80th birthday concerts in his hometown of Wuppertal, the saxophonist assembled a trio from his typically duo partner, pedal steel guitarist Heather Leigh (Charalambides, Dream/Aktion Unit) and Chicago cellist and electronic improviser Fred Lonberg-Holm, performing the extended title track at INSEL | Kultur im ADA, along with two succinct improvisations.

Creating a persona to "overcome his own limitations", Austrian trumpeter Franz Hautzinger adopts the name of Gomberg as an alter-ego, releasing this engaging and unconventional set of 22 succinct recordings made between 2006-2018, selected and sequenced from occasion-related compositions and commissioned works, performed on quartertone trumpet, electronics, zither, voice & percussion.

Scott Field's 9-part Sands for 20 instrumentalists, three singers, and a conductor, in this case Fields himself, employs a modular performance system that integrates composition and improvisation, the conductor selecting modules from melodies, phasing patterns, long tones, improv elements, fragmented short stories, &c., spontaneously assigned live; a fascinating accomplishment.

Steering far from pyrotechnics or histrionics, the drum duo of UK legend Mark Sanders and Norwegian residing in the UK and part of the new direction of Bead Records, Emil Karlsen, present six percussion improvisations that focus on textural interaction, melodic progression, polyrhythms, and sonic excitement through percussive elements; an exceptional duo.

Spanning three generations of improvisers, the duo of violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues join with tenor saxophonist Gonçalo Mortágua and legendary percussionist Gunter Baby Sommer to record eleven diverse improvisations in the studio in Berlin, naming the quartet "Not Bad", an extreme understatement for their unique chamber influences of European Free Jazz.

Working with modular synthesizer systems and amplified double bass, the Berlin duo of Ulf Mengersen, a member of Berlin Improvisers Orchestra and Ensemble MIA, and Thomas Rehnert, an experimental musician, sound artist and composer known for rock, theater, radio, visual arts and free improv settings, recorded these 10 electroacoustic improvisations in the studio in 2021.

The third Spiegel, or mirror, takes the Portuguese acoustic octet led by violist Ernesto Rodrigue through an extended improvisation and its reflection, captured live at the 2021 CSFest XV, at O'Culto da Ajuda, by performing and recording their performance in a first pass, and then playing over the first improvisation, layering and extending their work.

Far from the reductionist/minimal improvisation often associated with the Creative Sources label and the work of both violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, this quartet session with double bassist Joao Madeira and Jose Oliveira is a highly charged and energetic affair, improvising through a suite of eight tightly controlled conversations of "Chaos".

Each track in this beautiful pairing of strings through cello and electric guitar is named after nature, the title referencing a brown-eared bat, as the Berlin duo of guitarist Olaf Rupp and cellist Ulrike Brand intertwine in an unhurried series of dialog that prioritize natural fluidity, reflecting the confidence that nearly ten years working together has imbued to their improvisations.

Red Trio drummer Gabriel Ferrandini joins alto saxophonist Ilia Belorukov for a three-part freely improvised set captured live at Masterskaya Anikushina, in St. Petersberg, Russia, the former workspace of architect Mikhail Anikushin, a large space that creates a unique resonance that the two improvisers take advantage of through insistent yet discerningly constrained dialog.

The 2nd release from the touring duo of Audrey Chen & trombonist Henrik Munkeby, Chen modifying her voice with amplification and performing on analog electronics, while Munkeby amplifies his trombone and also performs on analog electronics, feedback & sound files; often frighteningly intense improvisations that plays to the spectrum of sound in a mix of studio and live recordings.

A series of sound impressions and an audio documentary of metal barriers placed at entrances to public buildings after the coordinated 2015 Paris attacks by ISIS; 29 compositions recorded and mixed between 2018-2023 by Eric La Casa, wondering what the barriers protected Parisians from, and answering the question of what Paris sounds like to the barriers themselves.

An exceptional quartet of electroacoustic improvisers captured in concert at MUG Einstein Kultur in Munich, organized by the non-profit Offene Haken e.V. - Freunde der improvisierten Musik (Friends of improvised music), from Markus Eichenberger on clarinet, Carl Ludwig Hubsch on tuba, Philip Zoubek on synthesizer and Etienne Nillesen on extended snare drum.

The seventh album from Creative Sources' detailed electroacoustic improvising group Suspensão led by violist Ernesto Rodrigues, recording at SMUP in Parede, Portugal in 2022 with Joana Sa on soprano sax, Nuno Torres on alto sax, Luisa Goncalves on piano, Joao Madeira on double bass, Carlos Santos on synthesizer and Jose Oliveira on percussion.

58 Compositions for Cello as part of a sound investigation process from Portuguese cellist based in Berlin, Guilherme Rodrigues, recording in 11 locations with interesting resonant properties, capturing several brief improvisations at each space, the architecture, delay, decay, and interaction affecting his approach and the sonic response to his playing.

Improvising over strings, winds & percussion from the Portuguese quintet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Joao Madeira on double bass, Bruno Parrinha on flute & bass clarinet and Monsieur Trinite on percussion, in a studio session of active, often pointillistic interaction offset with periods of introspection, reflecting concepts of Baudelaire & The Surrealists.

The trio of violist Ernesto Rodrigues, cellist Guilherme Rodrigues and clarinetist Bruno Parrinha on alto & bass clarinets are captured live at Lisboa Incomum, during the 2022 Festival DME, performing two sophisticated chamber improv works, their titles translating to "The aging skies - it's all illusion" and "Pass The Bridges If It's Windy - The Flame Of The Solemnity".

Referring to the city Brecht in Belgium, this concert at the Kapel Oude Klooster took place during a tour by the Lisbon free improvising trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello and Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, joined by Dirk Serries on archtop guitar (New Wave of Jazz, Vidna Obama) for this impressively interactive 3-part improvisation.

Eight free improvisations from the German duo of Markus Reineke on contrabass, bass recorder, objects & electronics, and Jukka-Pekka Kervinen on electric guitar, violin, virtual bass clarinet & electronics, creating an unusual language that merges electronics with acoustic instrumentation in quirky yet natural ways, each track named impressionistically.

The working duo of Slovenian violinist Ana Kravanja and Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik present nine dialogs of freely improvised playing that draws on contemporary composition, using their primary instruments along with preparations, objects, frame drums, voice and ringing stones, a mood of tense mystery and wonder pervading their excellent and unusual discourse.

Both members of the Didier Lasserre Trio, French double bassist Jean Rougier and legendary French free free jazz multi-reedist Sylvain Guerineau performing on tenor sax & bass clarinet, distill their work into a duo formation for six innately lyrical free improvisations, a beautiful complement to Guerineau's 2022 duo album with double bassist Fred Marty, Parodies.

The cosmological concept of the aeon, the conflict between matter and spirit, is explored in eight "Chronicles" of collective free improvisation using impressive technique and concentrative interaction from the Portuguese quartet of Flak on acoustic guitar, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet and Ernesto Rodrigues on violin.

Spanish pianist based in NYC Eva Novoa has since 2017 led this international but definitely NY-oriented piano trio of Japanese bassist based in NY Masa Kamaguchi and drummer Gerald Cleaver, here in her first album on 577, her sixth as a leader, presenting eight Novoa compositions of restlessly probing, dynamically interactive and inherently melodic free improvisation.

The 20-year followup to their 2003 album on the Unsounds label titled Thermal, the trio of John Butcher on tenor & soprano saxophones, Andy Moor on guitar and Thomas Lehn on analogue synthesizer update listeners with their free and ea-improvising approach through five studio improvisations of incredible detail, technical & sonic mastery, and astute conversational skills.

The meeting of three masterful string and keyboard players--Craig Taborn on piano, Joelle Leandre on double bass and Mat Maneri on viola--a Transatlantic chamber jazz trio recording live at Theatre Antoine Vitez in Ivry-sur Seine, France in 2022 for seven sublime conversations of innovative and imaginative exchanges; absolutely magnificent!

Neha, the Slovakian word for tenderness, is expressed by composer Adrián Demoč in this lovely and gentle work performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra; and "Popínavá hudba", written for the international symphony orchestra for new music, Ostrava New Orchestra, referencing the growth of climbing plants through an alluring melodic line that shifts and spreads in direction.

Written for and performed by the UK ensemble Apartment House, composer & performer Magnus Granberg's latest work reduces his working size from the larger Skogen ensemble to this sextet, opening new possibilities for composed structures that incorporate improvisation, in a work structured around components from Schubert's Abendbilder and So in Love by Cole Porter.

A 6-CD box set in a magnetic snap case compiling double bassist Pascal Niggenkemper's musical journey between the years 2017-2022, in a variety of creative approaches improvising in acoustic and electroacoustic settings, from solo work through collaborations in trio, quartet and large ensembles; an absolutely magnificent presentation of his diverse work.

Commissioned by and recorded during the 2018 Ars Musical Festival, Fred Frith composed this work while under the inspiration of his residency at Lou Harrison's straw-bale house in the desert at Joshua Tree, CA, then performed with the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, along with two very unique improvisations, one recorded during the dress rehearsal and then again in concert.

Commissioned by and recorded during the 2018 Ars Musical Festival, Fred Frith composed this work while under the inspiration of his residency at Lou Harrison's straw-bale house in the desert at Joshua Tree, CA, then performed with the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, along with two very unique improvisations, one recorded during the dress rehearsal and then again in concert.

A beautifully recorded session at Germany's Club Lila Eule for Radio Bremen from 1969 by the Marion Brown Quartet, his touring band at the time with AACM legendary drummer Steve McCall and German double bassist Siggi Busch and trombonist Ed Kröger, performing eight solid free jazz pieces including "Ode to Coltrane" and "Juba Lee"; a spectacular addition to Brown's discography.

Seven forays into dark experimental electroacoustic improvisation from electric bassist and Tour de Bras label-leader Éric Normand and French clarinetist Xavier Charles, leveraging unlikely techniques on both instruments, eight dialogs both assertive and cautiously mysterious, employing harmonic overtones, remarkable reed techniques, and rich electronic foundations.

With a booklet of images showing the riverside location of the first performances of French guitarist Marc Ducret's sophisticated compositions reflecting tidal river flows & fluctuations by season, the four meticulous recordings on this album were captured in the studio with Fabrice Martinez on trumpet, flugelhorn & tuba, Christophe Monniot on saxophones and Samuel Blaser on trombone.

A brutal and complex concert of processed sopranino saxophone, electric guitar and electronics from the long-running Italian quartet Melting Mind of Virginia Genta, Michele Mazzani, David Vanzan and Matteo Poggi, recorded during a 2019 tour of France at Grnd Zero in Lyon, a 33 minute performance of thick noise & feedback layered with inexplicable detail.

Following an exploration of the double bass in his 2018 Confront release Basse Seul, Swiss-French composer and saxophonist Bertrand Denzler again jumps into the deep end again with a quartet of accomplished double basssists--Sebastien Beliah, Jon Heilbron, Mike Majkowski, Derek Shirley--for two extended works of encompassing low-register tones.

During an artistic residency at the GMEA in Albi, France, composer & pianist Giovanni Di Domenico recorded with the trio of violinist Silvia Tarozzi and percussionist Emmannuel Holterbach performing on a large frame drum, completing the piece into this mysteriously insinuating and lovely triptych where sparse melodies emerge & submerge into a multidimensional expanse.

Wandelweiser founder and composer Antoine Beuguer and French composer Anastassis Philippakopoulos in a work for voice (Philippakopoulos) and breath (Beuguer), employing spaces of silence against utterance and sibilant expression, a patiently developing work that floats by in deceptively simple ways, captivating through each articulation that seems perfectly placed.

Giving homage to creative musicians before them, the Berlin quintet of Koen Nutters (upright bas), Heather Frasch (flute), Carina Khorkhordina (trumpet), Han-earl Park (electric guitar) and Quentin Tolimieri (bass & soprano melodica)--explore the notion of integrating open improvisations around melody and modal harmonies into a post-musical, conceptual, and social framework.

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Continuity, Fragility, Resonance is an extended compositions by Jürg Frey orchestrated for an octet of a string quartet and a saxophone quartet, here recorded after the 2021 premier of the work in a 2022 3-day recording session in Bern, Switzlerland in the presence of the composer at the Auditorium of Zentrum Paul Klee; gorgeous and delicate.

Composer & clarinetist based in Heerlen, Netherlands, Germaine Sijstermans, in a collaborative work with fellow Dutch composers and performers, Reinier van Houdt performing primarily on Indian harmonium and Koen Nutters on harmona organ, both employing field recordings, tapes, objects and sine waves in this peacefully meditative 2022 concert at Savelberg Chapel.

An investigation into the depths of the body's neurological frontier from Swedish electronic artist Joakim Forsgren, presenting a series of intuitive compositions drawing from the latest medical research on how light and sound at specific frequencies has a potential to affect bodily functions, using analog synthesizers to create retro-rhythmic environments of flowing sound.

Four unusual studio recordings of voice, electronics, double bass, drums & percussion from the trio of Netherland vocal improviser Jaap Blonk with bassist Damon Smith and drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Moses and Blonk collaborating on the concrete poem that makes up "liner notes" for this wonderfully odd and sophisticated album of avant free improv.

Understated and enigmatic, the work of Northern Italian sound artist Edoardo Cammisa, aka Banished Pills, presents a very short work on decay, and then two expanded sound works composed from synthesisers, spring reverb, microphones, field recordings, no-input mixing, organ & sampler; the environments are murky but with movement, and engaging in their dark evening ambiance.

Referencing the traditional dance of Salento named for the tarantula, this Italian 9-piece improvising ensemble spent several days developing the unique orchestration, melodies and themes of these eight pieces, recorded after the OSIMU festival held in Taviano, using an acousmatic recording device to optimize the details of their insightful and often biting conversations.

Two encompassing and tranquil works of sound from French composer Bruno Duplant, the album title translating to Ageless Landscapes as Duplant envisions two terrains through slow motion tones, piano and synthetics, evocatively described in an accompanying poem that conjures expansive fog, blurred trees, hawks slowly spiraling, a history in a hillside.

Translating to League of Shadows, Swiss composer Jürg Frey's sublime twilight compositions for solo piano are performed by Dutch pianist Reinier van Houdt, presenting seven of Frey's works written from 1984-2018, including one previously unreleased composition, in all 20 movements spread over 3 CDs ranging in time from 1:47 to 40:34, a significant addition to both musician's oeuvres.

The core duo of Danish trance/noise artists, guitarist Lars Bech Pilgaard also on organelle & driftbox, and drummer Anders Bach, also on plumbutter (a drum and drama machine) join with Acid Mother's Temple modular synth wizard Ichiraku Yoshimitsu, aka Dora Video, for eight impressive works of free-form rhythm and sound, sonic collage with far-ranging influences.

A remarkable concert as part of reedist Udo Schindler's LowToneStudies, referred to as "acoustronic" for the transformational aspects of each instrumentalist's playing, deceivingly electronic sounding despite being fully acoustic, captured live at Kulturschranne Dachau from the trio of Schindler, Gunnar Geisse on laptop guitar and Sebastian Gramss on double bass.

On the last day of the 2021 Spontaneous Music Festival at the Dragon Club in Poznań, Poland, the trio of Berlin trombonist Matthias Muller was joined by younger generation Polish guitarist Pawel Doskocz on prepared electric guitar and fellow Berlin drummer and electroacoustic improviser Emilio Gordoa for these two extended sonic adventures recorded in near-darkness.

Experimental chamber music from the German trio of Udo Schindler on tenor saxophone, bass saxophone & cornet, Eric Zwang Eriksson on percussion and Sebastiano Tramontana on trombone & voice, performing at BASIS_Klangraum in MUCCA, Munich, the title translating to "singing without words" from the poetry cycle "Il taccuino del vecchio" by Guiseppe Ungaretti.

Reedist Udo Schindler continues his exploration into the double bass and low-tone reed instruments, here on bass & contrabass clarinets contrasted only with his soprano saxophone, in a 2022 live recording from MUCCA_Kommandozentrate in Munich of the five-part improvisation "Hybride Synergetic" in a trio with double bassists Peter Jacquemyn and Georg Karger.

The solo debut album from Dutch composer & clarinetist Germaine Sijstermans: seven recent contemplative works in a Wandelweiser vein, composed between 2017-2019 and performed with six exemplary and complementary performers: Antoine Beuger (concert flute), Rishin Singh (trombone), Johnny Chang (viola), Fredrik Rasten (guitar, ebow), and Leo Svirsky (accordion).

Delicately caustic interactions of reeds, piano and percussion using the natural resonance of the Borlunda Church in Eslöv, Sweden, from the freely improvising duo of Martin Küchen and Sophie Agnel, Küchen adding electronics and Agnel performing inside and out of the piano while supplementing her palette with objects, both using space and patience as their allies.

A collection of six duo recordings from musician, composer, and improviser Peter Soderberg, investigating different tuning systems and the idea of hybrid instruments, recording with Katt Hernandez (violin), Stina Hellberg Agback (harp), Mats Persson (clavichord), Sten Sandell (piano), My Hellgren (cello) and Vilhelm Bromander (contrabass).

Continuing his imaginative approach to percussion, Barcelona improviser Vasco Trilla's sixth solo album sees him expanding his rhythmic and tonal range through a fascinating collection of instruments, including bowed Russian flat bells, electrified music boxes, a zither processed through snare drums as resonators, Iranian round bells mixed with gamelan strips, &c.

The second of two volumes from the quartet of John Dikeman on tenor saxophone, Pat Thomas on piano, John Edwards on bass and Steve Noble on drums, bringing the American saxophonist working throughout Europe together with this nearly telepathic collaborative grouping of UK frequent collaborators, captured in concert at Cafe OTO in 2019 for two absorbing improvisations.

While both improvisers were in New York City for the 2019 Vision Festival, multi-reedist and European Free Improv legend Peter Brötzmann met Chicago cellist and electronics artist Fred Lonberg-Holm to record their 3rd album together, their 1st album in the studio a diverse set of incredible concentration, with Brötzmann performing on tenor saxophone, woodwind, and clarinet.

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.

Sometimes frenetic, always exhilarating duo work between Portugese electric guitarist Antonio Chapparreiro and drummer/percussionist Pedro Alcada, succinct tracks, some as short as 36 seconds, where the two spar and unite over angular rhythms and abrupt changes, with a twisted sense of humor and a wealth of adventurous spirit.

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 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.

Guitarist and composer Scott Fields presents the 3rd installment of his Beckett Trilogy, based on the writings of Irish novelist and poet Samuel Barclay Beckett (1906-1989), whose ironic black comedies Fields characterizes musically in instrumental compositions performed by his quartet with cellist Scott Roller, drummer Domnik Mahnig, and saxophonist Matthias Schubert.

The third volume in this free improvising series, starting with the collaboration of Polish violinist Patryk Zakrocki and guitarist Marcin Olak, varying the additional players as they explore chamber-oriented free improvisation, here with the impressive vocal improvisation of Anna Gadt and cellist Annemie Osborne, ripping apart the calendar in 14 monthly machinations.

An extended improvisation for acoustic instrumentation and voice using unusual and extended techniques, from the Russian trio of Alexey Sysoev on piano, Vladimir Gorlinsky on guitar & voice, and Christian Müller on clarinet, recorded at the Cultural Centre DOM in Moscow in 2019, cycling patiently from quietly expressive sections to chamber-oriented brightly active moments.

Two CDs representing two extended improvisations of the IKB Ensemble with slightly different personnel, with each ensemble slowly unfolding an amazingly textured work of acoustics and electronics with strong intent and incredible technique, balanced by close listening and attention to detail; an excellent 21st century improvisation orchestra captured live.

The Hamburg-based performing quartet of Lorena Izquierdo on free improvised voice, Aziz Lewandowski on cello & voice, Kris Kuldkepp on double bass and Felix Mayer on trombone are heard in these eight studio recordings of quietly creepy conversation, generally slow motion and reflectively introspective work that occasionally rises in throttled crescendo.

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A diverse set of conversations between Austrian improvisers, drummer/percussionist Fredi Pröll (Trio Now!, Lull) and free vocalist Mara Kolibri, recording in the studio for seven concise and far-ranging dialogs, from cantankerous interactions to controlled incoherence of absurdly implied vocalization punctuated with creative percussive reaction, often returning to lyrical jazz-influenced moments.

A half composed, half improvised album for solo electric guitar from composer and improviser Justin Lepany, known for his work with musicians like Sven-Ake Johansson and his composition "Ringing Peace" premiered during the 2014 Peace Nobel Prize ceremony: three diverse pieces using effects to create both density and spacious sonic fields.

Isotropy - having a physical property which has the same value when measured in different directions - is the collaboration between the Lisbon String Trio of Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Miguel Mira (cello) and Alvaro Rosso (double bass) with Luis Lopes, here on acoustic guitar, in a 2 part extended improvisation recorded live at the 2020 Small Format Materials Festiva.