Solo work from Portuguese guitarist Luis Lopes, showing a different side to his work with Humanization 4tet or his Noise Solo project, instead presenting a gentler and more romantic music marked by seductive playing with an unexpectedly tender appeal.

Superb 1st erstwhile 'pop' release as only an erstwhile artist could define the term: abstract lower case and perceptive songs with dual clarinets and guitar.

Free jazz saxophone and trumpet legend Joe McPhee explains that he considers Seattle his second home, performing regularly there since 1984; in 2010, after the passing of his own heroes, trumpeter Bill Dixon and saxophonist Fred Anderson, McPhee presented this tribute there as a solo "symphony" in a remarkable, heartfelt and absolutely impressive concert.

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

An amazing collection of concepts described in John Steven's manual "Search and Reflect" and recorded in workshops and concerts primarily in the 70s, with participants including Trevor Watts, Evan Parker, Paul Rutherfod, Ian Brighton, Nigel Coombes, John Russell, Lindsay Cooper, &c.

Guitarist Stephen O'Malley meets UK free improvising drummer Steve Noble in Philadelphia PA to record this mammoth duo of sound and drone guitar with active, deep drumming, a mesmerizing album of intense sound and rhythm.

US Composer Sarah Hennies wrote these pieces for vibraphone for Lenka Novosedlíková to be performed at the church in Kyjatice, Slovokia, a medieval building the two discovered while traveling, and that they challenged each to bring life to the building while respecting it's contemplative character and using the psychoacoustic dimensions of space.

Taking the reigns as composer, performer and bandleader, New York pianist Myra Melford's exceptional quintet Snowy Egret, with Ron Miles on cornet, Liberty Ellman on guitar, Stomu Takeishi on acoustic bass guitar, and Tyshawn Sorey on drums, present a brilliant album of creative jazz, with lyrical grooves and commanding soloing, a great and thoroughly modern album.

Composer Eliane Radigue's "Jouet Electronique" (1967) for feedback on magnetic tape and "Elemental I" (1968) for feedback of natural sounds on magnetic tape, recorded at Pierre Henry's Studio Apsome; "Jouet Electronique" applies studio modifications to feedback from microphones and speakers; "Elemental I" explores recordings of water, fire, air and earth.

The first studio release after a series of live albums, the duo of Chris Corsano (drums) and Bill Orcutt (guitar), are heard recording in Brussells for 12 fierce, technically excellent, and powerfully fervent instrumentals as the two change up direction and intensity in a wealth of creative impulses played with exuberant enthusiasm on a wild ride.

Covering the period of 1966-1990 of French Acousmatic composer and electronic music pioneer Bernard Parmegiani, this 1st volume of "Memoire Magnetique" presents never-released commercial and secret music, 17 short but intensely creative compositions that reveal a wealth of compositional strategies composed for film and performance.

Recorded during a rare visit to London in 2005 after the 2004 Coimbra Jazz Fest, the late Afro-Danish saxophonist, associated with Albert Ayler John Coltrane, Archie Shepp and Don Cherry, performs with orchestral strings alongside guitarist John Coxon, trumpeter/percussionist Ashley Wales, and drummer Mark Sanders; exotic, beautiful and unexpected.

The 2nd About Group album replaces drummer Charles Hayward with Rupert Clervaux, alongside Susumu Mukai on bass, John Coxon on electric guitar, Pat Thomas on piano & synth, and Alexis Taylor on synth & electric piano, using Coxon's simple and insistent guitar themes as a foundation for four extended group compositions containing a surprising collision of sounds and influences.

18 never-released recordings by French electro-acoustic composer Francois Bayle including the title track, an "imaginary" soundtrack, and a piece for Bernard Parmegiani, released on the 60th anniversary of Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM), which joined with Institut National de l'Audiovisuel in 1975 to create INA-GRM, with Bayle at the head of the record label.

The second album from the duo of pianist Chris Abrahams (The Necks) and clarinetist Kai Fagaschinski (The Magic I.D., Interational Nothing) has the duo decelerating for an intimate examination of tone and harmonics through perfectly placed notes and subtly extreme technique, creating sublime sonic environments that hover and dissolve; beautiful.

Zorn's take on Christmas with his Dreamers (Marc Ribot, Kenny Wollesen, Joey Baron, Jamie Saft, Trevor Dunn, Cyro Baptista, with guest vocalist Mike Patton) performing 7 of Zorn's favorite Christmas songs along with 2 originals.

Reedist Peter Brotzmann and guitarist Heather Lee has been one of Brotzmann's most current active collaborations, performing together for several years, here recorded beautifully in the studio for a 6-track LP and 10-track CD of sympathetic, emotional and articulate dialog from two musicians with an innate sense of timing and give and take borne from mutual experience.

Accompanied by Japanese master tabla player U-zhaan, the 3rd album from Australian guitarist and experimenter Oren Ambarchi and Chicago/NY/Japan musician Jim O'Rourke uses U-zhaan's warmly active rhythms as a platform for shifting sounds and resonant repetition, hypnotic and psychedelic as it draws the listener into wonderful swirls of sound.

Super heavy free jazz with a rock sensibility that also quotes and references the greats, including a track dedicated to Charles Mingus, from the Moscow trio of Dmitry Lapshin on double bass, Anton Ponomarev on saxophone, and Yaroslav Kurilo on drums, founded in 2008 but only now gaining global acknowledgement of their informed and ferocious brand of improv.

Naples tenor saxophonist Antonio Raia's album of solo saxophone improvisations employs a mix of traditional and unusual techniques in 12 concise pieces that fragment "scraps" of melody into a diverse ruminating streams, recorded at the city's Filangeri Asylum by sound artist Renato Fiorito, using ten microphones to capture the unique qualities of the space.

Two unconventional and experimenting improvisers--French-Japanese violist Frantz Loriot and Swiss percussionist Christian Wolfarth--in a deceptive album of acoustic improvisation that elusively takes on electric qualities in the hands of these two innovators, seducing the listener through unusual twists and turns of perfectly paced interactions.

Subjectivation is the new solo album from Swiss artist Antoine Chessex. Produced by Rekem Records and Fragment Factory, it features some of his most direct and developed work to date. Using material from solo live performances in San Fr...