Virtuosic French-based trombonist Mathias Forge and Brussels-based electroacoustic composer-turned improviser Olivier Toulemonde recording live in Sheffield, 2010.

Superb 1st erstwhile 'pop' release as only an erstwhile artist could define the term: abstract lower case and perceptive songs with dual clarinets creating harmonic interactions (Kai Fagaschinski & Michael Thieke, aka The International Nothing), guitar & voice from Margareth Kammerer and electronics & vocals from Christoph Kurzmann.

Four extended electroacoustic works from Berlin's inside pianist and mixing board artist Andrea Neumann and Baltimore's Bonnie Jones on electronics, minimal and edgy pieces of unusual and absorbing character.

Minimal improvisation using a meditative set of instruments including stone flute, small stones, and a "silent toy", from David Toop recording with Akio Suzuki on a rare trip to the UK.

Trio Sowari's second recording, subtle interactions using a wide palette of sound and approaches, mixing electronics and acoustics in amazing improvisation.

A reference to rays of sunlight that appear to radiate from a single point in the sky around dusk or dawn, as heard through a combination of acoustic guitar, objects and no-input mixing board.

"Karoujite" is a Japanese term translating to scarcely, describing the minimalist attitude that Chilean guitarist Cristian Alvear and Japanese percussionist Seijiro Murayama approach this hybrid of composed and improvised music, using a focus of repetitive structures with slight variation to create a hypnotic and entrancing set of music.

ist (The Improvising String Trio) of Rhodri Davies (harp), Simon H. Fell (bass) and Mark Wastell (violincello) performing at The Natural Music Club in London, 1997, using unorthodox techniques in indeterminate systems and free improvisation for fascinating results.

A collaboration between composer Michael Pisaro-Liu and AMM guitarist/improviser Keith Rowe, with each bringing scores which they improvised over, creating 13 discrete sections including samples from Shostakovich's 13th String Quartet, balancing activity, space and silence in patient ways that only two such experienced composer/improvisers could.

Re-issue of one of the earliest Confront releases, the trio of trumpeter Matt Davis, violinist Phil Durrant and cellist Mark Wastell performing subtle and sophisticated free improvisation at St. Michael's and All Angels church, Chiswick, London in 2000.

A split CD presenting contrasting aspects of 'Berlin reductionism': "Roananax 1999" - from the quartet of Axel Dorner, Robin Hayward, Annette Krebs and Andrea Neumann; and "Obliq 2014" from the current Berlin group of Pierre Borel, Hannes Lingens and Derek Shirley.

Sparse but detailed improvisational journeys from the long-running duo of saxophonist Philippe Lauzier and bassist/electronic artist Pierre-Yves Martel.

Saxophonist Marc Baron & bassist Loic Blairon recorded 6 improvisations and then recomposed and organized them into these two 30 minute works, one acoustic and one digital.

The intense lowercase trio of Creative Source label leader Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, percussionist Christian Wolfarth on cymbals, and Ricardo Guerreiro on interactive computer performing the 6 part "All About Mimi" in the studio.

Two recordings from the lowercase acoustic improvising trio of Portuguese players Ernesto Rodriduges on viola and Nuno Torres on alto saxophone and objects with Saint Petersburg alto saxophonist Ilia Belorukov, recording at Belorukov's Spina! label's studio, and again live at Vertikal' Gallery in Saint Petersburg in 2016.

"On "Pip", we get another fabulous performance, now by Norwegians Fredrik Rasten on guitar and Torstein Lavik Larsen on trumpet. Their acoustic music is minimal, repetitive, slow and with an eery intensity. It is less dark than some of...

Kevin Good organized this composition from four field recordings collected near Avon, CT, isolating sounds that he found interesting and then attempting to recreate them on other instruments, finally adding the human voice sparsely utilized throughout the piece, all to promote the idea of listeners actively paying attention to the sounds of their environment.

An album of patience and concentrated listening from the lowercase trio of David Area on electronics, Tomas Gris on guitar and objects, and Ernesto Rodrigues on harp and objects, each player subtly coaxing sounds out of their instruments while the electronics act as environmental ambience over which tones slowly voice, recede and occasionally punctuate.

Four solo saxophone improvisations, two on tenor and two on soprano, using remarkable technique and concentration from Swiss improviser Christian Kobi performing live in Tokyo and Osaka in 2017, plus a live quartet improvisation with flutist Wakana Ikeda, violinist Yoko Ikeda, and guitarist Taku Sugimoto for an open-approached performance of detailed, minimal improv.

Swiss composer and percussionist Cyril Bondi, recording with d'incise, renders his piece "euhesma" (a genus within the bee family in Australia), a work performed on indian harmonium, melodica, harmonica, pitch pipes, and electric organ that slowly introduces and overlaps tones, varying the pitch, harmony, and amplitude to create rich aural environments.

Aural Terrains label leader and electronic composer Thanos Chrysakis in a work in five movements based on field recordings, synthesized, and acoustic instrumental sounds.

The debut solo CD from in-demand pianist Kris Davis (Paradoxical Frog, Novela, Good Citizen, Anti-House), an absorbing and innovative album of original numbers and standards played inside and out of the piano.

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.

The affect of Carlos Santos' electronics and recordings are the foundation of this Portuguese quintet's improvisations, creating an environment over which Ernesto & Guilherme Rodrigues on viola & cello, Eduardo Chagas on trombone, and Andre Hencleeday add subtle gestures of unusual approaches to their instruments, in a mysterious album of lowercase improv.

A collection of guitar, electronic and voice pieces from Anne-James Chaton and Andy Moor, originally released as a series of four seven inch singles here combined into a single CD with 3 bonus tracks.

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.

This laptop trio create a dense and scurrying sound world of a surprising freeform nature that avoids cliches by combining sound-generation tools for ever-shifting results.

Written in 1963 for up to 15 peformers plus a conductor who may also make sound, Japanese composer and Fluxus artist Toshi Ichiyanagi's score has 16 pages marked with combinations of lines, dots and letters indicating duration, number of events, and moments of restraint, each player using a different page, with certain options of switching pages with another player during performance.

Recorded at the Galeria Monumental during the Small Format Materials II Festival, Sul is a large string-oriented ensemble led by Ernesto Rodrigues that includes percussionist Andrew Drury and double bassist Hernani Faustino, alongside Creative Sources core players, orchestrated with viola, violin, cello, double bass, classical guitar, zither, percussion and objects.

Creative Sources collective Isotope Ensemble led by Ernesto Rodrigues performed with a large electroacoustic group continues their investigation of isotopes, focusing on Lanthanum, a soft metal used in flints, through subtly-developing interplay the band, moving as one body, reaching several highly controlled periods of passionate improvisation, contrasting with beautifully serene sections; impressive.

Paying attention to tone, tension, space and silence, the trio of Carlo Costa on percussion, Joe Moffett on trumpet, and Dan Peck on tuba use extended and unusual techniques in a meditative and highly concentrative album of free improvisation, the first album from this trio whose attentive approach to improvisation rewards in unique sonic environments.

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.

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.

German violinist & composer Dietrich Petzold joins violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, Petzold also bringing along a viola, clavichord and bowed metal objects, as the three perform live at SKUC Gallery, in Ljubljana, Slovenia for the 6 improvisations that build from languid tonal environments to detailed, rapid improv, all with remarkable control and patience.

Featuring an x-rated insert in a puff-up brown paper package, Mr. Dorgon attacks with two electronic works and a harmonica solo from a live show on KFJC in California.

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 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.

A suite in seven parts named in Latin with abstract spiritual connotations from the Portuguese free improvising trio of Paulo Galao on clarinet & bass clarinet, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, and Nuno Morao on percussion, each movement using subdued yet detailed and active motion, a confident and adept meditation of powerfully controlled communion.

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.

While touring Europe in the autumn of 2017, Minami Saeki (voice), Wakana Ikeda (flute), Yoko Ikeda (viola), and Taku Sugimoto (guitar) visited Switzerland and met up with Swiss musicians Stefan Thut (cello) and Manfred Werder (glockenspiel & typewriter), recording these five minimal improvisations in a recording session at the concert venue Theater Delly.

Named for the city in which it was recorded, the trio of Karoline Leblanc on harpsichord, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, and Paulo J Ferreira Lopes on gongs & cymbals, is a mysterious and ritualistic album, Lopes' gongs slowly intoning as the strings use unusual techniques, much of the harpsichord played inside; a subtle and beautiful reflection of historic Montreal.

Recording live in Berlin at Werkhalle Wiesenburg, the quartet of Portuguese father/son string players Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Danish saxophonist Mia Dyberg on alto sax, and Polish double bassist Tomo Jacobson present a precisely controlled concert of subtly detailed free improvisation using impressive technique and momentum.

A composite of environmental sounds, electronics, and viola, recorded in Barcelona, Spain and Lisbon, Portugal from intrepid audio explorers Ferran Fages and Ernesto Rodrigues, the single long work taking the listener on a theoretical journey of transparent traffic, squealing wheels and indeterminate location, engrossing in its detail and the mystery it presents.

When the Zeitkratzer Ensemble was asked to perform a late ensemble work by John Cage, director Reinhold Friedl turned to composer Burkhard Schlothauer, who reworked one of Cage's Number Pieces to create this rich piece using Cage's methods; plus a composition for the dance piece "Bewegte Bauhausbilder"; and an octet commissioned for the Klangzeit-Festival Time Is On My Side.

Joing Portuguese and Spanish improvisers for four recordings in Bilbao, Spain, this sextet presents sound works using unusual orchestration--piano harp, viola, guitar, metals, electric organ, paper, contact mics, and electronics--balancing spacious exploration with assertive moments of percussive and caustic sound, evolving bold sonic and timbral combinations.

Recording at the 12th CreativeFest at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Portugal, the IKB ensemble is represented by 20 musicians for this performance, merging acoustic and electronic instruments including strings, brass, winds, self-made instruments, and percussion in a concert of intense constraint & patience, seething with detail and replete with consummate skill.

A fascinating confluence of improvisation and contemporary compositional approaches from this Spanish ensemble led by composer and drummer Nasim Lopez Palacios, using 5 reeds, trumpet, flute, piano, electric guitar, harp, double bass, drums and electronics in an extended work exploring space, tension and motion, with a beautiful build to catharsis.

The Lisbon String Trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Miguel Mira on cello, and Alvaro Rosso on contrabass continue their recent string of collaborations with a fourth player, Portuguese tuba player Gil Goncalves joining to addd a unique complement to their strings, as Goncalves adds bass, blats, growls and unique timbres of upper register low brass.

Guitarist Olaf Rupp recorded this trio session with violist Ernesto Rodrigues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, capturing five improvisations from around 8 minutes to 18 in length, the first three demonstrating intense interaction with an overall sense of restraint, closing with two more reflective works, a beautiful balance of reductionist sensibility amid superb technique.

Layered lowercase electroacoustic improv from the US / Mexico City / German trio of Chris Cogburn on percussion & electronics, Juan Garcia on double bass, and Ignaz Schick on turntables & electronics, eclectically informed by concrete sources and abstract electronics over Garcia's bass work and Cogburn's threshold-crossing acoustics & electronic percussion.

Layered lowercase electroacoustic improv from the US / Mexico City / German trio of Chris Cogburn on percussion & electronics, Juan Garcia on double bass, and Ignaz Schick on turntables & electronics, eclectically informed by concrete sources and abstract electronics over Garcia's bass work and Cogburn's threshold-crossing acoustics & electronic percussion.

An improvising string quartet with Creative Sources label leader Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, German violinist and violist Dietrich Petzold and German double bassist Jan Roder, recording in the studio in Berlin in 2018 for seven active improvisations with a chamber feel, each named by the letters making up the word "PICTURE".

Three musicians who are active members of the Lille-based collective Muzzix--Peter Orins on drums, Barbara Dang on grand piano, Sakina Abdou on saxophone & recorder--captured live at La Malterie, in Lille, France for two extended improvisations of minimalist conversation using extended techniques and unusual approaches to their instruments; fascinating.

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).

Belgian composer Pierre Gerard presents a work that examines what we see around us, and what sometimes remains invisible, in three dramatic minimal works of powerful tones and tension, silence and motion: the first is 'the mechanics', the second 'the structure of a rock on a high mountain', the third 'the distance between the elements in a small forest area'.

Extremely patient compositions for electronics, cello, guitar and tenor sax from French sound and visual artist Pierre Gerard: "Air" using recordings from his duo partner of tenor saxophonist Bertrand De Lamalle with long sections of silence; "Cavity" employs previously recorded guitar improvisations that interact with Gerard's live electronic improvisations.

Taking their project name as a concatenation of their personal names, appropriate to the close improvisational bond shared by the Spanish drum and sax duo of Nasim Lopez-Palacios and Pau Torres Serra, who present a unique and idiosyncratic language on their instruments to create an engaging set of dialogs through energetically controlled yet never chaotic interaction.

Two sets of profound composure and restraint, captured at a concert in Munich in May 2019 by Berlin improvising instrumentalists -- Werner Dafeldecker (double bass) and Lucio Capece (bass clarinet, slide saxophone, feedback and room amplification) -- invoking moods of Polwechsel through focused structures of intense precision of dense interaction.

The trio of Portuguese cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, Japanese percussionist Naoto Yamagish currently residing in France, and Japanese violinist Naoki Kita, active in improvisation and contemporary fields in Portugal and Berlin, met in Saitama, Japan at Barber Fuji to record these open conversations integrating extraneous noise and incidental instrumental sounds.

A live performances at CreativeFest 2018 in Lisbon from the electroacoustic quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Fred Marty on double bass, and Carlos Santos on electronics, the title translating to "On our footsteps in the light of day" as the improvisers merge strings and electronics through spirited and radiant playing.

A live performance at Casa da Cultura during the "Creative Sources Cycle" in 2020, capturing an extended acoustic improvisation between Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, and Miguel Mira on cello, using restrained approaches to deceptively detailed dialog of magnificent technique, as they sonically describe the Setúbal Inlet near Lisbon.

Acoustic and sublime minimal acoustic improvisation with an emphasis on strings from the Portuguese quintet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Miguel Almeida on acoustic guitar, Andre Lanca on electric guitar, Bernardo Alvares on double bass, and Felice Furioso on percussion, performing live during the Small Format Materials Festival at Galeria Monumental, in Lisbon.

The concept of a spiegel, or mirror, is explored by this perceptively patient electroacoustic octet led by violist Ernesto Rodrigues, each of the 3 tracks an evolution of the first recorded improvisation, the 2nd "Spiegel" layering and reacting to the first recording, and the 3rd to the previous two, ultimately reflecting a conversation of 24 virtual musicians.

Composer Andrew Lafkas' large ensemble piece with performers including C. Spencer Yah, Ron Stabinsky, Barry Weisblat, Sean Meehan, Ben Owen, &c. is a meditative work intended for live performance, this album the 2nd of 3 performances, a brooding and resonant rendering of rich and subtle detail that evolves over 70 minutes, carrying its listeners in a profound revery.

After twenty years playing together, the Sealed Knot trio of Burkhard Beins on amplified percussion, Rhodri Davies on amplified lap harp, and Mark Wastell on dual 32 past tam tams, gongs & nepalese singing bowls, performed live at Cafe OTO to record this beautifully captured, contemplative concert of tone, texture and ringing sound, like a 20-year dream reflected.

"An invitation into our perceptual periphery, where noise(s) — and perhaps we — can be somewhat disobedient" read the liner notes to Colombian composer Sergio Cote Barco's sound work, three compositions from extreme minimalism and silence to rich sound, each varying the topography and envelopes of sound, ostensibly performed by "electronic music".

The trio of Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet & alto sax, Abdul Moimeme on prepared electric guitar & objects, and Carlos Santos on electronics & objects performed this confrontational improvisation at the 2020 Small Formats Materials Festival, weaving acoustic and electronic expression with assertive confidence, affirming reductionist approaches as commanding statements.

Stockholm composer Magnus Granberg's first visit to Japan was to perform at the 2019 Ftarri Festival, adapting his extended and subtle work "Come Down to Earth Where Sorrow Dwelleth", originally composed for the Boston ensemble Ordinary Affects, here reworked for sho, koto, prepared piano and electronics performed by Ko Ishikawa, Miki Maruta and Toshimaru Nakamura.

The 8-piece String Theory ensemble directed by violist Ernesto Rodrigues performs a beautiful and subtle work inspired by a poem written by Rodrigues, "Une Ombre Du Bonheur", realized through viola, violin, cellos, viola de gamba, double bass, piano, zither and objects, a stunningly beautiful and deceptively tranquil work of exceptional detail and dexterous execution.

Existing between composition and free improvisation, this Norwegian quartet of Torstein Lavik Larsen on trumpet, Adrian Myhr on double bass, Fredrik Rasten on acoustic guitar, and Jan Martin Gismervik on drums & percussion are informed by minimal composed, folk and improvised musics, applying unusual technique and methodology to create beautiful textural and impressionistic sound.

Bringing together Lisbon artists active in contemporary classical, electroacoustic soundscape and improvisation, the quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Joana Sa on soprano saxophone, Luisa Goncalves on piano and Carlos Santos on electronics delicately "Melt" or merge these elements in a subtle and absorbing concert captured live at Lisboa Incomun.

Post-pandemic, the electroacoustic IKB ensemble returned to the stage in 2021 at O'Culto da Ajuda in Lisbon with some of Portugal's finest improvisers performing under the direction of violist Ernetso Rodrigues, to express in sound the large rainforest beetle Titanus Giganteus, represented in an extended collective improvisation of restraint fueled by masterful and creative skill.

Two extended acoustic improvisations of reductionist approaches recorded in the studio in Parede, Portugal in 2021 from the quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Bruno Parrinha on bass clarinet, Andre Hencleeday on piano and Joao Valinho on percussion, guided by a poem from Rodrigues as they slowly and exquisitly explore a "Closed Window" and an "Open Window".

The French Lunar Error Ensemble employ acoustic and electric instruments including reeds, piano, percussion, electric guitars, synth & computers to create complex drone and sonic environments, here performing Jean-Luc Guionnet's work for micro-variations and harmonic interference, a slowly building and massive work recorded in the resonance of the Protestant temple, in Reims.

A double CD compilation released to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the electro-acoustic improv space E42.A8 based in Tournai, Belgium, featuring 21 musicians, in varying ensembles, from 2 to 9 people, presenting an eclectic and diverse mix of styles and approaches to experimental music through textures, rhythm, and indescribable sound sources; fascinating.

A slyly disruptive set of minimalist compositions from New York electronic artist Dominic Coles, recounting six dreams, each described in the liner notes, by using the voice to drive various forms of synthesis on computer and through circuitry, a curious and surprisingly detailed retelling through unexpected tone, punctuation, confrontation and silence.

Two strings, sax, bass and percussion from the free improvising chamber jazz quintet of Mia Dyberg on alto saxophone, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello, Johan Moir on double bass and Jose Oliveira on percussion, in an interactive and dynamic live performance recorded in 2018 during the CreativeFest XII at O'Culto da Ajuda, in Lisbon, Portugal.

Four improvisations recorded iteratively during the pandemic and assembled into this exquisitely subtle two-part composition with Eva Maria Houben's piano & organ recorded in Berlin in 2020, Guilherme Rodrigues's cello recorded in Berlin and Ernesto Rodrigues's zither recorded in Lisbon in 2021, merged with nocturnal recordings from Carlos Santos captured in Spain & Portugal.

Six "Segments" A to F of powerful restraint and extended technique, recorded at Ausland in Berlin, Germany from the free improvising quartet of Quentin Tolimieri on piano, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, Guilherme Rodrigues on cello and Fyodor Stepanov on double bass, the close associations between the Rodrigues' and Tolimieri & Stepanov evident through their shared aesthetic.

A reductionist set of spartan improvisation performed live at Casa da Cultura, in Setubal, Portugal in 2021 from the trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, João Silva on trumpet and Andre Hencleeday on piano, applying extended techniques on their instruments in a dark night, quiet but intently close listening conversation from three authoritative voices.

Reissuing their limited 2014 release on Joachim Nordwall Editions, the Oceans Of Silver & Blood duo of Joachim Nordwall on analog synthesizer, effects & tape and percussionist Mark Wastell on tam tam and timpani present two pieces, the first an environmental work underpinned by subtle percussion, the second a richly resonating work of threatening warmth.

Using harmonic intersections and extraneous sonic emanations from two clarinets, the duo of Kai Fagaschinski and Michael Thieke (also of The Magic I.D.) continue their long-standing International Nothing project of composed works through patient interactions of powerfully focused technique, here in their fifth album presenting a 42-minute work of delicate, dark beauty.

Creative Sources regulars Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Abdul Moimeme on electric guitar join the long-running duo of alto saxophonist Ilia Belorukov and electronics artist and Mikroton label-leader Kurt Liedwart to record these two lowercase electroacoustic improvisations, transmuting acoustic and electronic sound in both stark and subdued ways.

A subtle album of acoustic interaction recorded at Berlin's Noiseberg from the quartet of Miriam den Boer Salmon on violin, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola & zither, Fredrik Rasten on acoustic guitar, and Guilherme Rodrigues on cello & percussion, sounding almost electronic in their frictional technique and harmonic overtones, ebbing and flowing from active interaction to tranquil discourse.