A uniquely eccentric free improv album by Fred Frith on electric guitar and Lol Coxhill on soprano sax, originally released in 1983 on the French AAA label, the album assembles recordings from the "Musiques de Traverses" Festival 1981, 1978 concerts in Sainte Croix, in Poitiers, and at M.J.C. Aliénor D'Aquitaine in Limoges, plus additional material from 1999 in Munchen & London.

Working together many years in various formations--saxophonist Michel Doneda & drummer Roger Turner with John Russell; bassist Alexander Frangenheim & Turner in quartets with Pat Thomas or Phil Wachsman; Doneda & Frangenheim's own duo--this concert at Jazzatelier Ulrichsberg recorded during their European tour shows their incredible compatibility and seemingly telepathic conversations.

The trio of German pianist/composer Georg Graewe, guitarist Martin Siewert (Radian, Trapist, Also), and drummer Dieter Kern (DEK Trio, Bulbul, Fuckhead) bring together diverse attitudes in free improv from avant jazz to ea-/experimental approaches and bristling rock forms, sharing a unique collective voice with an oddly implied sense of humor and disconcertingly ingenious skill.

Five "Soleil Clandestin" soundscapes using abstract voice, guitar, electronics, field recordings & percussion from sound artists Bruno Duplant and Pierre Gerard, on the surface peaceful, minimal and using space and silence, but buried inside are disquieting additions through vocal abstractions placed in unusual position to the sound; curious and captivating.

The third album from the genre-merging quintet The End of of Sofia Jernberg (vocals), Kjetil Moster (clarinet and tenor saxophone), Mats Gustafsson (flutes, baritone saxophone and electronics), Anders Hana (baritone and bass guitar) and Borge Fjordheim (drums), an experimental song-based project influenced by avant rock, jazz and soundscape in seven nuanced pieces.

The third album from the genre-merging quintet The End of of Sofia Jernberg (vocals), Kjetil Moster (clarinet and tenor saxophone), Mats Gustafsson (flutes, baritone saxophone and electronics), Anders Hana (baritone and bass guitar) and Borge Fjordheim (drums), an experimental song-based project influenced by avant rock, jazz and soundscape in seven nuanced pieces.

Istanbul composer Turgut Ercetin (Daad artists-in-Berlin 2016 award winner) completed his doctorate studies at Stanford University, developing works engaged with issues of sound as sonic entities dealing with time and space, here in a string quartet performed by Arditti Quartet, and a work for voice and live electronics performed by Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgar.

Two works from French composer Luc Ferrari: "Music Promenade" (1964-69) an electroacoustic work for four stand-alone tape recorders presenting a series of colliding realistic sounds and sonic images; and "Unheimlich Schon" (1971), a quiet work of Musique concrete with spoken word--"How does a young woman breathe when thinking about something else?"

Translating to Paths of Light and Shadows, Argentine electronic composer Beatriz Ferreyra's 16-channel piece is inspired by astrophysics, the mystery of the pre-Big Bang era and uncanny motions of the unconscious mind; a major work of exploration through electronics and acoustic transformation, presented in two parts: "Abysmal Paths" and "Forgotten Paths".

Weasel Walter is the constant in the no-wave influenced free improvising band Flying Luttenbachers, formed in 1991 and on hiatus since 2007; Walter reassembled the concept in 2018 for a tour in France, then again in 2019 with this lineup of saxophonist Matt Nelson, guitarist Brandon Seabrook and bassist Tim Dahl, recording this startling, demanding and excellent album.

Three compositions from clarinetist and Wandelweiser peer Jurg Frey, performed by Luke Martin on electric guitar, Laura Cetilia on cello, J.P.A. Falzone on piano & vibraphone, Morgan Evans-Weiler on violin, and Jurg Frey himself on clarinet; beautifully reflective music indicating Frey's working method and his relationship with wide, quiet sound spaces.

Fred Frith's solo career started on the West Coast Ralph Records label, home of The Residents; Frith met Residents front man Hardy Fox in passing in 1991, making recordings on a Pacific beach using Fox's Walkman, which they brought to a multi-track studio to record the basis for an ultimately unreleased album, now revived decades later as Fox rediscovered this fascinating material.

Fred Frith's solo performances are amongst some of his most fascinating, and this live album at Ateliers Claus in Brussels, 2018 does not disappoint, Frith using every inch of his guitar and an arsenal of objects, in tandem with his masterful creative intent, to present an extended and fascinating journey in sound, remarkable in its breadth and bold inventive power.

A fierce display of raw free improvisation from a concert that closed the open-minded and essential New York City venue Tonic in 2007, from the the Full Blast trio of Peter Brotzmann on reeds, Marino Pliakas on electric bass, and Michael Wertmuller on drums, playing to a receptive and excited crowd, with Brotzmann speaking to the audience before the final burner.

A limited live album from German saxophonist Peter Brotzmann's long-running Full Blast trio with the precise and dynamic Swiss rhythm section of Marino Pliakas on electric bass and Michael Wertmuller on drums, captured at Audio Rebel, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016 as they tear through a tumultuous set of five burning improvisations of passionate playing.

Using guitars, violin, electronics, field recordings, abstract voice, and a "sound knife in the sand", Pierre Gerard recorded this set of 13 works in Liege, Belgium, and Wimereux, France, in 2019, using intuitive approaches to his minimalist electroacoustic compositions as he assembles his elements to convey human gesture and architectural form in sound.

A tremendous concert from the 1974, 105th NDR Jazzworkshop at the Funkhaus Hamburg from the influential free jazz ensemble Globe Unity Orchestra with a who's who of European Free Jazz players (Brotzmann, schoof, Parker, Rutherford, Bailey, Kowald, Bennink, Lovens, Schlippenbach, &c) in a Satirical Oratorio in seven parts with the NDR Choir, plus Schoof's "Kontraste Und Synthesen".

The centerpiece of composer Kevin Good's "Slow" series is this evening-length glockenspiel solo, performed by San Diego based glockenspiel player Michael Jones, the composition of slow, melodic fragments that are increasingly permeated by swathes of silence of increasing length, exploring how the expressivity of the melodies are perceived and framed by these silences.

Recorded in 1998 but sounding absolutely modern, exuberant and often explosively inspired, this live recording at Jazzclub Fasching in Stockholm brings the then 10-year collaboration of drummer Raymond Strid, pianist Sten Sandel and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson to ecstatic heights, bridging free jazz forms and rendering Coltranes "Afro Blues" with intense passion.

Merging contemporary and traditional instruments, including the spilapipa (a fipple flute), hardanger fiddle, the Bilgoraj suka (a vertical fiddle), alongside prepared piano, organ, trumpet, tuba, baritone sax & voice, Mats Gustafsson's ensemble merges folk, experimental forms, improv & free jazz in a conduction shaped by the participants; absolutely unique & fascinating.

A conduction of an absolutely impressive ensemble of free and ea- improvisers on a powerfully diverse journey, from Anna Högberg & Gustafsson on sax, Susana Santos Silva on trumpet, Per-Åke Holmlander on tuba, Hedvig Mollestad on guitar, Dieb13 on turntables, Christof Kurzmann on lloopp & voice, Massimo Pupillo on bass, Gert-Jan Prins on drums & electronics, and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad on drums.

A conduction of an absolutely impressive ensemble of free and ea- improvisers on a powerfully diverse journey, from Anna Högberg & Gustafsson on sax, Susana Santos Silva on trumpet, Per-Åke Holmlander on tuba, Hedvig Mollestad on guitar, Dieb13 on turntables, Christof Kurzmann on lloopp & voice, Massimo Pupillo on bass, Gert-Jan Prins on drums & electronics, and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad on drums.

Forming his NU Ensemble in 1997 to merge free-jazz, improv, noise and contemporary forms, Mats Gustafsson presented Hidros One for 9 improvisers, tape & conductor that same year, progressing over 25 years to this 9th conduction of the Hidros concept in his largest ensemble yet: 25 musicians in two 9-piece ensembles plus soloists, captured live at the 2022 Avant Art Festival in Warsaw, Poland.

Three compositions for solo guitar from Canadian composer Mark Hannesson performed in Saint-Petersburg by Russian guitarist Denis Sorokin and recorded by saxophonist and sound artist Ilia Belorukov; "Each Thing" and "If I Appear Comfortable" using space and a subtle development in extended works; "Triste" using progressions of distorted tones and decay.

Three solo piano works from three composers--Mark Hannesson, Dante Boon, and Anastassis Philippakopoulos--are performed by Dante Boon in this studio album recorded in Berlin; three extremely compatible works that prove to be quintessential examples of Wandelweiser minimalism finding melody, progression and abstraction in subtle and elusive ways; sublime.

"Undeclared" refers to a 2006 drone attack in Pakistan that struck a school, killing more than 80 civilians including 70 children, which took place on a day that was intended for a peace agreement; Hanneson pays homage to the victims by finding a sound for each of them, rendering the piece 3 times by himself via electronics, by Rene Holtkamp on guitar, and by Antoine Beuger on children's glockenspiel.

Joyfully assertive and somewhat twisted, the first of three improvisations on this live album at Wels Unlimited 2020 is the duo of Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik and drummer Didi Kern, starting at high speed then shifting to unusual approaches in a quirky dialog, made quirkier with Jaap Blonk adding wonderfully nonsensical vocalizations on the last two pieces.

Two works from Austrian pianist and composer Elisabeth Harnik sharing a subtle and complex aesthetic balancing acoustics & electronic instruments through extended approaches while accommodating composed and improvisation sections: Holding Up A Bridge commissioned by Viennese ensemble Studio Dan; and Superstructure performed by ALL Ears Area Ensemble.