The 25th Book of Angels, performing Zorn's lyrical Masada compositions, is the 2nd B.O.A. release from the a cappella vocal quartet Mycale, using a variety of texts in Portuguese, Berber, Hebrew, French and Spanish to fashion lush harmonies and strong rhythmic drive.

Composer Jason Eckardt presents "Subject", a work that confronts "enhanced interrogation" techniques using sound and light, plus other works including a 6 part piece about glossolalia ("Tongues"), performed by JACK, ICE, and the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble.

For more than 15 years multi-reedist, wind and trumpet player Daniel Carter and drummer Federico Ughi have collaborated in live performance and on record, here showing the results of their work in this duo album, the vinyl edition of their exceptional 2013 CD release that shows their melodic and technical sides, their jazz roots, and their warm camaraderie.

Patrick McGinley (Murmer) in a series of bold experiments with untreated field recordings, exploring notions of musicality within the structures of found sound, written partially as a reaction against the idea of documentary or objective presentation of found sound.

Jason Kahn uses feedback and electronic noise to create a large work created from static, hiss, and unusual electronic sound, dynamic and ever-shifting aspects of both lovely and aberrant electronics, captivating in ever-shifting sounds that inform but do not overwhelm.

The trio of trumpeter Peter Evans, electric bassist Tim Dahl, and drummer/percussionist Mike Pride have played together since 2010, crossing the boundaries of improvisation, composition and rock in dynamic genre-defying music intended to be played loud.

The first solo electronics and percussion album by radical and legendary British improvisor Paul Lytton since 1979, recorded in the studio in Germany, and using a wealth of homemade instruments, laptop, percussive devices, objects, and electro-mechanical devices.

NY baritone saxophonist Charles Evans wrote this through-composed 9 part work for soprano saxophone great David Liebman, who joins Evans in a quartet with pianist Ron Stabinsky and bassist Tony Marino, performing a chamber jazz work of strong melody and subtle allure.

In celebration of his 60th birthday Zorn asked his most acclaimed vocal collaborators to write lyrics to select compositions from his vast musical catalog, first released as a 7" box set, and now here in red velvet covered CD package from a live performance in NYC, 2015.

CalArts Chamber Ensemble performs this large work from composer David Ronsemboom, a whispered chamber opera/concerto grosso for six instrumentalists, whispering voices, electronics and interactive computer software.

Originally released on LP for Record Store Day 2015, this is an unissued Sun Ra concert from Amiens, France in 1973 with a 19-piece Arkestra performing live at Maison de la Culture, a good quality capture of this intense, ritualistic and visceral concert from the band's prime.

Jamie Newton works with sound using guitar, keyboards, field recordings, processing, and Kyoto croquet, here in a contemplative set of works merging drone and thick noise with indistinct rhythms and layers of concrete sounds.

Tonewheel organ meditations along with feedback and sound forms using processed guitar, keyboards and field recordings from sound artist Jamie Newton, 2 slowly evolving tonal works sandwiching three more turbulent pieces in a journey of drone, noise and reflection.

Composer Per Bloland blends custom built electronics with instrumental textures to create unique soundscapes, presenting 5 works performed by Ecce Ensemble Chamber Industrial in a release of vigorous electroacoustic and instrumental compositions.

A beautifully paced and uniquely voiced album of electronic soundscapes from luminary New York performer Ikue Mori, 10 works including a realization of Izumi Kyoka's story "Koya Hijuri", 3 pieces for Mozu birds, the 2-part "Pomegranate Seeds", and one of Zorn's Masada compositions.

Tzadik's series reinterpreting John Zorn's Masada compositions releases the 24th "Book of Angels", performed by Klezmerson, a Mexico-based ensemble led by violist & composer Benjamin Shwartz, who founded the group in 2003 to integrate music from a Mexican standpoint.

Using "recordings" and "devices", this is the first release from the long-standing collaboration of Eric La Casa and Taku Umani, 15 untitled tracks of curious and subtly discursive sound work recorded in a diverse set of locations.

Balancing active organized sound worlds from Graham Lambkin with Wandelweiser discretion from Michael Pisaro-Liu in five tracks that punctuate concrete sound compositions with Feldman-esque piano progressions, bound together by a short poem; captivating and elusive.

A collection of 8 synth-driven ambient cosmic voyages from Romannis Motte using Roland JX8P, Roland RS-5, Alexis QS7, Alexis Micron, Korg PE1000, Crumar DS-2, iPad running NanoStudio, Korg iMS20, 0-iPolySix, Access Virus A.

NY trumpeter Amir ElSaffar's Two Rivers Ensemble, exploring the juncture between jazz and music of the Middle East through sophisticated and lyrically stunning music, here focusing on revolution, civil war, and sectarian violence; a culture's struggle for survival.

Henry Threadgill's new epic work in four movements written specifically to feature each of the musicians in Zooid: "Ceroepic" for Elliott Kavee (drums), "Dosepic" for Christopher Hoffman (cello), "Tresepic" for Jose Davila (trombone & tuba), and "Unoepic" for Liberty Ellman (guitar).

Composer and alto saxophonist Steve Coleman in a superb modern jazz album, written by applying characteristics of human synovial joints to compositional process, and using "camouflage orchestration" to orchestrate players into the fore-, middle- and background.

Digital sound processing oscillating through a variety of media saturated sources including electronic billboards, kiosk stations, traffic control devices and other city environments, knotted into sculptural arpeggiation by sound artists Nickolas Mohanna.

Chronicling 30+ years of New York bassist Michael Bisio's life as a composer in song form and otherwise, in a quartet with Art Bailey on accordion, Kirk Knuffke on cornet, and Michael Wimberly on drums, balancing freedom and swing in a euphorically compelling album.

Live recordings from guitarist Joe Morris, performing solo at Bimhuis in Amsterdam in two Octobers from 2013 to 2014, showing remarkable technical and creative skills while captivating his audience with accessible progressions and story-telling; masterful!

The enduring sax and drum duo format is invigorated with US drummer Chris Corsano and Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen, who push each other in free improvisation that uses insanely great technique while delivering a passionate and ecstatic dialog.

Two passionate studio improvisations from saxophonist Matana Roberts, who lovingly dedicates the album to "those bard(s) of summer...the ideas herein of which I gleaned/interrogated/investigated/celebrated with you..."; subtle, rich, and inspiring.

Pedal Steel guitar innovator Susan Alcorn in a mostly solo release, beautifully performing 4 lush compositions by Astor Piazzolla, with bassist Michael Formanek joining for the Alcorn-penned "Suite for AHL".

Frequent collaborators, Matthew Shipp (piano) and Michael Bisio (bass) are joined by fellow Downtown New Yorker Mat Maneri on viola create what they refer to as a chamber ensemble, performing the 15 improvised and inspired chapters of Shipp & Bisio's "Gospel".

"Battle Pieces" was conceived as a background for an improviser, using linguistics, tape processes & aleatoric concepts to fashion an ever-shifting composition that supplies the soloist with information within the context of an ever-changing series of densities, velocities and silences.

Recordings of two German trumpeters--Birgit Uhler and Leonel Kaplan--both using extended techniques and modern instrumental language, splitting their recordings between the left and right channels for clarity in their fascinating and unconventional dialogs.

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.

Live recordings at the 2014 Vancouver International Jazz Festival from drummer Harris Eisenstadt's excellent and lyrical Golden State chamber jazz ensemble, here as a quartet with Michael Moore on clarinet, Sara Schoenbeck on bassoon, and Mark Dresser on bass.

The third in John Zorn's solo organ is performed live at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2013, performing with unusual sonorities, spectral experimentation, hypnotic moods and stirring melodies.

Eyal Maoz, James Ilgenfritz, and Lukas Ligeti make up Hypercolor, the NYC-based spastic jazz-rock hybrid whose ridiculous artsong craftsmanship alternately revels in complexity or brazen simplicity, favoring entropy and near-disaster over order or tidiness.

Guitarist Lundbom expands his Big Five Chord of Jon Irabagon (sax), Bryan Murray (sax), Moppa Elliott (bass) and Dan Monaghan (drums) to include Sam Kulik on trombone and Justin Wood (sax & flute) for a dynamic album of power jazz named after the prophet Jeremiah.

A new NY label from percussionist Carlo Costa in its 1st release, a quartet with Steve Swell on trombone, Sean ali on bass and Jonathan Moritz on sax, presenting an improvisational language that subsumes the individual players into a distinct group sound.

The fifth release from the international power trio of Dave Rempis (sax), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello & electronics) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) in a rewarding release of heavy grooves, offset by introspective soundscapes and moments of quiet beauty.

The free improvising quartet of Nate Wooley (trumpet), Dave Rempis (sax), Pascal Niggenkemper (bass), and Chris Corsano (drums), bridging ridiculously great technical skills with creative curiosity and forward thinking concepts for superb results.

David Thomas continues the Pere Ubu project with band members playing a mix of rock elements and synths, electronics and computers, adding alienation and oddity to this soundtrack to Herk Harvey's 1962 low-budget shocker "Carnival of Souls".

In celebration of his 60th Birthday, Zorn asked his most acclaimed vocal collaborators to write lyrics to select compositions from his vast musical catalog, peformed by an all-star band of Zorn regulars, presented in a beautiful box set of 7" records and a 32-page book.

Pianist, vibraphonist, and composer Karl Berger presents his 2nd release in a trilogy of Tzadik CDs that started with the solo "Strangely Familiar", here in a trio with Joe Fonda on bass and Harvey Sorgen on drums, lyrical free bop jazz in 7 rich and distinctive movements.

A compendium of compositions and improvisations from 2009-13 by undersea acoustician and audio engineer A.F. Jones, who uses stringed instruments and analog devices, hand-crafted and found, in works that emphasize structural components such as timbre, tone, or attack over form.

Chicago cellist and composer Tomeka Reid was commissioned to create original music for the first documentary of the Imagists, mid 60's Chicago post-surrealists artists who exhibited together; Reid reworked the music into a fully realized suite for this CD release.

Three bassists converged on WNUR Studios, in Evanston, Illinois in 1998 to record these tracks, finally released after 16 years: 5 freely improvised trio sessions, 6 miniatures suggested by Kowald and performed by the trio, and 6 duos between Kowald and Lonberg-Holm.

A solo electric guitar soundtrack to James Nares' film "Street" performed by Thurston Moore, freely improvising in a dynamic and impressive performance recorded live at the Rubloff Auditorium at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.

Inspired by the Gnostic philosophies of the Nag Hammadi library, Zorn invokes the mystical journey of the soul through the bardo as a tribute to the passing of Lou Reed, presented by his Gnostic Trio of Bill Frisell, Kenny Wollesen, and Carol Emanuel, plus guests.

Rasa Rasa members Kenny Wollesen, Dalius Naujo, Jonathon Haffner and Sean Francis Conway present the ancient polyphonic vocal music of Lithuania using a mix of ensembles, reviving the infectious grooves and ancient vocal rounds, aided by new instruments devised by Wollesen.

Flutist Leah Paul presents two engaging compositions in multiple movements, performed with a chamber ensemble of Chris Speed (reeds), Rob Jost (french horn), Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon), Peter Sachon (cello), Tanya Kalmanovitch (viola), Ben Kono (oboe) and Michel Gentile (flute).

Drummer Tyshawn Sorey's trio with bassist Christopher Tordine and pianist Cory Smythe in an album dedicated to Butch Morris and to his mother; intelligent and pensively restrained through-composed jazz influenced by modern composition as much as the history of the jazz trio.