"Volatile Models", the pairing of Dutch guitarist Henk Zwerver and bassist & percussionist Raoul van der Weide, also on crackle box, creating spontaneously unrestricted, sometimes irascible but always inspired and exuberant free improvisation, from moments of tension to explosive release, as heard in six dialogs performed live at Atelier 5, in Amsterdam in September, 2020.

Percussionist and sound artist Matt Weston incorporated Western notated scores, multidimensional graphic scores, implied notation, and aural scorers in addition to site-specific constructions to facilitate his instantaneous realization of this composition, which was mastered by Jason Lescalleet at Glistening Labs USA.

A chamber-oriented album of strings & piano improvisation released on cellist Raoul van der Weide's Casco label, in a quintet of Marta Warelis on piano, Jacob Plooij on violin, Raoul van der Weide on cello & percussion, Henk Zwerver on guitar, Jan Nijdam on double bass, recording in the studio for eight quick-witted, sophisticated and innately playful conversations.

"Scraps", or leftovers from the recording sessions of soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy and drummer/percussionist Andrea Centazzo, the same sessions that yielded the albums Clangs and Tao, with remastered studio and live sessions in Udine, Bologna and other cities in Italy, plus a live recording from an audio cassette with Kent Cart on bass at Teatro Lirico in Milano.

Drummer Gerald Cleaver continues his explorations in electronic music, taking his compositions of modular electronics, synthesis, FM tones, and muted drum machines into intricate and wide-ranging territory, compelling through the solid and natural rhythms he imparts to each piece, many of which are titled for musicians who have influenced him.

Drummer Gerald Cleaver continues his explorations in electronic music, taking his compositions of modular electronics, synthesis, FM tones, and muted drum machines into intricate and wide-ranging territory, compelling through the solid and natural rhythms he imparts to each piece, many of which are titled for musicians who have influenced him.

Reissuing clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre's 1963 Columbia album Free Fall, presenting trio performances with bassist Steve Swallow and pianist Paul Bley recorded after their 1961 European tour, along with duos between Giuffre and Swallow and several solo tracks from the clarinetist himself, propelling himself and his band into his sophisticated, risk-taking chamber jazz compositions.

Using Rosa Barba's cello and the celluloid of a film projector as an alternative bow to create rich drones, and Chad Taylor's drum kit along with his incredible prowess with a mbira, this NY duo create an incredible set of rhythmically active soundscapes that draws their listener into a wonderfully vivid and richly flowing improvisational world; stunning!

MINOR DAMAGE TO BOX. A 12-hour collection over 12 CDs of composer Anthony Braxton's Ghost Trance Music (GTM), a compositional system he developed with his superlative Tri-Centric Vocal Ensemble, GTM allowing the ensemble to generate a performance in real time in a mix of sung, spoken, and non-verbal utterances, with unpredictable and surprising results that reveal fascinating layers with each listen.

Led by tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and peformed by his Red Lily Quintet with Kirk Knuffke on cornet, William Parker on bass & gimbri, Christopher Hoffman on cello and Chad Taylor on drums & mbira, Lewis' work explores and reflects on the legacy of scientist George Washington Carver through 7 remarkable free jazz compositions.

Documenting the efforts by saxophonist and label leader Dave Rempis to continue his creative output during the pandemic, in a 2-CD set with solo pieces from weekly streamed performances at his practice space, alongside duo & trio performances from outdoor concerts including collaborators Tomeka Reid on cello, Joshua Abrams on bass, and Tim Daisy or Tyler Damon on drums.

The first recorded collaboration between guitarist Mark Shippy (U.S. Maple) and improvising violinist Alex Cunningham (Apathist!, Claire Rousay, Cunningham/Cameron/Smith), together taking their instruments into strangely tumultuous and often quickly shifting territory; sometimes ethereal, sometimes cantankerous, always captivating.

Concentrating the Teneleven quintet to a duo in the core of drummer Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, Koenji Hyakkei, Korekyojinn) and bassist & electronic device guru Mitsuru Nasuno (Altered States, Fushitsusha, Ground Zero), for eleven tracks of energetic interactive rock improvisations, alternating between "TdD" pieces of burning improvisations and introspective "Afterglows".

The first concentrated duo of two improvisers who have worked together in other groupings since 2006 from guitarist Joe Morris and double bassist Damon Smith, recording a set of five extended and technically stunning conversations, a mesh of texture and motion through charged creative drive, merging their strings among often inexplicable technique to create thrilling dialogs.

Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek) invited 41 drummer/percussionists including Tony Buck, Vasco Trilla, Tim Barnes, Greg Stuart, Cyril Bondi, &c. to take part in a project by recording a few short fills or phrases, which Zuydervelt used as "Lego Bricks" to build a series of short rhythmical collages, the results being 24 diverse and fascinating compositions.

The fifth album from Amsterdam avant rock band Plan Kruutntoone led by Hans Visser on guitar, banjo & voice, and drummer/percussionist Chris MŸller, is a diverse set of recording that bring a sense of isolation and introspection, including spoken word pieces with Samuel Beckett text fragments, and a string quartet composed by Hans Visser; unique and singular.

Inspired by Jeroen Diepenmaat's Xerox collage art book, "co//age co//py", sound artist Jos Smolders developed these tracks as a response through 9 brief works and one larger construction, intersecting voice, synth, sax, piano and field recordings in a mix of oddly and abruptly sliced sound offset with periods of beauty; a compellingly curious album.

Frond, aka Richard Bultitude, is a UK sound artist who creates rich soundscapes of guitar, synthetics, field recordings and other ethereal elements, the mix of live instrumentation over drone and ambient environments adding warmth and personality to beautifully crafted works, each exuding a sense of inner calm through innately melodic music replete with detail.

The electroacoustic duo of singer Andrea Silvia Giordano and drummer Nicholas Remondino, working with Pierre Bastien, E-cor Ensemble, Gianluca Verlingieri, Maria Dybbroe and Torstein Lavik Larsen, create uniquely motioned works of decay, deconstruction and destruction, percussion and voice weaving amid unusual sonic sources both abstract and rhythmic.

Prolific sound artist Francisco López, with more than 378 diverse works composed over 40 years, from nearly silent to overwhelming swells of sonic force, here in a set of eight pieces composed from different source materials, pieces and origins, using field recordings, synthetics and sources of mysterious origin, paced and placed in profound and breathtaking ways.

With the haunting impression of spiritual peacefulness and inner contemplation, Netherlands sound & experimental musician Matthijs Kouw blurs synthetic sound, field recordings and acousmatic sources into a reflection of his interest in Daoism and his visit to China's Wudang mountains, where he studied Chinese meditation and martial arts.

Six variations in Lithuanian sound artist and composer Gintas K's work composed during an art residency in MoKS (moks.ee), Estonia, each variation between 8 to 12 minutes long evolving interactions between granulated and continuously shifting computer generated sounds, thick electronics that leaves space amidst the synthetics to create digestible and intriguingly compelling works.

"Regering" signifies "Government", the title and track names derived from the works of B. Traven, in the first meeting between sound artist and composer Matrijn Comes and guitarist Lukas Simonis (AA Kismet, Coolhaven), in a dark album of subtle innuendo and detail, running the spectrum from nightmarish environments to hopeful glimmers; an impressive collaboration.

The first part of guitarist, sound artist and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Junnic's Fabula trilogy evokes dynamic and mercurial environments through intuitive approaches, altering and transforming components and source material in acousmatic ways over which acoustic instruments sometimes intone, the results warm and intriguing, implying melody and engaging the listener.

A "document of sonic purging" from New York sound artists Merche Blasco and Gryphon Rue, a combination of compositions and electroacoustic improvisation using an unusual collection of instruments--EMS Synthi AKS, modular synth chain, harmonium, voice, percussion and musical saw--applied through diverse approaches to create inspired landscapes and curious constructions.

After their duo album A Map of Guilt and many albums together under various Fire! groupings, Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and electronic artist Joachim Nordwall face off again for a limited 7" single: two simmering dialogs, remarkable counterpunches of rumbling synthetics, instrumental noise, pulsating bass tones, heavy breath and terrifying innuendo!

Using unusual techniques and a collection of instruments that include the standard Western instruments of cello and flute, along with guembri, sulittu, dilli kaval, bass xun, launeddas (mancosedda, tumbu), plus the application of objects against strings, the Italian duo of Antonio Bertoni & Stefano Leonardi engage in seven remarkable and assertive improvised duos.

Using the natural resonance of the Liepkalnis underground water reservoir in Vilnius, Lithuania, the Katarsis4 saxophone quartet of Arminas Bizys, Algirdas Janonis, Danielius Pancerovas and Kazimieras Jusinskas merge free improvisation, both melodic and of extended tetechniques, with composed forms and folk music, capturing this extended work of beguiling and powerful music.

While in a residency in 2018 at the Yokohama, Japan jazz club Bitches Brew, Lithuanian saxophonist Liudas Mockunas had the opportunity to perform in duos and trios with some of Japan's most famous improvising reed players--Kazutoki Umezu, Masayo Koketsu, Akira Sakata and Eiichi Hayashi--and also in a trio with Kazutoki Umezu and Otomo Yoshihide performing on electric guitar.

The first Wandering The Sound album in 2018 was the trio of Argentinian reedist Guillermo Gregorio, Spanish drummer Ramón López and Polish bassist Rafał Mazur, here extended to a quintet with pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura for a 2019 concert at Alchemia in Poland, a masterful example of free improv based on a poem by Ikkyu Sojun, a Zen master from the 15th century.

Spring/Summer issue of Canada's premiere new music magazine, including an 11-track CD of music from the artists covered in each issue, with articles: Sobey Art Award wubber Lou Shppard; a 30-page section exploring climate emergency through nine sound and music artists; Brooklyn-based composer and violist Tanya Kalmanovitch; Ashley Au; James Goddard; David Psutka; &c. &c!

Boston free improviser, composer, reed player and multi-instrumentalist PEK (David Peck) quadruples himself on this album with four continuous tracks of one PEK each playing many instruments, using a broad palette comprised of woodwinds, percussion, electronics, and strings, each recorded pass filling in space and playing counterpoint to previously recorded tracks.

In July 1968 trumpeter Don Cherry assembled a group of Swedish musicians--Bernt Rosengren (sax & winds), Tommy Koverhult (saxophone & winds), Leif Wennerström (drums), Torbjörn Hultcrantz (bass), Jacques Thollot (drums) & Kent Carter (bass)--recording their session with the intention of releasing an album that never happened, the tapes now re-discovered 50 years later and finally available!

A reissue of pianist Lowell Davidson's 1965 ESP trio release with percussionist Milford Graves and bassist Gary Peacock, Davidson's only studio recording with a fascinating display of out riffs and progressions in a Cecil Taylor mode, propelled by a fantastic rhythm section, making this album both a document and a profound example of new directions in improvisation.

This forward-thinking Dutch quintet led by percussionist Pierre Courbois released this album in 1968, recording their percussion-centric and enthusiastic collective free jazz at the farm of vibraphonist Erwin Sommer, with trumpeter Boy Raaymakers, saxophonist Peter Van Der Locht and bassist Ferdinand Rikker'; a passionately joyful and impressive example of European Free Jazz.

One of the original innovators in electroacoustic improvisastion, the Italy-based group Musica Elettronica Viva with the core of Alvin Curran, Fredrick Rzewski, and Richard Teitelbaum are heard live at the Academy of Arts, in Berlin, Germany, on October 5th, 1967 in a sextet format using contact mics, electronics, trumpet, amplified gas plate, moog, voice and saxophone.

Elliott Sharp's fifth compilation bringing a diverse and global view on modern solo guitar work continues the series on a new record label and with the same exceptional ear for superb musicians, here including Anthony Pirog, David Watson, Liberty Ellman, Matteo Liberatore, Mike Baggetta, Chris Vine, Craig Green, Jerome Harris, Philip L'Epee, Will Bernard, &c.

The debut of the advanced and innovative collaboration between improviser and prominent double bassist Barre Phillips, British saxophonist John Butcher and Norwegian drummer, percussionist and improviser, Stale Liavik Solberg, recording at the Blow out Festival in Oslo, Norway in 2019, and at Offene Ohren, Einstein Kultur, in Munchen, Germany in 2018.

Chicago guitarist Jeff Parker and cornetist Rob Mazurek have collaborated for more than 20 years in a variety of ensembles, heard here in their first ever duo, condensing their creative use of lyrical, textural and technical skills into this outstanding album.

These 2016 recording between Bryan Eubanks and Xavier Lopez demonstrate the analog networked sytem they developed, based on the harmonics of random feedback, using this information in real time to shape generative rhythms and other juxtapositions from soprano saxophone and percussion, in four recordings improvised live at Studio 8 bar in Berlin.

Known for her chamber and piano works, Canadian composer and widow of Morton Feldman presents five beautiful chamber works performed by the trio of George Barton on percussion, Siwan Rhys on piano and Mira Benjamin on violin, introspective and contemplative pieces of rich color & reflection that reveal the gravity between sound and silence.

The second of three sturdy box sets from innovative guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith, here with 8 CDs from the Recommended Records label plus a bonus CD, a thick booklet of artwork, photographs & extensive notes from Frith; albums included are Live in Japan, Speechless, Prints, Step Across the Border, Impur 2, Art of Memory II, Skeleton Crew, Helter Skelter.

The first of three sturdy box sets from innovative guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith, here with 8 CDs from the Recommended Records label plus a bonus CD, a thick booklet of artwork, photographs & extensive notes from Frith; albums included are Guitar Solos, Gravity, Cheap at Half the Price, Killing Time, Impur , Middle of the Moment, Keep the Dog; Dropera.

The third of three sturdy box sets from innovative guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith, here with 8 CDs from the Recommended Records label plus a bonus CD, a thick booklet of artwork, photographs & extensive notes from Frith; albums included are Technology of Tears, Propaganda, Allies, Accidental, The Previous Evening, Happy End Problem, Nowhere, Sideshow, Field Days; Inimitable (previously unreleased).

577 Records' experimental, electronic sub-label Positive Elevation releases this remix of Gerald Cleaver's Signs album, itself an innovative album of synthetic rhythms and sonic landscape, here reworked by producer Hprizm, aka High Priest of Antipop Consortium, channeling Cleaver's work into dream-like territory that re-thinks and re-paces the original.

Five chamber works written by composer UK Oliver Leith, the debut CD release from the creative music group Explore Ensemble including a piece they commissioned--Me Hollywood--, the compositions spanning four years of work and reflecting a sort of portrait of the composer as he experiments with unusual arrangements, sampling sounds, and new instruments.

Both members of the Tokyo band SuperDeluxe, drummer Yoshio Mashida performing on steelpan, gamelan and metal-slit drums, and 5-string banjo player Cal Lyall, performing largely on a tabletop guitar setup augmented with electronics, have developed a lovely and relaxed, compelling language of improvisational forms using structural ideas-based on minimal scalar patterns.

An unusual journey in abstract sonic narrative and environments from Portland's Dave Quam (FKA Massacooramaan, Modern Melodies) and Seoul's Joe Foster (English, Don Brown and Dan Reynolds), their four pieces using concrete & acousmatic sources, field recordings, enigmatic errata and instrumental elements presented as sentences in sound that imply and defy intention; gripping.

Two works from Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith and performed by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze and pianist Kerry Yong: "Through the Low Hills" a piece for constrained variations like an object viewed from different angles as it is turned over; and "Ballad" a major work intended for performance that unfolds slowly, allowing for delicate melodic interaction.

Two concerts by improvising keyboardist and vocalist Jean-Marc Foussat, on the LP a recording at the Tout Rennes S'Emmerde event organized by From Town to Town, Capital Taboule, Consternation, L'Effroyable Association Western Soviets Satanist and Dream'in Noise, the 2nd a DVD of Foussat performing live on the beach as part of the 13th Farniente Festival.

A vinyl reissue of improvising synth, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jean-Marc Foussat's 2001 Potlatch album, originally released as a CD-ROM and here with an accompanying DVD titled "Hope for Happiness" including 3 silent films, two of which relate to the album; performed with Pascal Bouscailloux, Jac Berrocal, Jean-Francois Pauvros, Roger Turner, &c.

Taking its title from the rum-running yacht on which McPhee's father sailed from Nassau to Miami, this free electroaoustic improvised concert with Joe McPhee on pocket cornet & alto saxophone, Jen Clare Paulson on viola and Brian Labycz on electronics was captured live in 2014 at the Sugar Maple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during Okka Fest 6, released as CvsD's first vinyl LP.

Subterrene, aka Grant Stewart, is a sound artist developing deep and cloud-like bursts of sound that create textures and aural interactions of an hallucinatory nature, here evoking the coercer--"the inverse of the seducer, using pressure, intimidation, or force to shape the behavior of another" in a journey from initial imposition to self-emancipation.

Somewhere between Acid Mothers, 70s Miles or Sun Ra's Arkestra, NY-based Japanese saxophonist Ayumi Ishito's first Spacemen volume with Theo Woodward on synth & vocals, Nebula and the Velvet Queen on theremin, Jake Strauss on guitar & bass and Steven Bartishev on drums, lives up to it's cosmic moniker through exploratory improv blurring jazz, electronica and psych.

Mining the area between the blues and creative jazz with pieces by Charles Tyler, Ornette Coleman, Phil Cohran and Sun Ra, this is the 3rd album from the Italian quartet of Alberto Popolla on clarinets, Errico De Fabritiis on saxophones, Gianfranco Tedeschi on double bass, and Fabrizio Spera on drums & percussion, joined by Eugenio Colombo on flute and Francesco Lo Cascio on vibes.

Translating to "Fork", Garfo is a modern Portuguese jazz quartet led by tenor saxophonist Bernardo Tinoco, with João Almeida on trumpet, João Fragoso on double bass and João Sousa on drums, all 4 contributing compositions to their lyrically sophisticated music, effortlessly using complex structure and time signatures to propel first-rate free improvisation.

Living true to its album title, electric guitarist Luis Lopes' collective Lisbon Berlin Quartet with Rodrigo Pinheiro on Fender Rhodes, Robert Landfermann on double bass & effects and Christian Lillinger on drums, creates an hypnotic brew of interactive, weaving and layered improvised expression, rapid-paced yet hypnotically sinister in its controlled kinetic flow.

With cinematic moments and dark, rich grooves, Italian bassist Danilo Gallo leads a quintet with fellow Italians Massimiliano Milesi on tenor & soprano saxophones, Francesco Bigoni on tenor saxophone & clarinet, American drummer Jim Black, and Lorenzo Corti on guitar, through a set of 10 Gallo compositions, melodically centered but surprising in detail and direction.

In the final stages of cancer, late double bassist and composer Mario Pavone recorded this lyrically warm and beautifully sincere album of modern jazz in a quartet with his son Michael Pavone on guitar, Mike DiRubbo on alto saxophone and Michael Sarin on drums, written as a tribute to his granddaughter Isabella, who died in 2020 when she was only 23 years old.

The title a reference to a 1953 poem by Yasuoka Shotaro, this album instead finds excellent company in the Portuguese duo of percussionists Pedro Carneiro on marimba with quarter tone extension and Pedro Melo Alves on prepared drums, their informed and unhurried improvised dialog merging concepts and influences of contemporary compositional music in compelling ways.