SQUIDCO NEWS June 1, 2007

May was an exceptional month this year, with releases from many of our favorite labels and 141 new releases in this email! For those who haven't visited the site recently, with the May 14 postal rate increase we've changed our shipping policy, which you can read about on The Squid's Ear. We welcome any comments about the new rates to sales@squidco.com.

IN BRIEF:

Improv: New TZADIKs including Death Ambient and Massacre; 3 new PSI releaes including Evan Parker/Francoise Houle and Bark!; new ROGUEART including Matthew Shipp (Declared Enemy); Steve Lacy/Roswell Rudd on CUNEIFORM; Satoko Fujii on VICTO; Ken Vandermark and Peter Brotzmann releases on OKKA; four excellent MOONJUNE releases including Elton Dean's final recording session; amazing minimal improv on FTARRI from Axel Dorner and Michael Thieke; Derek Bailey's 1978 Duo & Trio record with Kaoru Abe and Toshinori Kondo; FRED FRITH and CHRIS BROWN on INTAKT.

Rock & Related: Early Ground Zero on DOUBTMUSIC; HACO's subtley beautiful Riska on DISK UNION; Acid Mothers Temple and Yoshida/Uchihashi on MAGAIBUTSU; Ruins on SKINGRAFT; Upsilon Acrux and Alec Redfearn on CUNEIFORM; Smegma on IMPORTANT (CD & LP); THIS HEAT single reissues on RECOMMENDED RECORDS; BOREDOMS Super Roots 9 on Commons; SOFT MACHINE's first two reissued on Water; excellent RESIDENTS reissues on EURO RALPH;

Electro-Acoustic: Three new releases on ABSINTH including Burkhard Beins and Mark Wastell; FENNESZ Live in Japan on LP; FENNESZ and RYUICHI SAKAMOTO on TOUCH; Sean Meehan and Ellan Fullman on CUT, and Kahn/Muller/Korber/Moslang/Weber's SIGNAL QUINTET; two ALESSANDRO BOSETTI releases on Die Schachtel; DAVID TUDOR's Rainforest 1 & 4 reissued on MODE; Incredible Theremin player Pamelia Kurstin on TZADIK; look for two new Erstwhile releases next week!

Compositional: An excellent ENNIO MORRICONE issue of obscure soundtrack work; two TERRY RILEY releases on Elision Fields; two PAULINE OLIVEROS releases on IMPORTANT; John Cage's ground-breaking 1970 Music For Keyboard 1935-1948 on a Japanese reissue; three NEW WORLD releases including Donald Harrison and David Dunn releases; Henry Flynt's odd concept records; NANCARROW's Player Piano Volume 3.

DVDs: Two William S. Burroughs releases including the mind-boggling William Buys a Parrot and Towers Open Fire from Thee Films; Iva Bittova's Superchameleon; Koch-Schutz-Studer DVD on INTAKT; Line's Camera Lucida video compilation; FAUST live on DVD from RECOMMENDED RECORDS/ANKST.



Improvisation:

• 1000 (Klare, Jan / Maris, Bart / de Joode, Wilbert / Vatcher, M): Unplayable (Skycap Records)
• Anderson, Fred / Bankhead, Harrison: The Great Vision Concert (Ayler)
• Anderson, Fred / Drake, Hamid: From The River To The Ocean (Thrill Jockey)
• Bailey, Derek: Duo & Trio Improvisation (Universal)
• BARK!: Contraption (psi)
• Blake, Ran / Correa, Christine: Round About - Songs and piano solos with Christine Correa and Ran Blake (Musicandarts)
• Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Peter: Stone/Water [VINYL] (Okka)
• Brötzmann, Peter / McPhee, Joe: Guts (Okka)
• Brody's Sadawi, Paul: For the Moment (Tzadik)
• Brown, Chris / Frith, Fred: Cutter Heads (Intakt)
• Carter, Daniel / Siwula, Blaise / Shurdut, Jeffrey Hayden / Krall, Jackson: Countdown to the Universe - LIVE! at Tonic (No Labels)
• Carter, Daniel / Ughi, Federico: Mountain Path (577)
• Casserley, Lawrence / Desorgher, Simon : Music From ColourDome (psi)
• Cato Salsa Experience and The Thing: Two Bands and a Legend (Smalltown Super Jazz)
• Cold Bleak Heat: Simitu (Family Vineyard)
• Courvoisier, Sylvie: Signs and Epigrams (Tzadik)
• Crispell, Marilyn : Highlights from the Summer of 1992 American Tour (Musicandarts)
• Dörner, Axel / Nakamura, Toshimaru : Vorhernach (Ftarri)
• Dean, Elton / The Wrong Object: The Unbelievable Truth (MoonJune Records)
• Death Ambient: Drunken Forest (Tzadik)
• Declared Enemy - Shipp / Mateen / Parker / Cleaver / Lavant: Salute To 100001 Stars: A Tribute To Jean Genet (RogueArt)
• DuBois Quintet, Scott: Tempest (Soul Note)
• Evidence (Stephan Moore / Scott Smallwood): Iris [CD & DVD] (Deep Listening)
• Fields Ensemble, Scott: We Are The Phliks (RogueArt)
• Fields, Irving Trio: My Yiddishe Mama's Favorites (Tzadik)
• Fujii, Satoko / Min-Yoh Ensemble: Fujin Raijin (Victo)
• Fullman, Ellen / Meehan, Sean: Ellen Fullman / Sean Meehan (Cut)
• Gaslini, Giorgio: L'Integrale Antologia Cronologica - #5 (1968), #6 (1970) (Soul Note)
• Gumpert Quartette, Ulrich: Quartette (Intakt)
• Hübsch's Primordial Soup, Carl Ludwig: Primordial Soup (Red Toucan)
• Houle, François / Parker, Evan / Delbecq, Benoît : La Lumière De Pierres (psi)
• Lacy, Steve / Rudd, Roswell Quartet: Early and Late (Cuneiform)
• Lonberg-Holm Trio, Fred: Terminal Valentine (Atavistic)
• Massacre: Lonely Heart (Tzadik)
• McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Chris: Brotherhood (Fledg'ling)
• McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Chris: Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (Fledg'ling)
• Miller, Phil / In Cahoots: Conspiracy Theories (MoonJune Records)
• My Cat Is An Alien: Greetings From The Great Void [VINYL] (Eclipse Records)
• Original Silence: First Original Silence (Smalltown Super Jazz)
• Parran, J.D. / Spirit Stage: Spirit Stage (Yall)
• Rosenberg Quartet, Joe: Quicksand (Black Saint)
• Rupp, Olaf: Scree (Grob)
• Smith, Jason: Tipping Point (MoonJune Records)
• Taylor, Mike Quartet: Pendulum (Sunbeam Records)
• The International Nothing: Mainstream (Ftarri)
• Thilges : Double Absence (Staubgold)
• Thomas, Luther / Shurdut, Jeffrey Hayden: Spiritual Machine (No Labels)
• Vandermark, Ken / Karayorgis, Pandelis: Foreground Music (Okka)
• Watson, David: Throats (Ecstatic Peace)
• Watts, Trevor / Harris, Jamie: Live In Sao Paulo, Brasil (Hi 4 Head)

• Ambarchi, Oren: Lost Like A Star [VINYL] (Bo Weavil Recordings)
• Barron, Louis and Bebe: Original MGM Soundtrack of "Forbidden Planet" (Small Planet)
• Basinski, William: Shortwavemusic (2062)
• Beins, Burkhard: Disco Prova (Absinth Records)
• Bosetti, Alessandro: Exposé (Die Schachtel)
• Bosetti, Alessandro: Exposé + Art CD + Art (Die Schachtel)
• Burning Star Core: Everyday World of Bodies [VINYL] (Ultra Eczema)
• Burning Star Core: Operator Dead...Post Abandoned (No Quarter)
• Fennesz, Christian / Sakamoto, Ryuichi: Cendre (Touch)
• Fennesz: Live In Japan [VINYL] (autofact/Touch)
• Kurstin, Pamelia: Thinking Out Loud (Tzadik)
• Maguire, MC: Meta-Conspiracy (Tzadik)
• Merzbow / Giffoni, Carlos: Synth Destruction (Important Records)
• Radigue, Eliane / Mila, Jetsun: Eliane Radigue / Jetsun Mila (Lovely Music)
• Residents, The: Eskimo (Euroralph)
• Signal Quintet: Yamaguchi (Cut)
• Tudor, David : Rainforest (Versions I & IV) (Mode Records)
• Vogel / Mayas / Renkel: phono_phono (Absinth Records)
• Wastell, Mark: Amoungst English Men (Absinth Records)

• Acid Mothers Temple SWR: Stones, Women & Records (Magaibutsu)
• Art Fleury : I Luoghi Del Potere (Die Schachtel)
• Arti & Mestieri: First Live in Japan (MoonJune Records)
• Badgerlore: We Are All Hopeful Farmers, We Are All Scared Rabbits (Xeric)
• Boredoms: Super Roots 9 (Commons)
• Brown, Jefrey Leighton: Change Has Got To Come! (Community Library)
• Burning Star Core: Amelia [VINYL] (NO-FIDELITY)
• Charalambides: Electricity Ghost (Wholly Other)
• Coil: Black Antlers (Threshold House)
• Duncan, Paul: Above The Trees (Hometapes)
• Flying Luttenbachers, The : Destroy All Music Revisited (Skin Graft)
• Ground Zero: Live 1992 + (Doubtmusic)
• Haco: Riska (Disk Union)
• Hodgkinson, Tim: Each In Our Own Thoughts (Megaphone)
• Hush Arbors: Under Bent Limb Trees (Digitalis)
• Irons, Asa / Miller, Swaan: Asa Irons & Swaan Miller (Important Records)
• Jackie-O Motherfucker: America Mystica [VINYL] (DIRTER PRODUCTIONS)
• Kazuhisa, Uchihashi & Tatsuya, Yoshida: Improvisations 2 (Magaibutsu)
• L-R & Radiomentale: I Could Never Make That Music Again (Sub Rosa)
• Melt-Banana: Bambi's Dilemma (A-Zap Recordings)
• Newsom, Joanna: Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band (Drag City)
• Pere Ubu: The Modern Dance [VINYL] (Blank Records)
• Redfearn, Alec K. and The Eyesores: The Blind Spot (Cuneiform)
• Residents, The: Duck Stab / Buster & Glen (Euroralph)
• Residents, The: Meet The Residents (Euroralph)
• Ruins: Refusal Fossil (Special Edition) (Skin Graft)
• Smegma: 33 1/3 (Important Records)
• Smegma: 33 1/3 [VINYL] (Important Records)
• Soft Machine: The Soft Machine (Water)
• Soft Machine: Volume Two (Water)
• This Heat: Deceit (Recommended Records)
• This Heat: Health and Efficiency (Recommended Records)
• This Heat: Live 80/81 (Recommended Records)
• This Heat: Made Available (Recommended Records)
• This Heat: Repeat (Recommended Records)
• U.S. Maple: Long Hair In Three Stages (Skin Graft)
• Upsilon Acrux: Galapagos Momentum (Cuneiform)
• Vibracathedral Orchestra: The Sun Balance / The Open Knot [VINYL] (QBICO)
• Vibracathedral Orchestra: Wisdom Thunderbolt (VHF)
• Ya Ho Wha 13: To The Principles For The Children [VINYL] (Swordfish)

• Cage, John: Music For Keyboard 1935-1948 (Sony Music Japan International)
• Corner, Philip: Extreme Positions (New World Records)
• Dunn, David: Autonomous and Dynamical Systems (New World Records)
• Ferrari, Luc: Didascalies (Sub Rosa)
• Flynt, Henry: New Americam Ethnic Music Volume 3: Hillbilly Tape Music (Recorded)
• Flynt, Henry: New American Ethnic Music Volume 4: Ascent to the Sun (Recorded)
• Fuchs, Limpe : Vogel Musik (Robot Records)
• Glass, Philip: Dances & Sonatas (MDG Scene)
• Glass, Philip: Icebreaker / Music With Changing Parts (Orange Mountain Music)
• Harrison, Lou: In Retrospect (New World Records)
• Morricone, Ennio: Morricone In The Brain (Bella Casa)
• Nancarrow, Conlon: Player Piano Volume 3 - Nancarrow Studies 13-32 (MDG Scene)
• O'Rourke, Jim: Corona: Tokyo Realization (Columbia (Japan))
• Oliveros, Pauline: Accordion & Voice (Important Records)
• Oliveros, Pauline: The Wanderer (Important Records)
• Paik, Nam June: Works 1958 - 1979 (Sub Rosa)
• Riley, Terry: Les Yeux Fermes & Lifespan (Elision Fields)
• Riley, Terry: Reed Streams (Elision Fields)

• FO A RM: Magazine No. 5: (autonomy) Magazine with CD (Sedimental)
• The Wire: 279 May 2007 Magazine with CD
• The Wire: 280 June 2007

• Bittová, Iva / Bang On A Can All Stars: Superchameleon (Indies Scope Records)
• Brown, Earle: Tracer (Mode Records)
• Burroughs, William S. / Balch, Anthony / Gysin, Brion / Giorno, John: The Final Academy Documents (Cherry Red)
• Burroughs, William S. / Gysin, Brion / Balch, Anthony / Somerville, Ian: Thee Films 1950s-1960s (Cherry Red)
• Faust: Nobody Knows If It Ever Happened (Recommended Records)
• Gauthier, Jean-Pierre: Reported Missing in a Hardware Store (Oral)
• Koch / Schütz / Studer / Liechti: Hardcore Chambermusic - A Club for 30 Days (Intakt)
• Noto / Tutti / Chartier / Coh / Deupree / Gelfand / Domnitch / Kaline / Kirschner / Matmos / Tietchens: Camera Lucida (Line)
• Selby Jr., Hubert: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow (MVD)
• Various Artists: OHM+ The Early Gurus of Electronic Music [DVD Only] (Ellipsis Arts)
• Went, Johanna: The Club Years DVD (Soleilmoon)

"This band is called "1000" (thousand) because it was born in 2004 in a series of concerts called "1000 years of jazz" , because "1000" is a strong number and because it is as digital as can be. The quartet's line up has various roots. Wilbert de Joode and Jan Klare work toghether since the early 90's in different groups, most noteably the dutch/ english/ german quartett EUREKA, that existed from 1994 -98, in which also Michael Vatcher was afeatured guest a number of times. After a commission [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Duo concert recordings from the 2003 Vision Festival in New York City, playing Anderson compositions. An amazing conversation between two veteran players interacting in subtle and astonishing ways.

"The closest of relationships gives its members space to expand, change, develop, and play. Tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson and drummer Hamid Drake have just that kind of partnership, one that has seen them periodically move apart and work extensively on other fronts - Anderson tending to the recent relocation of his major jazz venue the Velvet Lounge; Drake in a dizzying array of globetrotting ensembles - but always returning to the fold, digging in together and checking out what's been learned [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

1978 recordings of Derek Bailey recording in Tokyo with noted Japanese improvisers Toshinori Kondo and Kaoru Abe. 24 bit digitally remastered Japanese limited edition.

Bark! has been around since 1991, the core being guitarist Rex Casswell, also known from his work with Stock Hausen & Walkman, and Manchester percussionist Phillip Marks. This is their second album as a trio, adding Paul Obermayer on sampler, known from the amazing electro-acoustic duo Furt. Their first release, "Swing," received accolades for their remarkable integration of acoustic and electronics. This second release takes the trio to new realms with unusual interactions punctuated with [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Ran Blake in duo and solo with vocalist Christin Correa, playing a selection of songs by Vernon Duke, Matt Dennis, Duke Ellington, Kurt Weill, Max Roach, Thelonious Monk, Sam Lewis, Julian Priester, Cole Porter, and others.

Recordings of Brötzmann 10 piece orchestra recorded live at the Victoriaville Music Festival in 1999, originally releases on CD in 2001 and now presented on superior quality vinyl.

Intense extended improvisation from four masters, recorded live at the Empty Bottle in Chicago.

"Paul Brody is a talented composer/performer based in Berlin. Touring Europe for several years to enthusiastic audiences, his band Sadawi has developed into a razor sharp ensemble, one of the very best to mix jazz with traditional Jewish music. His third CD for Tzadik is his best yet and features special guests Michael Alpert and John Zorn on selected tracks. Ten sparkling original compositions featuring dynamic solos, catchy melodies and driving rhythms by a fresh voice inNew Jewish Music."-Tzadik

"Cutter Heads _ survival of the fittest _ double-strung duets, double-dutch divas, double-tongued dictionaries _high tension sound-boxes magnified by machines in byte-sized chunks _ transformations tossed into the sound-stream _ ripple, repeat, explode _ groove-cutters controlled by home-made programs _ doubling fingers, feet, teeth, nails _ cut and paced _ going to punch me _one head has to go...

Chris Brown, composer, pianist, and electronic musician, creates music for acoustic [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

577's limited edition series brings Daniel Carter and Federico Ughi together 6 years after their last duo release "Astonishment". This CD was recorded live in NYC's Brecht Forum

"Lawrence Casserley and Simon Desorgher have been performing in and around Peter Jones's inflatable structures since the early 80s, and as Directors of the Colourscape Music Festivals have invited many performers to work with them and create new performance possibilities in these intensely special environments. Evan Parker, Philipp Wachsmann and David Stevens are among them, and various combinations of these players have occurred in many contexts before; but it was in the ColourDome in Exeter [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"The meeting between The Thing and Cato Salsa Experience started at the Kongsberg Jazzfestival in Norway in 2004, when The Thing was offered the chance to invite their favorite rock band Cato Salsa Experience, for a special collaboration. The show was a success and this also led to the critically acclaimed EP "Sounds Like A Sandwich" on Smalltown Superjazzz. It was immediately decided that the two bands and the legend should go into studio to record a fullenght album. The result is the self titled [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Cold Bleak Heat is the dream team, east coast avant jazz line up of alto/tenor saxophonist Paul Flaherty (Dream/Aktion Unit), drummer Chris Corsano (Sunburned Hand of the Man, Vampire Belt), trumpeter Greg Kelley (nmperign, Heathen Shame), and acoustic bassist Matt Heyner (No Neck Blues Band, Test). While explosive as their 2005 debut, Simitu brings a melancholic, even sensitive feel to these improvisations. Yet, no need to worry about these four wipin' tears on their sleeves. CBH wages between [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Swiss born composer/ improviser Sylvie Courvoisier is one of the most creative and imaginative pianists in new music. A frequent collaborator of Mark Feldman, Ikue Mori and Fred Frith, she is a member of Mephista and the leader of her own quintet and the trio Abaton. Here she is featured solo, focusing her unique language of extended techniques into a remarkable new classical chamber music. Mystical, moody and beautiful."-Tzadik

Selections from Marilyn Crispell's live 1992 American Tour, playing in a trio setting with the amazing Reggie Workman on bass and drummer Gerry Hemingway, performing all Crispell original compositions.

Berlin improviser Axel Dörner in and around the trumpet with Onkyo/lowercase artist Toshimaru Nakamura on the no-input mixing board. The CD consists of two extended tracks of improvised sound, applying unconventional approaches that uses hisses, clicks, sputters, and the pressure of electronic sound and feedback. The results are unusual performances that balance slowly moving elements of tone, pitch and intrinsic rhythm with periods of silence, solo expositions and counterpoint.

"Recorded live in Paris in October of 2005, less than four months before his untimely passing, The Unbelievable Truth demonstrates the remarkable breadth of the late British saxophonist's reach. With Dean originals ranging from the 7/4 jam "Seven for Lee" to the tender ballad "Baker's Treat," The Unbelievable Truth also highlights The Wrong Object's equally diverse writing and freewheeling improvisational ability. From quirky Zappa-esque complexity to ominous material reminiscent of Dean's 1970s [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"This best selling trio from Tzadik's New Japan Series returns with special guest percussionist Jim Pugliese for a spiritual exploration of sound and color. Beautifully orchestrated ambient music blending the acoustic world of violin, mandolin, ukulele, banjo and percussion with the electronic soundscapes of computer and guitar, this is their most evocative and mysterious creation to date. Six years in the making, Drunken Forest opens your ears to a striking new world."-Tzadik

Pianist Shipp in an excellent quartet setting playing Shipp compositions in a tribute to Jean Genet. "It was by chance, during his short stay in Paris in 2000, that Matthew Shipp came across Rajak Ohanian's photograph of Jean Genet. He instantly recognized the writer, saying "Our Lady of The Flowers is one of my favourite books." And that's how it all started. Four years later, he brought together Sabeer Mateen, William Parker and Gerald Cleaver to express what Genet meant to him. Then, Denis [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Guitarist Dubois' Quintet including David Liebman on tenor and soprano sax and indian flute, performing 9 Dubois compositions.

"DuBois' electric guitar sounds like a piano, stretching the tempo with well-placed pauses and timely fills and compressing time with effusive runs...When DuBois is unplugged, the fuses threaten to blow...Strumming, plucking and pulling strings as if he were rearranging them on the neck of his instrument...classical virtuosity...DuBois' tunes favor [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"IRIS, the second CD release from the duo Evidence (Stephan Moore and Scott Smallwood) on the Deep Listening label, is also their first video release. The DVD has the same sonic material as the music on the CD, but it features video pieces by the duo's favorite live-video performers, including Benton-C Bainbridge, Betsey Biggs, Fi$h2000, Madeleine Gallagher, Dawn Haleta, David Lublin, Jonathan Lee Marcus, Olivia Robinson, skfl, Diana Reed Slattery, Jack Turner and Walter Wright. These [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Few guitarists have taken up the challenge of free improvisation, at least relative to saxophonists or drummers. And because there have been correspondingly few masters in the field, emerging artists tend to veer toward one of only two canonical styles: the jagged, brittle abstraction of Derek Bailey or the equally fervid (but relatively linear) postromantic lyricism of Joe Morris. But Scott Fields has managed to find a different path, and a rewarding one at that. He borrows evenhandedly from [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"The pioneer of Latin-Jewish fusion Irving Fields turns 92 this year and he is playing better than ever. Reworking Jewish classics into the Latin mold with the aid of Tzadik regulars Greg Cohen and Roberto Rodriguez, Irving has created a beautiful program of mambos, rumbas and solo pieces that will delight young and old. With an incredible depth of feeling and the touch and phrasing of an absolute master, My Yiddishe Mama shows us all where Radical Jewish Culture comes from and where it is going [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Min-Yoh means folk music in Japanese. Almost all of them are made by people, not by professional composers. And they were arranged as they were played and sung, by all the people who played it. Because it is music for ordinary people, it usually has very simple form, structure and scales. After I studied classical music and jazz music, I began to be interested in Min-Yoh. I found in it a totally different power from the music I had previously studied and played. When I play, sing [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Longtime friends who had hoped to play together for some time, Fullman and Meehan were surprised by the initial efforts of their collaboration. Their instruments--or rather the sounds of their instruments meeting in the acoustic space--strongly influenced one another: combination tones, sympathetic resonances, beating, and even cancellation of each other's sound. Mapping routes through this unusual territory would become the piece presented here in three parts. The recording was made Easter [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Soul Note continues the documentation of Italian pianist and elder jazz statesman Georgio Gaslini by releasing 3 important works: "Grido" (1968), "Newport in Milan" (1969), and "Africa" (1970).

"Berlin pianist Ulrich Gumpert, a member of the band Zentralquartett, has put together a band with younger musicians from the Berlin scene and the saxophonist Ben Abarbanel-Wolff, who grew up in Washington and now lives in Berlin. The band combines the bandleader's incisive themes with high-energy, spontaneous playing.

In the liner notes to the group's new CD, Quartette, Christian Broecking writes: "Abarbanel-Wolff is the youngest musician in the new Gumpert Quartet. The 32-year old saxophone [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Composer, improviser and Tuba player Hübsch in a setting dedicated to the universe, with most tracks named after celestial bodies. Hübsch composed the nine pieces here for a hand-selected group of fantastic improvisers who work well collectively. Each composition contains a map that presents improvisational stipulations which serve as a work tool for the collective group. The music is sparse but filled with detail and motion, creating both serious and joyful moments in the resulting [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Clarinetist Delbecq and prepared/pianist Houle have worked together as a duo since 1997. Delbecq approaches the piano as a "fabric", drawing on Cage and Ligeti for inspiration, and using African timbres and polyrhythms in his approach to the keys. Houle's work is informed by the work of Evan Parker or William O. Smith, as he creates multi-layered compositions that expand the possibilities and language of the clarinet. Delbecq and Houle have long had an interest in collaborating with a 3rd [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Until his death in 2004, soprano saxist Steve Lacy worked with trombonist Roswell Rudd as often as circumstances would permit, from their start together in Dixieland-style bands in the 1950s to the more adventurous styles that both master players are known for. This album of all previously unreleased material with great sound presents work spanning a 40-year period. The majority of this album (nearly 2 hours) is taken from concerts from 1999 and 2002 and features the great 'free-bop' quartet [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Terminal Valentine is Lonberg-Holm's third album in a series originally inspired by the work of cellist Fred Katz, best known as a member of Chico Hamilton's visionary 1950s chamber jazz quintet. A Valentine for Fred Katz (Atavistic, 2002) and Other Valentines (Atavistic, 2005) preceded this date, with each succeeding album making subtle, creative inroads along the way.

A former student of Morton Feldman and Anthony Braxton, Lonberg-Holm's virtuosity and versatility have been well-documented [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Together since 1980, Massacre is one of the world's classic cutting edge rock guitar trios. Opening for Metallica on the stage of the Roskilde Rock festival in front of an audience of 10,000 metal heads, they break out like never before. Here Frith puts down his brushes and chains and whips out some of the greatest flatout guitar fireworks he has ever performed. Three masters of rock improvisation kick out the jams in one of the greatest performances of their nearly thirty year existence. Astonishing [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Oddly, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath's excellent 2nd record has never been reissued after it's 1972 debut. Drawing from the powerful free players of London and South Africa at the time, including Harry Beckett, Louis Moholo and the late Gary Windo, this is a wonderful record of avant jazz that's energetic, melodic, powerful and open-minded. Essential and important music.

"An album that fuses the influence of African music, jazz-rock, and free improvisation, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath shares affinities with the '70s music of Don Cherry and Miles Davis. Somewhat of a legendary album amongst collectors of British jazz and fusion, the LP was originally released in the '70s and in early 2002 finally became reissued by the Italian label Akarma. Enlisted on the session were the talents of a group of extraordinary musicians from the free jazz, progressive [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Two years in the making, Conspiracy Theories is guitarist Phil Miller's most ambitious record to date. A member of legendary Canterbury groups including Hatfield and the North, National Health, Matching Mole and Delivery, Miller has devoted the majority of his energy over the past quarter century to his more overtly jazz-centric In Cahoots group.

While the core of In Cahoots remains - über-bassist Fred Baker, keyboardist Pete Lemer and relative newcomer Mark Fletcher on drums [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"The third installment in a trilogy that began with MCIAA's The Rest is Silence, is the sound of The White Light; the movement from the physical to the psychic; one last breath before being consumed by the cosmic ether. Greetings From the Great Void shows its real strength in how it was constructed. Recorded over a two-day period in April 2005, there were no overdubs or outtakes. This is music straight from the spheres. Where there is nothing, there is everything. My Cat is an Alien emerge [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

High intensity live improv bringing together members of Sonic Youth, The Ex, Thing Action Jazz and Zu.

"Those inclined toward improvised music can usually find something worthwhile in all forms of it. But even the most blindly faithful recognize when a session shoots so high that it sounds more like a rocket than a record. The First Original Silence is that kind of instant attention-grabber. Original Silence use the same tools as many improv groups: rolling percussion, squawking horns, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Varied, intricate and lush jazz from multi-wind player J.D. Parran and his Spirit Stage group. Parran has played on over 45 recordings as a sideman, but has been criminally under-recorded as a leader - these sessions were recorded in 1995 and only now find their way to the listening community. The not-for-profit Y'all label is correcting this, first with Parran's OMENGATHORP: Living City release, and now this Spirit Stage album. The songs on Spirit Stage explore the poetry [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Soprano saxophonist and composer Joe Rosenberg, who has worked with Dewey Redman, Gary Foster, Buddy Collette, Junko Inishi, Misha Mengleberg, Mark Helias, Tom Rainey, Jean-Luc Guionnet and Edward Perraud, recording original compositions with his own quartet's including the impressive players Mark Helias and Tom Rainey.

"Scree is a record that reveals a musician at the height of his creativity. Everything that follows will sound different, can only sound different. Of course, Scree is the result of radical improvisation (and also in this sense everything later sounds different, since it is a matter of real-time compositions that are bound up with the moment of performing and are per se not repeatable). Seldom has one heard guitar improvisation that is so thoroughly worked through, so fast, so virtuous and dense [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"With the release of Tipping Point-Live at the Jazz Bakery, drummer Jason Smith makes his voice emphatically heard. Flanked by Gary Husband on piano and Fender Rhodes, and Dave Carpenter on acoustic bass, Smith leads his cohorts through a set of unconventional standards, executed with a deft blend of audacity and authenticity. From the moment the music commences, the conventions of the classic piano trio are shelved in favor of bold, expressionistic strokes; the musicians unravel meter [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Mike Taylor was a jazz composer, pianist and co-songwriter for the band Cream. Having rehearsed and written extensively throughout the early 1960s, he released two albums on EMI's Lansdowne label: Pendulum in 1966 as The Mike Taylor Quartet, with Jon Hiseman, Tony Reeves and Dave Tomlin and Trio in 1967 with Jack Bruce, Ron Rubin and Jon Hiseman. Both rank among the most challenging and powerful jazz recordings of their time. Original pressings have been extremely rare and expensive. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"mainstream is the debut album of The International Nothing--the duo project of Kai Fagaschinski and Michael Thieke, two Berlin-based clarinetists who are composers as well as improvisers. All eight of the tracks on this recording are composed works. In addition to five pieces focusing on the resonance of the mellow, limpid timbres produced by the two clarinets, there are a couple of tracks seasoned with songlike elements and vocalization by guest musicians, and one tune featuring two [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Thilges (sometimes known as Thilges3) are Austrians Gammon (bass, drums, guitar, electronics) and Nik Hummer (trautonium, synth, programming) and this is their second full-length release on Staubgold after their Die Offene Gesellschaft release in 2002. La Double Absence is Western experimental music meets Oriental art music. The ensemble emerged in 2003, when Thilges was commissioned by the renowned music promoter Jeunesse to make a composition. The track "Izdiucz" is characteristic of this [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Inspired and relaxed duo compositions between Chicago's Ken Vandermark on reeds and Pandelis Karayorgis on piano performing original compositions. Vandermark dedicates one work to Derek Bailey, and one to Misha Mengelberg. Beautifully balanced work that alternately relaxes and incites the listener.

From 1987 when he moved from New Zealand, David Watson began performing primarily as a guitarist in New York City, working with musicians like Ushio Torikai, Ikue Mori, Mark Ribot, Zeena Parkins, Kato Hideki, Cecil Taylor, William Hooker, Shelley Hirsch, Andrea Parkins and many others, at venues such as CBGB's, Knitting Factory, and The Cooler. He was also curator for the music series Roulette, Experimental Intermedia, St. Marks Church, Greenwich House, Bang-on-a-Can, PS 1, and PS 122. He toured [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

The saxophonist Trevor watts has cut an individual and idiosyncratic figure on the British jazz scene for over forty years. Throughout this period he has resolutely refused to compromise his music and has built up a highly distinctive body of work in a variety of settings. The veteran improviser has played with the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and with The London Jazz Composers Orchestra. He has had stints in the bands of Louis Moholo and Stan Tracey as well as leading his own groups. These have [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Limited vinyl by the great experimental guitarist Oren Ambarchi from Australia. A Touch label recording artist, Oren has been making music since 1986, creating sounds from the guitar that one would not expect to hear. On this LP, two long tracks one per side, start from minimal low frequency sounds to ever growing drones of manipulated guitars... staggeringly beautiful! !"–Bo Weavil Recordings

Forbidden Planet was released in 1956 and instantly became a classic science fiction film that was visually and conceptually stunning. Equally amazing was the soundtrack, which utilized then fledgling synthesized and electronically generated sounds to great effect - it remains an incredible example of the genre. The soundtrack was created the husband and wife team of Louis and Bebe Barron, here distinguished in 23 short tracks named for the scenes they supported. The Barrons, who had [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

William Basinski is an American composer, clarinetist, saxophonist, and sound & video artist. Born in 1958, he was a classically trained clarinetist who studied jazz saxophone and composition at North Texas State University in the late 70's. Inspired by minimalists such as Steve Reich and Brian Eno, he began experimenting with tape loops and reel to reel tape decks, developing a meditative style using short looped melodies and feedback loops. His first release was Shortwavemusic [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Composer/performer Burkhard Beins, currently living in Berlin, plays percussion, objects and small electronics. Since the late 1980's has has played at international festivals, concerts and tours with experimental music throughout Europe and overseas. He is a member of several ensembles like Perlonex, Activity Center, Polwechsel, The Sealed Knot, Misiiki, Phosphor, Trio Sowari and also works with Keith Rowe, Sven-Åke Johansson, Orm Finnendahl, Charlemagne Palestine and many others. He [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Based on a series of 33 musical ideas written, printed, framed and 'exposed' in a recent installation in Milan, Exposé is the first of a new cycle of works as well as the result of Alessandro Bosetti's fascination with speech loops. The mesmerizing voice of Audrey Chen, endlessly repeating the same sentence over the entire duration of each piece, is full of musical nuances, and it rewards close attention. The result is a weird and fascinating experience, that takes the listener through [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Based on the 'Sound Sculpture ' exhibition held at the Die Schachtel Gallery, spring 2007, this limited edition includes the 33 art sheets presenting the musical ideas that generated the compositions on the CD. The complete series was printed, framed and "exposed" in a recent installation at the o'artoteca art gallery in milan, in march 2007. the minimalistic design is the result of a collaborative work with die schachtel's designer dinamo, who has typographically interpreted Alessandro Bosetti's [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Psychedelic carpets of spit, rusty violin strings, half eaten microphone protection, split open lips from too much Donald Duck impersonations, crushed toe nails, fictive electronic cartoon movie soundtracks, a madman destroying the whole kitchen etc. It's all there, Burning Star Core is a psychic chameleon, besides his collaborations with dozens of contemporary freaks such us John Olson, Jessica Rylan, the Hair Police dudes, Cassis Cornuta, Peter Colovos, his trio with Flaherty and Corsano and [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Operator Dead... finds BxC as an extremely loud four piece who waste no time and get right down to business creating massive, looping, head-splitting drones and titanic walls of sound. Calculated and controlled; the intensity builds and builds only to crash down into free-noise, psychedelic fury -- sounding something like the universe imploding in on itself, only captured inside a run-down Kentucky recording space.

Cincinnati native C. Spencer Yeh has been releasing records under the Burning [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

The second duo record of Fennesz & Sakomoto, after their acclaimed released Sala Santa Cecilia Cendre was recorded between 2004 and 2006 in New York City by Ryuichi Sakamoto and in Vienna by Christian Fennesz. They came together for the mix in New York City in February of 2006. The creative process was initiated by either Fennesz or Sakomoto, who would send the other an electronic track that the otehr would add to. Meanwhile they met for live shows, or communicated via digital [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Originally released in 2003 as Japan-only CD (Headz/Touch), "Live In Japan" is perhaps the definitive live document of electronic-acoustic improvisation for our time. Hailed by many to be the 'greatest laptop live show in music history' and counted among the albums of the year by THE WIRE in 2003, one would perhaps have to go back as far as Kraftwerk to find a live electronic performance as engaging, organic and inventive as "Live In Japan". The LP consists of one sublimely beautiful and haunting [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"The long awaited first solo CD by world renown thereminist Pamelia Kurstin, who has been a rock star, rollerskater, party girl, classical virtuoso, jazz bassist and more. Here she explores the unique sound of this exotic cult instrument through digital delay and electronic effects. Her work is haunting and quirky-a perfect compliment to a moonlight drive, rainy afternoon or a soft summer evening. Perhaps the strangest recording ever made by one of the strangest musical instruments ever invented. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"M C Maguire is a Canadian based composer who has created a personal and quirky hybrid blending classical and popular culture. The two works presented here are expansive concertos that pit a virtuoso soloist against a complex computer processed background that is constantly in flux. Featuring David Swan on piano and John Gzowski on electric guitar the music is confrontational, extreme and packed with drama and excitement."-Tzadik

"This is Merzbow and Giffoni's first collaborative release, over 60 minutes of total analog destruction by noise king Merzbow and Brooklyn noise boss Carlos Giffoni. This live collaboration was recorded during Giffoni's Synth Destruction Japan Tour in September of 2006. This is Sound Totalism and is as heavy as it comes: totally brutal, totally ugly, totally beautiful, totally intense, totally classic, totally analog, total synth and total destruction.

Author, activist, painter and sound [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

A beautiful extended ambient work from Eliane Radigue, a composer known for her work with magnetic tape and Arp Synthesizer, and who studied under Pierre Schaeefer and Pierre Henry in the late 50's. Her compositions are often drone-like, impeccably crafted electronic sounds which seem to move in a continual flow around the listener. She has created many meditative works since the late 1970s, mostly based on Tibetan Buddhist subject matter.

Jetsun Mila is inspired by the life of [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

The 6th Residents release, and a personal favorite as it's a) a very obscure recording and unlike most other Residents albums, and b) because both drummers Don Preston and Chris Cutler, as well as Snakefinger, were involved. For this album, mysterious collaborator N. Senada provided the concept, inventing an anthropological background for Eskimos was based on people's perceptions of Eskimos rather than reality; an imaginary ethno-musicography. That said, legend has it that Senada disappeared [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

During Signal Quintet's tour of Japan in 2006 these three improvisations were recorded live in studio at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media. Jason Kahn formed Signal Quintet in 2004 to record his graphical score "Timelines." The group has continued on as an improvising ensemble with the recordings on "Yamaguchi" documenting their first tour. Signal Quintet draws on three generations of some of Europe's most innovative musicians, with their collective performance histories spanning back [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Rainforest is one of Tudor's landmark works. It exists in 4 possible performance versions, 2 of which are on the present CD and issued commercially for the first time. To describe Rainforest is completely impossible. Like the real rainforest, it has too many moving parts. To describe how it works is only a little less difficult. To hear it in operation, however, is an unforgettable experience. Surrounding and engulfing the listener, Rainforest blends music and sculpture [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Lowercase/E-A Improv from this excellent set of European improvisers. Below is the text describing their approach and philosophy of improvising:

"Arranging music starting from silence.
Silence is physical.
Reactions - not in an improvisatory sence but as an " open, mobile" compositorial work (U. Eco) which transcends the dialectics of determined / undetermined composition and positions individual inventive playing techniques and group - presence. The ensemble sound follows a trio [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"It's difficult not to get a sense of the elegiac, even of ritual, when listening to Mark Wastell's latest offering, a single piece for piano, tam-tam and tubular bell. The work was preconceived as to general structure although the parts were all improvised on the same day, later processed and edited into the final form. For myself, there's a greater sense of "composition" here than improvisation as I tend to hear "Amoungst English Men" as a whole, even though it can be parsed into sections.

The [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Acid Mother's Temple SWR latest presents 18 twisted and amazing psychedelic rock numbers, technically amazing feats with a wonderful sense of weirdness that effortlessly genre hops through an eclectic mix of rock styles. Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins plays, records, mixes and releases the album on his own Magaibutsu label. Hard to describe, highly recommended.

"Art Fleury was born in Brescia, Northern Italy, in the mid-seventies. They were still in their teens when they had the opportunity to open the concert of the group Area at the famous Parco Lambro Festival in Milan (1976), in front of fifty thousands people. In the following years they extensively toured and played with Henry Cow, and in 1980 they were finally able to produce and release their first record, "I luoghi del potere" (The places of power), which they started recording in 1977.

Superficially [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Outstanding 7-piece progressive jazz-rock band from Italy. All the power delivered by the spectacular insane drumming of Furio Chirico (often compared to Billy Cobham) and magnificent analog keyboards of maestro Beppe Crovella (Mellotron, Hammond, Mini Moog, Fender Rhodes, acoustic piano), counter-pointed by the beautiful violin passages, killer sax lines, wonderful guitar work, robust bass and challenging vocals. Captured live in Kawasaki/Tokyo, during the Japan tour in June of 2005, this 76 [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Freak Folk" supergroup combining members of Deerhoof/7-Year Rabbit Cycle, Six Organs of Admittance, Grouper, Charalambides, Yellow Swans and Thuja/Jewelled Antler Collective. An album of masterful nuance and inexorable tension, experimental yet thoroughly enjoyable.

"Being the best band on the planet at any point in a group's existence has its downsides; chiefly, unless you release nonstop masterpieces, you're bound to disappoint a few fans with heady memories of the old records. However, like most great bands, Boredoms/V∞redoms don't let expectations get in the way of their vision. Eight years after the last Super Roots EP, Eye (CDJ, turntable), Yoshimi (drums), ATR (drums) and Yojiro (yep, drums) deliver SR9, diving headfirst into an ocean of drums, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Jefrey Leighton Brown, founder of ComLib's own Evolutionary Jass Band and former key participant in Jackie-o-Motherfucker, steps forth with his debut CD, Change Has Got to Come! From its revolutionary, hopeful title and austere, homespun presentation, Change is a purposeful, careful reinterpretation of 70s-era, introspective avant-jazz and obtuse, small-town R&B. But this album is far from being a simple exploration of retro-fantasy. Most importantly, Brown wields a sense [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

First in a series of 6 limited edition 10" reissues from Burning Star Core's C. Spencer Yeh, making available music from 1996-2005. This first presents three electronic/drone works with a Kraut-rock influence of stunning strength.

"These are trio recordings (featuring Heather Leigh Murray on vox/ pedal steel/ psaltry) and date from the same sessions that produced Joy Shapes. Completely improvised, and similar in feel & instrumentation to 'Natural Light' from Joy Shapes, these five pieces snake out of a gently detailed terrain of interlocking thought forms, eventually weaving themselves into towering thickets of monolithic spikes. Some of the most emotionally charged and harsh Charalambides sounds ever laid down, before [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Black Antlers was originally released as a 'work-in-progress' of early studio and live versions of songs that were being prepared for Coil's next official studio album, an album never to be completed due to Jhonn Balance's accidental death. Somewhat unpolished, but a fascinating look at what would have been had Balance not died...

"Paul Duncan, a Texan now in Brooklyn, constructed his first two records homemade studios. His music has always been marked by the unique combination of traditional instruments - guitar, pedal steel, drums, banjo, strings, glockenspiel, piano, horns - and confident exploration of synthesis and noise. Above The Trees breaks rank from its two predecessors both in impetus and craftsmanship. The album, grown out of the ether of experience rather than a catalog of strict memory, was written [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

The Flying Luttenbachers were part of Chicago's Wicker Park area jazz scene in the 1990's, formed by drummer/multi-instrumentalist Weasel Walter. Walter, who emerged from Chicago's punk scene, oriiginally enlisted sax players Hal Russell and Chad Organ to create a powerful front line, releasing albums on his own ugEXPLODE label. After Russell left to pursue his own NRG Ensemble, Walter replaced him with Ken Vandermark, who stayed on to 1994, returning for the recording of this album. Vandermark [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Ground Zero was Otomo Yoshihide's 1990's amazing collision band, using an incredible array of techniques and strategies to create incredibly unusual music. Kato Hideki, Yamataka Eye and Uchihashi Kazuhisa are three of the important improvisers that were a part of the band. As with any band that recorded as prolifically as Ground Zero, there are always tapes that were passed over for various reasons. Yoshihide has recently been rummaging around in his closet for lost and unused recordings, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Beautiful and quirky, Riska is Haco's 9th solo record, using guest musicians on many tracks, all following her eccentric and mesmerizing vision. Haco finds music in the oddest of places, using an unusual palette of sound to construct environments over which she sings. The music is lovely and reserved, an accent to a quiet summer day, rich with nuance and subtlety. Those familiar with her trio album Lunch in Nishinomiya with Diane Labrosse and Martin Tétreault on IMJ will [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Six pieces, including the legendary unrecorded last Henry Cow piece (here as 'Hold to the Zero burn, imagine') a string Quartet, 2 works for small ensemble, 1 for samples and multiple horns and 1 for electronics. Featuring Dagmar Krause, Lindsay Cooper, Chris Cutler, Guy Segers, Dominique Weeks, Bill Gilonis and assorted trumpet, flute and string players. Thoroughly through composed; a remarkable musical statement that absolutely defies genre coding or classification."-Chris Cutler

Double album re-release of the beautiful rock band Hush Arbor's Under Bent Limbs

"Keith Wood and his Hush Arbors project had a good year in 2006. After multiple solo tours and stints with Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice, his first CD and LP were released earlier in the year. He ended the year relocating to England and plying his trade across the pond. With all this in mind, it was decided that a re-release of his first full-length for Digitalis was in order, and thus this expanded [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Asa Irons plays in Witch with J Mascis as well as the acclaimed folk outfit Feathers. This is the first release from Asa Irons and Swaan Miller: Asa's deep-breath-voice lays down a mossy hill for Swaan's beautiful voice to tread upon. His guitar work is simply intricate and his fingerpicking perfectly suits the way their voices combine to become one.

"After spending years in New Hampshire and often Nova Scotia, I began writing songs about my Northeastern window [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"A collection of 4 live recordings, made under varied circumstances, ranging from the quiet and comfortable setting of the WFMU free form radio recording studio, to the live theatre environment at the cube cinema in Bristol, England, where the group was recorded in concert performance. The line-up includes Montreal musicians Fluffy Erskine and David Bryant, as well as long time JOMF members T. Greenwood and Brooke Crouser. Listening to this work requires some patience, but is richly rewarding, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Second release of the amazing improvising duo of Uchihashi Kazuhisa (Altered States, Ground Zero, Innocent Records, &c) and Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins, Acid Mothers Temple, Magaibutsu Records, &c). This is a triple CD set of pyrotechnic and amazing interactions between Japan's finest guitarist and drummer.

"I Could Never Make That Music Again is a choral album, a sound collage crafted out of interviews,where artists, musicians, DJs and sound makers talk openly about their work, their visions, their hopes, their moments of doubts and their regrets in a loosely constructed narrative. Even though most of the people interviewed here have just met on a few occasions, they have all participated in the making of the history of electronic music; from the early tape experiments in the 1950s to the latest [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"On their sixth full-length studio release Melt-Banana exercise a hitherto undetected area of their musical musculature: the "rock" region. Summing up an entire album, and one as diverse as Bambi's Dilemma, with such a pedestrian qualifier is risky business, agreed, but it seems to fit like never before. The band, of course, refuses to accommodate any such pigeonholing: "Maybe it is rock, but maybe not. We just make whatever we want. We just follow our own instincts!" The truth is MxBx makes [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

You have to lower the stakes after an album like Ys, because you can't raise them. Joanna Newsom's follow-up is a lot less formally ambitious: A three-song quickie, with one new song and two old ones, recorded live in the studio with four members of her acoustic touring band. Of course, "less formally ambitious" on Newsom's scale is off the charts on virtually anyone else's. "I was coding a lot of my experience in terms of excess of water," she told Pitchfork last November about the lyrical [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Pere Ubu's first full length LP in 1978 remains one of their finest and most essential releases, and vinyl is the perhaps the best way to enjoy it. Originally issued in a limited pressing of 1000, this album introduced an unsuspecting audience to David Thomas's extremely quirky and unusual voice and lyric writing, and to Allen Ravenstine's jarring yet perfectly timed synth/noise interjections. With an amazing rhythm section the album is nothing short of brilliant, one of the finest examples [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Alec K. Redfearn has been releasing albums since 1991, first with the Amoebic Ensemble and then starting in 1998 with The Eyesores - this is their 6th proper release. Redfearn himself is a songwriter, accordionist, improviser and composer. The Eyesores were formed in '97 as an outlet for Redfearn's songs, but developed into a more ambitious organization that takes on a variety of musical styles; from Redfearn's own description, the eyesores play "slow, simmering, noirish dirges, spastic no-wave [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

It is an understatement to say that The Residents Duck Stab twisted many heads with it's outrageous thrust at the very belly of pop music. Concise and considerably cracked, songs like "Bach Is Dead" and "Constantinople" use the synthesizer in ways that perhaps only Brian Eno or David Vorhaus had previously considered. But its the sheer joy of their perverse pop approach that makes this album one of the greatest gems The Residents ever produced. The standard package for Duck Stab [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

The very first Residents album, and one of their odder ones, not surprising knowing now what was to come. This sounds unlike any other Residents release, borrowing from a wider variety of styles in a mix that lacks the focus of their soon to evolve song style, but which still sounds absolutely unusual and unlike much else of its time. Conceptual even at the start, the first six songs are connected, ending with the Snakefinger standard "Smelly Tongues." This album also starts the mystery of [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Japan's RUINS have extensive experience and a tireless commitment! A furious barrage of explosive and intricately composed drum(s) and bass (guitar), Ruins cover all stops between hardcore's hysteric intensity, metal's pummeling dynamics and the confounding inscription of progressive rock. No slack. No slop. Absolute masters of quick change, stop-start tempos and time-signatures, Ruins craft an unprecedented amalgam of originality, all sung in a peculiar language of their own invention.

[ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"33 1/3 is Smegma's tribute to their 20th century avant-garde and out-jazz influences. The title is one part reference to the happy revival of passionate vinyl listening in the 21st century and one part celebration of their long hard slog of 33 1/3 years of being one of the most free thinking and original American underground groups. Their focus, ideas and determination has brought them through more than three decades and to this day they remain unparalleled, original and highly influential.

33 [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"33 1/3 is Smegma's tribute to their 20th century avant-garde and out-jazz influences. The title is one part reference to the happy revival of passionate vinyl listening in the 21st century and one part celebration of their long hard slog of 33 1/3 years of being one of the most free thinking and original American underground groups. Their focus, ideas and determination has brought them through more than three decades and to this day they remain unparalleled, original and highly influential.

33 [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Associated with London's UFO Club, The Soft Machine played alongside Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix in the early era of British psychedelic pop. Soft Machine took in jazz, psychedelic rock and avant outlook, merging them into an amazing pop force that was remarkably hip and knowledgeable while still maintaining a tough anti-establishment attitude. Drummer Robert Wyatt handled most of the vocals, becoming for a time the figurehead for the band, and a source of inspiration for the music through [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"The first Soft Machine LP usually got the attention, with its movable parts sleeve, as well as the presence of ultra-talented songwriter Kevin Ayers. But musically, Volume Two better conveys the Dada-ist whimsy and powerful avant-rock leanings of the band. Hugh Hopper took over for Ayers on bass, and his fuzz tones and experimental leanings supplanted Ayers' pop emphasis. The creative nucleus behind this most progressive of progressive rock albums, however, is Robert Wyatt. He provides [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

This Heat's outstanding second studio album, Deceit stands out as a high-water mark in the extensive field of post-punk /avant- progressive /experimental rock music dating from the early eighties. It differs from the band's debut album in that the majority of the pieces are thoroughly composed songs, though with a penchant to push the boundaries of sound manipulation. The lyrics are more overtly political on Deceit and, while sung by all three group members, the most disturbing [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Health and Efficiency was released between the Blue & Yellow and Deceit releases as a vinyl EP, and then re-released as a 3" CD. There are only two extended tracks: "Graphic Varispeed" was designed to be played at either 33 1/3 or 45 RPM (you'll need a specialized CD player to pull this one off!) and was reworked as part of Repeat; "Health and Efficiency" is a mini-epic and a chameleon of a piece that works itself a beat heavy rock number with a short lyric section [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Until recently the only official live This Heat release has been a long-deleted cassette version of a concert from Krefeld, Germany, from 1980. This CD corrects that vacuum by officially releasing private recordings from the band's live repertoire, circa 1980-1981, taken from concerts in Tilburg, Nijmegan, Arhus, Appledoorn, Vienna and Rheims. The trio rip through some highly-charged versions of classic pieces from both Blue & Yellow and Deceit, as well as an improvisation [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"This Heat's earliest public recordings came from two sessions for John Peel's BBC radio show, in April and October of 1977. Peel was one of their greatest enthusiasts at the time, hearing excellence in the band's mixed repertoire of post-krautrock songs and uniquely approached improvisation. Of special merit here is the band's maverick use of real-time tape loops to augment their basic three-piece sound, as well as their choice of pre-recorded noises; both helped to create the pioneering effects [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Repeat is This Heat's fourth album proper, posthumously released in 1993. It harbours the most extreme musical side of This Heat's experimental tendencies on disk, and is assuredly the band's most radical offering. The title track is an oxymoron: An extended/edited version of the piece "24 Track Loop", which had been previously issued on the Recommended Records' double-disk sampler in 1981, heard here sans the harmonizer effect. The original tracks were produced by David Cunningham (Flying [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Chicago's U.S. Maple's first album was recorded by Jim O'Rourke, his first recording session in the rock world. The band's goal was to 'reorganize rock and roll' by creating a morphing approach to playing their songs, introducing a level of elasticity to the songs so that they were played differently every night. As such this album is a snapshot of the songs, an improvisational approach that receives strong reactions and critical acclaim. Unusual rock to say the least.

Upsilon Acrux's fifth album after a decade as a band, this San Diego area rock group plays complex and agressive instrumental rock with a prog flair. Theirs are intricate compositions that use fantastic technical abilities to wrangle unusually angular attacks againt oddly beautiful melodies, with quick drumming and breathtaking guitar riffs. Think Crimson or Sleeping People. Excellent.

"Vibracathedral Orchestra's 1st proper full length LP on QBICO! They went into few changes in the last few years, none of which diminish their power to create such a highly vibrant and unique music. On the contrary."-QBICO

"Wisdom Thunderbolt marks the triumphant return of Vibracathedral after over 3 years in the wilderness of intermittent performance, tangential projects, and unfindable limited editions. The 7 tracks on Wisdom are thee VCO's most rocking dispatch ever, neatly combining the Ra-like collage of tracks like "Wisdom Thunderbolt" with the insistent jams of the pulsing "A Natural Fact" and "Order of the Broad Eraser." "Ochre Dust" and "Rainbow Whirlwind" are more in the old-school VCO thick-blanket [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Here's a strange one... The Ya Ho Wha religious sect was inspired by their divine leader Father Yod, and released several oddly psychedelic albums as the Ya Ho Wha 13 in the mid 1970s. The sect disbanded after Father Yod died in a hang gliding accident in 1974. The organization surrounding Yahowha is known as The Source, who licensed this reissue, the fifth Ya Ho Wha 13 record, which comes with a lyric sheet and new liner notes explaining the significance of Ya Ho Wha.

"At [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Japanese double CD reissue of this historic John Cage release, considered by many to be the most famous of his prepared piano works. Originally recorded in 1969 and issued by Columbia in 1970 as a double LP, the album is produced by David Behrman and performed by Jeanne Kirstein. Richard Kostelanetz' original liner notes are included.

"Philip Corner (b 1933) studied composition with Henry Cowell and Otto Luening and musical analysis with Oliver Messiaen. During the 1960s and 70s he was an active member of Fluxus, a founder (along with James Tenney and Malcolm Goldstein) of the Tone Roads Chamber Ensemble, the resident musician and composer for the Judson Dance Theatre, and co-founder of Gamelan Son of Lion (with Barbara Benary and Daniel Goode).

The musical opportunities that these ensembles and their performances offered [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"A relentless explorer, composer, performer and theorist, David Dunn (born 1953) uses electro-acoustic resources, voice, non-human living systems, as well as traditional instruments. A creator of text-sound compositions, environmental installations, works for radio and video, he has also written and published extensively. Underlying all his work is a common regard for music as a communicative source with a living world. Growing up in San Diego in the sixties and seventies, he encountered people [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"This is the last release in Sub Rosa's three-part series of instrumental works by this important artist. Luc Ferrari is considered one of the most legendary musical figures of the twentieth century, whose work and aesthetic continues to influence several generations of contemporary composers. Director of the Groupe de Recherche Musicales which he established with Pierre Schaeffer in Paris from 1958-1966, he is also one of the masters of musique concrète who influenced and expanded the genre [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Born in 1940 in Greensboro, NC, Henry Flynt was a musician, artist, anti-art activist and cultural philosopher. He proposed the concept of "cognitive nihilism" and coined the term "concept art;" he collaborated with Fluxus artist George Maciunas; and in the early 60's he demonstrated against cultural institutions in NYC with Tony Conrad and Jack Smith. Starting in 1987 he focused on applying concept art to music, releasing over 10 concept CDs, which this release is a part of.

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Born in 1940 in Greensboro, NC, Henry Flynt was a musician, artist, anti-art activist and cultural philosopher. He proposed the concept of "cognitive nihilism" and coined the term "concept art;" he collaborated with Fluxus artist George Maciunas; and in the early 60's he demonstrated against cultural institutions in NYC with Tony Conrad and Jack Smith. Starting in 1987 he focused on applying concept art to music, releasing over 10 concept CDs, which this release is a part of.

The final [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"On Vogel Musik (or 'Bird-music'), Limpe is heard performing a series of duos with multi-instrumentalist Christoph Reiserer on reeds. The duo then extends to a trio with Julia Schoelzel on piano, featuring a piece recorded at Musikfest, Munich, in 2004. The themes that developed from these recent recordings revealed a beautiful and bizarre series of compositions that have now been collected on CD for the first time. With an array of movements and audio dialogue amongst the performers, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Steffen Schleiermacher performs music from Glass' earlier works, including pieces from Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, and Akhnaten. Nuanced work interpreting an expressive and fascinating period of Glass' work.

Icebreaker is considered by many to be the United Kingdom's leading new music ensemble. The 13-piece group, which tours extensively, has been an active champion of many of today's most important composers. Philip Glass' 1970 score Music with Changing Parts has been part of the group's touring repertoire for years. This recording brings a vivid re-imagining and fresh interpretation to one of Glass' greatest scores. Music with Changing Parts marked a turning point in Glass career, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Although the compositional style of Lou Harrison (1917-2003) evolved and matured during his long and productive life, he held fast to a number of basic aesthetic principles: a devotion to beautiful melody; the foregrounding of rhythm, melody, and counterpoint over harmony; a preference for just-intonation tuning systems; and the integration of influences from diverse world musics. On the present disc, which includes works from 1939 to 1987, all of these characteristics are in evidence.

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A remarkable and eclectic collection of Morricone selections drawn from material written from 1965 to 1981, most of the material falling the early seventies. Morricone's imaginitive and sometimes startling orchestrations are tinged by evocative and beautiful passages; music that stands firmly on its own feet outside of the obscure European art films for which it was written. Much of the material is being released on CD for the first time, a welcome addition and an important document of an incredible [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"On 5 February 1996 during the Ligeti Festival at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, the stage in the Kees van Baarenzaal was occupied by a pair of player pianos, and we were treated to a fascinating live concert of works by Nancarrow and Ligeti under the gentle guidance of Jürgen Hocker. The player piano as used then and here is a conventional looking grand, but as the underneath view in the booklet of this new CD shows, the whole thing is not only the usual mass of strings and hammers, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Japanese-only release of two performances of Toru Takemitsu's 1962 composition "Corona", performed by Jim O'Rourke.

"Toru Takemitsu (1931-1996) was a self-taught Japanese composer who combined elements of Eastern and Western music and philosophy to create a unique sound world. Some of his early influences were the sonorities of Debussy, and Messiaen's use of nature imagery and modal scales. There is a certain influence of Webern in Takemitsu's use of silence, and Cage in his compositional [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

A central figure in post-war electronic art music, Oliveros is one of the original members of the San Francisco Tape Music Center (along with Morton Subotnick, Ramon Sender, Terry Riley, and Anthony Martin), which was the resource on the U.S. west coast for electronic music during the 1960s. The Center later moved to Mills College, where she was its first director, and is now called the Center for Contemporary Music. Oliveros often improvises with the Expanded Instrument System, an electronic [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

""The Wanderer" is based on a single modal scale (B C# D D# E F# G#) and rhythmic modes based on a meter consisting of ¾ and 3/8. "Part I, Song," is intended to explore the unique resonant qualities of accordion reeds through long sounds. Subtle variations come about from differences in tuning and air pressure. "Part II, Dance," demonstrates the sharp accenting power of the accordion bellows in a mixture of cross rhythms characteristic of jigs, reels, batucadas, Bulgars, klezmer forms, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"Nam June Paik, was born in Seoul, Korea in 1932. After a move to Japan, where he studied the work of composer Arnold Schönberg, Paik came to Germany in 1956 to continue his studies in the history of music. his interests soon turned away from the university setting to less traditional forms of music, leading him the Westdeutsche Rundfunk's Studio for Electronic Music, where Karlheinz Stockhausen was working. To date there have been only a handful of limited edition LP and cassette releases [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"After changing the world in the late '60s with In C and A Rainbow in Curved Air, legendary American composer and father of minimalism Terry Riley abandoned tape-manipulation and written composition to concentrate on longform keyboard cycles and improvisations. In the early '70s, while in Europe, he was invited to create scores for two films. The first, in 1972, was Joel Santoni's Les Yeux Fermés, a feature-length art film that instantly became a cult classic by virtue [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Early minimalist Terry Riley's first album, originally released in 1966 on the Mass Art label. These first recordings were made using a Revox reel to reel recorder, which he refers to as 'Time Lag Accumulators', allowing him to recycle and combine sound in an accumulative way. These are the same techniques used as heard on "Poppy Nogood" and "Phantom Band All Night Flight." For this release Reed Stream was re-mastered from the original tapes. In addition to the original release this [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Excellent magazine edited by Seth Nehil, Matthew Marble and Bethany Wright. Includes writings by Jonas Baes, Michael Bullock, John Duncan, Pauliina Haasjoki, Przemyslaw Jasielski, Paolo Javier, Arsenije Jovanovc, Subhash Kak, Max Krafft, Luis Lopez & Barbara Held, Fransciso Lopez, Lionel Marchetti, Chris McDonald, Mattheww Marble, Travis Nichols, Adam Overton, Ramon Pagayon Santos, Michael J. Schumacher, Giancarlo Toniutti, Alex Waterman, Achim Wollscheid, and Steven Zultanski

On the cover: Wiley. Features: Kassin+Moreno+Domenico, Modified Toy Orchesta, Invisible Jukebox: Neil Cambpell, Sea & Cake, Keijo, Tomas Korber, Zavoloka, Josef Van Wissem. Live reviews of All Tomorrow's Parties in Minehead, Free Noise in London, The Donau Festival in Krems

Includes The Wire Tapper 17 free CD compilation. "On The Cover: Von Südenfed (Mark E. Smith and Mouse On Mars' new project is not so much a collaboration as a shotgun wedding marrying digital mayhem with cantankerous inventions); Features: Strategy (Community Library label runner Paul Dickow details his sonic smear campaign); Sylvie Courvoisier (The Swiss pianist discusses improvising with the cream of downtown New York's crop); Carlos Giffoni (The No Fun Festival founder tells Marc Masters [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Live performances of this amazing and unique violinist, vocalist and performer, taken from 2006 concerts in Palac, Akoropolis and Prague, and TV archive footage.

"Earle Brown belonged to a group of composers that today is referred to as the The New York School (the group active in New York in the 1950s that included Brown, John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Christian Wolff.) The works recorded on this disc represent several of Brown's compositional styles. At least one piece was selected from every decade of his career, from the 1950s to the 1990s. The ensemble size varies from one player to fourteen. Performers include Christian Wolff and vocalist [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

In 1983 William S. Burroughs participated in a tour of Britain called "The Final Academy" which showcased Burrough's work and performances by artists influenced by this iconoclastic writer and artist. On October 4, 1983 the show came to Manchester at the Hacienda club, famous for the Factory record label. A special edit of Burrough's film Ghosts at No. 9 by Genesis P.Orridge, and the Gison/Burroughs/Balch film Towers Open Fire were aired. John Giorno also performed. And then [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

It's difficult to assess the long term power of William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin's collaborations during the early 60's: countless writers, artists, and thinkers directly met or were affected by their calmly rebellious and even 'heretical' approach to art and life. Burroughs paid for this in many ways, fleeing the US, facing trial for obscenity with the publication of his book Naked Lunch, and facing many more personal trials dealing with the ramifications of his rampantly experimental [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"This film captures the intensity, caprice, craziness and visionary beauty of Faust's late '90s performances, when, for a moment the core members of the original band were temporarily reconciled. Professionally filmed at the legendary 1996 Faust Garage concert, this release fills in what has until now been sorely missing from the record:¬ the sheer physicality of Faust's performances, the litter of scrap, cement mixers, hay blowing machines,angle grinders and instruments that form their workplace [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

Jean-Pierre Gauthier is a composer, writer and artist in Montréal, who has performed and collaboratored with Actuelle artists Martin Tétreault, Diane Labrosse, Frank Martel and Dominique Petitgand. "Reported Missing in a Hardware Store includes a DVD, a CD and a 32-page bilingual booklet on the work of Jean-Pierre Gauthier, a Montréal artist known for his kinetic sound installations. The DVD presents 23 installations produced since 1997, while the CD brings together [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

The amazing trio of Koch, Schütz and Studer recorded by Peter Liechti, part of a multiple volume edition of films."

"A thirty day music marathon by Swiss musicians Koch-Schütz-Studer turns into a cinematic piece of chamber music. The "Hardcore Chambermusic" album is a music publishing phenomena that has taken Switzerland by storm, in which Koch-Schütz-Studer sampled and compressed hundreds of pieces of music from sources as diverse as Bartók and Berio to Public Enemy [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"First DVD compilation from Line. The project by Russian/American installation and video artists, Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand and developed in collaboration with scientific laboratories in Japan, Germany, Russia and Belgium, Camera Lucida (chamber of light or lucidity) is a 3-dimensional sonic observatory that directly transforms sound into light by employing a phenomenon known as sonoluminescence: ultrasound, propagating within a liquid, triggers the formation and implosion of micro-bubbles [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

"This documentary is a harrowing and engaging exploration into the life and art of the renowned author Hubert Selby Jr, who, against all odds, overcame tuberculosis, drug addiction and financial ruin to reach international acclaim with his controversial novels. His canon of work represents 7 of the most remarkable and distinctly American books ever written. His novels Last Exit To Brooklyn and Requiem For A Dream went on to gain the literary respect they deserved and both become [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

The OHM box was originally issued as a 2CD set with a booklet. An essential set of early electronic recordings (see track listing), in 2005 the CD set was repressed to include a DVD of 2 and a half hours of rare performances, interviews, animations and experimental video to complement the CD set. If you originally purchased the 2CD set and don't want to pay for the music again, here's your chance to get the DVD alone. Of course you could buy it just to see these amazing videos...

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"Johanna Went is a pioneering performance artist who began performing as part of a street theater troupe that traveled America and Europe in the 1970's. Following her years on the road she settled in LA in the late 70's and began transforming her street theater performances into what would become her signature style. Using found props and hand-sewn costumes she developed a wild stage act that included live musical backing from legendary performers such as Z'ev and KK Barret of the Screamers. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]

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