SQUIDCO & THE SQUID'S EAR UPDATE April 2, 2009

First and foremost: the Henry Cow Box Sets, two amazing and beautifully produced collections of concert recordings and a DVD! Then, four new titles on Tzadik; two on Pirouet plus the complete Marc Copland's NY Trio series; Shipp/O'Leary and Pat Thomas CDs on FMR; Paul Flaherty on LP; four new Creative Sources releases; not the wind not the flag on Barnyard; the Zeitkratzer box set; Lawrence English on 12K; Tim Hecker on Kranky; Loren Connor & Jim O'Rourke; Gordon Mumma on New World; Phil Kline's double DVD; The Hermann Nitsch 3LP & DVD wooden box; and the latest edition of Signal to Noise to read while listening!

We've been doing some work on the website over the last couple of weeks, which you'll notice first on the homepage, with a new set of navigation buttons for each of our major store sections, and a better left navigation bar. We've become format neutral, so that you can find, for instance, all improvised CDs, DVDs and LPs in the Improvisation/Jazz section of the store, making it easier to keep up with recent releases for your favorite store section. And here's a nifty new trick: highlight any artist name or instrument in the "Personnel" section of a product page and click the search text below to initiate a search for that artist or instrument, making it easier to explore the thousands of releases we sell.

After the listings are 15 new reviews on The Squid's Ear!

Improvisation:
$14.95  Buy  listen	Borbetomagus: A Go Go (Agaric)
	Extreme blasts of improvisation from the dual saxophones of Jim Sauter & Don Dietrich, and guitarist Donald Miller, performing live at Pezner in France, 1998.
$16.95  Buy  listen	Capece, Lucio & Mika Vainio: Trahnie (Editions Mego)
	E-A improviser Capece meets with sound artist Mika Vainio for a fascinating set of sound pieces, from subtle lowercase and close mic-ed work to huge sound tapestries.
$15.95  Buy  listen	Copland, Marc's New York Trio: Volume 1: Modinha (Pirouet)
	The first in Marc Colpland's New York Trio Recordings series, here with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Bill Stewart in an intense album of mostly original compositions.
$15.95  Buy  listen	Copland, Marc's New York Trio: Volume 2: Voices (Pirouet)
	The 2nd in Marc Colpland's New York Trio Recordings series, here with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian in a superb album of chamber jazz and tight group interplay.
$15.95  Buy  listen	Copland, Marc's New York Trio: Volume 3: Night Whispers (Pirouet)
	Part three of Copland's the much-acclaimed "New York Trio Recordings" with Drew Gress and Bill Stewart, three sophisticated virtuosos in an exquisite musical discourse.
$13.95  Buy	Flaherty, Paul: Aria Nativa [VINYL] (Family Vineyard)
	Flaherty's 3rd solo sax album recorded in 2007 in performance at Issue Project Room, NY and Community Theatre, Peterborough, NH, free power blues of a unique vision.
$22.95  Buy	Foreman, Richard : Ontological-Hysteric Theatre Vol. 1 - Sophia: The Cliffs / 35+ Year Retrospective Compilation [DVD] (Tzadik)
	A retrospective DVD compilation covering three decades of Richard Foreman's innovative theater experiences from the Ontological-Hysterical Theater Archives.
$15.95  Buy  listen	Friedrich, Jurgen: Pollock (Pirouet)
	The trio of pianist Jurgen Friedrich with bassist John Hebert and drummer Tony Moreno in an homage to the abstract action paintings American painter Jackson Pollock.
$15.95  Buy  listen	Gjerstad, Frode / John Stevens: Let's Just Keep Going (FMR)
	Norwegian saxophonist Frode Gjerstad recorded this wonderful, spirited meeting with his friend, the late, great drummer and conceptualist John Stevens in 1994.
$10.95  Buy  listen	Gonzalez, Dennis: Catechism (Music & Arts)
	Reissue of Gonzalez's 1996 album recorded in London with a large ensemble supergroup of Keith Tippett, Elton Dean, Louis Moholo, Kim Corbet and Rob Blakeslee.
$12.95  Buy  listen	Jones, JC: Hosting Myself (Kadima)
	Solo bass from acoustic and electroacoustic artist JC Jones, a distillation of his language in free improvised music incorporating electronic sound and noise.
$12.95  Buy  listen	Jones, JC: with Friends (Kadima)
	JC Jones on electroacoustic bass and live electronics performing duos with friends Harold Rubin, Ariel Shibolet, Maya Dunietz, Yuval Mesner, Josef Sprinzak, &c.
$12.95  Buy  listen	Jones, JC: With Friends Duos 2 (Kadima)
	Bassist and electroacoustic/electronic atrist JC Jones in duos with Ned Rothenberg, Harold Rubin, Gan Lev, Nori Jacoby, Daniel Hoffman, Victoria Hun and Josef Sprinzak.
$12.95  Buy  listen	Klucevsek, Guy: Dancing On The Volcano (Tzadik)
	Klucevsek's 3rd CD for Tzadik presents a series of compositions filled with his patented wit and humor, scored for a quartet of some of his closest collaborators.
$12.95  Buy  listen	Laswell, Bill: Invisible Design II (Tzadik)
	Bill Laswell brings his prodigious technique, massive sound and renegade conception to the fore in this intense and virtuosic outing for solo bass in this followup to his 1999 release.
$13.95  Buy	Licht, Alan: YMCA [VINYL] (Family Vineyard)
	Licht's first solo release since 2003's "A New York Minute" documents his solo guitar set in a 3-part structured improvisation from gentle tones to a firestorm of loop processing.
$14.95  Buy  listen	Milton / Thomas / Jewell / Farmer: Bear Ground (Creative Sources)
	UK improviser Matt Milton plays violin & objects, joined also by drummer/object-ist Patrick Farmer, violist David Thomas and voice/breath/snare player Ryan Jewell.
$14.95  Buy  listen	Moimeme, Abdul: Nekhephthu (Creative Sources)
	Abdul Moimeme in a set of solo compositions that turn his electric guitar into something akin to zithers, gongs, tams and other otherworldly & ethereal sounds.
$13.95  Buy  listen	not the wind not the flag: Tintinabulum (Barnyard)
	A beautifully building release of guitar and percussion, one long track that adds intensity from lovely minimalism to Fripp-ian chords and driving drum work.
$15.95  Buy  listen	O'Leary / Shipp: Labyrinth (FMR)
	Celebrated pianist Matthew Shipp joins Irish guitarist Mark O'Leary to explore the many fields of improvisation each follows, from meditative to intense discourse.
$14.95  Buy  listen	Sanfilippo, Dario: premio malattia (Creative Sources)
	Italian Dario Sanfilippo presents compositions for his feedback network based non-linear digital signal processing system, complex, demanding & amazing sound work.
$14.95  Buy  listen	Schindler / Holzbauer / Lillmeyer: rot (Creative Sources)
	15 short improvisations from this trio formed out of the Munich Instant Orchestra, using extended techniques and understated restraint on reeds, cello & electric guitar.
$12.95  Buy  listen	Tafillalt: Tafillalt (Tzadik)
	Sacred texts, prayers from N. Africa & the Middle East, modern Hebrew poetry, &c. are the basis for this exploration of the roots of Hebrew song by these young Israeli composer/improvisers.
$15.95  Buy  listen	Thomas, Pat : Plays The Music Of Derek Bailey & Thelonious Monk (FMR)
	Pianist and keyboardist Pat Thomas plays transcriptions of Derek Bailey's early recordings, and the music of Monk performed at the 2007 Cohesion Festival at Oxford.
$12.95  Buy  listen	Wall, Greg's Later Prophets: Ha'Orot (Tzadik)
	Wall's newest recording with his Later Prophets is a colorful & provocative mix of jazz and Jewish poetry, featuring the spiritual writings of Rabbi Avraham Itzchak HaCohen Kook.
$19.95  Buy	Walss, Priska & Gabriela Friedli: Intervista (Intakt)
	Priska Walss and Gabriela Friedli's first duo release after 10 years of working together, trombone, alphorn, piano and organ in an unusual and striking dialog.
$49.95  Buy  listen	Zeitkratzer / Nicolai / Thaemlitz / Haino: Electronics 3CD BOX (Zeitkratzer)
	All three Zeitkratzer (Frank Gratkowski, Franz Hautzinger, &c) "Electronic" CDs, one each with Keiji Haino, Terre Thaemlitz, and Carsten Nicolai, in one box with a book.

Electroacoustic/Experimental:
$14.95  Buy  listen	English, Lawrence: A Colour For Autumn (12K)
	Tonal compositions from Lawrence English using synthetic electronic sources and field recordings to make beautifully reflective pieces, w/a bit of help from Fennesz & Dean Roberts.
$14.95  Buy  listen	Hecker, Tim: An Imaginary Country (Kranky)
	Hecker's followup to "Harmony in Ultraviolet" adds more pulse, using a sound pallete including overdriven mellotron strings and synthesizer, a shimmering dark dream of a work.
$13.95  Buy	Palestine, Charlemagne & Christoph Heemann: Saiten In Flammen [VINYL] (Streamline)
	A collaborative work from Palestine playing a Bosendorf Imperial Grand Piano and Christoph Heemann playing electronics and tapes; the title translates to 'strings aflame'!

Compositional:
$17.95  Buy  listen	Barrett, Richard: Negatives (NMC Records)
	Richard Barrett's work encompasses composition and improvisation, from chamber music to live electronics, here with Friedrich Gauwerky, Brett Kelly, and Elision.
$18.95  Buy	Feldman, Morton: The Late Piano Works Vol. 2: For Bunita Marcus (MDG Scene)
	MDG's series of piano works from Morton Feldman's late period continues with this work dedicated to Bunita Marcus, Feldman's pupil and long-time associate.
$16.95  Buy	Kline, Phil: Around The World In A Daze [2 DVDs] (Starkland)
	Composer Kline in a double DVD with surround sound of boombox choirs, an ethereal Ethel string quartet, thousands of hyper-dense bells, 15,000 African gray parrots, &c. &c.
$25.95  Buy  listen	Mumma, Gordon: Music for Solo Piano 1960-2001 (New World Records)
	Gordon Mumma, known for his role in electronic music, also wrote a great deal of work for the piano, as demonstrated by Daan Vandewalle's performance these Mumma compositions.
$157.95  Buy	Nitsch, Hermann: Geburt Des Dionysos Christos 3LPs / DVD (Vinyl On Demand)
	Beautifully packaged in a heavy latched wooden box, this is the limited edition of Nitsch's 3LP set of his performance on the Brucknerorgel linz & at Prinzendorf, Austria.
$16.95  Buy	Various Artists: Adventures In Sound (El Records)
	El Record's compilation of post-war European composers working with organized sound: Karleheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry, Iannis Xenakis, Edgard Varese.
$13.95  Buy  listen	Various Artists: The Stroke That Kills (New World Records)
	Electric guitarist and bassist Seth Josel takes on compositions by Alvin Curran, Eve Beglarian, Michael Fiday, David Dramm, Gustavo Matamors and Tom Johnson.

Rock/RIO/Prog:
$14.95  Buy  listen	Connors, Loren & Jim O'Rourke: Two Nice Catholic Boys (Family Vineyard)
	Connors and O'Rourke met during a 1997 European tour to record these live performances psychedelic blues of spontaneous melody and ferocious grooves.
$79.95  Buy  listen	Henry Cow: Box 1: The Road Volumes 1-5 (Recommended Records)
	Henry Cow's early years on the road, live recordings masterfully restored by Bob Drake, with early unreleased material, improvisations, shows with Robert Wyatt - wow!
$84.95  Buy  listen	Henry Cow: Box 2: The Road: Volumes 6-10 with DVD (Recommended Records)
	Henry Cow's early years on the road, live recordings masterfully restored by Bob Drake, including the only known video of Henry Cow in Switzerland - amazing and essential!
$159.95  Buy  listen	Henry Cow: The Road Boxes 1 & 2 (Recommended Records)
	Both Henry Cow Road volumes at a special price - unreleased 1970s material from this essential improvising rock band, including the only known video footage from Swedish Radio!
$145.95  Buy  listen	Henry Cow: The Road Boxes 1 & 2 without Stockholm (Recommended Records)
	Both Henry Cow Road volumes but without the Stockholm CD, which was released in 2008 - intended for customers who already own that CD