The Squid's Ear
Recently @ Squidco:

Peter Evans / Being & Becoming:
Ars Ludricra [VINYL + DOWNLOAD] (More Is More)

Expanding their language through dense composition and open improvisation, this iteration of Peter Evans's ensemble moves fluidly between explosive dynamics, electronic textures, orchestral color, and rhythmic propulsion, as brass, vibes, synths, and percussion interlock in a restless, polyphonic music driven by play, risk, and a continually evolving collective imagination. ... Click to View


Byron Coley / Mats Gustafsson / Thurston Moore:
Now Jazz Now: 100 Essential Free Jazz & Improvisation Recordings (1960-80) [BOOK] (Ecstatic Peace Library )

Drawing from deeply personal listening histories, this richly illustrated volume assembles 100 essential free jazz and improvisation recordings from 1960-80, presenting album art, notes, and reflections that frame the music as non-hierarchical and interlinked, offering an immersive guide for adventurous listeners interested in the lineage, spirit, and lived culture of creative freedom. ... Click to View


Leo Genovese:
Solo Brooklyn (577 Records)

Performing solo piano at the 2025 New York Forward Festival, Leo Genovese delivers a strikingly fluid and exploratory set where abstract, dreamlike themes move freely between lyricism, volatility, and spontaneous invention, revealing a deeply personal improvisational language shaped by risk, intuition, and the raw immediacy of live performance. ... Click to View


Otherlands Trio (Crump / Jones / McPherson):
Star Mountain (Intakt)

Uniting bassist Stephan Crump, drummer Eric McPherson with alto saxophonist Darius Jones, this trio channels a deeply connected improvisational language built on evolving vamps, elastic grooves, and shared momentum, as Jones's emotionally direct alto moves freely through shifting forms shaped by trust, vulnerability, and a collective pursuit of intensity without hierarchy or hesitation. ... Click to View


Nate Wooley:
A Fine Rain Anoints The Canal Machinery (Discreet Archive)

In a subtly detailed journey, Nate Wooley layers field recordings, trumpet, piano, sine tones, whistling, and bodily sound into a stark, reflective work that probes the uneasy coexistence of nature, machinery, and human presence, shaping a quietly political soundscape in which environmental detail, isolation, and mechanical intrusion collide in fragile, contrapuntal tension. ... Click to View


Eventless Plot:
Unlearning Noise (Discreet Archive)

Blending field recordings, percussion, tapes, and modular synthesis with Marina Katsarou's voice and text and Eva Matsigou's flute, Eventless Plot reshape urban sound into a finely detailed electroacoustic work that invites listeners to reconsider noise as a living, expressive presence, revealing the shifting textures, hidden meanings, and poetic potential embedded within the everyday sonic fabric of the city. ... Click to View


Ernesto Rodrigues / Fala Mariam / Andre Hencleeday / Seu Barradas:
February Find (Creative Sources)

Captured live as part of the Creative Sources Improvised Music Series in Lisbon, this quartet performance brings viola, crackle box, alto trombone, piano, and percussion into a finely balanced improvisation where texture and restraint guide the music's unfolding, revealing a deeply interactive dialogue shaped by close listening, fragile electronics, and quietly evolving sonic relationships. ... Click to View


Fohn Ensemble (Foschla / Duerinckx / Northover):
Fohn Ensemble (Creative Sources)

Bringing together clarinets, sopranino, baritone, and soprano saxophones with kyotaku (a Japanese bamboo flute) and resonant percussion, this trio shapes a highly attentive improvisation where breath, extended techniques, and shifting timbres unfold through close listening, moving fluidly between fragile textures, explosive gestures, and an organic, imaginary folklore that emerges from collective intuition. ... Click to View


Peter Evans / Mike Pride :
A Window, Basically [CD + DOWNLOAD] (Relative Pitch)

Concentrating their work from the Pulverize the Sound trio, trumpeter Peter Evans and drummer Mike Pride reveal a ferocity that pushes free improvisation to its extremes, balancing explosive virtuosity with kaleidoscopic percussive interaction through dense sound clusters, fractured grooves, unexpected silences, and wild exploration, in seven high-risk dialogs tempered by moments of striking clarity. ... Click to View


Camila Nebbia (feat/ Marilyn Crispell / Lesley Mok):
A Reflection Distorts Over Water [CD + DOWNLOAD] (Relative Pitch)

Recorded at Nevessa Studio in New York, Camila Nebbia joins Marilyn Crispell and Lesley Mok in a fiercely intuitive trio session blending open scores and full improvisation, where elastic group interplay, textural sensitivity, and eruptive momentum allow the music to breathe as a single organism while leaving space for sharply defined individual voices to emerge. ... Click to View


Zeena Parkins:
Lament For The Maker [CD + DOWNLOAD] (Relative Pitch)

Marking the closing of Mills College and the end of Zeena Parkins' long association with its experimental community, this solo release presents three commissioned works alongside the ongoing acoustic piece berlin bedroom, unfolding a deeply reflective exploration of harp and electronics that honors artistic lineage, collective devotion, and the Bay Area's enduring spirit of experimental music-making. ... Click to View


HobbyHouse (Mia Dyberg / Axel Filip):
HobbyHouse [CD + DOWNLOAD] (Relative Pitch)

This self-titled debut from the Berlin-based duo of Danish alto saxophonist Mia Dyberg and Argentine drummer Axel Filip explores freely improvised jazz through spontaneous structures and shifting sonic playgrounds, with a sharp focus on timbral nuance, textural interplay, and an upbeat creative immediacy that unfolds into vivid, evolving sound narratives rooted in exploratory expression. ... Click to View


Kelsey Mines / Erin Rogers:
Scratching At The Surface [CD + DOWNLOAD] (Relative Pitch)

This duo release pairs bassist Kelsey Mines and saxophonist Erin Rogers in a deeply interactive exploration of free improvisation, where resonant low-end textures and expressive reeds weave concise, atmospheric vignettes shaped by bold contrasts, emotional clarity, and an immersive sense of motion that balances raw energy with carefully sculpted space. ... Click to View


Kelsey Mines / Vinny Golia:
Collusion and Collaboration [CD + DOWNLOAD] (Relative Pitch)

Distilling their work from the Chamber Quintet, this intimate duo recording pairs Vinny Golia's varied woodwinds with Kelsey Mines' resonant bass and subtle vocalizations, unfolding a carefully balanced exchange of gentle and sharp gestures shaped by classical-leaning abstractions, where attentive interplay allows fluid musical forms to emerge with clarity inside open improvisational space. ... Click to View


Adia Vanheerentals :
Taking Place [CD + DOWNLOAD] (Relative Pitch)

Asked to rethink the solo sax format, Adia Vanheerentals transforms this release into a series of site-responsive improvisations, engaging the soprano sax in active dialogue with surrounding environments — echoing spaces, incidental sounds, and ambient noise — using extended techniques, breath & texture to shape concise statements where location is a partner in an open improvisational framework. ... Click to View


Uneven Eleven (Segers / Hawyard / Kawabata):
Live In Brighton (Discus)

A ferocious meeting of three seasoned innovators, this live set from Charles Hayward (drums, vocals), Guy Segers (bass), and Kawabata Makoto (guitar) channels decades of rock, punk, psychedelia, and free improvisation into an explosive power trio performance, where raw energy, shifting polyrhythms, and searing intensity collide in a fiercely immediate and unfiltered sonic assault captured on stage in Brighton in 2013. ... Click to View


Don Malfon / Vasco Trilla:
Towers of Silence (Confront)

A deeply immersive duo performance from saxophonist Don Malfon and percussionist Vasco Trilla, this exploratory session unfolds as a richly textured dialogue of breath, resonance, and rhythm, where haunting tones, shifting densities, and subtle dynamics blur the lines between experimental jazz, ambient improvisation, and abstract sound sculpture, revealing a finely balanced interplay of intensity and restraint. ... Click to View


Tom Jackson / Daniel Thompson:
Dark Kitchen (Confront)

An intimate, immersive duo recording in which Tom Jackson's finely articulated clarinet and Daniel Thompson's responsive, highly attuned guitar create a richly expressive terrain of spontaneous sound, channeling the spirit of free improvisation's pioneers in a deeply communicative exchange of timbre, space, and dynamic nuance. ... Click to View


Jurg Frey :
Composer, Alone [3 CDs] (elsewhere)

Recording at the historic Muziekcentrum van de Omroep in Hilversum, Dutch pianist Reinier van Houdt performs twelve solo piano works spanning more than three decades of Swiss composer Jürg Frey's output, revealing an evolving yet remarkably consistent compositional voice through performances of great restraint, sensitivity, and quiet intensity, balancing fragility, warmth, and crystalline clarity. ... Click to View


Eliane Radigue:
Asymptote Versatile (1963-64) (Amgen Records)

An historic world-premiere recording of Éliane Radigue's earliest surviving work, performed at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, where a stellar ensemble realizes her flexible "sonic proposition" through evolving textures, mathematical spirals and dynamic transformations that foreshadow her later visionary soundworld. ... Click to View


Ilia Belorukov / Alex Riva:
Wrestling For Futility [CASSETTE w/DOWNLOAD] (Notice Recordings)

A bristling electro-acoustic duo encounter in which Ilia Belorukov's restless modular synthesis collides and intertwines with Alex Riva's recorder work and effects, generating playful yet volatile improvisations that shift between lo-fi textures, glassy winds, and surging electronic fragments, as tension, friction, and timbral curiosity drive the music through constantly mutating sonic terrain. ... Click to View


Various Artists:
Evil Clown Shorties Vol 6 (2025) (Evil Clown)

A lively sampler of Evil Clown's expansive improvisational universe, this collection assembles fourteen concise, high-energy performances drawn from livestream sessions across multiple ensembles, where shifting instrumental combinations, dense textures, and spontaneous interaction distil the label's long-form aesthetic into sharply focused bursts of collective invention. ... Click to View


Axioms:
Fundamental Statements (Evil Clown)

A tightly focused and interactive trio session pairing spoken word with expansive instrumental color,bringing Jane's incisive poetry into close dialogue with Albey onBass's grounded sonorities and David Peck's wide-ranging reeds, electronics, and resonant objects, revealing an articulated improvisational language where text, texture, and collective intuition lock together. ... Click to View


Simulacrum:
Replicants (Evil Clown)

A densely layered electro-acoustic ensemble improvisation in which expanded electronics, tightly integrated horns, and richly colored percussion generate a constantly evolving sonic field, balancing muscular collective energy with intricate textural detail as shifting instrumental roles and deep ensemble cohesion drive a forward-moving exploration of sound and form. ... Click to View


Jakob Ullmann:
Solo I / Solo IV (Another Timbre)

Jakob Ullmann's Solo I and Solo IV are realised together as two ultra-quiet, long-form works in which graphic notation, fixed pitch sequences, and subtle performance choices guide quarter-tone flute and double bass through slowly shifting regions of colour and resonance, blending live sound with tailored playback to create a fragile, immersive acoustic environment. ... Click to View


Eldritch Priest :
Dead-Wall Reveries (Another Timbre)

Three chamber works from Canadian composer Eldritch Priest trace his distinctive blend of lyric drifting and restless detail, from a fragile, noise-tinged string quartet to a reflective solo piano piece and a shifting, daydream-like ensemble work, each drawing on his interest in improvisation, ambiguity, and melodies that wander with deliberate aimlessness. ... Click to View


Marja Ahti:
Visiting Cloud (Two Translations) (Another Timbre)

Acoustic ensemble realizations of two electroacoustic works by Marja Ahti, in which members of the Italian ensemble Blutwurst translate her drifting textures, elemental timbres, and spatial sensibilities into slow, finely detailed instrumental environments, expanding the original works into patient, resonant soundworlds shaped by pitch nuance, breath, and sustained collective focus. ... Click to View


Melaine Dalibert / David Sylvian:
Vermilion Hours (Ici d Ailleurs)

A refined collaboration between pianist Melaine Dalibert and David Sylvian, transforming Dalibert's algorithmic piano works through subtle, impressionistic electronic treatments that deepen their harmonic resonance, creating a luminous and contemplative soundworld shaped by spectral motion and quiet atmospheric detail. ... Click to View


Eric La Casa / Jerome Noetinger:
Off Tracks (erstwhile)

Compositions from Éric La Casa and Jérôme Noetinger built from site recordings made while exploring buildings emptied of their activities, crossing spaces abandoned by their occupants and drifting through the ghostly traces of vanished presence, revealing a mysterious electroacoustic force that lingers within the shifting textures of these emptied environments. ... Click to View


Fredrik Rasten w/ Asterales:
Fuse Modulations (thanatosis produktion)

Guitarist-composer Fredrik Rasten joins the Berlin quartet Asterales to explore slowly shifting just-intonation harmonies in four movements where quarter-tone bass flute, synthesizer, double bass, and fretless electric guitar weave sustained microtonal textures into a resonant, deeply attentive study of modulation, timbre, and collective harmonic precision. ... Click to View



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The Squid's Ear

About The Squid's Ear

The Squid's Ear is an online music review magazine that is a part of the online music shop Squidco. Phil Zampino is the editor and publisher of the site. The Squid's Ear concentrates on non-commercial experimental, improvisation, avant-garde, and unusual musical styles. The Squid's Ear publishes reviews for releases on sale at Squidco, but written by independent reviewers who are not staff members of Squidco. Our writer's critical voices add to our customer's ability to understand the music that we sell, and to make good choices about what they might find interesting in Squidco's catalog. Our writers are paid for their work, and represent some of the finest in both the online and print publishing world.

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Attn: Editor
332 Shipyard Blvd
Wilmington, NC 28412
USA

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The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


HobbyHouse (
Mia Dyberg/
Axel Filip):
HobbyHouse
[CD + DOWNLOAD]
(Relative Pitch)



Camila Nebbia (
feat/ Marilyn Crispell/
Lesley Mok):
A Reflection
Distorts Over Water
[CD + DOWNLOAD]
(Relative Pitch)



Zeena Parkins:
Lament For The Maker
[CD + DOWNLOAD]
(Relative Pitch)



Peter Evans/
Mike Pride :
A Window, Basically
[CD + DOWNLOAD]
(Relative Pitch)



Eliane Radigue:
Asymptote Versatile (
1963-64)
(Amgen Records)



Uneven Eleven (
Segers/
Hawyard/
Kawabata):
Live In Brighton
(Discus)



Ilia Belorukov/
Alex Riva:
Wrestling For Futility
[CASSETTE w/DOWNLOAD]
(Notice Recordings)



Eldritch Priest:
Dead-Wall Reveries
(Another Timbre)



Jakob Ullmann:
Solo I/
Solo IV
(Another Timbre)



Ziv Taubenfeld Full Sun (
Taubenfeld/
Moore/
Buis/
Ku/
Chientaroli/
Heggen/
Govaert):
Nomads
(Full Sun Records)



Jurg Frey with
ensemble]h[iatus:
Je Laisse A
La Nuit Son
Poids D'ombre
(Another Timbre)



John Zorn (
Marsella/
Smith/
Roeder):
Nocturnes
(Tzadik)



Amir ElSaffar/
New Quartet:
Live at
Pierre Boulez Saal
(Maqam Records)



Amir ElSaffar/
New Quartet:
Live at
Pierre Boulez Saal
[VINYL]
(Maqam Records)



Santiago Fischer Diez :
Songs
(Another Timbre)



Rempis/
Adasiewicz/
Corsano:
Dial Up
(Aerophonic)



Fred Frith &
The Gravity Band:
s/t
(Klanggalerie)



Elliott Sharp:
Mare Crisium
(zOaR Records)



Ivo Perelman/
Nate Wooley:
Polarity 4
(Burning Ambulance Music)



Joe McPhee:
Defiant Jazz:
a Joe McPhee Taster
[VINYL]
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)







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