"Getting back to my usual daily activities here, although I still have various post-move chores pending, I do want to go ahead and note some thoughts (together in one entry) concerning a couple of new Creative Sources releases: The two prog...

Quoting Danish painter & sculptor Asgar Jorn--"To get anywhere, one must choose one's mistakes. I chose experimental acts."--the quartet of Udo Schindler on alto sax, bass & double bass clarinets & cornet, Eric Zwang Eriksson on drums, Ardhi Engl on self invented instruments and Nikolaus Neuser on trumpet, are heard live at Munich's FMZ for 3 masterfully risk-taking sound poems.

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In four parts this primarily acoustic octet of Lisbon improvisers evolve a deceptive narrative of collective interaction, highly textured through rich combinations that emerge and subside throughout the natural development of their converstations; with Ernesto & Guilherme Rodriguez, João Madeira, Noel Taylor, Bruno Parrinha, Ziv Tuabenfeld, Guilherme Carmelo and Monsieur Trinite.

With the nearly telepathic communication that only a father & son duo could have, Lisbon violist and Creative Sources label leader Ernesto Rodridgues and cellist Guilherme Rodrigues recorded these two string improvisations live at Cossoul in Lisbon during the "Esta Noite Improvisa-se", a melding of remarkable technique, concentration and profound expression.

With an impressive resume in improvised and contemporary forms, French saxophonist Violaíne Gestalder presents three major conceptual works for multiple players, using studio layering to perform all parts herself on soprano sax, voice & effects, a comprehensive, yearning, powerful and often mysteriously beautiful album that draws on her skills as a composer, improviser and experimenter.

An intense album of pyschedelic and subliminally detailed electroacoustic improvisation from the Portuguese quintet of Miguel A. Garcia on electronics, Abdul Moimeme on guitar & metals, Alex Reviriego on double bass, Ernesto Rodrigues on piano harp & viola and Carlos Santos on electronics, a powerful live set recorded in 2018 at Le Larraskito Kluba in Rekalde, Bilbao.

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The Swedish title translating to "Species", the contemplatively elegant interactions between pianist Karin Johansson and tenor saxophonist Lisen Rylander are named for extinct species of animals and plants, as the two improvise over the loss of species that disappear from the earth every year, their wistful music augmented through preparations, kalimbas, live electronics and percussion.

Presented in two sonic rendering, one for stereo playback and a binaural mix for headophones, this exceptional 2021 chamber jazz string performance at Kunstraum Walcheturm in Zurich displays spectacular technique and concentration, from the quintet of Daniel Studer (double bass), Harald Kimmig (violin), Frantz Loriot (viola), Alfred Zimmerlin (violoncello) and Philip Zoubek (piano).

Born in São Paulo, Brazil and working in Amsterdam and Lisbon, and also part of the London Improvisers Orchestra, Yedo Gibson unleashes an album of solo improvisation on the soprano and tenor saxophones, his "conic tubes" which he uses to express the potential to change environment and energy through technically impressive, expressive playing.

"Interdependenzen is a selection of 11 solo improvisations that evolved during Maria Reich's solo impro research. All pieces are uncut and were recorded in different places over 6 months on an iPhone. The situation, the material becomes...

Reflecting on the slow decay of Roman and Egyptian murals, New York City-based, Puerto Rican-born composer, guitarist, visual artist and No Base Trio member, Gabriel Vicéns, presents a collection of chamber works including two piano trios, a wind quintet performed by Nu Quintet, cello & violin and violin & piano duos, a solo piano work, and a sextet conducted by David Bloom.

A startlingly exciting album of piano trio jazz from three creative innovators, in the followup to the 2022 debut of the Swedish Space Trio of Lisa Ullen on piano, Elsa Bergman on double bass and Anna Lund on drums, recording in the studio for eight collective improvisations of extremely well matched, highly interactive and exhilarating modern improv.

The long-running quartet of percussionist Heinz Geisser, bassist Fridolin Blumer, pianist Reto Staub and trombonist Robert Morgenthaler have for years extended their 4-tet with a 5th guest, here asking vibraphonist Christopher Dell to join them in the studio after a successful live performance in the spring of 2022, capturing this spectacular, wide-ranging example of collective improvisation.

Driven by compelling rhythms and subtle interactions that wind around them, the trio of guitarist Oren Ambarchi, bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin expand their Ghosted concept in this second album, four diverse pieces fusing "funk-jazz heads, polyrhythmic skeletons, ambient pastorals, post-kraut drones and shimmering soundtrack reveries".

"After a solid run of five studio albums and two double live albums, Psychedelic Backfire I and II, (both 2019), Elephant9 had taken their groovy mix of high energy rock and power jazz as far as they could. In this respect their previou...

Percussionist Paul Lovens joins the Lok 03 trio of Alexander von Schlippenbach (piano), Aki Takase (piano), and DJ Illvibe (turntables) for the follow-up to their 2005 debut, here in an extended album of playfully unexpected improv from four masterful players.

The Swedish free jazz septet STHLM svaga work at the liminal edges of delicate improvisation and song, for this album commissioning works from Archie Shepp, Ron Carter and Roscoe Mitchell, Carter traveling to Stockholm to provide guidance on his composition "Desert Lament"; the band also performs Coltrane's "Jupiter" and Per Henrik Wallin's piece "Winter Rhapsody".

Published on the occasion of Birgit Ulher's exhibition Split Friction at Errant Sound in Berlin from November 24-26, 2023, an interdisciplinary project spanning the intersection between exhibition, video, performance, concert and sound installation, documented in this 96 page full-color book with images from the installation, graphic scores, and essays in English & German.

A wild "Afro-Surrealist Anti-Opera" from composer & bassist Nick Dunston, performed with an ensemble of string players (including JACK Quartet) and vocalists, in a gripping hybrid of acoustic and electronic music, using the studio for post-processing to create Dunston's self-described "warped narrative", an understatement for this incredibly passionate, surreal and absolutely impressive work.

"Monophonic is the name of the new album by Maria Bertel. As the title hints the album is a study of music played with 'one voice'. The amplification of the trombone mimics the effect of a magnifying glass, that let otherwise inaudible ...

During a sabbatical in London, Swiss saxophonist Christoph Gallio (Day & Taxi) renewed his friendship with percussionist Roger Turner, with whom he had performed in a trio with Urs Leimgruber; meeting at Turner's London flat, they developed the spontaneous language heard on this freely improvised album, Gallio on soprano, alto & C-melody saxophones and Turner on drums & distinctive percussive devices.

Unabashedly lyrical and focused on jazz tradition, the Swiss trio of Alex Hendriksen on tenor saxophone, Fabian Gisler on double bass and Paul Amereller on drums present an album of standards, including pieces by Tadd Dameron, Billy Strayhorn, Jerome Kern, Thelonious Monk and Benny Golson, warmly interpreted with extraordinary band interplay and individual soloing.

Canadian clarinetist Liam Hockley, a dedicated advocate for new and experimental music, performs compositions on a relatively obscure member of the clarinet family, the basset horn, alone and in layers of up to seven horns, in pieces from Romanian spectral composers Ana Maria Avram, Iancu Dumitrescu, and Horatiu Radulescu, along with a contemporary work by Thanos Chrysakis.

Five years after their extraordinary debut album Illuminated Silence, the trio of pianist Izumi Kimura, bassist Barry Guy and drummer Gerry Hemingway present four compositions for free improv, two pieces reflecting on the current state of warfare, with two from pieces Kimura and one each from Guy & Hemingway, the liner notes from each artist explaining the impetus for their work.

The 2nd release from Magda Mayas' Filamental octet of Mayas, Zeena Parkins, Michel Thieke, Christine Abdelnour, Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, Aimée Theriot and Anthea Caddy, is a fascinating studio composition developed from individual recordings provided by each musician, assembled into two detailed and cohesive works of impressive contours and almost ceremonial beauty.

Composer and pianist Simon Nabatov sets to music two major works of modern Russian literature — Mikhail Bulgakov's The Fatal Eggs and Heart of a Dog — each interpretation spanning an album's worth of material and performed with an extraordinary septet of chamber jazz performers through piano, sax, trombone, viola, cellos, bass and drums.

"The latest project from Korean-American guitarist, improviser and composer Han-earl Park, Gonggong 225088 is his trio with Argentinian saxophonist, composer and visual artist Camila Nebbia, and Greek drummer, improviser and sound artis...

The first solo material of baritone saxophonist Sofia Salvo, ÒROTAROTAÓ is a series of improvised pieces. The title refers to growing up and transforming (sometimes hard) childhood memories into beautiful thunder-strong sounds....

Understated and enigmatic, the work of Northern Italian sound artist Edoardo Cammisa, aka Banished Pills, presents a very short work on decay, and then two expanded sound works composed from synthesisers, spring reverb, microphones, field recordings, no-input mixing, organ & sampler; the environments are murky but with movement, and engaging in their dark evening ambiance.

Written by Jurg Frey in 2021 and commissioned by Amsterdam-based pianist Keiko Shichijo, this solo work using the unique audio characteristics of the fortepiano was premiered by Shichijo in 2022 at the Concertgebouw Brugge during the SLOW Festival and performed again at November Music 2022, this recording captured at Concertgebouw Brugge in the presence of the composer.

Canadian clarinetist Liam Hockley, a dedicated advocate for new and experimental music, performs compositions on a relatively obscure member of the clarinet family, the basset horn, alone and in layers of up to seven horns, in pieces from Romanian spectral composers Ana Maria Avram, Iancu Dumitrescu, and Horatiu Radulescu, along with a contemporary work by Thanos Chrysakis.

Italian percussionist, sound artist, improviser and composer Nicholas Remondino expresses the sentiment of the 18 recordings on this solo album of prepared drum improvisations through a single sentence, each piece flowing into the next through unusual punctuation, gestures and intersections, as the listener is carried along curious landscapes of extraordinary technique.

Percussionist Sheldon Suter steps out from groups including Musique Brute, Big Bold Back Bone, Marco von Orelli 6 or Jurg Wickihalder Orchestra for a seductive album of solo percussion, using zithers, portable turntables, a shruti box and harmonica in immersive works intermixing six pulsing and serene lullabies with five ominous nocturnal environments.

Eight compositions for solo 1/4 comma meantone organ by Serbian composer Ivan Vukosavljevic and performed by organists Tineke Steenbrink, Francesca Ajossa, Jan Hage, Lise Morrison, recorded in 2022 on five different historic organs, dating from the early 16th to mid-17th centuries, captured in medieval churches located in the countryside of northern Netherlands.

"Frank Gratkowski studied woodwind instruments at Hamburg University. He constantly works on extending the repertoire of his instruments: solo and in various groups, large or small. He uses unusual techniques to play his instruments and...

"Three pieces spanning free improvisation, noise and extended saxophone technique by long-time collaborators Jason Kahn and Ulrich Krieger."-Editions

"Eight pieces of free vocal improvisation by the duo of Jason Kahn and Alice Hui-Sheng Chang, who have been working together since 2015. "I Smile When the Sound Is Singing Through the Space" is their second release and was recorded duri...

"For any emerging artist seeking to establish a foothold in a crowded field, it's imperative to make a strong first impression. That's a tenet Miha Gantar clearly has taken to heart. Gantar, a 26-year-old improvising pianist and compose...

"Love is precious, blind, many-splendoured, and, like a wild rose, beautiful and barbed. On his latest long-player, Lovely Music, Russian-American pianist Simon Nabatov revisits old acquaintances, scouring his back catalogue for captiva...

"Enigmatic and deeply emblematic, a sensitive dialogue unbound by predetermined roles, Te Ti'ama announces the opportune arrival of an exciting new duo defining an undocumented path in guitar-trombone dynamics. While taking obvious inspi...