The Squid's Ear Magazine
  Recently Restocked

Albums which we have recently restocked, listed in most recently restocked order. Some quantities will be limited, particularly for older albums. This page is updated after every catalog refresh, typically Tuesdays & Thursdays.



Lowell Davidson Trio: Lowell Davidson Trio [VINYL] (ESP-Disk)

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



Henry Kaiser / Rome Yamilov: The Lenoir Investigation (Little Village)

The Little Village Foundation run by keyboardist Jim Pugh assembled this band through Indian blues harmonica player & singer Aki Kumar, who brought drummer June Core and guitarist Rome Yamilov, deciding to make the release a "crazy guitar album" by adding Henry Kaiser; along with vocalist Lisa Leuschnet they hit the mark in an exuberantly diverse set of blues performing the music of J.B. Lenoir.



Henry: Threadgill Listen Ship (Pi Recordings)

Composer Henry Threadgill conducts a suite for six acoustic guitars and two pianos, bringing together Bill Frisell, Miles Okazaki, Brandon Ross, Gregg Belisle-Chi, Jerome Harris, Stomu Takeishi, Maya Keren, and Rahul Carlberg in an intricately orchestrated work whose intervallic syntax and meticulous counterpoint entwine with unexpected timbres to reveal his singular and sublime vision.



Henry Threadgill 14 or 15 Kestra: Agg: Dirt... And More Dirt (Pi Recordings)

Composer, saxophonist and flutist Henry Threadgill presents 2 full-length works for his 15 piece band "14 or 15 Kestra: Agg", as he explores new ways of integrating composition with group improvisation, here using an entirely new system of improvisation based on preconceived series of intervals realized in multi-layered counterpoint, rigorous polyphony, and timbral contrasts.



Henry Threadgill Zooid: Poof (Pi Recordings)

The sixth album in saxophonist and composer Henry Threadgill's Zood small ensemble project Zooid, a quintet with guitarist Liberty Ellman, tuba & trombonist Jose Davila, cellist Christopher Hoffman and drummer Elliot Humberto Kavee, following Threadgill's serial intervallic language compositions to create an amazingly intricate yet warmly embraceable avant jazz; exceptional!



Henry Threadgill Ensemble: The Other One (Pi Recordings)

Composed by Henry Threadgill based on his observations of the exodus of people from New York City during the Covid pandemic and the debris left behind, this work titled "Valence" and dedicated to percussionist Milford Graves, is a chamber jazz piece in three movements was taken from recordings at Roulette of the second of two performances entitled "One" and "The Other One".



Kim Cass (w/ Mitchell / Sorey / Cocks / Dotson): Levs (Pi Recordings)

Performing the unique compositions of Brooklyn-based bassist & composer Kim Cass with the technically superb quintet of Matt Mitchell on piano & synthesizer, Tyshawn Sorey on drums, Laura Cocks on flutes and Adam Dotson on euphonium, Cass' intricate and unconventional works, influenced by 20th century contemporary classical, are complex structures that require precision and wit; impressive!



TOC / Paulina Owczarek: Psychedelic Jelly [VINYL] (Tour de Bras)

The first live recording from French trio TOC, for this live 2023 recording TOC joins Polish saxophonist Paulina Owczarek to improvise desynchronized layers of raw energy, blending free improv with elements of pop punk, post-rock, and jazz-core, resulting in a complex and mesmerizing performance where suggested rhythms and autonomous temporalities converge into an unpredictable kraut maelstrom.



Alister Spence / Satoko Fujii: Intelsat (Alister Spence Music)

Continuing her monthly releases for her 60th birthday, Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii meets Australian keyboard and electronic artist Alister Spence for their second meeting, touring Japan and recording this spellbinding album merging bells, gongs, electronics, and acoustic piano, inside and out, in a passionate album that balances melodicism and sound.



Gato Libre: KURO (Libra)

Natsuki Tamura and Satoko Fujii's Gato Libre in their fourth seductive album of jazz based on European folk melodies with some of the coolest accordion playing on the planet.



Gato Libre: Forever (Libra)

The 5th release from the Japanese quartet of trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, Satoko Fujii, here on accordian, the late bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu, and guitarist Kazuhiko Tsumura, beautiful free form improvisation performed live in concert in 2011.



Gato Libre: DuDu (Libra)

The first Gato Libre release since the passing of bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu, adding trombonist Yasuko Kaneko alongside leader Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, Satoko Fujii on accordion, and Kazuhiko Tsumura on guitar, for eight beautiful, melodic "free cat" recordings.



Gato Libre (Fujii / Tamura / Kaneko): Neko (Libra)

Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura's Gato Libre in its 5th album brings a beautiful light-through-the-leaves melodic melancholy to their unhurried pace, now the trio of Tamura, Satoko Fujii on accordion, and Yasuko Kaneko on trombone, as the cats on the cover stop to find allure in the late day while bringing profound and introspective music to our ears.



Gato Libre (Tamura / Fjuii / Kaneko): Koneko (Libra)

The 8th album from Gato Libre with compositions from trumpeter Natsuki Tamura in a trio with Yasuko Kaneko on trombone and pianist Satoko Fujii here on accordion, Koneko translating to "Kitten", as Tamura explores 8 new cats from strays to shop cats through deceptively simple pieces of melodic appeal of warm color, tone & texture; absolutely charming.



Ikue Mori / Satoko Fujii / Natsuki Tamura: Prickly Pear Cactus (Libra)

Extending their previous collaborations during the time of pandemic, NY electronic improviser Ikue Mori and Japanese improvisers Natsuki Tamura on trumpet and Satoko Fujii on piano developed this extraordinary ea-improv album via file exchange, starting with Fujii's piano improvisations to which Mori & Tamura added their layers, with Mori mixing the final, startling results.



Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii: Keshin (Libra)

An album of duets between trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and pianist Satoko Fujii, the husband & wife core of Libra Records, recorded as a DIY effort during the 2020 pandemic in their own home recording space and mixed by themselves, a diverse album of intimate and impressive improvisations that find the two in uniquely deep and expressively concentrative conversations.



Rempis / Abrams / Ra: Aphelion (Aerophonic)

Showcasing the working trio of saxophonist Dave Rempis, Joshua Abrams on bass, guimbri and small harp, and percussionist Avreeayl Ra, in a uniquely voiced trio balancing beauty and power.



Dave Rempis / Darren Johnston / Larry Ochs: Spectral (Aerophonic)

Inspired by Larry Ochs' Rova and Darren Johnston's collaborations with Rempis, this free-improvising trio began life in 2011, developing an "invisible architecture" that guides their playing, as heard in these seven superb recordings.



Rempis / Abrams / Ra + Baker: Perihelion [2 CDs] (Aerophonic)

Following their 2013 release "Aphelion", the working trio of Dave Rempis on sax, Joshua Abrams on bass & clarinet, and Avreeayl Ra on drums release their 2nd collaboration in a 2-CD album of live and studio improvisations, adding Jim Baker on keys and electronics for the 2nd disc.



Rempis / Harnik / Zerang: Astragaloi (Aerophonic)

The 3rd release for the trio of Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis, German pianist Elisabeth Harnik and Chicago percussionist Michael Zerang, performing live at the 2020 ArtActs Festival in St Johan Austria for five outstanding improvisations fueled by their previous trio & duo work and flavored with inside piano preparations, hand percussion and superb soloing from all three.



Amadou / Cambien / Rempis: On The Blink (Aerophonic)

After sharing a stage with Belgium bassist Farida Amadou--whose collaborations include Peter Brötzmann, Steve Noble, and Thurston Moore--Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis and Amadou sought an opportunity to record together, joining with Amadou collaborator, pianist Jonas Cambien, to record these startling studio improvisations during a 2022 tour in Belgium and The Netherlands.



Liam Hockley (Avram / Chrysakis / Dumitrescu / Radulescu): Pulse Tide (Aural Terrains)

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.



The: Remote Viewers To The North (Remote Viewers)

Dave Petts' Remote Viewers, now a septet of 4 saxophonists, marimba, bassist John Edwards and drummer Mark Sanders, in 7 pieces blending rock and improvisational aesthetics in seductive ways.



Pisaura (Michael Pisaro / Zizia): Asteraceae (Sedimental)

A work composed from field recordings of performances around Los Angeles during the winter of 2018-19, the Pisaura trio of Michael Pisaro, Amber Wolfe Rounds & Jarrod Fowler (Zizia) used astrological charts to determine patterns of composing, performing, recording, and producing music with celestial and terrestrial rhythms; a mysteriously detailed and almost reverent work in sound.



Various Artists: Free Percussion/Water [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD] (Tsss Tapes)

Demonstrating the striking diversity modern solo percussionists present, the Italian tape label TSSS Tapes compiles an international set of solo works from explorers Tim Daisy, Jeph Jerman, Ted Byrnes, Wojtek Kurek, Clinton Green, Rie Nakajima, Emilio Berne, Shakeeb Abu Hamdan, Lucie Nezri, Karen Willems, Paolo Sanna, Li Qing, Carlos Godinho, and Rodrigo Vieira.



Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere: Theta Seven (Discus)

The seventh and final release from Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere blends krautrock pulse, psychedelia, textural improv, and free jazz into a vibrant studio construction, where Martin Archer and Jan Todd shape live ensemble recordings through collage, editing, and overdubs, guiding the music from luminous delicacy through darker passages before resolving in celebratory light.



Cecil Taylor / Tony Oxley: Being Astral And All Registers - Power Of Two (Discus)

Taken from the personal archives of UK drummer/percussionist Tony Oxley, this extremely well recorded duo session with frequent collaborator, iconoclastic NY pianist Cecil Taylor, are heard in a live performance at the Ulrichsberg Festival, Austria in 2002 for a brilliantly frenetic and masterfully controlled, creative set of two jaw-dropping extended dialogs.



Orchestra of the Upper Atmosphere: 02 (Discus)

An absolutely impressive album blending advanced/progressive rock forms with improvisation, starting from collective improvisation and layering in the studio to create a sophisticated psychedelic music, the second album from this ensemble that is headed by Martin Archer (reeds & keys), Chris Bywater (keys & synth), and Steve Dinsdale (drums & percussion).



Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere: Theta Four (Discus)

Declaring Terry Riley, Magma, Krautrock, and Sun Ra as influences, this is the fourth album from wind and keyboard player Martin Archer's Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere, an augmented six-piece UK ensemble whose rock affinities also embrace improvisation and minimalism, a heady mix of virtuosic playing with melodic intention and extremely detailed tapestries of sound; dreamy and elegiac.



Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere: Theta Five (Discus)

The 5th album from the UK collective improvising progressive rock band of reedist Martin Archer, drummer Steve Dinsdale, bassists Lorin Halsall & Terry Todd, percussionist Walt Shaw, keyboardist Andy Peake, violinist Yvonna Magda and string player & vocalist Jad Todd, merging acoustic and electronic instruments in rich and often dreamlike forms that flow with spirited refinement.



Anthropology Band: Scald - Live 2022 [3 CDS] (Discus)

Recording at London's Cafe OTO, and at the 2022 Newcastle Festival Of Jazz And Improvised Music, saxophonist and composer Martin Archer's exceptional 8-piece line up of his exuberant avant-electric jazz band blurring lines between 70's Miles and AACM abstractions, is heard across three CDs of fiery soloing, contemplative transitions, and spectacular group interplay.



Matthew Shipp Trio: Root Of Things (Relative Pitch)

Pianist Shipp's long-standing trio with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey, complex and inspired compositions that makes modern creative approaches to jazz beautifully accessible and essential.



Jemeel Moondoc / Hilliard Greene: Cosmic Nickelodeon (Relative Pitch)

Jemeel Moondoc's third release on New York's Relative Pitch label is this duo with bassist Hilliar Greene, a soulful album of bluesy free playing, Greene's solid finger and bow work anchoring Moondoc for beautiful, informed, quirky and sincerely heartfelt playing.



Rudi Mahall / Alexander von Schlippenbach: So Far (Relative Pitch)

Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and clarinetist Rudi Mahall have been exploring the music of jazz and free improvisation for decades in their own bands or together in Globe Unity Orchestra; here they are heard in their essential element as a duo, pushing their music in rapid runs and elegant and emotional moments with imposing technique and authoritative confidence.



Tipple (Gjerstad / Norton / Watson): Cartoon Heart (Relative Pitch)

The trans-Atlantic Tipple Trio of David Watson on guitar & smallpipes, Kevin Norton on percussion & drums, and Frode Gjerstad on saxophone, clarinet & alto flute in their 5th album since 2010, a studio recording from the NY area of 15 succinct and diverse approaches to free improvisation, each player shining uniquely and in extraordinary group interplay.



Ava: Mendoza New Spells (Relative Pitch)

A joint release between Astral Spirts and Relative Pitch, guitarist Ava Mendoza conjures five assertive and rugged "spells" performed on solo electric guitar, passionate works of raw technical skill and bold power as she improvises over two songs composed by herself, alongside pieces written for her from Devin Hoff, Trevor Dunn and John Dikeman.



John Butcher / Florian Stoffner / Chris Corsano: The Glass Changes Shape (Relative Pitch)

A remarkable concert in 2023 at The Loft in Cologne, Germany, a superb example of collective free improvisation using extraordinary and masterful technique between UK saxophonist John Butcher, Swiss guitarist Florian Stoffner and NY drummer Chris Corsano, also performing on half clarinet; nine conversations of sophisticated and astute communication.



Ben Bennett / Michael Foster / Jacob Wick: Carne Vale (Relative Pitch)

With alliterative titles beginning with "To blowe wyth the nose and to snorce", percussionist Ben Bennett, saxophonist Michael Foster, and trumpeter Jacob Wick create an uncompromising tapestry of extended techniques and visceral interplay, through raw and dynamic exploration of texture, space, and sound that blurs boundaries between energy, silence, and collective improv.



Jung-Jae Kim (Kim / Lee / Song / Kim): Shamanism [CD+DOWNLOAD] (Relative Pitch)

A powerful and ritualistic session from South Korea's free improvisation scene, with tenor and soprano saxophones (Jung-Jae Kim & Sunjae Lee) and dual drum kits (Junyoung Song & Sunki Kim) channeling ancestral Korean shamanic ceremony through raw, primal energy, breath-driven phrasing, and a spiritual aesthetic that bridges indigenous tradition and contemporary free jazz expression.



Zoh: Amba Eyes Full (Matador)

Zoh Amba turns away from the ecstatic saxophone improvisations that first brought them attention, taking up voice and acoustic guitar for a raw singer-songwriter album of blues-tinged Appalachian folk, joined by longtime collaborator Kevin Hyland on electric guitar and Dirty Three drummer Jim White, whose loose, intuitive pulse supports songs of tenderness, hardship, and spiritual searching.



Zoh: Amba Eyes Full [VINYL] (Matador)

Zoh Amba turns away from the ecstatic saxophone improvisations that first brought them attention, taking up voice and acoustic guitar for a raw singer-songwriter album of blues-tinged Appalachian folk, joined by longtime collaborator Kevin Hyland on electric guitar and Dirty Three drummer Jim White, whose loose, intuitive pulse supports songs of tenderness, hardship, and spiritual searching.



Pharaoh's Daughter: Songs of Desire (Tzadik)

Basya Schechter's Pharaoh's Daughter transforms the Biblical Song of Songs into an expansive multilingual cycle of sacred love and earthly desire, sung in Hebrew, English, Yiddish, Arabic, Spanish and French, with oud, guitar, ney, qanun, saz, trumpet, violin, bass, keyboards, percussion and layered voices shaping an 18-year project of devotion, sensuality and pan-Mediterranean resonance.



[ahmed] (Thomas / Grip / Gerbal / Wright): Play Monk [2 CDs] (Otoroku)

After six albums reimagining Ahmed Abdul-Malik, Pat Thomas, Joel Grip, Antonin Gerbal and Seymour Wright turn their transformative [Ahmed] project toward Thelonious Monk, atomising his compositions across two CDs into volatile, time-bending forms where piano, bass, drums and alto saxophone fracture and reassemble melody, rhythm and space through free jazz intensity, pulse and radical collective invention.



[ahmed] (Thomas / Grip / Gerbal / Wright): Sama'a (Audition) [VINYL 2 LPs] (Otoroku)

Reimagining and transforming Ahmed Abdul-Malik's Jazz Sahara in their first studio session, the [Ahmed] quartet of Pat Thomas, Joel Grip, Antonin Gerbal, and Seymour Wright ignite four compact, single-take explorations that fuse percussive intensity, kaleidoscopic group interplay, and a fearless reshaping of tradition into dizzying, future-leaning improvisation.



Peter Brotzmann / John Edwards / Steve Noble / Jason Adasiewicz: The Quartet [2 CDs] (Otoroku)

One of Peter Brötzmann's final recordings, captured live at Cafe OTO with vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, bassist John Edwards, and drummer Steve Noble, presenting two nights of emotionally charged and fiercely expressive performances that blend power, lyricism, and deep intergenerational connection in a fitting and resonant farewell to the legendary saxophonist.



Gerry Hemingway / Izumi Kimura / Frank Gratkowski / Christian Weber: Live At Bau 4 (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)

Gerry Hemingway leads a site-specific quartet with pianist Izumi Kimura, multi-reedist Frank Gratkowski and bassist Christian Weber, weaving composed structures, extended techniques, improvisational formations and wood-scrap percussion from Bau 4 itself into a tribute to the venue's founders, balancing melodic fragments, rhythmic propulsion, microtonal color and vivid ensemble transformation.



The: Remote Viewers Winter Library Vol 1 (Remote Viewers)

The first volume in The Remote Viewers' Winter Library series, this live London quartet recording brings David Petts and Adrian Northover together with John Edwards and Steve Beresford, reworking material from The Remote Code into an acoustic chamber of tenor and soprano saxophones, resonant bass, objects and toys, balancing angular themes, brittle textures, oblique melody and free improvisational exchange.



Marion Brown / Burton Greene Quartet: Reference: Capricorn Moon, Why Not & With Burton Greene Quartet [2 CDs + POSTCARD] (ALAY)

Gathering key 1965-66 New York sessions, this 2-CD set traces alto saxophonist Marion Brown's emergence in the free jazz vanguard through Capricorn Moon, Why Not? and Burton Greene quartet recordings, with Alan Shorter, Bennie Maupin, Stanley Cowell, Henry Grimes, Sirone, Rashied Ali and others shaping music of lyrical urgency, open-form momentum and evolving collective freedom.



Albert: Ayler Reference: Albert Ayler, Spirits & Spirits Rejoice [CD + POSTCARD] (ALAY)

Uniting Albert Ayler's 1964 New York sessions for Spirits (Debut) and Spirits Rejoice (ESP, with Donald Ayler, Charles Tyler, Call Cobbs, Henry Grimes, Gary Peacock, Sunny Murray, Normand Howard and Earle Henderson, this remastered edition captures Ayler's volatile balance of spiritual song, sculptural horn lines, churning bass motion, ecstatic fanfare and free jazz intensity.



Miles Davis 3rd Quintet: Reference: Bitches Brew Live 1969 In Europe [2 CDs + 2 POSTCARDS] (ALAY)

Documenting Miles Davis' 1969 "lost" third quintet live in Berlin, Stockholm and Rotterdam with Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette, this 2-CD set captures the post-In a Silent Way ensemble reshaping material headed toward Bitches Brew, balancing lyricism and abstraction through open forms, electric-piano clusters, volatile rhythmic invention and Davis' fiercely exploratory trumpet.



Bix: Beiderbecke Reference: Bix Beiderbecke, 1924 to 1928 [2 CDs] (ALAY)

Gathering 45 small-group recordings from 1924-1928, this restored 2-CD reference traces Bix Beiderbecke's singular cornet and piano artistry alongside Frankie Trumbauer, Miff Mole, Don Murray, Tommy Dorsey, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti and others, revealing a poised, lyrical and formally lucid voice whose economy, harmonic curiosity and graceful invention helped shape early jazz beyond its dance-band conventions.



Joel Futterman / William Parker: Transcendent Universe (Burning Ambulance Music)

Joel Futterman and William Parker continue a collaboration of more than forty years in an hour of spontaneous composition, the pianist's heavy, high-energy approach meeting Parker's deeply grounded bass in two extended movements and a brief coda that balance ecstatic force, romantic beauty, collective listening and a rapturous sense of spiritual, improvised communion.



Tom Challenger / Evan Parker: May Spring Last a Lifetime (False Walls)

The first duo recording from tenor saxophonists Tom Challenger and Evan Parker, captured at Arco Barco in Ramsgate and later resequenced into six sections, reveals two deeply attuned improvisers using shared instrumental language to question control, memory, silence and exchange, expanding the sound of two tenors into a shifting field of breath, resonance, overlap and acoustic invention.



Doyeon Kim (w / Sorey / Maneri / Fraser): Wellspring (Tao Forms)

Seoul-born gayageum virtuoso and vocalist DoYeon Kim makes a striking bandleader debut with a quartet of Tyshawn Sorey on drums, Mat Maneri on viola and Henry Fraser on bass, merging Korean string and storytelling traditions with contemporary improvisation in a forceful, deeply expressive set of compositions and group interactions that move from bristling acoustic intensity to communal, humanist resonance.



The Bridge (Amado / von Schlippenbach / Haker-Flaten / Hemingway): Beyond the Margins [VINYL 2 LPs] (Trost Records)

Assembled by Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado, this stellar quartet bridges nations with German pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, Norwegian double bass player Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten, and American drummer Gerry Hemingway, presenting the extended, masterful collective title track, along with two shorter works, particularly revisiting Albert Ayler's "Ghosts".



MAP (Halvorson / Nakatani / Radding): Fever Dream [VINYL] (TAIGA)

A beautifully produced 3-sided double LP from New York's MAP, guitarist Mary Halvorson, percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani and bassist Reben Radding, amazing contemporary improvisation.



Marion: Brown Awofofora [VINYL] (AGUIRRE RECORDS)

An overlooked 1976 session led by Marion Brown on alto sax with a rhythmically driven ensemble including Ambrose Jackson, Billy Patterson, Rene Arlain, Fred Hopkins, Ed Blackwell, Jumma Santos, and Chris Henderson, merging funk and Afro-Caribbean grooves with free jazz principles through layered rhythms, collective improvisation, and Brown's distinctive, lyrical tone.



Fred Frith / Karen Stackpole: Nature (Sub Rosa)

Bringing together Fred Frith's extended electric guitar vocabulary with Karen Stackpole's richly resonant world of gongs and metals, this intimate duo session unfolds as a deeply textural dialogue where harmonic overtones, shimmering percussion, and transformed string sonorities intertwine, blurring the boundaries between instrument and resonance in a fluid, exploratory program of free improv.



Bill Laswell / P.ST (w/Henry Kaiser, Graham Haynes, Peter Apfelbaum, &c): Mount Analogue [2 CDs] (Sub Rosa)

Recorded across three continents and completed in New York, this double-disc work led by Bill Laswell and conceptualist P.ST draws on René Daumal's unfinished allegorical novel to shape a richly textured electroacoustic narrative, where voice and instrumentation unfold alongside layered improvisation and cinematic abstraction, as Henry Kaiser contributes extended solo guitar meditations.



Sonic Youth: J'accuse Ted Hughes [VINYL] (Sonic Youth Records)

The seventh entry in Sonic Youth's SYR series documents a pivotal experimental moment from the band's 2000 All Tomorrow's Parties performance, with Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley expanding a 20-minute "New Drone" into the voice-inflected J'accuse Ted Hughes, paired with a 2003 Echo Canyon studio work featuring Jim O'Rourke's bass, electronics and sound processing.



Michael Formanek (w/ Hawkins / Halvorson / Fujiwara / O'Gallagher / Doxas / Almeida): New Digs (Intakt)

Bassist and composer Michael Formanek leads a trans-Atlantic septet with John O'Gallagher, Chet Doxas, Joao Almeida, Mary Halvorson, Alexander Hawkins on Hammond B3 and Tomas Fujiwara, unfolding a bold contemporary jazz architecture where braided horns, off-axis guitar, organ-driven momentum and elastic rhythms move between dense collective force and sharply focused small-group interplay.



John Zorn (w/ Marsella / Roeder / Smith / Hashimoto): Alea Iacta Est (Tzadik)

With a title translating to The Die is Cast, this formidable piano concerto from composer John Zorn unfolds through abrupt shifts in mood, tempo, and texture, as Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith navigate its exacting, volatile structures with precision and intensity, joined by Sae Hashimoto on vibraphone, adding a resonant counterpoint to this complex, dynamically shifting work.



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

Exploring the tradition of night music with subtle, dreamlike elegance, Zorn's latest piano-trio work — the fourth in his series with Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith after Suite for Piano, Ballades, and Impromptus — unfolds as a lyrical and expressive creation performed with seemingly telepathic, virtuosic, and finely nuanced interplay.



John O'Gallagher (O'Gallagher / Monder / Cyrille / Hart): Ancestral (Whirlwind)

Marking a pivotal artistic evolution for saxophonist John O'Gallagher, this session draws on his deep study of John Coltrane and recent personal transitions to unite guitarist Ben Monder with master drummers Andrew Cyrille and Billy Hart in a fluid program of mostly first-take performances that balance composed structures and open improvisation through an organic, system-aware approach to free jazz expression.



Dave: Douglas Showing Up / The Power of the Vote [7" VINYL] (Greenleaf Music)

2019 Record Store Day release, a 7" from trumpeter Dave Douglas in two different configurations: the lead track from his album "Engage" featuring guitarist Jeff Parker and cellist Tomeka Reid along with Anna Webber, Nick Dunston & Kate Gentile; and a B-Side from 2018's "Uplift" featuring Joe Lovano and Bill Laswell alongside Mary Halvorson, Julian Lage, and Ian Chang.



John Zorn (w/ Julian Lage / Gavin Riley): Seven Sonnets (Tzadik)

John Zorn continues his lyrical acoustic guitar writing with a Shakespeare-inspired book of seven intimate compositions for Julian Lage and Gyan Riley, whose long collaboration as interpreters of Zorn's music brings warmth, precision and conversational clarity to pieces that draw on early music, minimalism, contemporary classical forms, folk, jazz and soundtrack-like atmosphere.



Dave Douglas / GIFTS (w / Lewis / Bhatia / Chang / Reid): Transcend (Greenleaf Music)

Dave Douglas expands his GIFTS Quintet with Tomeka Reid on cello alongside James Brandon Lewis, Rafiq Bhatia and Ian Chang, drawing on the spiritual openness of Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts in a powerful electro-acoustic jazz setting where trumpet, tenor, guitar, cello and drums merge lyricism, electronics and high-energy interplay into a reverent, forward-looking ensemble statement.



John Carter Trio: Echoes from Rudolph's [2 CDs] (NoBusiness)

Between 1973 and '76 Sunday afternoons at Rudolph's Fine Art Center hosted the superb John Carter Trio with son Stanley Carter on bass and Chris Carter on cymbals; these live recordings were originally released in a limited LP in 1977, now reissued with a rare '77 radio broadcast.



Sabu Toyozumi / Mats Gustafsson: Hokusai (NoBusiness)

A duo between Japanese free improvising drummer Sabu Toyozum and Swedish baritone saxophonist & wind player Mats Gustafsson, also performing on his own fluteophone (a mouthpiece attached to the flute), capturing five live improvisation at their 2018 performance at Jazz Spot Candy, in Chiba, Japan for an extremely inventive set of potent playing.



Bobby Bradford / Frode Gjerstad Quartet: The Delaware River [VINYL] (NoBusiness)

The longstanding collaboration of cornetist Bobby Bradford and reedist Frode Gjerstad (together since '86) with bassist Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten on bass and Frank Rosaly on drums, recording at Philadelphia Art Alliance in 2014, a powerful lineup of modern free players.



Bobby Bradford / Frode Gjerstad / Kent Carter / John Stevens: Blue Cat [VINYL] (NoBusiness)

The 2nd in NoBusiness' archive series of the Norwegian Detail collective, here with Frode Gjerstad on alto sax, Bobby Bradford on cornet, Kent Carter on bass, and John Stevens on drums, captured live in London in 1991 during a UK record, in a 3-part work of informed free-jazz and free playing, exciting music with complex, swinging subtlety.



Billy Bang Survival Ensemble: Black Man's Blues [VINYL] (NoBusiness)

Never before released material from 1977 of Billy Bang's seminal NY loft band, Survival Ensemble: 1 LP and a 40 page booklet of essays, images and flyers - essential!



The Group (Abdullah / Brown / Bang / Sirone / Hopkins / Cyrille): Live [VINYL] (NoBusiness)

A previously unreleased concert recording from 1986 of a group of leading out jazz artists (Billy Bang, Fred Hopkins, Andrew Cyrille, &c.) playing original compositions as well as a cover of Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat".



Convergence Quartet, The: Slow and Steady (NoBusiness)

The Convergence Quartet with Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet), Alexander Hawkins (piano), Dominic Lash (bass) and Harris Eisenstadt (drums) performing live at the Vortex Jazz Club in November, 2011 as part of the London Jazz Festival.



Evan Parker / Barry Guy / Paul Lytton: Live at Maya Recordings Festival [VINYL 2 LPs] (NoBusiness)

Superb improvisation from three masters - Evan Parker on sax, Barry Guy on bass and Paul Lytton on drums - performing at the Maya Recordings Festival, September 23 - 25, 2011 at Theater am Gleis, Winterthur, Switzerland.



Dave Burrell / Steve Swell: Turning Point (NoBusiness)

The 3rd in a series of 5 suites from pianist Dave Burrell commemorating the people and events of the American Civil War, a mature and passionate work performed in a duo with NY trombonist Steve Swell, performed live at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia.



Billy Bang / William Parker: Medicine Buddha (NoBusiness)

A 2009 concert at The Rubin Museum Of Art, New York, on the 8th May, 2009 from the duo of double bassist William Parker, also performing on shakuhashi, dousn gouni; and the late violinist Billy Bang, also performing on thumb piano; organic and deeply felt dialog.



Ted Daniel's Energy Module (feat. Oliver Lake and Daniel Carter): Innerconnection [VINYL 2 LPs] (NoBusiness)

Trumpeter Ted Daniel's Energy Module with Daniel Carter, Oliver Lake, Richard Pierce and Tatsuya Nakamura, a post-bop free improvising quintet from the mid-70s, here in an unreleased studio session showing raw power and superb playing.



Bobby Bradford / Hafez Modirzadeh / Mark Dresser / Alex Cline: Live At The Open Gate [VINYL] (NoBusiness)

West Coast cornetist Bobby Bradford captured live in 2013 for a superb set at the Center for the Arts in Los Angeles, part of the Open Gate Theatre Sunday evening concert series, in a quartet with Hafez Modirzadeh on alto sax, Mark Dresser on bass, and Alex Cline on drums.



Dave Burrell / Bob Stewart: The Crave Play the music of Jelly Roll Morton and Dave Burrell [VINYL] (NoBusiness)

Frequent collaborators, pianist Dave Burrell and tuba player Bob Stewart take on the early jazz music of Jelly Roll Morton alongside original compositions from Burrell, performed live at the Kolner Stadtgarten in Cologne, Germany in 1994 for a joyful look forward and back.



Paul Rutherford / Sabu Toyozumi: The Conscience (NoBusiness)

The 1st in a series of unreleased concerts from the 90s recorded in Japan by Chap-Chap Records, acquired by NoBusiness to bring them to light; this duo album brings the late and influential UK free improvising trombonist Paul Rutherford together with drummer Sabu Toyozumi for five far-ranging dialogs of both reflective and enthusiastical energetic playing.



Masahiko Satoh / Sabu Toyozumi: The Aiki (NoBusiness)

Working together often over decades, free improvising drummer Sabu Toyozumi and composer/improvising pianist Masahiko Satoh are heard here in a 1997 duo concert at C・S・Aka-Renga, in Yamaguchi City, Japan, for an engaging concert of energetic interaction, emphasizing Satoh's percussive approach to the keys and Sabu's inherent melodicism in his approach to drumming.



Altschul / Izenson / Robinson: Stop Time (NoBusiness)

A rare meeting between three New York free jazz improvisers, organized by bassist David Izenzon (Perry Robinson Trio, Ornette Coleman, Bill Dixon) as a trio with Barry Altschul on drums and Perry Robinson on clarinet, performing four collective, free improvisations of reciprocal playing that brings joy and reflection into their wonderfully informed group sound.



Daniel Carter / Sabir Mateen / William Parker / Lou Grassi: Keeping It In Context (NoBusiness)

Captured live in the studio in 1996, this powerful quartet brings Daniel Carter on saxophones, flute and trumpet together with Sabir Mateen on saxophones, flute and clarinet, William Parker on bass and Lou Grassi on drums and percussion for three expansive collective improvisations, balancing raw free jazz fire, lyrical exchanges and deep intuition.



Sunny Murray / Sabu Toyozumi: Sun's Blessings (NoBusiness)

Recorded live at Zippy Hall in Japan in 1999, this extraordinary duo unites pioneering free jazz drummer Sunny Murray (Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler) with Japanese free music innovator Sabu Toyozumi for two extended improvisations, their overlapping rhythmic languages creating a vivid exchange of rolling cymbal fields, sharp attacks, spacious resonance and explosive momentum.



Bobby Bradford / Mark Dresser / Hafez Modirzadeh: Sonic House Reunion (NoBusiness)

Reuniting cornetist Bobby Bradford, bassist Mark Dresser and Hafez Modirzadeh on b'kongofon and tenor saxophone, this chamber-scaled trio session unfolds through five collective pieces that balance Bradford's warm, incisive lyricism, Dresser's resonant five-string bass language and Modirzadeh's pitch-bending reed work in a quietly radical exchange of free jazz, color and space.



Irene Schweizer / Rudiger Carl / Johnny Dyani / Han Bennink : Irenes Hot Four (Intakt)

A stunning 1981 live performance at Internationales Jazzfestival Zurich, from pianist Irene Schweizer's short-lived but explosive quartet with Rüdiger Carl, Johnny Dyani, and Han Bennink, blending theatrical flair, fierce intensity, bold humor, and spontaneous surprises in a powerhouse set that channels the spirit of Mingus, the wit of Waller, and the raw energy of punk jazz.



Buechi / Hellmuller / Jerjen (Feat Kristina Brunner / Andreas Gabriel): Pink Mountain Sagas (Intakt)

Swiss vocalist Sarah Buechi, guitarist Franz Hellmuller and bassist Rafael Jerjen expand their trio with Kristina Brunner on Schwyzerorgeli, Andreas Gabriel on violin, Marianne Domide on alphorn and Emmanuel Krucker on Hackbrett, merging jazz, experimental song and lively Swiss folk traditions in a vivid homecoming to the alpine Glarus region, its legends, dramas and rugged mountain atmospheres.



Sylvie Courvoisier Trio (w/ Gress / Wollesen): Eclats - Live in Europe (Intakt)

Captured during a European tour, the trio of pianist Sylvie Courvoisier with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen presents a finely honed language shaped through deep trust and evolving interplay, where Courvoisier's compositions unfold with precision and openness, balancing intricate detail, shifting textures, and spontaneous free improv with subtle complexity and vivid expressiveness.



Sylvie Courvoisier / Wadada Leo Smith: Angel Falls (Intakt)

Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and legendary trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith meet in a deeply focused duo session, their through-composed material unfolding with stunning restraint, architectural clarity, and a quiet but potent freedom, as each phrase, gesture, and interval feels acutely calibrated in a shared space of mystery, immediacy, and poetic intent.



Sheer Anxiety: If You Want Blood You've Got It (Love Earth Music)

The Boston duo of Chris Strunk on snare drum and percussion and Andrea Pensado on electronics and voice unleash six live performances from 2018-2025, forging a raw and volatile language of harsh electronics, extreme vocal force, rattling percussion, snare-driven impact and free improvisational tension rooted in noise, physicality and underground experimental performance.



Mephitick Ooze: The Path of Congealment (Love Earth Music)

The Montague, Massachusetts noise project Mephitick Ooze delivers a forty-four-minute barrage of distorted, tortured sound in a harsh and challenging long-form work that moves glacially through ripped textures, overloaded frequencies and brief pockets of relief, shaping its abrasive force into a slow, deliberate arc of sonic pressure.



Butoh Sonics: Premonitions (Love Earth Music)

The Arizona sound-art and performance collective of Ashiki on Butoh and percussion, Steve RampaNt Guardino on power acoustics, synths, electronics and circuit bending, Vic VOID on electroacoustics, sound sculpture, synths and electronics, and Parker Weston on synths, samples and prepared guitar, creating a ritualized field of industrial drone, dark ambient texture, prepared-guitar abrasion and unstable electroacoustic noise.



Money: 4 [2 CDs] (Love Earth Music)

The mysterious Massachusetts project Money returns with a two-disc set of dark electronic glitch and oppressive texture, its four long tracks moving through distorted pulses, damaged surfaces, brutal eruptions and long stretches of seismic stasis, creating a difficult but focused sound world of innuendo, tension, disruption and slow-moving electronic pressure.



Unsub: Misprision (Love Earth Music)

The cross-coastal duo of Los Angeles experimental artist FETUSK on guitar, drones, keys, bass, beats and screams with Massachusetts synthesist Steven Davis, recorded between The Womb and MDP Studios in 2025, creating six volatile works of industrial drone, damaged electronics, guitar abrasion, buried rhythm and dark ambient pressure for a dense, confrontational and immersive Love Earth Music release.



+DOG+: The Garden (Love Earth Music)

A new solo work from Steve Davis's long-running +DOG+ project, recorded in Sudbury, Massachusetts across 2025 and 2026, continuing the Love Earth Music founder's exploration of experimental noise, drones, abrasion and collage-like electronics in a raw sound environment where distortion, density and unstable resonance bloom into a tangled, immersive field of sonic growth and decay.



+DOG+: The Garden [VINYL] (Love Earth Music)

A new solo work from Steve Davis's long-running +DOG+ project, recorded in Sudbury, Massachusetts across 2025 and 2026, continuing the Love Earth Music founder's exploration of experimental noise, drones, abrasion and collage-like electronics in a raw sound environment where distortion, density and unstable resonance bloom into a tangled, immersive field of sonic growth and decay.



Street Rat: Ticking Clock & The Aftershock (Love Earth Music)

Philadelphia sound performer Gladys Nobriga's Street Rat project brings a raw solo noise document to Love Earth Music, with four 2025 studio pieces and a closing live recording from Calvary Center, using DIY electronics, object-based sound, physical gesture and abrasive texture to shape a stark, tactile and confrontational album of pressure, decay, rupture and aftermath.



+DOG+ / Bastard Noise : Desecration Tales [VINYL] (Love Earth Music)

Two long-standing experimental sound projects join together as Legendary Bastard Noise, aka Eric Wood and +DOG+, aka Steve Davis, combine for two extended and well-paced works of dark sonics and electronics, the first piece "Misery Milestone" a haunting and desolate soundscape with disruptive punctuation; the 2nd "Beneficiary: Earth" adds agonizing voice to a work of global arpeggiation and destruction.



Orlov-Davydovsky, Georgy: Borderline Psychosonic Environments (Love Earth Music)

Working alone with electronics, radios, field recordings, homemade instruments, and voice, Georgy Orlov-Davydovsky constructs immersive electro-acoustic pieces shaped by specific physical environments, layering noise, drone, and fragile gestures into meditative sound narratives that explore borderline psychosonic listening states through dense textures and unstable sonic detail.



T. Mikawa x Victoria Shen: Personality Chrysler (Love Earth Music)

A duo recorded in Tokyo in 2019 as a live performance, and through remote collaboration on the internet, between NY sound artist Victoria Shen, who focuses her work on extreme textures and gestural tones, using "chaotic sound" to oppose signal and information to elude traditionally embedded meaning, and Japanese noisician Toshiji Mikawa of Hijokaidan & Incapacitants fame.



TRAC (Teddy Ryles / Alexander Cooper): Cylinder Plus (Bu Lang Tribute Cake)

The first release from TRAC, the duo of Teddy Ryles and Alexander Cooper, brings together their shared Oberlin TIMARA background and solo electro-acoustic practices in a rigorously processed work built from reconstituted digital artifacts, using spectral decomposition, deformation and iterative procedures to shape dense, unstable electronic forms where texture, residue and structure continually erode and recombine.



Ivo Perelman / Damon Smith: Duologue: Core of Existence (Squid Note Records)

The sixth entry in Ivo Perelman's expanding Duologues series, and the sixth album in Squidco's digital label Squid Note Records, pairs his searching tenor saxophone with Damon Smith's commanding double bass, a freely improvised exchange of raw physical immediacy and deep listening, where intertwining lines, extended techniques and spontaneous form turn dialogue itself into the core of the music.



Manuel: Linhares Atlantico (577 Records)

Vocalist and composer Manuel Linhares brings together a transatlantic ensemble with Glenn Zaleski, Or Bareket, Keita Ogawa, David Binney, Gil Silva, Hugo Caldeira, Felipe Jose and Antonio Loureiro, shaping jazz-rooted songs that move between New York urgency and Porto melancholy, blending Brazilian rhythmic language, avant-garde texture, folk and pop fragments into a fluid meditation on oceanic distance, memory and change.



Peter Brotzmann / Steve Noble / John Edwards: The Worse The Better (Otoroku)

CD edition of the first set performed by the trio of Peter Brotzmann, Steve Noble and John Edwards at Cafe OTO in January 2010 during Brotzmann's first residency at the venue, and the first time this trio had played together.



Otomo Yoshihide / Sachiko M / Evan Parker / John Edwards / Tony Marsh / John Butcher: Quintet/Sextet/Duos (Otoroku)

The final night of Otomo and Sachiko's first residency at London's Cafe OTO in 2009 saw the pair joined by the long-running trio of Evan Parker, John Edwards and Tony Marsh and special guest John Butcher, for an exceptional set of creative improvisation.



lll人 (Daichi Yoshikawa / Paul Abbott / Seymour Wright): Gjerhan [VINYL] (Otoroku)

The trio of Daichi Yoshikawa (feedback), Paul Abbott (drums) and Seymour Wright (sax) in two 20 minute excerpts from two separate performances at Cafe OTO in 2013, bare exuberant and exhilarating free improvisation on the cutting edge.



Roger Turner / Yukihiro Isso: Takanehishigu [VINYL] (Otoroku)

UK drummer/percussionist Roger Turner in his first meeting with Japanese Noh flutist Yukihiro Isso, an accomplished improviser who has performed with Cecil Taylor, Peter Brotzmann, John Zorn, &c., for a unique and fascinating conversation bridging two traditions.



Evan Parker / Paul Lytton: Collective Calls (Urban) (Two Microphones) [VINYL] (Otoroku)

A much-needed reissue of saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer/percussionist Paul Lytton's first duo album, recorded in London at the loft of The Standard Essenco in 1972 and originally released on the Incus label, the duo approaching their instruments in fantastic and unusual ways in a dialog far ahead of its time, augmented with recordings and eccentric assemblages.





The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC