Using the interference points of closely pitched sound, long-time collaborators Xavier Charles and Bertrand Gauguet use acoustic and amplified clarinets and saxophones to create frequency landscapes that change slowly, ringing with harmonics while finding unison and conflict in their tones, creating meditative aural environments of great beauty and reflection.

Instigated by Simon Reynell and Ryoko Akama and recorded on the last day of a residency at at Dai Hall in Huddersfield in early 2020, the long-standing collaborative relationship of violinist Angharad Davies and cellist Anton Lukoszevieze are joined by Klaus Lang on harmonium, heard in this incredibly rich, mesmerizing and fascinating journey in pitch, tone & timbre.

Four chamber pieces for strings, covering 5 decades of work by veteran German composer Ernstalbrecht Stiebler--each with his representative focus on concentration and quiet intensity--recorded in Bulgaria and performed by violinist Biliana Voutchkova, to whom two of the pieces are dedicated, with Michael Rauter (cello) and Nurit Stark (viola).

First performed in November 2019 at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and then at the Splitter Orchester festival in Berlin, this studio recording of Magnus Granberg's delicately complex and exquisitely dream-like composition features his Skogen ensemble, including Granberg, Rhodri Davies, Toshimaru Nakamura, Erik Carlsson, Petter Wastberg, &c.

Another Timbre's second CD of chamber works by the Paris-based Italian composer Giuliano d'Angiolini: Four pieces - ensemble works performed by Apartment House and the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, a duo for flute and piano, and a piece for solo piano played by the composer, all performed at the 2018 Angelica festival in Bologna Italy.

A beautiful, melancholic soundworld created by three musicians who have a rare rapport--Cyril Bondi on Indian harmonium, Pierre on Yves Martel on viola da Gamba, and Christoph Schiller on spinet--following their previous CDs tse and awire by moving on to new territory in 3 compositions allowing for freedom from each musician, two from Schiller and one from Bondi.

The title aptly describes the intense excitement and exhilaration of NY guitarist Brandon Seabrook's second trio album on Astral Spirits, performed with rhythm giants Cooper-Moore on Diddley Bow (a single-string bass) and free jazz drum legend Gerald Cleaver, the two creating a percolating interactive foundation for Seabrooks powerfully expressive and investigative playing.

The title aptly describes the intense excitement and exhilaration of NY guitarist Brandon Seabrook's second trio album on Astral Spirits, performed with rhythm giants Cooper-Moore on Diddley Bow (a single-string bass) and free jazz drum legend Gerald Cleaver, the two creating a percolating interactive foundation for Seabrooks powerfully expressive and investigative playing.

Compatriots in bands over many years, the quintet of David Liebman on saxophones, Randy Brecker on trumpets, Marc Copland on piano, Drew Gress on bass and Joey Baron on drums, joined by trumpeter Ralph Alessi on 2 tracks, come together to bring joyfully lyrical enthusiasm and masterful skill to works by Liebman, Gress, Baron, Brecker, and Ellington.

Two trumpeters--Nate Wooley from New York City, and Torben Snekkestad from Norway, also performing on soprano sax--met in Copenhagen in 2015 for this live concert "KoncertKirken--Blagards Plads", a monumental meeting of exploratory and investigative improvisation, using unusual and unorthodox techniques on their instruments to present 3 unique and singular dialogs.

As part of the Polish website Jazzarium.pl's 5th anniversary celebration, UK tenor saxophonist Evan Parker joined the Polish RGG free-improvising piano trio of Lukasz Ojdana on piano, Maciej Garbowski on bass, and Krzysztof Gradziuk on drums, for this four-part sophisticated collective improvisation recorded at the legendary Alchemia club in Krakow.

Two massive drone works for organ and pre-recorded tracks commissioned by Musica Festival Strasbourg for organist Hampus Lindwall, with tapes by Emanuel Schmelzer-Ziringer, each piece titled anagrammatically (ie. Nagro = Organ) and recorded with the composer at the Manufacture d'orgues Thomas and Orgelbau Klais organ in the Collegiale Sainte-Waudru, in Mons, Belgium.

Extremely patient compositions for electronics, cello, guitar and tenor sax from French sound and visual artist Pierre Gerard: "Air" using recordings from his duo partner of tenor saxophonist Bertrand De Lamalle with long sections of silence; "Cavity" employs previously recorded guitar improvisations that interact with Gerard's live electronic improvisations.

Bob Drake takes his listeners on a 22 piece instrumental journey through a "Beastley" garden of confident melodic foundation anBob Drake takes his listeners on a 22 piece instrumental journey through a "Beastley" garden of confident melodic foundation and experimental forays, captured by day and night, a tour de force of conception and execution.

Belgian composer Pierre Gerard presents a work that examines what we see around us, and what sometimes remains invisible, in three dramatic minimal works of powerful tones and tension, silence and motion: the first is 'the mechanics', the second 'the structure of a rock on a high mountain', the third 'the distance between the elements in a small forest area'.

Greg Foster has been merging poetry with music since the 60s, including work with Miles Davis, Art Blakey, and Thelonious Monk, here joins pianist Joel Futterman also on curved soprano saxophone and Indian flute, accompanying Foster's potent words and messages in 8 poems, including the 19 minutes "Alabama Exequy" examining the pain and horror of racism.

A stunning exploration of interior architecture through recordings of the elements of three spaces including La Casa's own apartment, finding micro and macro-scopic sound in common elements that he uses to create fascinating compositions reflecting both the captivating fullness and stillness of each space, as the composer questions his relationship with each space.

The Bridge is a transatlantic network that connects improvisers across national boundaries, here connecting US Chicago-based musicians Keefe Jackson (saxophones & bass clarinet), Dave Rempis (saxophones), with French improvisers Christine Wodrascka (piano), Didier Lasserre (drums) and Peter Orins (drums) for a 2018 recording in Lille, France.

The trio of guitarists Patricia Bateira (NATurlich), Jochen Arbeit (Einstürzende Neubauten) and Vitor Rua (Vitor Rua & The Metaphysical Angels) combine to create a new style of long-form electronic music, a richly continuous work seemingly without start or end, incorporating sustain, effects, & field recordings into a beautifully abstract aural environment.

Yeo-Neun Quartet is an experimental chamber music ensemble founded in 2016 by Okkyung Lee on cello, with harpist Maeve Gilchrist, pianist Jacob Sacks, and bassist Eivind Opsvik, in a detailed album merging melodic contemporary composition with free improvisation and unusual technique, as Lee explores her musical history and experiences through ten dramatically elegant works.

A 5-part concert and encore from Masami Akita, AKA Merzbow, performing in Australia at Room40's Open Frame Festival in 2019, a wrenching performance of distinctive yet diverse noise sources and textures revealed as a controlled tumult; all profits from this edition will be donated to assisting wildlife recovery in the wake of the Australia bushfire crisis of 2020.

Architect John Körmeling and maverick musician Charlemagne Palestine collaborate on a whole new system of music, reworking the harpsichord to generate notes of Pythagorean ratios, Kormeling asking the visionary and idiosyncratic to composer create a set of recordings on the instrument that Palestine dubbed "The Frogischord".

Percussionist, Improviser and AMM founding member Eddie Prévost's fourth book presents a fascinating series of reflections and challenging insights on music in its various forms, and the development of improvised music at the intersection of contemporary compositional and conceptual forms; alongside a personal history of Prevost's life and his relationship with music.

A long-form ambient composition from Portuguese composer and electroacoustic performer Rafael Toral, combining piano (Joana Gama), harp (Angelica V. Salve), vibraphone (Luis Bittencourt), clavinet (Joana Baulho), Rhodes (Riccardo Dillon), and sinewaves (Rafael Toral) a generative piece that avoids repetition while creating a floating and vast sense of reverberant space.

Four new commissioned works by Chris Cutler, Andzrej Karpinski, Nick Sudnik and Alessandro Monti performed on Futurist conceptualist Luigi Russolo's "Intonarumori", unique boxes capable of mechanically creating sounds including roars, thunderings, explosions, hissing, whistling, puffing, mumbling, muttering, gurgling, screeching, creaking, buzzing, crackling and scraping.

A collection of digital video artworks presented by Orgeon sound and noise artist Chefkirk, combining improvised drone and powerful electronics into energetic works, edited and sequenced with visuals by Obscura Film's Ryan Lewis (910 Noise), presenting 8 pieces of abstract and gripping sound with complementing colorful object and silhouette motion animation.

The first of two volumes in celebration of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker's 100th birthday, here remastering his landmark recordings for the Dial label on the US West Coast between 1946-47, performing with jazz greats including Miles Davis, Lucky Thompson, Erroll Garner, Barney Kessel, Red Calender, JJ Johson, Max Roach, &c. for some of Parker's best known and essential compositions.

The second of two volumes in celebration of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker's 100th birthday, here remastering his landmark recordings for the Savoy label in New York City between 1945-48, performing with jazz greats including Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Lewis, Curley Russel, Max Roach, &c. for some of be-bop's finest and best known compositions.

Violinist, improviser, songwriter and composer from Thessaloniki, Greece, Dimos Vryzas creates a virtual electroacoustic ensemble using violin, voice and effects, contrasting acoustic and electronic sounds in the search for music expression, his studies with Fred Frith and Alfred Zimmerlin a good indicator of the kind of sound approach Vryzas employs.

Czech trombonist Conny Bauer and brother, double bassist Matthias Bauer, are joined by Stavanger drummer Dag Magnus Narvesen, captured live at Christchurch, Berlin in 2018, inspired by their surroundings the three present a sophisticated concert of collective free improvisation of great energy and playfulness, born from decades of experience and improvisational affinity.

Embracing a wide and diverse stylistic range, from burning modern electric jazz to introspective interplay, NY guitarist Adam Caines' band with fellow guitarist Bob Lanzetti, Adam Lane on acoustic bass, Billy Mintz on drums, and Nick Lyons on alto saxophone, perform with great taste, technical mastery and superb interplay, releasing an extremely well-balanced collection.

Saxophonist Francois Carrier joins Shibusashirazu director & double bassist Daisuke Fuwa, drummer Takashi Itani, and alto saxophonist Masayo Koketsu (also of Shibusashirazu) for a live performance at Yamaneko-ken, in Saitama to capture this 6-part suite of intensely creative free jazz, the inventive rhythm section driving both saxophonists into both raucous and beautiful territory.

An archival recording from the Kraine Art Gallery in NYC in October of 1987 by French horn player Vincent Chancey, double bassist Wilber Morris and percussionist Warren Smith, their distinctive instrumentation revealing the passionate dialog of agile and commanding ability, balancing the innate lyricism of jazz traditions with the liberation of free & out playing.

Two thirds of the free jazz group "Boom Box"--saxophonist Thomas Borgmann and drummer Willi Kellers--and referencing that band's 2011 album titled Jazz, Keys & Screws is rounded out as a trio with double bassist Jan Roder, following the format of Jazz with compositions from each player following head/solo format, fueled by each player's extensive experience.

During the 2019 concert series dedicated to improvised music, "Improdimensija", Catalan pianist Agusti Fernández met with Lithuanian saxophonist Liudas Mockunas in the MAMAstudio in Vilnius to record the two part, 3 sections-each "Improdimensions", a masterwork of piano and sax dialog of incredible technique and taste, from rapid runs to profoundly impressionist sections.

Two thirds of the free jazz group "Boom Box"--saxophonist Thomas Borgmann and drummer Willi Kellers--and referencing that band's 2011 album titled Jazz, Keys & Screws is rounded out as a trio with double bassist Jan Roder, following the format of "Jazz" with compositions from each player following head/solo format, fueled by each player's extensive experience.

Captured live in San Francisco in 1978, the lastest in the NoBusiness Sam Rivers Archive series finds the masterful wind player in peak form with the trio of Dave Holland on bass & cello, and Barry Altschul on drums, Rivers on tenor & soprano sax, flute & piano, in the 52 minute free jazz epic "Ricochet", a high-energy work of diverse mood and character; superb!

The Chicago trio of Jason Stein on bass clarinet, Ben Cruz on guitar, and Emerson Hunton on drums perform compositions from Cruz & Hunton, informed works of free improvisation that blend style and approach from textural beauty to avant aggressive fury, controlled in quick pivots or enticing in brooding atmospheres, a well-balanced and thoroughly engaging album.

The fourth collaboration between electronic composer Rutger Zuydervelt, aka Machinefabriek, and violinist, violist and vocalist Anne Bakker, in a work that merges and contrasts Bakker's string work and wordless vocals with soundscape, obscured field recordings and concrete sounds, using consonance and dissonance to create emotional pressure and release.

Based on a series of improvisations on a very hands-on hardware setup, with an old tone generator, effects pedals, dictaphones, contact mics, &c., Machinefabriek (Rutger Zuydervelt) took these recordings into the studio to compose these four works, 2 brief pieces and the 2-part, intricate "Amalgaam", in an absorbing album of dramatic texture & sound.

A selection of Machinefabriek's (Rutger Zuydervelt) favorite remixes made between 2005 and 2015 of his reworks and reinterpretations of tracks by Mensenkinderen, Wouter Van Veldhoven, Fieldhead, Aaron Martin, Coppice, de la mancha, The Moi Non Plus, Djivan Gasparyan, Amon Tobin, Gareth Hardwick, Fiium Shaarrk, Vladimir and Red Stars Over Tokyo.

While developing a soundtrack with violinist and violist Anne Bakker, Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek, began editing a series of Bakker's improvisations, creating new works from those recordings by layering them into succinct short works or "scenes"--twenty of them in the end--that he sequenced into this album of confidently dramatic and delicately beautiful episodes.

Taking their band name from a Thelonious Monk quote, the Norwegian power trio of vibraphone player Amund Storløkken Åse (son of keyboardist Ståle Storløkken and vocelist Tone Åse), guitarist Nicolas Leirtrø and drummer Øyvind Leite bridge the divide between 70's progressive rock, classical music, jazz and improvisation with a unique instrumentation.

Taking their band name from a Thelonious Monk quote, the Norwegian power trio of vibraphone player Amund Storløkken Åse (son of keyboardist Ståle Storløkken and vocelist Tone Åse), guitarist Nicolas Leirtrø and drummer Øyvind Leite bridge the divide between 70's progressive rock, classical music, jazz and improvisation with a unique instrumentation.

Fully free improvisation from Chicago musicians, electric guitarist Tashi Dorji and drummer/percussionist Tyler Damon, performing live in a concert at Horatio N. May Chapel in 2018, the resonance of the location adding a rich reverberant level to their evolving dialog, building to ecstatic sonic states and releasing to energetically ruminative discourse.

The Japanese space rock collective Acid Mothers Temple led by Makoto Kawabata & Hiroshi Higashi, reformed in 2015 with new members and here featuring Henry Cow wind player Geoff Leigh on flute and sax, take on a free-form and sometimes mellower psychedelia as the band dips in and out of our space, dimension, and time while re-imagining the best of kraut/prog/spacerock.

The Japanese space rock collective Acid Mothers Temple led by Makoto Kawabata & Hiroshi Higashi, reformed in 2015 with new members and here featuring Henry Cow wind player Geoff Leigh on flute and sax, take on a free-form and sometimes mellower psychedelia as the band dips in and out of our space, dimension, and time while re-imagining the best of kraut/prog/spacerock.

Raw, raucous and dauntless improvisation from the Russian quartet of Anton Ponomarev on alto saxophone, Dmitry Lapshin on bass guitar, Felix Mikensky on guitar & electronics, and Yaroslav Kurilo on drums, in 7 passionate collective improvisations with a dark melodic bent with titles like "demon" or "iron hair", plus a twisted take on Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts".

The sixth album of embraceable electroacoustic and acousmatic French composer Bérangère Maximin, whose work with Ina-GRM, Stockholm's EMS points to her extraordinary skills in organize other-worldly sound, imbued with her ability to create warmly embraceable works with mystery amongst propelling rhythm, here exploring recordings from city parks & abandoned properties.

The 4th of 5 Xerox releases from electronic and sound composer Carsten Nicolai, based on the concept of digital replication of source material, Nicolai replicates his recordings and utilizes their changes, in Volume 4 creating melodic ambient works, warm tones that are colored and affected by subtle texture, creating a beautiful set of 14 cinematic expressions.

The 4th of 5 Xerox releases from electronic and sound composer Carsten Nicolai, based on the concept of digital replication of source material, Nicolai replicates his recordings and utilizes their changes, in Volume 4 creating melodic ambient works, warm tones that are colored and affected by subtle texture, creating a beautiful set of 14 cinematic expressions.

The 2nd release from the Bonjintan quartet led by Akira Sakata on saxophone, clarinet & voice, with Jim O'Rourke on double bass, Giovanni Di Domenico on piano & Hohner pianet, and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto on drums, an international grouping with experimental approaches to improvisation and avant music, yielding unusual results of great character, tension and pointed expression.

The 2nd release from the Bonjintan quartet led by Akira Sakata on saxophone, clarinet & voice, with Jim O'Rourke on double bass, Giovanni Di Domenico on piano & Hohner pianet, and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto on drums, an international grouping with experimental approaches to improvisation and avant music, yielding unusual results of great character, tension and pointed expression.

The second album from the Norwegian electric jazz quartet of Havard Nordberg Funderud on guitar, Lauritz Lyster Skeidsvoll on saxophone, Karl Erik Horndalsveen on double bass, and Martin Heggli Mellem on drums, after their 2018 album The Concert Koan on the Clean Feed label, here in six powerfully thrilling tracks of youthful exuberance and impressive skill.

The second album from the Norwegian electric jazz quartet of Havard Nordberg Funderud on guitar, Lauritz Lyster Skeidsvoll on saxophone, Karl Erik Horndalsveen on double bass, and Martin Heggli Mellem on drums, after their 2018 album The Concert Koan on the Clean Feed label, here in six powerfully thrilling tracks of youthful exuberance and impressive skill.

A 2004 live performance in LP and DVD from the experimental, irreverent and twisted rock trio Sun City Girls performing at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, from strange songs of weird, blunt or vulgar intent to experimental cutups--an unorthodox exorcism in sound--all presented with bizarre theatrical accompaniment as documented on the accompanying DVD.

An essential asset of the NY Downtown scene since the 70s, trombonist Steve Swell leads and composes for an exemplary and uniquely orchestrated sextet bridging generations: Jason Kao Hwang on violin, viola & electronics, Ariel Bart on harmonica, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello & electronics, Robert Boston on piano & organ, and Andrew Cyrille on drums & percussion.

The Thumbscrew trio of NY improvisers Tomas Fujiwara on drums & vibes, Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Michael Formanek on double bass, turn their focus to their shared history with composer and reedist Anthony Braxton as he celebrates his 75th birthday, performing 11 previously unheard compositions selected from Composition No. 14 through No. 274; masterful and profound.

The Stirrup trio of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nick Macri (bass), and Charles Rumback (drums) is merged with improvisers from Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra project--Keefe Jackson & Mars Williams on reeds, guitarist Peter Maunu, violist Jen Clare Paulson, trumpeter Russ Johnson & Zoots Houston on electronics -for this compelling structured performance at Elastic Arts.

Merging players from the NY, Philidelphia and Chicago scenes, the trio of drummer Chad Taylor, saxophonist Brian Settles and pianist Neil Podgurski have a history reaching into the 90s in NYC, bringing a confident kinetic energy to their playing, energized by Taylor's powerful rhythmic center and a lyrical bent that makes their music exuberant and intelligent at once.