Features: The Expanding Universe of Yamantaka // Sonic Titan; Yamantaka // Sonic Titan; The Retro Aesthetic of Le Revelateur; JOYFULTALK (Drip Audio); Muuixx; Hard Rubber Orchestra; Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville; Allison Cameron and Contact; plus live and recorded reviews.

Summer 2017 issue of Canada's premiere new music magazine, with a CD featuring tracks from selected artists covered in the magazine; Bekah Simms; Senyawa; Pantayo, HanHan, and Luyos MC; Brodie West; Artificiel; Another Timbre's Canadian Composers Series; Vicky Chow; Festival de International Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, 33rd Edition reviewed; &c. &c.

The final issue of the premier Canadian new music magazine Musicworks' 40th anniversary year, with Darcy Spidle on the cover, plus articles on Luke Nickel, Lina Allemano, Andre Cormier, Joseph Shabason, Thanya Iyer, the Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective, plus a 9 track CD with music from Darcy Spidle, Shabason, Iyer, Luke Nickel & Heather Roche, &c. &c.

Fall 2019 issue of Canada's premier music magazine covering contemporary, improvisation and experimental music, plus reviews of recordings, books, and events; this issue has articles on Ana Sokolovic, Charlie Morrow, Nadah El Shazly, Laraaji, Amy Brandon, William Kuo, Sami Blanco, Silla and Rise, Mystery & Wonder Records, including a CD with tracks from the same.

Two large compositions by Montreal bassist Éric Normand, the first in a quintet with Camille Brisson, Antoine Simard, Marc-Antoine Mackin and Sébastien Maltais, using electronics, objects and motors; the second an acoustic work performed by the Quasar saxophone quartet of Marie-Chantale Leclerc, Mathieu Leclerc, André Leroux & Jean-Marc Bouchard.

Six years of songs and compositions reflecting the life and travels of the Montreal quintet of Geraldine Eguiluz (voice, guitar, compositions), Marie-Lys Trudel (violin & viola); Julie Babaz (cello), Sheila Hannigan (cello) and Stephane Diamantakiou (bass).

Put this one in your Wishlist for the next holiday season: 5th in a series drawing on Vancouver's best; unusual approaches to the classics in a oddly skewed yet sentimental ways.

An energetic trio of Serbian free improvisers from Tibor Takacs Faki on reeds, Laslo Lenkes on guitar and Goran Grubisic on drums, Tibor Takacs Faki and Goran Grubisic both part of the rock band Wooden Ambulance, that energy translating into their indefatigable approach to collective improvisation, just keeping a lid on their rambunctious interaction.

Bay area trumpeter and bandleader Johntson in a set of original compositions performed with Ben Goldberg, Sheldon Brown, Devin Hoff and Smith Dobson.

An evening of free improvisation recorded in Berlin at au Topsi Pohl in 2020 from the Swedish trio of Euro Free Jazz legend Sven-Ake Johansson on drums, Niklas Fite on acoustic guitar and Joel Grip on double bass, performing two extended and dynamic improvisations, and then settling into jazz standard form for "Isn't It Romantic" and "Out of Nowhere" sung by by Johansson.

Recording in Cologne, Germany, the quartet of Arne Deforce on cello, Deborah Walker on cello, Erik Drescher on flute, and Dafne Vicent Sandoval on bassoon realize NY composer Phill Niblock's work of acoustic drone, using long sustained notes to create a seething combination of harmonic interactions with an ominous tone, ending somewhat abruptly to reveal its layers.

The trio of Jim Hobbs, Timo Shanko and Django Carranza in a studio release of original upbeat and amazing riff based compositions, along with a nifty skate video.

Eight powerful and often cinematic pieces for organ and percussion, jointly composed and performed by long-time collaborators, Montreal composers and improvisers Katelyn Clark and Isaiah Ceccarelli, these 8 compositions developed around improvisations on the historic instruments continuo & portative organs, with percussion including a 40" bass drum, bell plates, and almglocken.

Borrowing from jazz/improvised music, new compositional forms and avant reductionist traditions, the Montreal quartet Success Pistol release their debut album of compositions by saxophonist Dustin Finder, oral instructions including game pieces that leave room for improvisation; with Scott Bevins on trumpet, and husband and wife duo Eli Davidovici on bass and Mili Hong on drums.

The second release from guitarist and oud improviser Gordon Grdina's Boiling Point Trio with Matt Mitchell on piano and Jim Black on drums, following their excellent 2020 Martian Kitties album, solidified into a tight unit from touring, Grdina's writing showcasing each player's ability to improvise around complex rhythmic, harmonic, and melodically rich compositions.

The third release from the Toronto-based Brodie West Quintet of Evan Cartwright on drums, vibraphone & guitar, Josh Cole on bass, Nick Fraser on drums, Tania Gill on piano and Brodie West on alto saxophone, performing Brodie's uniquely inclusive and sometimes atypically metered compositions, leading to fascinating solo and group interplay from reflection to fire.

A diverse set of compositions from Canadian composer Allison Cameron showing the breadth of her interests across experimental and compositional forms, including a solo multiphonic work for bass clarinet; a guitar trio with the Allison Cameron band of Cameron, Eric Chenaux & Stephen Parkinson; and Apartment House performing quintet and sextet compositions.

After a performance in 2019, Kobe-based Canadian sound artist Tim Olive and Calgary percussionist, experimenter and Bug Incision lAfter a performance in 2019, Kobe-based Canadian sound artist Tim Olive and Calgary percussionist, experimenter & Bug Incision label leader Chris Dadge recorded these two studio pieces using Dadge's amplified percussion, small instruments & electronics, as well as Olive's magnetic pickup/electronics system, running through a number of guitar & bass amplifiers.abel leader Chris Dadge recorded these two studio pieces using Dadge's amplified percussion, small instruments & electronics, as well as Olive's magnetic pickup/electronics system, running through a number of guitar & bass amplifiers.

The remarkably creative flutist & saxophonist Jean Derome often incorporates unusual instruments into his improvisations and compositions, including bird calls, harps, kalimbas, sirens, flower plastic wrappings, bells, &c &c.... on this album Derome focuses on those unique instruments and noise makers through 23 surprising pieces illustrating his incredible collection.

Drawing on the work of Steve Lacy's quintet, Montreal saxophonist Jean Derome pays homage to the late saxophonist through a selection of 9 Lacy pieces with lyrics from Brion Gysin, Lao Tseu, Herman Melville, &c, in a quintet with Derome on alto sax, bass flute & voice, Karen Young providing vocals, Alexandre Grogg on piano, Normand Guilbeault on bass, & Pierre Tanguay on drums.

4th Dangereux Zhoms 4th release, mixing scored music, improv, polyphony, polyrhythms, irregular meters, rich harmonies and polymodalism with humor and imagination.

Ensemble SuperMusique devotes itself to Montreal's "Musique Actuelle" and free improv community in assemblages of some of their finest players, here in a live concert in 2016 at Amphitheater du Gesu in Montreal with a stunning set of performers presenting the work of 4 composer.

Montreal's true supergroup since 1998 with many of the city's essential Musique Actuelle performers and composers, directed by Danielle Palardy Roger and including Jean Derome, Joane Hetu, Scott Thomson, Lori Freedman, Alexander St. Onge, &c. &c., as they take on a piece by Quebec composer Symon Henry, performed in an exceptional concert in the Chapel in Bon-Pasteur.

The counterpart to Montreal bass clarinetist Lori Freedman's album "Excess" of recordings from her 11-city North American solo tour "The Virtuosity of Excess", this CD "Solor" was developed after that tour allowing Freedman to focus on her past and current creative work, presenting 5 of her solo compositions, 3 of which were written for the album, plus two improvisations.

Sporadic sonic exchanges exploring guidelines, graphic scores, or completely improvised, with an expansive instrumentorium from the sextet of Magali Babin, Andrea-Jane Cornell, Martine H Crispo, Anne-Francoise Jacques, Emilie Mouchous, and Erin Sexton.

A musical theatre in 3 acts using texts, songs, free improvisation and compositional textures, "an evocation of the fusion between opposite forces-tight and flexible, male and female".

An amazing journey in sound and voice from saxophonist/vocalist Joane Hetu with five singers/narrators/musicians/noise-makers and layered field recordings, a remarkable and sophisticated work about sex, loss, death, art, & politics.

Pieces in 4 movements - Snow; Never Cold; Gusts; Landscapes - performed by Ensemble SuperMusique: Joane Hetu, Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse, Pierre Tanguay, Scott Thomson & Alexandre St-Onge.

Joker brings together 12 vocalists, many core members of the Ambiances Magnetiques/Musique Actuelle collective including Joane Hetu, Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse, Michel F Cote, Lori Freedman, &c, performing unusual works of voice and narration composed by Joane Hetu.

Joane Hetu and Jean Derome formed Nous percons les oreilles 20 years ago, merging their expansive musical interests in idiosyncratic improvisation and orchestration using saxophones & wind instruments, objects, voice, melodica, and piano, here in their 4th astonishing album.

Long-time collaborators the Quatuor Bozzini string quartet of Clemens Merkel, Alissa Cheung, Stephanie Bozzini and Isabelle Bozzini join with Slavic composer living in Montreal Ana Sokolovic, to present a series of 14 short works -- "Ghost 1" & "Ghost 2"; "Commedia dell'arte" in 10 movements; "Blanc dominant"; and "Troisieme page apres le soleil".

Active since the early 90's, the superb Montreal super-group Ratchet Orchestra under the direction of Nicolas Caloia with 19 performers presents 10 works including the title track, with soloists including Jean Rene, Lori Freedman, Jean Derome, Ellwood Epps, Sam Shalabi, Craig Petersen, Yves Charuest, Joshua Zubot, Scott Thomson, Isaiah Ceccarelli, &c.

Composer/percussionist Danielle Palardy Roger's musical satire about capitalism, performed with some of Montreal's finest improvisers using conventional & unconventional instruments and voice, captured live at the Gesu Amphitheater, in Montreal in 2018: Michel F Cote, Andre Duchesne, Joane Hetu, Elizabeth Lima, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Alexander St-Onge, and Ida Toniato.

A tribute to controversial and outrageous Quebec sculptor and installation artist Rose Drummond, through a collection of unusual, diverse, absurdist and absolutely remarkable instrumental & vocal songs drawn from saxophonist and composer Jean Derome's musical career, performed with Musique Actuelle luminaries including Michel F Coté, Joane Hétu, and Éric Normand.

The Quebec project Brulez Les Meubles (Burn the Furniture) was conceived by long-time friends and contemporary jazz fans, bassist Eric Normand and guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonniere, each collaboration inviting other musicians to join their warm & relaxed approach to modern jazz, here with Jean Derome on saxophone & flute and John Hollenbeck on drums.

With a common passion for the jazz guitar, from Jim Hall to Bill Frisell, from Rene Thomas to Brandon Ross, the core duo of Canadian improvisers, guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonniere and bassist Éric Normand, are joined by drummer Tom Jacques for a set of original compositions plus a Paul Bley piece, one by Gilles Vigneault, and two collective improvisations.

Exploring the Venus Flytrap (dionée attrape-mouche) through a trio of electroacoustic improv, with the acoustic elements from Clarisse Beriault on oboe and acoustic bass and Robin Servant on accordion, bassist Éric Normand providing the electric foundation to their sly and savage improvisations, all three using electronics & effects to emulate the thigmonastic carnivore.

Having originally met in 2016 when Viennese trumpeter Franz Hautzinger and Quebec electric bassist Éric Normand formed Torche! with Michel F Cote, Philippe Lauzier and Xavier Charles, the two improvisers developed this collage during the pandemic from asynchronous recordings, creating six dramatic and explorative compositions of incredible and unusual technique.

The Quebec project Brulez Les Meubles (Burn the Furniture) was conceived by long-time friends and contemporary jazz fans, bassist Eric Normand and guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonniere, each collaboration inviting other musicians to join their warm & relaxed approach to modern jazz, here with Jean Derome on saxophone & flute and John Hollenbeck on drums.

Fall 2022 issue of Canada's most fascinating and diverse music magazine; Montreal Violinist And Composer Jessica Moss; Musical Repatriation and Reconciliation with Canada's Indigenous Peoples; sound artist Tona Walt Ohama; Interdisciplinary Artist Chloe Alexandra Thompson; electronic artist Mariana Vieira; Jordan Dykstra; Sabarah Pilon; The London Contemporary Music Festival, &c. &c.

During a 1985 stay in Montreal, iconic German double bassist Peter Kowald asked alto saxophonist Yves Charuest to perform a series of duos with him, after which Charuest invited Michel Ratté to perform as a trio live at Le Bruit Court, recording in their studio these solid free jazz recordings that remained in storage for 37 years prior to this release!

Collaborators in Montreal projects including Ensemble Supermusique and Ratchet Orchestra, bass clarinetist Lori Freedman (Queen Mab Trio) and trombonist Scott Thomson (Monicker) have also worked as a duo for more than 15 years, starting with the Barnyard Record album Plumb, their long history allowing flexibility in unusual dialog and utterance that captivates naturally.

With masterful technique and remarkable creative drive, the Canadian duo of clarinetist François Houle and Joe Sorbara explore unorthodox sound worlds through microtones, pad percussives, circular breathing to stretch phrasing, Houle taking apart his instrument to affect tone and pitch, and Sorbara using idiosyncratic percussive instruments including "back porch piano guts".

The 35 poems found on Fortner Anderson's "Solitary Pleasures", performed with Michel F Cote, Sam Shalabi and Alexandre St-Onge, speak of the obsessions, phantasies and encounters of Anderson's life.

Vocalists DB Boyko and Christine Duncan turn gibberish into improvised poetry while accompanied by drummer Jean Martin who uses multi-timbered objects to create beautiful and absurd music.

Twelve pieces for guitar performed by Tim Brady, including three updated versions of previous pieces, new compositions by Brady, and four pieces composed by other artists.

A burning album of collective free jazz from Canadian compatriots Francois Carrier on alto saxophone and Michel Lambert on drums, on a spring tour of Europe, performing at Poland's MOZG in Byrgoszcz, home of the MOZG Festival, with Polish tenor saxophonist Tomek Gadecki amd bassist Marcin Bozen, also on French Horn, in an exhilarating set of three extended improvisations.

A concert recording from 1977 in Calgary, CA captured during Eugene Chadbourne's time in Canada prior to his move to NYC, from the guitar trio of Duck Baker, Randy Hutton & Eugene Chadbourne, performing on acoustic guitars, using a variety of approaches to improvising in trio, duo and solo configurations, with original work, an Ornette Coleman mashup, and a piece by Charlie Haden.

Live recordings and Derome's first release under his own name, inspired by Japanese magic squares and haikus, and performed in a group including Actuelle collective members Pierre Tanguay and Pierre Cartier.

Mixing backgrounds from impprov, electronics, composition, noise & contemporary performance, Fenaison explore texturally driven dynamic improvisations.

Clarinetist Lori Freedman brought together 3 distinct trios over the course of 3 consecutive nights with a total of 6 other Montreal musicians for live encounters of improvisation.

Nine song pieces for piano, harp, and vocal by The Giving Shapes, a Vancouver-based collaborative project between harpist/vocalist Elisa Thorn and pianist/vocalist Robyn Jacob, lovely pieces that weave their two voices with two compatibly yet uniquely timbred strings, merging contemporary popular forms with modern compositional music.

Influenced by experimental and electroacoustic practices, Hansen & Krakowiak attack and disseminate turntables and percussion through improvisations built on layers of sound and interpolated instrumentation.

A collection of narrative and experimental sound worlds for solo trumpet, born out of improvisation and organized through thoughtful collaborations with composers from Canada to Argentina.

Part of a sound installation and exhibition of sculptural work by Reinhard Reitzenstein, the Test Tubes perform with strings, glass instruments, and unique instruments to create music of unusual and complex timbral combinations.

Montreal multi-wind instrumentalist Pierre Labbe (Les Projectionnistes, L'Orkestre des Pas Perdus, Papa Boa) leads an insanely talented and quirky quartet with guitarist Bernard Falaise, drummer Pierre Tanguay, and narrator/storyteller Michel Faubert, creating a captivating album that transcends language in it's superb pacing, development, and artistry.

Vocalist Genevieve Letarte in a release with Normand Guilbeault, Pierre Tanguay, Ivanhoe Jolicoeur, Claude Fradette, Guillaume Dostaler, Ivanhoe Jolicoeur and Guido Del Fabbro.

The second album from Noma, an ensemble formed and directed by trombonist Tom Walsh, that was recorded live in 2000 and 2002.

A series of solos and duets between Kalimba player Rainer Wiens and an impressive set of improvisers including Jean Derome, Malcolm Goldstein, Frank Lozano, &c.

A comprovised music piece based on a sound score composed of field recordings from autonomous demonstrations that shook the streets of Montreal in recent years, the 10-piece Montreal ensemble of performers and sound artist interacting with the ambient recordings as they aim to understand how sound and music contribute to the formation of affective communities.

A specially priced box set bringing together 4 CDs from the Ambiances Jazz Trio Derome Guilbeault Tanguay: "10 compositions", "The Feeling of Jazz", "Danse a l'Anvers", and "Wow!".

The inventive Canadian electric improvising band releases their 10th studio album, continuing as the trio of guitarist Bernard Falaise, keyboardist Pascal Globensky and drummer/percussionist Remi Leclerc, presenting six masterfully lyrical pieces that take unusual twists and turns, adding unexpected "elements" to each pieces in clever, playful and inspired ways.

An assertive duo of piano and trumpet from Canadian improvisers Marilyn Lerner playing inside and out of the piano, and trumpeter Nicole Rampersaud performing with powerful and unusually expressive technique, this the first meeting between the two in a set of seven studio recordings, creative interactions of wide-ranging and cohesive approaches to their dialogs.

In a nod to alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, Montreal trombonist Scott Thomson brings together four exceptional Canadian alto saxophonists with whom he has worked and who motivate his improvisational drive, heard here in four duos: two with Toronto alto saxophonists John Oswald and Karen Ng, and two with Montreal alto saxophonists Jean Derome and Yves Charuest.

An exceptional album of widely-embracing collective improvisation recorded during Vertical Squirrel's 2019-20 residency at Silence as part of the You Are I Am series, the core quartet of Daniel Fischlin on guitars, monotron, flute & percussion, Ajay Heble on piano, Lewis Melville on bass & percussion and Ted Warren on drums & percussion are joined by cornetist and world instrumentalist Gary Diggins and vocalist & percussionist Dong-Won Kim.

Translating her concepts from the electronic realm into acoustic, composer Eliane Radigue used an oral compositional process with the Montreal string quartet Quatuor Bozzini, for whom this work is dedicated, allowing each performance a uniqueness through sustained tones, microbeats and emerging harmonies, creating a profoundly meditative and rich work.

Canadian composer Martin Arnold is based in Toronto, writing melodic works that contain a meandering, psychedelic quality, as heard in these three compositions performed by Philip Thomas on piano and Mira Benjamin on violin, the first two pieces solos from each respectively, and the last a duo with both musicians.

Montreal-based Composer-percussionist Isaiah Ceccarelli, well known through his Ambiances Magnetiques releases, in 7 compositions, a mix of timbrally-based music in which he himself performs, and through-composed pieces that focus on harmonic progressions, performed as string duos, trios, and quartets.

A unique concert even by the standards of Victoriaville from The Growlers, a vocal ensemble who interpret heavy metal, known for their epic work "Hate.Machine" and "The Dayking" with participation from poet Fortner Anderson, performed here along with a comprovisation backed by an electronic track originated from electric guitar recordings.

The premiere encounter of the uniquely orchestrated trio of two legendary string improvisers--Gordon Grdina on guitar & oud, and Mat Maneri on viola--with drummer Christian Lillinger (New Old Luten, Punkt vs. Plastik, EUPHORIUM_freakestra) recording in the studio in Vancouver, BC for three impressive, innately lyrical, dexterous and magnificent conversations.

After performing together in Canada beginning in 2019, bass clarinetist & electronic artist Philippe Lauzier and NY percussionist Carl Costa remained in contact during the pandemic by exchanging compositional concepts, the 4-part "Sincronica Vaga" and "Soft Routine" the results, the former based on dovetailing motives, the latter on harmonic counterpoint interaction.

Part of a 2022 creative residency at the Abbey of Saint-Benoît-Labre, in Beauce at the invitation of the organization EXEcentrer, this duo recording captures the September concert of two magnificent Montreal sound artists: Érick d'Orion performing on electronics & synthesizers, and Martin Tétreault on turntables, vinyl records & synthesizer.

Organized by Miriodor drummer & composer Remi Leclerc, this experimental group features Canadian & European improvisers in a creative session with a sense of novelty and humor, from Pianist Andre Pelletier (Saint-Pascal), accordionist Robin Servant and guitarist Olivier D'Amours (Rimouski), bassist Alexandre Dubuc (Montreal) and saxophonist Cathy Heyden (Paris).

A collaboration between Montreal saxophnist Aaron Leaney (Ratchet Orchestra, Nebula) with legendary free jazz drummer and founder of Le Nouveau Jazz Libre de Quebec in 1967, Guy Thouin, performing on a wealth of winds, percussions and bells, their music infused with a rich spiritual and natural feeling of world elements, lyrical playing and folkloric rhythms.

Seven forays into dark experimental electroacoustic improvisation from electric bassist and Tour de Bras label-leader Éric Normand and French clarinetist Xavier Charles, leveraging unlikely techniques on both instruments, eight dialogs both assertive and cautiously mysterious, employing harmonic overtones, remarkable reed techniques, and rich electronic foundations.

Rich in lyrical playing and creative freedom, Vancouver cellist Peggy Lee's 6th album expands on her goal to explore different strategies for improvisation within composition, featuring the unique voices of her ensemble including Brad Turner (trumpet), Jon Bentley (sax), Jeremy Berkman (trombone), Ron Samworth & Tony Wilson (guitars), Andre Lachance (bass) and Dylan van der Schyff (drums).

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Continuity, Fragility, Resonance is an extended compositions by Jürg Frey orchestrated for an octet of a string quartet and a saxophone quartet, here recorded after the 2021 premier of the work in a 2022 3-day recording session in Bern, Switzlerland in the presence of the composer at the Auditorium of Zentrum Paul Klee; gorgeous and delicate.

Bridging contemporary and improvised music, Montreal double bassist Nicolas Caloia wrote these pieces for textured and impossible rhythms; blending pieces by Nancarrow and Grand Master Flash; and manipulating poems by Genevieve Letarte; with supporting improv from Jean Derome & Lori Freedman.

Sporadic sonic exchanges exploring guidelines, graphic scores, or completely improvised, with an expansive instrumentorium from the sextet of Magali Babin, Andrea-Jane Cornell, Martine H Crispo, Anne-Francoise Jacques, Emilie Mouchous, and Erin Sexton.

Sporadic sonic exchanges exploring guidelines, graphic scores, or completely improvised, with an expansive instrumentorium from the sextet of Magali Babin, Andrea-Jane Cornell, Martine H Crispo, Anne-Francoise Jacques, Emilie Mouchous, and Erin Sexton.

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