Performing on soprano and sopranino saxophones, French saxophonist Michel Doneda is heard in concert at Tiasci in Paris for three "Monstre" solo improvisations of quietly emphatic playing using extended techniques and unusual phrasing, released as a limited 250g paper card hand-printed by Normad with an accompanying download code, 1 of 2 art cards initiating an 8-card series.

First conceived during the 2016 Forward Festival when noise guitarist Gene Moore and NYC experimental bassist Gene Janas invited noted avant-garde drummer Federico Ughi for the second part of their set, the results being so impressive that they asked saxophonist Paul Flaherty to join them to record this album and to perform at the Forward Festival 2017.

An album of quiet improvisation focused on timbre, rhythm and pensive pacing from the duo of bass clarinetist Philippe Lauzier and bassist Éric Normand, also using objects to create mysterious tones and acoustic sonics, released as a limited 300g paper card hand-printed by Normad with an accompanying download code, 1 of 2 art cards initiating an 8-card series.

A live performance at Forward Festival 2016, in Brooklyn, NY, merging chamber music, free improvisation, free and avant jazz and other forms in a an ensemble with Daniel Carter (sax & trumpet), Claire de Brunner (bassoon), Patrick Holmes (clarinet), Nick Lyons (sax), Jeff Snyder (electronics), Stelios Mihas (guitar), Jonah Rosenberg (piano), Zach Swanson (bass), and Federico Ughi (drums).

A collaboration between the China based Italian pianist Gabriele Meirano and the Berlin based Chinese musician Xu Fengxia, a pioneer in combining Chinese music with improvisation; the two first played together when Peter Brotzmann invited them to join him in a trio concert at the Shanghai Art Center in 2011, here in a duo that fuses Far East sounds and the blues.

Despite using traditional instrumentation, the Montreal trio of pianist Lisa Cay Miller, guitarist Vicky Mettler, and bassist Raphael Foisy-Couture avoid sounding anything but traditional, through preparations and a mischievous attitude transforming their instruments and applying them to a highly interactive and darkly optimistic set of very unique dialogs.

Plan Kruutntoone joins forces with avant-garde pianist Reinier van Houdt for a conceptual narrative blurring improvised music, compositional and rock forms, with a narrative based around Zorro and Rosa, geography (and Spielberg) and Brodski, or in their terms: composed and deranged music and lyrics (and other words) on guitars, basses, drums and a piano.

Performing on drums, trumpet, guitar, bass, moog bass, and keyboards, Philadelphia born and West Coast drummer/multi-instrumentalist Grant Calvin Weston, a member of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time Band, presents an album or fierce drumming and powerful electronic sources balanced with beautifully paced sonic environments, 16 tracks of diverse and gripping music.

A powerful recording that features heavy, intricate and deep grooves from Philadelphian Grant Calvin Weston (Ornette Coleman's Prime Time) on drums, percussion and synths and Lucas Brode on guitars, effects and loops, a great album of creative improvisation that blends fusion-oriented playing balanced with modern sound collage and atmospheric moments.

The 3rd installment in percussionist & composer Matt Weston's serialized opera for percussion ensemble + electronics, a set of narratives and counter-narratives that explore mental health struggles as they develop over time in varying circumstances, realized through a combination of site-specific graphic, multidimensional and instantaneous scores.

Delicate abrasions and corruption of their instruments from the NY duo of Erica Dicker (Till by Turning) on violin and Dennis Sullivan (Radical 2), 9 works of improvised soundscape and avant-raw chamber music through prepared strings, tapes, looped feedback, resonant metals, modified snares and liberally bowed surfaces, richly constrained and luxuriously blood-curdling.

A meditation on the life of Japanese-Americans after living in California's concentration camps during World War II, performed by Patrick Shiroishi through layering of c melody saxophone, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, sopranino saxophone and voice, reflecting on his own grandfathers's seemingly unbearable experience through patience and dignity.

A live recording at Koenji Jirokichi in 2022 between Magaibtusu leader Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, Korekyojinn, Koenji Hyakkei, PYN, &c) and pianist Kazuto Shimizu (Arepos, Chakra, Hikashu, Killing Time, Lars Hollmer's Global Home Project, &c), both on vocals as they unfold a playful and technically incredible set of "Doodads", "Watchamacallits" and other wonderful curiosities.

Fifteen rock instrumentals between drummer Tatsuya Yoshida and pianist & keyboardist Risa Takeda, generally high-speed, technically superb and melodically infused pieces of imaginative creativity with a quirky sense of humor, augmented with Yoshida's vocalizing and effect processing from both; includes a download sheet for 15 high-def movies, one for each track on the album.

Borrowing from traditional music notation, Jessica Pavone's compositions for her string ensemble with Aimée Niemann and Abby Swidler alternates between metered and time-based scores allowing the performers freedom to move between long tone sounds and clusters at the performer's chosen rate, responding to each other while creating a "collaboratively sewn musical fabric".

The 2nd of two studio albums from the quartet of Daniel Carter on saxophone & flute, Matthew Shipp on piano, William Parker on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums, recordings from the same sessions as the 1st volume with five shorter works, as the long-time collaborators and friends show their nearly telepathic rapport in adventurous and masterful modern jazz.

Merging disparate styles into music that is clearly jazz-based, warm and beautifully structured, Chicago drummer and composer Charles Rumback's 7th album as a leader assembles a large group of luminaries including Jim Baker, Ron Miles, Jason Stein, and Greg Ward for a set of instrumentals and songs that are effusive but never sentimental, a beautiful balance.

A fully acoustic set of creative free improvisation from the Survival Unit III trio of Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, Joe McPhee on tenor saxophone & pocket trumpet and Michael Zerang on percussion, performing at the 2018 The Instigation Festival in New Orleans in a set of concerts that also was drummer Alvin Fielder's last concert, to whom this album is dedicated.

The first studio recording for the performing quartet of New York improvisers, Cecilia Lopez (synthesizer), Michael Foster (tenor & soprano saxophones), Sean Ali (double bass) and Eli Wallace (upright piano), taking listeners on an inflating journey from "Stratosphere" to "Exosphere" through unorthodox approaches, from sparse intensity to dense textural interaction.

A short book of fiction depicting dark scenes from the ambience of extraordinary normalcy, descriptive texts insinuating horror from everyday occurrence, written by double bassist Nat Baldwin and published by Calamari Press in 2017, here in an audio version of excerpts narrated by Baldwin himself, performing on double bass through two panned tracks of unusual improvisations.

Multi-instrumentalist & experimental composer Weston Olencki in three historically-driven sound works, recording with saxophonist Anna Webber as they explore the tenor sax in jazz and recording studio technology; the banjo with bluegrass and the mechanized modernism of the Carolinas; and a pump organ with Sacred Harp hymnody and the aging marble industries of Vermont.

The 4th installment in percussionist & composer Matt Weston's serialized opera for percussion ensemble + electronics, a set of narratives and counter-narratives that explore mental health struggles as they develop over time in varying circumstances, realized through a combination of site-specific graphic, multidimensional and instantaneous scores.

Four configurations of far-reaching free improv at Notice Recordings's 2021 event in Accord, NY: a solo performance by Charmain Lee on voice & electronics; a duo between Lee and Weston Olnecki on synths & trombone; a trio from Gabby Fluke-Mogul on violin, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and Joanna Mattrey on viola; a duo between Lonberg-Holm and Olencki.

Unusual interactions between electronically manipulated violin and an AMPIRI--an electronically enhanced Korean double reed instrument--from the Brooklyn duo of Leo Chang and Adrianne Munden Dixon, seven improvisations numbered "Sixteen" to "Twenty-Two", each a uniquely idiosyncratic exchange from quick slippery dialog to raspy dissonance of unexpected directions.

The second album on Notice Recordings for West Coast free improvising saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi is a duo with San Diego-based double bassist Kyle Motl, in an exceptionally well-balanced example of powerful expression from both players, free blowing and turbulent exchanges offset by experimental introspective passages in four extended and excellent improvisations.

Atlanta, GA sound artist Craig Lee Dempsey (US Prisms, Ben Trickey Full Band, The Weight, Thoroughbred) issues his first fully solo album of ambient drones developed from guitar and synthesizer sources, with rich implied rhythmic pulses that slowly evolve through the six pieces on this cassette & download release, all six pieces adding up to 22 minutes of sound.

The ever-prolific Dutch sound artist Michel Banabila collects 11 singles, working solo and in collaborations featuring Alex Haas, Bill Laswell, Cengiz Arslanpay, Jeff Greinke, Ümlaut, Salar Asid, Robert jarvis, Maarten Vos, and Gareth Davis, demonstrating Banabila's diverse and sophisticated approaches to sound work, and his versatility in a variety of settings.

A followup to The Latest Research From The Department Of Electrical Engineering, Dutch experimental sound artist Michel Banabila shows his most explorative side through eleven compositions using electronics, found sounds, field recordings, synthetics and acousmatic sources, a wonderfully inspired set of contructions that float like machines in a dream.

Beautifully flowing acoustic avant folk under a diverse set of influences from the Dublin five-piece band led by acoustic and electric guitarist Aonghus McEvoy, with George Brennan on electronics, David Lacey on drums, Sean Maynard Smith on upright bass and Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh on viola, evolving their tracks from pastoral to edgy agitation or ecstatic drone.

Evoking the spirit of a seance experienced by alto saxophonist Devin Brahja Waldman, the duo of Waldman and drummer Hamid Drake are captured live at Elastic Arts, in Chicago, beginning as a mysteriously delicate concert of intricately introspective playing and spiritual reflection, building to a free jazz drum & sax duo of powerful and enthusiastic release.

Four recordings from the collaboration of Italian sound artists Giovanni Di Domenico and Giovanni Lami, two prolific experimenters using real time manipulation of sounds that include piano, electronics and subliminal pulses, creating haunting cycles of muted progressions enveloped in harmonic environments, both tranquil and energetically compelling.

Using sources from the world about him--field recordings, sampled orchestral noises, and voice recorders--New York composer and sound artist Nickolas Mohanna explores the spatial impressions of sound within a delicate acousmatic language, weaving inexplicable sounds into reorganized, recognizable components, creating a solid and compelling structural language.

Recording in Detroit in 2021 the ruggedly extreme free jazz quartet New Monuments of Don Dietrich (Borbetomagus) on saxophone, Ben Hall on percussion, Camille Dietrich on cello and Tony Gordon on electric bass guitar shred through six collective improvisations, taking time for burning solo moments and electrically-fueled exchanges; scorching!

Recorded in two studios — Saint-Petersburg, Russia and Zurich, Switzerland — capturing 5 encounters between experimental improvisers Ilia Belorukov performing on modular synthesizer, and Jason Kahn, who steps away from his electronics and drums in favor of stark vocalizing, each providing perfectly caustic responses to the other's intense and determined tactics.

A live recording from zentri-fuge in Berlin, led by trombonist Jeb Bishop, with Milan bassist Antonio Borghini (Mike Patton's Mondo Cane) and German drummer Michael Griener (Carl-Ludwig Hübsch' Primordial Soup), in a collective set of free and energetic improvisations, five pieces that "Jounce", "Jitter", "Plumb" and "Dither" through an exciting and expressive concert.

An improvisational investigation into two bass drums over two extended recordings from West Coast experimental improvisers Kevin Corcoran and Jacob Felix Heule, as they apply an arsenal of unusual techniques and engage every inch of the drums with a diverse set of objects, evoking strange sounds, pattering rhythmic echoes, metallic cries and deep rumbling effects.

Chicago tenor saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher, known for his duos with Anton Hatwich and with Julian Kirshner, the improvising trio Devouring the Guilt with Eli Namay & Bill Harris and a trio with Mars Williams & Lia Kohl, is heard here in three extended solo improvisations, with strong tone riffing on grooves, exuding warm melodies, and running demanding technical passages on his horn.

Two side-long compositions from audio explorer Jeph Jerman, assembled using recordings of objects including "mouth, stone, wood, glass, metal, paper, plastic, radio" plus field recordings made through the spring and summer of 2020 in and around Cottonwood, AZ, joined with audio contributions from Doug Theriault, Chris Reider, Julie Schubert, &c.

During the lockdown of 2020 clarinetist and composer Aaron Novik recorded the sounds of clarinet, bass clarinet and contrabass clarinet, using those samples to create this 10-part composition, a work of active counterpoint and minimalist structures with a playful sense of humor, the character of the samples bringing forth both acoustic and electronic evocations.

The of trio of Lisa Cameron on percussion, Damon Smith on double bass and Alex Cunningham on violin, continue their work after 2020's Dawn Throws Its First Knife with this cassette and download releases of five collective improvisations, using extended techniques amidst cogent conversation, from assertively exciting to darkly moody atmospheric interplay.

A mysterious set of four works using magnetic pickups to create a diverse set of soundscapes, from ringing tones to cantankerous scratchy earthquake zones, with radio captures alone or on top of those environments adding a sense of mystery to each piece, sometimes providing enigmatic voices, sometimes static, sometimes strange signal and carrier waves; fascinating.

The 5th installment in percussionist & composer Matt Weston's serialized opera for percussion ensemble + electronics, a set of narratives and counter-narratives that explore mental health struggles as they develop over time in varying circumstances, realized through a combination of site-specific graphic, multidimensional and instantaneous scores.

Sound artist and electroacoustic improviser Dave Knott (aka Vague Johnson) presenting compositions created from the sounds of frogs, toads, insects, periodic sounds of fire and snapping branches; "a microphone attached to a reed brings the listener to the water's edge of these swampy sounds"; an album to transform your dull room into a swampy wonderland.

Chilean double bassist, vocalist, improviser & composer Amanda Irarrázabal and Brooklyn double bassist Nat Baldwin in a live performance first-time meeting at the IRL concert space during Irarrázabal's week-long tour through NYC, this concert a profound meeting of deep strings, bowed, plucked and mutated through unique technical approaches to their instruments.

An apt title for this collection of improvised works for double bass and feedback mixer between long-time collaborators Kyle Motl and Carlos Domínguez Reinhardt, both members of the band Not the Circus and having previously released the duo album Artabotrys Hexapetalus, this album recorded in 2020 at Rat's Mouth in Florida for five diverse and often abrasive interactions.

Amongst the most unique of early electronic music instruments, the Ondes Martenot is heard in six duo recordings performed at the Barcelona studio of Spanish Ondiste, Tomomi Kubo, in conversation with tenor saxophonist Camila Nebbia, both using loop pedals and Nebbia adding her voice at times, creating otherworldly and unconventional interactions of free improv.

Unusually orchestrated, spacious and exotic free improvisation from New York-based musicians Lucie Vítková, originally from Czech Republic and performing on accordion, hichiriki (a Japanese double reed flute), synth & harmonica, and Korean-born improviser Leo Chang performing on VOCALNORI (Amplified Gongs via Voice) and Piri (a Korean double reed instrument).

A mesmerizing album of rich percussion and synthetic sound floors from Odd Person, aka August Treager (Bicephalic, Somnaphon), in seven trance-like compositions based around grooves that slowly evolve in character while accompanied by haunting asides of ghostly melodic figures, casting a decidedly world music flavor to original music that transcends location.

The long collaboration between saxophonist Mike Pride and drummer/percussionist Jonathan Moritz is concentrated in these superb studio recording, bring great clarity to the far-ranging and detailed interactions both bring to their improvisations through unusual technique, an expansive arsenal of percussive devices, and wonderfully inventive attitudes.

The 6th and final installment in percussionist & composer Matt Weston's serialized opera for percussion ensemble + electronics, a set of narratives and counter-narratives that explore mental health struggles as they develop over time in varying circumstances, realized through a combination of site-specific graphic, multidimensional and instantaneous scores.

After the collaboration of Illusion of Safety and Z'EV which culminated in a performance at Enemy in Chicago in 2007, Z'EV approached IOS member Daniel Burke to collaborate on an album, providing Burke with a number of short acoustic recordings which Burke developed into these compositions merging his own field recordings, sampling, electro-acoustics, and Eurorack modular synth.

The seventh album from the exceptional free improvising jazz trio Thumbscrew of Michael Formanek on double bass & electronics, Tomas Fujiwara on drums & vibraphone and Mary Halvorson on guitar, with compositions from all members as they refine and expand on their communal interplay fueled by the great chemistry forged over their near decade of recording and performing.

Starting each day in the Australian studio with a 20-minute improvisation, The Necks trio of Chris Abrahams on piano & keyboards, Tony Buck on drums and Lloyd Swanton on bass developed this, their 21st album, as a collection of "shorter" and varied improvisations, released with minimal overdubs to present their music closer to their exceptional live performances.

Bringing to ears a 2003 encounter in Chicago, IL between legendary violin improviser, conceptualist and writer Malcolm Goldstein and exploratory cello improviser Fred Lonberg-Holm, through two extended dialogs weaving their strings around each other and finding unusual intersections and unions, from rapid action to introspective beauty; unsettling and inspired.

A dark album of sound art from the quintet of mostly St. Louis improvisers--Damon Smith, Louis Wall, NNN Cook, Michael Williams and noted flutist Fred Tompkins on two tracks--starting through shrouded percussion and unidentifiable sources, the group's sessions are edited into a cohesive album that takes its listeners on a unique journey of electronic and acoustic interaction.

Named after one of the eight core revolutionary operas produced during the Cultural Revolution in Korea, composer & performer Sunik Kim constructed this fascinatingly dense and constantly surprising set of compositions using Max MSP and SuperCollider, including a live version constructed from phone and Zoom recordings of performances at Cafe OTO and at Counterflows, in Glasgow, Scotland.

NY Tuba-driven trio The Gate led by Dan Peck on tuba & effects, with Tom Blancarte on upright electric bass and Brian Osborne on percussion, in a studio album of shorter pieces exploring the dark side of the huge brass instrument and the band's dark, enormous sound, with tongue-in-cheek titles like "Black Bird of Death Spewing Death Puke"; ominously impressive.

Sound artist Charles Lareau, a member of Naturaliste with Bryan Day, Chris Fischer & Lonnie Methe, in six solo compositions of assertive electronics and noise, using recordings, found sounds and various electronics while often incorporating his environment to add aural excitement and unexpected moments between sections of slowly shifting, static textures.

Washington DC-area sound artist and Zeromoon label-leader Jeff Surak, creating audio environments since the 80's home taping days, in a set of sound recordings of electro-acoustic drones, tape generated musique concrete, "plus a heavy dose of weirdness"; five tracks of diverse approaches to sonic experimentation, particularly the epic "Parasite Lost".

A mix of chaos, awe and humorously inspired improvisation from the quartet of Don Malfon on alto saxophone, Fernando Barrios on drums & objects, Marco Albert on voice and Misha Marks on latarra (a form of home-built guitar), recording in Colonia Buenavista de San Pedro Ixtlahuaca, Oaxaca, Mexico for 7 peculisar and absorbing improvisations.

Kingston, NY sound artist and media artist Evan Lindorff-Ellery recorded these two experimental improvisations in the summer of 2021 in a small cabin in West Saugerties, NY using electric guitar, contact mic, amp, recordings and various objects, while also repurposing recordings made while in Maine by running them through his electric guitar.

Extremely active in the Downtown NY scene as a versatile double bassist in a wide variety of settings, Brandon Lopez presents a tour de force album of solo improvisations, developed to illuminate his abilities as a powerful string player but also as a mischief-maker on the strings through unexpected technique and the application of "RealBadVibes".

The second chapter in the duo of West Coast improvisers Chris Williams on trumpet, cornet, objects & mutes and Patrick Shiroishi on alto, soprano and tenor saxophones plus snare drum, essentially a free jazz outing of six fascinating dialogs, from call and response to pointillistic interaction, a masterful display of assertive playing through intensive listening.

Recording to 4 track cassette, this unusual and experimental Boston-area trio of active sound artists--Stella Silbert, Arkm Foam and Neil 'Cloaca' Young--improvise over abstract territory using turntables, a no-input mixer, objects, an open reel tape machine, contact mics, and cassette players, emerging with equally tongue-in-cheek and serious aural interactions.

Powerfully rich sounds from two NY-based instrumentalists — John McCowen on contrabass clarinet & Carlo Costa on bass drum & percussion — in a three-part work of acoustic improvisations, McCowen sounding deceptively electronic through overtones and masterful harmonic technique, while Costa's bass drum provides deep foundations as he mysteriously layers percussive distractions; phenomenal!

On the last day of the 2021 Spontaneous Music Festival at the Dragon Club in Poznań, Poland, the trio of Berlin trombonist Matthias Muller was joined by younger generation Polish guitarist Pawel Doskocz on prepared electric guitar and fellow Berlin drummer and electroacoustic improviser Emilio Gordoa for these two extended sonic adventures recorded in near-darkness.

Two basses and a lower-end saxophone from the trio of Damon Smith on double bass, Andrew Durham on electric bass, and Danny Kamins on baritone sax, Durham also adding effects and "Radio Manipulation" to their deep sound, Durham & Kamins the core of CARL with Damon Smith adding extra underpinnings to their slowly developing, sometimes pensive, sometimes cantankerous, profound improvisation.

Toronto-area saxophonist Colin Fisher, best known for his group I Have Eaten The City, with his collective quartet of NY players Daniel Carter on tenor, alto & soprano saxophones + clarinet & flute, Brandon Lopez on upright bass, and Marc Edwards on drums & percussion, for three extended and exploratory improvisations of exemplary creative insight.

Quietly lurking as it prepares to attack, this Kobra is the free improvising quaret of Aurora Nealand on accordion, alto saxophone, voice & objects, Steve Marquette on acoustic & electric guitars, Anton Hatwich on bass, and Paul Thibodeaux on drums, captured live at Chicago's Hungry Brain during the Instigation Festival for a mysterious 2-part "New Omens" and some "Telly Attire".

Percussionist and electronic artist Matt Weston describes these four tracks as "songs", each demonstrating aspects of his compositional methods — multidimensional graphic scores, implied and aural notation, site-specific structures and frameworks, physical and otherwise — creating immersive and dramatic sonic environments revealing his increasing sophistication as a composer.

Two western-US, like-minded sound artists and improviser who started their musical lives as drummer/percussionists, Jeph Jerman and Ted Byrnes present nine relatively succinct tracks of unusual and unidentifiable sources, typically formed around a rhythmic center and always actively engaging, finding logic in curious or even chaotic interaction.

Recording in the studio in Barcelona, the duo of two drummer/percussionists, New York-born Ra Kalam Bob Moses and Spain's Vasco Trilla, present a stunning collection of diverse and inspired improvisations using a vast collection of instruments including native flute, congas, dumbek, melodica, metallic instruments, timpani, flat bells, clock chimes, vibrators and magnetic tape.

A subset of the Andreas Røysum Ensemble, the trio of Norwegian clarinetist Andreas Roysum on Bb& Bass clarinets, Nakama Label leader Christian Meaas Svendsen on double bass and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood recorded these collective free improvisations on the title's date in an unnamed location, for four assertive dialogs of impressive expression.

A previously unreleased archival recording of drummer Drew Gardner's 1995 Bay Area quintet with a stellar set of free jazz collaborators--John Tchicai on tenor & soprano saxophones, Marco Eneidi on alto saxophone, Roberto De Haven on alto saxophone and Vytas Nagisetty on bass, beautifully recorded in the studio in Oakland, CA by Myles Boisen; exceptional!

A delicate work of experimental chamber music from UK composer Jack Oliver Cooper (Modern Nature) performed by pianist Alexander Hawkins, cellist Anton Lukoszevieze and clarinetist Heather Roche, Arrival is delineated into twelve dovetailed parts that explore minimalism, patience and restraint; thoughtful music that rewards in close contemplation.

A New York trio of musical friends from Chris Pitsiokos on alto saxophone, Luke Stewart on electric & acoustic basses and Jason Nazary on drums, an elegantly impactful album of organic free jazz expanded through electronic textures from all three members as they enthusiastically explore new approaches to energetic, creative, contemporary improvisation; extraordinary!

A ritualistic narrative work from multidisciplinary artist Dorian Wood and percussionist Thor Harris (Swans), with Carla Bozulich and Jarboe contributing their voices in an ensemble of contemporary and experimental arrangement, alongside guests David Coulter, Heather Trost, Jeremy Barnes, Michael Corwin, Ignacio Carvajal, Andrea Calderon, Elizabeth Warren and Patrick Shiroishi.

Two sound works from multimedia artist John Collins McCormick (Sky Thing) recorded using a multi-channel, portable sound system that employs up to 8 subwoofers in drum stands, amplifying low frequencies and rattling odds and ends he collected over the years, creating a rolling and controlled cacophony of quick rhythms and unusual asides from objects placed on the subwoofers.

Recording at the Chamber of Commerce in Brooklyn in 2021, the duo of Sandy Ewen on prepared guitar and Jason Nazary on drums & percussion take a nearly pugilistic approach to their improvisations, building aggressive sections of intense pummeling, then slipping back to catch their breath before the next round, each filled with curious elements and energetic determination.

Taking the title from Brandon Sanderson's book series The Stormlight Archive, where a soulcaster is an instrument that transforms one object or life form into another; Joanna Mattrey transforms her viola and a tromba marina, aka a nuns' fiddle, with preparations, objects and unusual approaches through technique, creating a remarkable set of 11 unique and inventive improvisations.

Releasing their first studio work in 2020, this album presents the first two live concerts in Brooklyn and Saugerties for the ea-improv trio MAW of Frank Meadows on upright bass, Jessica Ackerley on electric guitar and Eli Wallace on prepared piano & synth, in two 2-part improvisations: the darkly heavy "Mise-en-Place" and the brighter experiments of "Opus 40".

A collage of styles and experimentation developed over several years by bassist and multi-instrumentalist Evan Strauss, using long-form graphically notated conceptual compositions based on bird calls along with thematic material from Ursula K. Le Guin, expanded with narration and poetry from Daniel Carter and titled from an excerpt by Virginia Woolf.

Composer and tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis' exceptional Red Lily Quintet quintet (Kirk Knuffke on cornet; William Parker on bass; Chad Taylor on drums; Christopher Hoffman on cello) pays homage to gospel and jazz singer Mahalia Jackson through a suite of original Lewis compositions, reimagining some of Jackson's best known works; CD & LP issues include a bonus download track.

Composer and tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis' exceptional Red Lily Quintet quintet (Kirk Knuffke on cornet; William Parker on bass; Chad Taylor on drums; Christopher Hoffman on cello) pays homage to gospel and jazz singer Mahalia Jackson through a suite of original Lewis compositions, reimagining some of Jackson's best known works; CD & LP issues include a bonus download track.

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.