Merging gritty and angular guitar work with versatile and creative drumming, the duo of Finish guitarist Heikki Ruokangas and North Carolina multi-instrumentalist Landon George show their diverse interests in both technically assertive playing and beautifully misty environments, through eleven concise works including two parts of "Chaos", a "Rainy Day" and a "Rainy Eve".

A series of real-time improvised performances from Athens, Georgia guitarist Killick Hinds, made with strings and occasional computer augmentation, an album he describes as to date his fullest expression of the Appalachian Trance Metal/Piedmont Shaman Rock concept that he has been developing for years, these works inspired by Zaila Avant-garde, Paolo Angeli and Bali.

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.

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.

Given the chance to perform in the dark fresco-covered room of the Emmanuel Vigeland Mausoleum and museum in Oslo, Norway, guitarist Ed Petterson brought his 8-string Weissenborn guitar, various keyboards and a modular synth, using the pensive atmosphere of the location to trace spacious and exploratory works through 15 varied and succinct improvisations.

The second collaboration between pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and guitarist Mary Halvorson, six years after Crop Circles and a product of their tours together and the result of their both writing compositions specifically for their duo project, showing a level of communication that allows incredible inventiveness and moments of poignant exchange; exceptional.

The first collaboration between Brooklyn-based experimental improvising drummer Hampus Ohman-Frolund (Apuh!) and guitarist John Lindaman (True Love Always), blurring rock forms and experimental electronics into a hybrid space rock that takes unexpected twists and turns, with the goal to produce compelling psychedelic inspired sound; headphones recommended!

An intensely experimental journey in sound through guitars, electronics and percussion from the Brooklyn-based duo of John Lindaman and Hampus Ohman, a diverse set of pieces improvised using sound sculpting, noise and melodic elements, creating a great balance between darkness and light amidst solid conceptual and technical approaches to their instruments.

In a study of memory and the way we alter or prioritize what we remember, NY guitarist Wendy Eisenberg composed this intimately personal long form text score in four movements to be memorized and then performed using the nonlinear randomness of recollection, recorded in two performances at Firehouse 12 in 2019, once on acoustic guitar and once on banjo.

Originally released in 1977 during an extremely creative period for both UK free improvising guitarist Derek Bailey and Italian percussionist Andrea Centazzo, this 3rd album on the Ictus label finds both players defining each of these extraordinary improvisations through instrumental timbres, dynamics and metronome speeds chosen to suit each piece.

A split 10" vinyl album of two very different works: first French sound artist Jean-Philippe Gross in a sonic assault of garish rhythmic electronic persistence and noise; then the Golden Oriole instrumental rock duo of Kristoffer Riis on guitar and Thore Warland on drums in a compelling work of grooving structure with diverse percussive interaction.

Three chamber works by Calgary, Canadian composer Mark Ellestad composed between 1988 and 1994 and recently retrieved by the composer, including the title track, a graceful solo guitar work performed by Christián Alvear; a meditative piece for pump organ & Hardanger fiddle performed by the composer; and a large work for violin and cello performed by Apartment House.

Succinct interpretations of compositions by New York saxophonist and composer Tim Berne, performed by Berne himself in a duo with guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi, whose collaborations with Berne and his recent album Koi: Performing the Music of Tim Berne show Belisle-Chi to be the most capably informed player to accompany Berne in these thoughtful renderings.

Formed by double bassist Patrice Grente and drummer Etienne Ziemniak in 2010, the French band Carnalisme, meaning "This fuzzy, troubled and slippery place, which everyone owns and no one can spot", produce a raucous blend of hard rock and free improvisation, here in their 4th release and joined by guitarist Guillaume Gargaud for a profoundly blistering album.

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.

Putting less focus on the strings and more into sonic environments, French guitarist Pierre Gerard releases a set of eight abstract compositions for voice, guitar, cello, piano, violin, bass clarinet, electronics & field recordings, intended for random playing, employing silence and active sections to catch the passive or background listener off guard.

Barcelona pianist Agustí Fernández and Polish bass guitarist Rafał Mazur correspond through solo tracks recorded in their respective studios, each missive an unusual and impressive free improvisation using extended techniques, inside playing and inexplicable exclamation, in a five-part exchange where each message is alternately addressed "Dear Agusti" and "Dear Rafał".

The third release from the Barcelona-based experimental improvising duo L'Ocell of Chilean acoustic guitarist Fernando Carraso and Spanish double bassist Àlex Reviriego-double bass, here joined by guitarist Ferran Fages (a member of Phicus and Radium with Reviriego), for a set of mysteriously dark improvisations recorded live at Sant Roma de Mianigues church.

Recorded live at Victoriaville in 2007, banjo maverick Eugene Chadbourne teams with Kevin Blechdom for a wild set that blends roots riffs, fractured songs, satire and playful chaos, their banjos, piano and vocals colliding in irreverent, high-energy improvisation that is as sharp as it is unpredictable.

"Amazingly, it was only the second time the two guitarists had ever played together, and the first time in North America. Both are strongly influenced by the country and folk traditions, and it was a real twisted hoedown that took place...

Recorded live at Victoriaville in 2006, Italian duo My Cat Is An Alien shape a stripped-down yet cosmic sound world, using droning guitars, fragile percussion, toys and voice to craft spacious, dreamlike improvisations that drift toward the outer edges of space without the cliches of space music.

"This weird little album was made by a quartet of improvisers from all ends of the improvisational planet, who came together in 1993 for a recording date. Edited by Oswald in Toronto, the result can be found here. With two guitarists (K...

Experimental electronic studio recording from the duo of Rene Lussier on acoustic and electric guitar and Martin Tetreault on turntables that sits outside all norms.

Four compositions written between 2000-2019 from Joane Hétu: a duo between bassist Nicolas Caloia & bass clarinetist/vocalist Lori Freedman; a work with Hétu & Jean Derome plus the Quaturo Bozzini string and Quasar saxophone quartets; a composition for 20 electric guitars; and one movement from "Préoccupant, c'est Préoccupant performed by Ensemble Supermusique.

Quebecois guitarist Bernard Falaise of Miriodor, Klaxon Gueule, Papa Boa and Les Projectionnistes fame, continues his solo series with the fifth note of the scale, "Sol (G)", reflected in a series of eight inventive guitar improvisations using timbral effects and looping structures to expand his virtual ensemble as does in his live performances.

Two guitarists with unique approaches to their instruments -- Paris-based Julen Depsrez and Lisbon-based Luis Lopes -- in an experimental album of evolving sound through extreme modification of guitar sound and sustain, mysteriously building their interactions from whispering sonics to growling harmonics, tightly controlled but bristling with complex energy.

The 2nd release from Jason Kahn, here on voice and resonator guitar, with Christian Wolfarth on Chinese Cymbal, an antique marching snare and objects, recorded after a series of concerts across Europe in the fall of 2019, Kahn applying a percussionist's perspective to his guitar by playing it as a lap slide, as the two invoke an unusual incantatory spirit from their improvisations.

Swedish bass player Egil Kalman, here on modular syntheizer, joins Norwegian guitarist Fredrik Rasten, for a lovely album of drifting electronics and beautifully entwining acoustic guitar, unhurriedly developing environments of warm, slowly evolving chord structures that show influences from players like Catherine Lamb or the Wandelweiser collective.

Solo work from Portuguese guitarist Luis Lopes, showing a different side to his work with Humanization 4tet or his Noise Solo project, instead presenting a gentler and more romantic music marked by seductive playing with an unexpectedly tender appeal.

A live recording of free improvisation recorded at Theater im Viertel, in Saarbrucken, Germany in 2021 from the SteDaJoDa quartet of Daniel Studer on double bass, Stefan Scheib on double bass, Daniel Weber on drums and Johannes Schmitz on guitar, the dark double bass foundation and floating ("Schwebend") percussion work balanced by Schmitz' blues oriented electric.

The soundtrack to the documentary Loving Highsmith about thriller novelist Patricia Highsmith, with music composed by Belgium guitarist Noël Akchoté along with pieces by Cole Porter, Mancini, Johnny Mercer, Frank Sinatra, Hildegard von Bingen, Carl Fischer, &c, presented in two CDs, one each of duets between Akchoté and New York guitarists Mary Halvorson and Bill Frisell.

Destroy All Monsters and Sensorium Saxophone Orchestra guitarist Ben Miller in an album of experimental solo guitar works, augmenting his guitar with effects, synthesizer, bass, tapes and radio to create seven fascinating works that reflect on his rock background through solid rhythmic and melodic hooks, but also captivates through unusual and surprising sonic elements.

Dedicated to Cor Fuhler, Tasmanian guitarist Nick Ashwood's extended composition is a thoughtfully introspective work of rich sonority, shifting harmonics and abstract tones generated through guitar bowing, recorded live to tape in two continuous recordings, the second overlaying the first as the work unfolds in a meditative and beautifully pensive manner.

Soundscapes, drones, disruptive aberrations, textures and perplexingly absorbing interactions btween French guitarist and sound artist Xavier Mussat and saxophonist Quentin Rollett (Red Krayloa, Nurse with Wound), performing live at Instants Chavires, in Montreuil, France in 2020 for eight diverse and unusual improvisations.

Sometimes frenetic, always exhilarating duo work between Portugese electric guitarist Antonio Chapparreiro and drummer/percussionist Pedro Alcada, succinct tracks, some as short as 36 seconds, where the two spar and unite over angular rhythms and abrupt changes, with a twisted sense of humor and a wealth of adventurous spirit.

Chicago-based guitarist Christopher Rigg, founder of the Holy Cheever Church Records, developed this set of pieces called "extinction bursts", performed with Emily David on drums and George Romaine on piano, a work he refers to as "maximalist harsh free jazz wall", using a lurching and squealing guitar figure over which David and Romaine overlay slow progressions.

Raymond Boni performs on guitar and harmonica, using a fascinating set of approaches, for poems from Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, chosen from Lorca's "Romancero Gitano" (Gypsy Ballads), and read with substantial depth by actress Violeta Ferrer.

An unusual and gripping album of electronic improvisation on guitar and synthesizer between keyboardist Jean-Marc Foussat and guitarist Simon Henocq, taking alien and abstract landscapes into intense territory over two monumental tracks.

Fraqx, the Netherlands duo of guitarists Jacq Palinckx and Frank Crijns, both on electric guitar and "devices", debut their collaboration with this 7-part journey of rich deformations, from raw visceral energy to subdued experimentation, a diverse set of textures and powerful playing from two players with a long history of unusual improvisation.

Nine improvisations between Italian trombonist and tubes player Carlo Mascolo (Kerlox Dynamic Band) and guitarist Andreas Fulgosi (By-Spiel Project) on baritone guitar, recording in Lisbon in 2017 for calmly developing dialog using unusual techniques and approaches to both instruments.

A lovely album of friendly improvisation in the 1st meeting of French guitarist Guillaume Gargaud, who works in improvised music and composition for contemporary dance and film, and Finnish trumpeter Eero Savela, whose work is in dance, theater, circus and media art, this concert at the former mental hospital Lapinlahti finding the two exploring with lyrical insightfulness.

After a year of collaboration where Gibbs and Baldwin developed a common language and shared aesthetic to explore time, space, texture, frenetic energy, and the limits of their instruments and technique, double basssist Nat Baldwin and guitarist E. Jason Gibbs recorded this fascinating set of free improvisations at Apohadion Theatre, in Portland, Maine.

Solo improvisations from guitarist Kurt Gottschalk, recorded at the juncture of the Connecticut and West Rivers in Windham County, Vermont on the afternoon of April 29, 2009.

With references to "Robinson Crusoe" and titles referencing islands, the sea and shipwrecks, Argentinian guitarist living in Brooklyn, NY, Luis Ianes (Parias Ensemble) records his album that roughly translates to "Useful Ancient Constructions", using effects to create percussive, accompanying, and aquatic sounds, sometimes idiosyncratic, always interesting.

Goh Lee Kwang recorded these tracks from 2012-2015, a diverse set of pieces using sound, noise, field recordings, even guitar and rhythm to create unique audio environments, a succint and interesting reflection on the inquisitive nature of this audio explorers work.

Three "nonsensical" musical conversations between Malaysian experimental musician and Herbal International label founder Goh Lee Kwang, and Norwegian bass player and Nakama label leader Christian Meeas Svendsen; a first encounter between two different mindsets, nationalities and generations, packaged with a pencil to let you draw your own cover.

A half composed, half improvised album for solo electric guitar from composer and improviser Justin Lepany, known for his work with musicians like Sven-Ake Johansson and his composition "Ringing Peace" premiered during the 2014 Peace Nobel Prize ceremony: three diverse pieces using effects to create both density and spacious sonic fields.

Isotropy - having a physical property which has the same value when measured in different directions - is the collaboration between the Lisbon String Trio of Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Miguel Mira (cello) and Alvaro Rosso (double bass) with Luis Lopes, here on acoustic guitar, in a 2 part extended improvisation recorded live at the 2020 Small Format Materials Festiva.

Lyrical and sophisticated improvisations performed on just a ukulele and a suitcase from these Toronto musicians playing the compositions of lap steel player Myk Freedman

An excellent first meeting of two guitarists recording on a February afternoon and released in the sequence recorded with no edits or changes, from Jim McAuley on guitar and Scot Ray on lap steel slide guitar with effects, an innately lyrical blending of styles masking the strong technical skills and long histories of these two superlative players.

Guitarist Andy Moor of The Ex plays his guitar while electronic artist Kaffe Matthews reprocesses the sounds live into loops, drones, and static buzz, allowing Moor to respond to the manipulated sounds.

A split cassette between Wilmington sound artists Joshua Marquez, a Filipino-American composer, guitarist, and activist who explores the liminal space between tone and noise; and Mr. Stonecipher, aka Ryan L Lewis IV, a sound artist and filmmaker who works with dramatic sound and feedback of a cinematic quality, often employing unusual objects as source.

Ever-active Calgary guitarist Scott Munro (Bent Spoon Duo) in his debut solo album of freely improvised guitar performed on a baritone guitar, treated and untreated, captured live at Weeds Cafe in 2010 & 2011.

An unusual sound work, the 3rd in a series made up of tracks of equal length with a different track length for each project, with sonic material made from home-built guitars & a quadrophonic amp setup.

Portuguese guitarist Manolo Rodriguez chose these 9 pieces from about 8 hours of improvised music, recorded on a Gibson acoustic guitar with piezo microphones on various parts of the guitar, passed through effects and finally controlled by a mixer, intended as a tribute to "the sense of sight as an intermediary of thought, and to artists who, with their eyes, have changed the world."

The 3rd volume in NY guitarist Elliott Sharp's "Octal" project, using a Koll 8-string guitar/bass, an electroacoustic hollow-bodied guitar with 2 extra bass strings, presenting unedited improvisations of technical and sonic power.

Jeremy Young, aka Szilard, in his debut full-length release as a solo performer on guitar and sine waves, with texts from Charles Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs Du Mal" (1857) read by Aki Onda, Ella Joyce Buckley, Liam Singer and Catherine Metayer.

Amsterdam guitarist Raphael Vanoli in a solo record of discovery, hiper-amplifying his guitar so that slight motions create forceful statements, where gently blowing on the strings creates dynamics and harmonics rarely explored, effected to create complex sonic compositions with unique, unusual and fascinating properties.

The fourth in the Elliot Sharp curated "Meta Guitar" series brings a wealth of diverse styles and approaches to the guitar, from Knox Chandler, Tashi Dorji, Monika Roscher, Rhys Chatham, Kalle Kalima, Ryan Choi, Marco Oppedisano, Bern Nix, Markus Reuter, Hahn Rowe, Pete Matthiessen, Robert Poss, Ron Anderson, Morgan Craft, Roberto Zorzi, and Erdem Helvacioglu.

The second of a five-volume compilation series curated by Nick Vander, a testament to the incredible musical range of the guitar and the imaginative possibility of guitarists around the world, with tracks from David Stackenas, Jessica Ackerley, Jorge Espinal, Usui Yasuhiro, Scott Fields, Sebastian Sequoiah.Grayson, Sam Shalabi, Shinobu Nemoto and Nyctalllz.

The final of five volumes from this series curated by Nick Vander, a testament to the incredible musical range of the guitar and the imaginative possibility of guitarists around the world, with tracks from Harvey Valdes, Antonio Guillen, Boris Belica, Sandy Ewen, Denis Sorokin, Arvind Ganga, Pengboon Don, Josue Amador, Todd Clouser, and Mohammed Ashraf.

The fourth of a five volume compilation series curated by Nick Vander, a testament to the incredible musical range of the guitar and the imaginative possibility of guitarists around the world, with tracks from Janet Feder, Martin Vishnick, Ikbal Lubys, Edward J. Gibbs, Joshua Weitzel, Guram Machavari, Eric Wong, Garth Erasmus, and Bill Horist.

The first of a five-volume compilation series curated by Nick Vander, a testament to the incredible musical range of the guitar and the imaginative possibility of guitarists around the world, with tracks from L. Hein, Davaajargal Tsaschikher, Alan Courtis, Marco Cappelli, Elliott Sharp, Hery Ujjaya, Killick Hinds, Gilbert Isbin, and Nick Vander.

The third of a five volume compilation series curated by Nick Vander, a testament to the incredible musical range of the guitar and the imaginative possibility of guitarists around the world, with tracks from Sergio Sorrentino, Christian Vasseur, CharbelHaber, Misha Marks, Henry Kaiser, Nick Ashwood, Emil Palme & Taus Bregnhøj-Olesen, Sharif Sehnaoui, Colin Robinson, Martin Huba

Electronic sound artist Franck Vigroux uses electronics, guitar, percussion, and his voice in this dark release with vocalist Annabelle Playe.

Guitarist and 910 Noise artist Jason Ward in a release that explores concepts in sound and string, music that ranges far and surprises with both lovely playing and distressed processing.

Guitarist Ed Williams, active in the experimental music scene of Marseille, France, is heard here in two concerts presenting a triptych of solo performances on bowed classical and electric guitar, improvised with no effects, with two parts on electric guitar recorded at the concert series "Aux Soirs Du Chercheur De Noises", the 2nd, "Spectrum, NY" on classical guitar.

Vancouver guitarist Tony Wilson in his 1st solo release recorded in an island cabin, showing his influences from Leadbelly, Fahey, Coltrane, and Ribot.

"Minneapolis-born Hong Kong raised and Berlin-based guitar performer Eric Wong is the author of this amazing release on Portuguese label Creative Sources, named after the initial of each of the five pieces he collected here. Since the o...

Croatian guitarist and electroacoustic musician Ame Zek in an album of electroacoustic improvisation using prepared guitars, acoustic percussions, self made objects, contact microphones, analog modular synthesizer, amplified feedback speakers, magnetic field microphones and digital midi machines; an album of raw, raspy, dark and dissonant sound.

Dave Tucker, a one-time member of The Fall and long-time free improviser involved with the Alan Tomlinson Trio and his own School of Velocity quartet with Evan Parker, John Edwards & Steve Noble, in a duo with double bassist Pierpaolo Martino for 11 succinct and assertive dialogs titled "Melophobia" I - XI, diverse works from active Crimson-esque playing to dark & introspective ruminations.

Combining the work of 18 artists chosen to interpret a series of sacred rites that took place deep within the woods by an elite shaman of an Amazon tribe, including Squidco's own Carl Kruger & phil zampino, Cheval Gris (Ryan Lewis) weaves an incredible story in sound, a virtual soundtrack of rich aural environments, concrete elements, and ritualistic sound.

The long-standing duet of guitarist Richard Comte and tenor saxophonist Julen Pontvianne (Onze Hours Onze) is a conversation of introspective and resonant repetition around silence, tonal decay, slow call and response and submerged themes, here symbolically immersed as they explore four sunken islands from around the world: Vordonis; Lohachara; Semionovski and Elugelab.

Translating to "Cross Black", French guitarist Richard Comte provides a set of four diverse soundtracks, from deep turbulent darkness and sonic decay to crisply ringing guitar resonance, over which sound poet Sébastien Lespinasse intones with solemn import his dark words of imagery and observation.

Translating to "Base and vertex drift", French guitarist Richard Comte (Hippie Diktat, Vegan Dallas) present four darkly ominous solo works on electric guitar through slowly shifting chords and deep reverberation, punctuated with ringing tones and light moments that peer through sonic clouds, his ambience a backdrop to alternations of lucidity and submersion.

An immersive drone performed on acoustic guitar, captured and extended through loops and effects and recorded to 4-track cassette, from French improviser Richard Comte (Hippie Diktat, Vegan Dallas), a single extended piece that begins with actively repeating chords that evolve into rich layers of textured, expansive loops, a seemingly infinite work that begs to be looped.

Addressing the perception and representation of physical space through 9 solo guitar works of sonic textures and treatments imbued with rich solo playing, each track named by coordinates of remembered towns and cities, creating a succession of interconnected sonic landscapes of drones, resonance and clear tones as a metaphor for an internal, mental, cartography.

Addressing the perception and representation of physical space through 9 solo guitar works of sonic textures and treatments imbued with rich solo playing, each track named by coordinates of remembered towns and cities, creating a succession of interconnected sonic landscapes of drones, resonance and clear tones as a metaphor for an internal, mental, cartography.

An album of languorous guitar motifs, slowly unfolding in a mesmerizing haze intended to accompany a traveller as landscapes pass, contemplative daydream listening as a mesmeric addition to one's environment in momentum, presented in four "Patterns" that allow the rich tones and harmonics of French electric guitarist Richard Comte to ring out a rich journey.

Trickster, the stellar quartet of New York guitarist Miles Okazaki with Matt Mitchell on piano, Fender Rhodes & synth, Anthony Tidd on electric bass and Sean Rickman on drums, in a sequel to The Sky Below, blending acoustic and electric jazz in four captivating compositions that Okazaki describes as striving towards something like collective dreaming.

The fifth set of compositions from John Zorn for the guitar trio of Bill Frisell, Julian Lage and Gyan Riley, these works inspired by the short stories of Argentine philosopher and writer Jorge Luis Borges, each of the nine pieces drawing on elements of folk, classical, jazz, bluegrass, world music and more, rendered impeccably by the masterful skills of all three guitarists.

Finnish/Norwegian guitarist Juhani Silvola describes the music on this fascinating solo album, performed on acoustic and prepared acoustic guitars (using objects below and above the strings) and augmenting his playing with electronics & amplifiers, as "speculative sonic archaeology" or "ritual music made by a civilisation that could have stepped off the pages of a Jorge Luis Borges story.

Dedicated to Derek Bailey, these long out of print, subtle and delicate duo recordings captured in Chicago between Mats Gustafsson on tenor sax, fluteophone, flute & "junk" and Jim O'Rourke on guitar, accordeon and also on "junk", were originally released in 1999 on the Incus label, here remastered, in some cases remixed, and adding previously unreleased material.

Dedicated to Derek Bailey, these long out of print, subtle and delicate duo recordings captured in Chicago between Mats Gustafsson on tenor sax, fluteophone, flute & "junk" and Jim O'Rourke on guitar, accordeon and also on "junk", were originally released in 1999 on the Incus label, here remastered, in some cases remixed, and adding previously unreleased material.