A site-specific sound installation in the nave and choir of Minoritenkirche in Krems/Stein that engages with the architecture and sound of this church space from composer Michael Moser working with Berndt Thurner, Klaus Lang, Hannah Schwegler and Nik Hummer.

Two large works of complex sound and drone composed by New York avant composer Phill Niblock and performed by the French IRE ensemble of Kasper T. Toeplitz on electric bass, Franck Vigroux on electric guitar & electronics, and Helene Breschand on electric harp, exploring Niblock's work through the innovative merging of electronic instrumentation.

A rich and beautiful drone work from Stephen O'Malley recorded at EMS in Stockholm, the title translating to "East-West Summer", as the piece emulates an accommodating evening, electronic crickets introducing and then settling into a slowly rotating and absorbing combination of tones, the flickering crickets returning to fade out the sense of restful night.

Their first proper vinyl release since forming in 2008, this studio album recorded in Berlin finds Berlin saxophonist and electronic artist Bryan Eubanks, double bassist Andrew Lafkas, and NY drummer & cymbal player Tod Capp in an extended and dark improvisation, with Catherine Lamb's "secondary rainbow synthesizer" interacting and filtering their work as a 4th member.

The expansive mind of composer and experimenter Charlemagne Palestine presents an extended drone work performed on organ, building from a peaceful single note to a harmonically rich combination of tones with a haunting vocal quality, subtly shifting and building in momentum then slowly fading out to the 20 minute mark; an epic journey in polyphonic transition.

A Russian-Swiss collaboration between Boris Shershenkov (St. Petersburg), Kurt Liedwart and Mikhail Myasoedov (Moscow), Thomas Korber (Zurich), Christian Kobi (Berne) and Christian Muller (Biel), recording in the remote Vallée de Joux, on the border between Switzerland & France, leveraging diverse approaches to sound to create these six detailed electroacoustic improvisations.

Naples tenor saxophonist Antonio Raia's album of solo saxophone improvisations employs a mix of traditional and unusual techniques in 12 concise pieces that fragment "scraps" of melody into a diverse ruminating streams, recorded at the city's Filangeri Asylum by sound artist Renato Fiorito, using ten microphones to capture the unique qualities of the space.

A Record Store Day 2020 LP of the collaboration between Acid Mothers Temple guitarist Kawabata Makoto and French/British multi-instrumentalis RG Rough, using guitar drones, electronics, concrete sounds and percussion to create a sonic junble, occasionally soothed by a near-lullaby, only to be subsumed by a cascade of strings or fades into a repetitive minimal piano figure.

A deluxe 2 album release: "Glassware" on CD was composed by Swiss saxophonist Christoph Gallio for a commission by the Art Council Of The Canton Aargau, performed with Raphael Loher (piano), Ernst Thoma (synth), Dominique Girod (bass), and Nicolas Stocker (drums); then reworked into something creatively experimental in the 2 LP "As If You Were Here"; engaging and spellbinding!

Multi-disciplinary artist living in Berlin, Stefan Roigk developed "Suffering For The Promised" over a 14 year period, composing this large work of acousmatic music as an atmospherically intense yet utterly fragile piece, combining concrete sounds, field recordings and devotional vocal fragments in an eclectic and highly intimate composition of great depth and detail.

A Slovokian experimental group with rock roots and a somewhat DaDa approach to unusual song forms using perplexing repetitions and interventions, led by guitarist and vocalist Roman Radkovič with Josef Novák on keyboard, Jiří Šíla on accordion, Zdeněk Řihošek on harmonica & double bass Zdeněk Caha on drums & voice, and Miloš Šandera on percussion.

An historical recording of Hermann Scherchen directing the RTSI Orchestra in a rehearsal of Beethoven's 6th Symphony, 1964, one of the works Scherchen is most associated with.

SNIK IS led by trombonist Kristoffer Kompen and bassist Ole Morten Vagan, who provide the compositions for their quartet with saxophonist Kristoffer Berre Alberts and drummer Erik Nylander, in an album that ranges from meditative free playing to hard swinging bop oriented jazz.

Rapid fire playing and a wicked humor fuels drummer Olie Steidle's album with guitarist Frank Mobus, keyboardists Kit Downes and Dan Nicholls, and bassist Phil Donkin, mashing together electro-jazz, art rock, hardcore and club music into upbeat and twisted music, building up to a narrative "Speed Junky on Funny Human Darts"; insanely embraceable and stunning.

Known more for his double bass work, Christian Meaas Svendsen releases a stunningly beautiful album of unusually orchestrated pop songs with an 8-piece band of Nordic improvisers and performers, a dramatic album of tension and release which, despite lyrics in Norwegian, draws all listeners in through inventive and innovative musical structures.

Recorded at the same time and influenced by the recording of their 2020 album The Anthony Braxton Project, the NY Thumbscrew trio of Tomas Fujiwara on drums, Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Michael Formanek on double bass & electric bass present 9 original compositions, three pieces from each of the musicians, of melodically inclined forward thinking, creative jazz.

Percussionist, Quakebasket label leader, and experimental sound artist Tim Barnes both subverts and respect the forms of electronica by turning it on its side, extracting unusual rhythms and structures from rhythmic elements and samples, at times following conventional direction and then breaking off into Barne's instinctive drive for abstraction and diversion.

Italian sound artist Mauro Diciocia presents the second installment in a trilogy of related recordings, informally named "Le Musiche", using field recordings from a variety of settings mostly around Salento in southern Italy, organizing his recordings to create auditory sketches in sound, telling abstract yet compelling stories that envelop the listener.

The fourth ECM album from NY Saxophonist Tim Berne and drummer Ches Smith, here in a trio with textural guitarist David Torn in three extended compositions merging jazz, rock and ambient forms, the middle track augmented with the Scorchio String Quartet and Craig Taborn, as they ebb and flow intense energy, fascinating compositional turns, and superb playing.

The NY duo of Ben Miller (voice) and Franck Vigroux (electronics) in a studio recording influenced by industrial, punk, and electroacoustic music.

The Norwegian big band Trondheim Jazz Orchestra joins together with the Swedish-origin trio The MaXx (Oscar Gronberg-keyboards, Petter Kraft-guitar & saxophone, Tomas Jarmy-drums) to develop and perform this monumental work of modern electric jazz, an abstract rock opera written specifically to leverage the power of the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra.

The followup to their 2019 Corbett vs. Dempsey album and formalizing their trio name as "The Underflow", is an epic double LP of diverse and inspired free-ea from the trio of Mats Gustafsson on flute, fluteophone, baritone saxophone & live electronics, David Grubbs on electric guiar & voice, and Rob Mazurek on piccolo trumpet, wooden flute, electronics, percussion & voice.

This year's An Ayler Xmas, the 4th in the series from saxophonist Mars Williams, expands to a double CD with recordings from two bands: Josh Berman, Jim Baker, Kent Kessler, Brian Sandstrom & Steve Hunt (Chicago); and Steve Swell, Hilliard Greene, Chris Corsano, Nels Cline & Fred Lonberg-Holm (NYC); in incredible free jazz mashups and bash-ups of Holiday favorites.

Recorded during the 2002 studio sessions that yielded the albums A Short Visit to Nowhere and Broken English, this unreleased recording of a Mars Williams composition is issued as a 1-sided LP with the stellar lineup of Brötzmann with Williams, Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bishop, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Kent Kessler, Michael Zerang, Hamid Drake, Mats Gustafsson and Joe McPhee.

A 12-inch 45rpm EP from Chicago Ken Vandermark's band Marker with guest Joe McPhee on tenor saxophone, performing the Parliament Funkadelic track "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples" and DNA's "Egomaniac's Kiss", with Vandermark on tenor & baritone saxophones plus guitarists Andrew Clinkman & Steve Marquette, keyboardist Macie Stewart and drummer Phil Sudderberg.

An amazing album of vocal interactions from composer Alessandro Bosetti using his archive of samples developed from dozens of recording sessions with vocalists, used in polyphonic constructions of utterances to create textures, counterpoint and juxtapositions offset by spartan use of harpsichord, Ondes Martenot, Cristal Baschet, grand piano, analog synth and Hammond organ.

Reissuing and remastering the two PSF albums from Japanese improvising guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi's New Directions group of bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa, saxophonist Mototeru Takagi and drummer Sabu Toyozumi, plus a previously unreleased side-long "Mass Projection" recording, presented in a deluxe 3 LP box set with images by Yuji Itsumi and liner notes in English and Japanese.

Eclipse has always been the most mysterious of the Takayanagi and New Direction records, originally issued in an edition of 100 copies, this reissue remasters the album from the original tapes to present the unique vision of improvising guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi and his band with Kenji Mori on alto sax, flute & recorder, Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and Hiroshi Yamazaki on drums.

Astroturf Noise is Sam Day Harmet on mandolin, Sana Nagano on violin, Zach Swanson on bass, Billy Martin on percussion, and Sarah Bernstein on violin, living at the intersection of American folk & roots music and free improvisation, using effects and sonic additions in an unusual mix that the quintet makes completely natural and all their own.

Multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter's Telepathic Band with Patrick Holmes (clarinet), Matthew Putman (keyboards), Hilliard Greene (bass) and Federico Ughi (drums) present their first volume of "psych-jazz", in actively mesmerizing music that explores the border between the "default world" and the "dream world", a meditation on electricity through profound playing.

Recorded on the last night of 577's Forward Festival 2017 in Brooklyn, the quintet of Daniel Carter (reeds & trumpet), Patrick Holmes (clarinet), Matthew Putman (piano), Hilliard Greene (bass) and Federico Ughi (drums) take their audience on three remarkable journeys of almost chamber-oriented collective free jazz, adventurous and not-to-be-missed examples of modern jazz.

Debut of this group named by NY multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter, with Stelios Mihas on guitar, Federico Ughi on drums, and (mysterious) Irma Nejando on bass, presenting this studio album of free, well-matched and interactive collective improvisations of acoustic and electric instrumentation, each track dedicated to artists who inspired the members of the quartet.

Taking his cues from the electronic music of his Detroit roots, free jazz drummer Gerald Cleaver presents an album of synthetic rhythms and sonic landscape, each piece composed in detailed arrangements of compelling and adventurous structures, from propulsive grooves to sinuous soundscapes, a surprising and exciting twist showing Cleaver's strong compositional skills.

The first of two volumes from legendary Downtown NY pianist Cooper-Moore and saxophonist Stephen Gauci, recorded after a seven-month residency at Happylucky No. 1 Gallery in Brooklyn, allowing the two players to develop a natural dialog of unique and idiosyncratic approaches to their instruments, resulting in these 6 commanding recordings freely improvised in the studio.

Pulling inspiration from disparate influences such as early liturgical music, Ornette Coleman, Laurie Anderson, Yoko Ono, Milford Graves, and composers Morton Feldman and Lou Harrison, Kid Millions and Sarah Bernstein create a cyclical form of spontaneous thematic music through powerful electronics, wild vocalizations, and unrelenting drum textures.

Having played together in a variety of settings, but never as a trio, saxophonist Sabir Mateen, clarinetist Patrick Holmes and drummer Federico Ughi met in a recording studio in Tuscany, Italy to record this album of wide-ranging free improvisation, Mateen's Farfisa playing and vocal declamations bringing a Sun Ra element to the vehement and profound dialog.

Drummer Donald Sturge Anthony McKenzie II trades off duos with a set of masterful musicians in the second volume of his "Silenced" project, here with guitarist Elliott Sharp for a complex and inspired dialog; with bassist Bill Laswell for a rich and moody soundscape; and with guitarist Vernon Reid in a piece for McKenzie's daughter; plus one solo drum piece.

A six track album from drummer Donald Sturge Anthony McKenzie II written about the abuse of force from those charged to protect us, in a series of duos with amazing performances from guitarist Nels Cline, saxophonist Arnold Lee, bassist Melvin Gibbs, bassist Dave Hofstra, guitarist Vernon Reid, and drummer/keyboardist CX KIDTRONIX; disturbing and important work.

Performing as part of the Blow Out Festival 2019, the UK improvising trio Shifa, meaning "healing", of Rachel Musson on tenor saxophone, Pat Thomas on piano, and Mark Sanders on drums, are captured live in Oslo for four dramatic and masterful collective improvisations, passionate and building works, releasing their tension and rebuilding in powerful waves.

"Shifa", or "Healing", is the London-based trio of saxophonist Rachel Musson, pianist Pat Thomas, and drummer Mark Sanders, here in a live concert at Cafe Oto in 2018 of two collective improvisations of arching sax lines, rolling and potent drumming, powerful block chords and intricate lines, from dark to joyful moments, an intoxicating tonic for the ears.

Referencing the deceptively simple and memorable melodies of pianist Paul Bley, the trio of Pat Thomas on piano, Dominic Lash on double bass, and Tony Orrell on drums & percussion pay homage to the late pianist through his own work, plus compositions from Cara Bley, Ornette Coleman, Duke Ellington, and one collective improvisation; a sensitive and lyrical modern jazz album.

"Transoceanico" signifies the global reach of Rome, Italy-born improvising drummer Federico Ughi, celebrating 20 years since his first album recorded in London while residing there, leading to his current Brooklyn launchpad for many global tours and albums, this impressive LP realized in a superb free jazz trio with bassist Adam Lane and tenor saxophonist Rachel Musson.

An excellent example of modern fusion as drummer G. Calvin Weston (Ornette Coleman, James Blood Ulmer), also on pocket trumpet, joins the Phoenix Orchestra, a Philadelphia-based string & electric octet, for a funk driven album of spectacular playing with melodic force and compelling rhythm, showing shades of Cobham or Mahavishnu but with its feet fully in the present.

Translating to "Light Flowers, Dark Flowers", Alvin Curran's 1978 release on his cooperative Ananda label receives its first remaster and reissue, bringing to life this joyfully surreal album of synthetic and acoustic instruments, field recordings and voice, unveiling itself like a cinematic work of dovetailed stories both reflective and energetically active.

Three realizations of composer David Behrman's "Unforseen Events" work using computer algorithms to respond to pitch cues from an instrumentalist, first in Berlin in 1989 with Curran and Werner Durand on soprano sax, then in NY in 1999 with Jon Gibson on soprano sax; plus "ViewFinder" with Werner Durand using a motion-triggered camera to alter electronic & wind instrumental sound.

Reissuing the first release on the Ictus Records label run by percussionist Andrea Centazzo, this 1976 album was the culmination of two weeks of touring through Italy with saxophonist Steve Lacy, presented as a set of improvised free duets investigating timbral relationships, the fragmentation of melody, and abrasive, provocative noise.

French composer Jean-Yves Bosseur, a student of Henri Pousseur and Karlheinz Stockhausen, in an amazingly detailed 1980 work of 11 sonic expeditions, using an instrument developed by Jean-Pierre Armengaud and performed with a collective of local musicians and children, incorporating field recordings from French ornithologist Jean Claude Roché; startlingly original!

The debut of Ensemble Nist-Nah, a nine-piece collective group of French percussionists led by Nantes-based Australian drummer and percussionist Will Guthrie, incorporating a diverse set of influences including Gamelan performance, contemporary composition, noise and jazz into rich and ecstatic performances, an exciting album of informed approaches to modern and traditional percussion.

Focused on powerful sonic environments, the 10th release from the trio of Keiji Haino, Jim O'Rourke and Oren Ambarchi find all three using electronics to create huge canvases over which Ambarchi performs on pedal steel, O'Rourke on synth and Haino on Suona, a Chinese double-reed, capturing this exceptional 4-part improvisation live at SuperDeluxe, in Tokyo, 2017.

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 suprising sonic elements.

As essential component of the NC 910 Noise Collective, Baby Daddy is the duo of sound artists Carl Kruger and Ryan L. Lewis IV (Obscura Films, Mr. Stonecipher) in a 6" lathe cut vinyl release presenting two succinct tracks: "Computers" merging controlled feedback and aberrant electronic progressions; and "Choices", using rich storms of diverse thick noise.

A unique collective jazz album drawing on science and math in 5 improvised works from the New York quintet of Daniel Carter on alto & tenor sax, clarinet and trumpet, Demian Richardson on trumpet, Matthew Putman on piano, Dave Moss on upright bass, and Federico Ughi on drums, in a limited edition LP with a download code; superlative playing in rich layers of interaction.

For more than 15 years multi-reedist, wind and trumpet player Daniel Carter and drummer Federico Ughi have collaborated in live performance and on record, here showing the results of their work in this duo album, the vinyl edition of their exceptional 2013 CD release that shows their melodic and technical sides, their jazz roots, and their warm camaraderie.

After decades playing together, the quartet of Daniel Carter on tenor sax, trumpet & flute, Matthew Shipp on piano, William Parker on bass, and Gerald Cleaver on drums, release the first of two planned studio albums, with two extended and remarkably warm collective excursions bookending a shorter "Scintillate", in an exceptionally solid album of masterful modern jazz.

Recording in Brooklyn, the quintet of Daniel Carter on alto, soprano & tenor saxophones, Patrick Holmes on clarinet, Matthew Putman on piano, Hilliard Greene on bass, and Federico Ughi on drums bring together players of a very different backgrounds who share a nearly telepathic level of communication through free improv, in an album graced with Carter's poetry.

Referring to an improvisational style only possible after many years of collaboration, which they refer to as a "ghostly, boundary-pushing music between friends", this is the 4th sublime album from the quintet of Daniel Carter on reeds & trumpet, Patrick Holmes on clarinet, Matthew Putman on piano & keys, Hilliard Greene on bass, and Federico Ughi on drums.

An excellent blend of electronics and acoustics as saxophonist, flutist and trumpeter Daniel Carter meets sound artist Tobias Wilner from world-renowned electronic pop band Blue Foundation, with Wu-Tang Clan bass player Djibril Toure and drum wiz Federico Ughi rounding out this forward-thinking album of hazy and rhythmic electroacoustic environments.

Working together in tours and recording since 2005, the NY trio of multi-reedist and wind player Daniel Carter, bassis William Parker and drummer/percussionist Federico Ughi are joined by saxophonist Watson Jennison also on flute, recorder and keyboards for this enlightened album of modern and transcendent jazz in a limited, remastered LP edition with bonus material.

This album was developed to present Daniel Carter, typically a wind/reed/trumpeter player, on an album that included his piano playing, which then advanced by adding the goal of both Carter and long-time collaborator, drummer Federico Ughi, to record with bassist William Parker, who rounds out this excellent trio on bass, tuba and shakuhachi.

Self-described as Scandinavian jazz rock noir, the Chrome Hill quartet of Asbjorn Lerheim on baritone guitar, Roger Arntzen on double bass, Torstein Lofthus on drums & vibraphone, and Atle Nymo on tenor saxophone, present a dramatic album of contrasts inspired by cinematic and musical moods, merging elements of folk, Delta blues and cowboy rock into their darkly cool sound.

Seriously joyful and consequential "avant-garde party music" from the Norwegian Cortex quartet of Ola Hoyer on double bass, Gard Nilssen on drums & percussion, Kristoffer Berre Alberts on saxophone, and Thomas Johansson on trumpet, in their 6th album of irresistible, upbeat free jazz.

West Coast songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Coultrain, aka Aaron Michael Frison or Seymour Liberty, in an collection of songs based around a sequence of images reminiscent of a dream, capturing the hazy state of mind that drove the process behind this album, as well as its dreamy effect; soulful and introspective, an album of poetic observation and reflection.

Swedish conceptual artist Leif Elggren developed this second album in his trilogy using "The Motor", a soundwork that he's built over many years from basic fragments of sound used in installations and performances, aggregated here in an expanded form as a continuous drone, harsh on the surface but complex in its layers and sonic collisions.

Active Lisbon guitarist and producer André Fernandes formed the band Kinetic to perform the lyrically upbeat and sophisticated works of composers he admires--David Binney, Ohad Talmor, Akiko Pavolka, Sara Serpa, Perico Sambeat and Xan Campos--in a band that includes saxophonist Sambeat and pianist Campos, along with bassist Frederico Heliodoro and drummer João Pereira.

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.

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 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).

The debut of a new electric jazz quintet from NY violinist Sana Nagano, with Peter Appfelbaum on tenor saxophone & megaphone, Keisuke Matsuno on electric guitar, Ken Filiano on acoustic bass & effects, and Joe Hertenstein on drums, an inventive and energetic album of joyful urgency and tremendous group dynamic, fueled by Nagano's exuberant and lyrical compositions.

Existing between composition and free improvisation, this Norwegian quartet of Torstein Lavik Larsen on trumpet, Adrian Myhr on double bass, Fredrik Rasten on acoustic guitar, and Jan Martin Gismervik on drums & percussion are informed by minimal composed, folk and improvised musics, applying unusual technique and methodology to create beautiful textural and impressionistic sound.

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.

The first of two planned volumes of studio improvisations between Brooklyn trumpeter & flugelhorn player Michael Sarian and keyboardist Matthew Putman, recorded in Sarin's home studio during the 2020 pandemic, allowing freedom in exploration as they sought out cadences, rhythms and melodies, this 1st volume presenting the finest of their investigations.

The "guess" was guitarist and electronics artist Dave Tucker's educated guess that these four musicians--himself, pianist/keyboardist Pat Thomas, guitarist Thurston Moore and drummer/percussionist Mark Sanders--would create someting extraordinary if he brought them together for a concert at London's Cafe OTO, this boundary-pushing album the indisputably successful result.

Percussionist and electronics artist Matt Weston (Arthur Brooks Ensemble V, Arc Pair) in a 7" release showcasing his playing skills over his own notation systems employing additional dimensions of pre-and post-gestural strategies, using written standard notation and visual cues based on multiple and simultaneous, graphic scores.

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.

Downtown NY pianist Anthony Coleman (John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Glenn Branca), and drummer Brian Chase (Jeremiah Cymerman, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Drums and Drones) present their debut collaboration, balancing jazz-influenced improvisation with avant compositional forms to forge a chamber jazz album of thoughtful interaction informed by profound technique and creative drive.