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.

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.

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.

The songwriting team of John Zorn and Jesse Harris, who worked together on Zorn's The Song Project, wrote these beautiful melodies & lyrics that merge elements of rock and jazz for singer Petra Haden, performed in a quintet with Jesse Harris on acoustic guitar, keys & background vocals, Kenny Wollesen on drums, percussion, Julian Lage on guitar, and Jorge Roeder on bass.

After their double live albums, the Norwegian jazz-rock prog trio of Stale Storlokken on keyboards, Nikolai Haengsle on electric bass and electric & acoustic guitars, and Torstein Lofthus on drums & percussion, take a step back from the heavy grooves associated with their music to present a new chapter of sophisticated, spacious and sonically satisfying psychedelic interplay.

The final issue of 2020 is is dedicated to the art of conversation in music and about music during the age of pandemic; with Debby Friday on the cover, plus articles about Victoria-based composer Anna Höstman, Tehran-born Araz Salek, Tkarón:to-based saxophonist and composer Olivia Shortt, with a CD including tracks from those artists, plus reviews, articles, &c.

The follow-up to NY drummer/composer Dan Weiss's 2018 release Starebaby is an unconventional compounding of electric jazz, doom metal, electronic music, and improvisation, performed with Matt Mitchell on piano & Prophet 6, Craig Taborn on piano, Fender Rhodes & synthesizers, Ben Monder on guitars, and Trevor Dunn on electric bass.

Philadelphia-based artist David Hartt invited songwriter & composer Van Dyke Parks to make an original arrangement of the Stephen Foster song "Old Black Joe" as part of his 2020 installation piece titled "The Histories (Old Black Joe)"; the B-side is a beautiful arrangement of "Souvenir de la Havane" by the pioneering pre-jazz American Creole composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk.

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

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.

A retrospective of the work of guitarist and one-time Captain Beefheart Magic Band member Gary Lucas, in two CDs, the first devoted to songs recorded with Lucas' psychedelic jazz-rock band Gods and Monsters, the second devoted to solo works, rarities and collaborations, with an incredible list of performers reflecting Lucas' diverse 40-year career.

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 5th album from the UK collective improvising progressive rock band of reedist Martin Archer, drummer Steve Dinsdale, bassists Lorin Halsall & Terry Todd, percussionist Walt Shaw, keyboardist Andy Peake, violinist Yvonna Magda and string player & vocalist Jad Todd, merging acoustic and electronic instruments in rich and often dreamlike forms that flow with spirited refinement.

Quirky, embraceable songs from NY guitarist/song-writer Wendy Eisenberg, performed with an eclectic set of musicians who subvert rock forms in inventive ways, from subtle ambience to quickly shifting genre forms and illusively complex avant figures, while Eisenberg's words exposes vulnerability and provide insight, observation, and eccentrically descriptive lyrics.

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.

Bringing together three Japanese avant experimenters and improvisers — Ikue Mori (DNA, Downtown NY mainstay), YoshimiO (Boredoms, Saicobab and OOIOO) and Phew (Aunt Sally) — for a live performance at U.F.O. Club, in Tokyo in 2019, blurring the edges of experimentation, improvisation, and rock, an exciting and powerful first meeting for this trio.

Acnalbasac Noom was Slapp Happy's second LP, recorded in 1973, and engineered by Kurt Grauner in Faust's legendary Wumme Studio using Faust as the Slapphappy house band; it was originally rejected by Virgin Records, who made the group re-record the album with different musicians as Casablanca Moon, though through time Acnalbasac is still the definitive and preferred edition.

Originally released in 2004 in Japan, this compilation covers songs from Soft Machine legend Robert Wyatt's solo career, from albums back to Rock Bottom through Cuckooland, sequenced non-chronologically reflecting the depth of interest, excitement & pathos of his remarkable career, one of rock's most unconventional and brilliant songwriters and singers.

Originally released in 2004 in Japan, this compilation covers songs from Soft Machine legend Robert Wyatt's solo career, from albums back to Rock Bottom through Cuckooland, sequenced non-chronologically reflecting the depth of interest, excitement & pathos of his remarkable career, one of rock's most unconventional and brilliant songwriters and singers.

21 wild rides from the fully improvised duo of guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi on guitar & effects, and Tatsuya Yoshida on drums, voice & sampler, two CDs from four separate concerts at Japanese venues Akihabara Goodman in 2012 & 2014, Kichijoji FOXHOLE in 2014, and Okubo Hikarino-Uma in 2017; intensely exciting and magnificently masterful improv instrumental rock.

Formed in the mid-2000s in the wake of the band Knead, the first new Sanhedrin album in six years sees the return of Keiji Haino on guitar, Mitsuru Nasuno on bass guitar and Tatsuya Yoshida on drums, performing live at Akihabara Club Goodman in Japan for four extended rock improvisations, dense, soulful avant-prog with feedback drenched resonance.

The songwriting team of John Zorn and Jesse Harris, who worked together on Zorn's The Song Project, wrote these beautiful melodies & lyrics that merge elements of rock and jazz for singer Petra Haden, performed in a quintet with Jesse Harris on acoustic guitar, keys & background vocals, Kenny Wollesen on drums, percussion, Julian Lage on guitar, and Jorge Roeder on bass.

The eight album from John Zorn's Simulacrum ensemble, blurring the lines between improvisation, fusion, exotica, compositional forms, and death-metal organ trio, performed with keyboardist John Medeski and members of heavy rock bands Cleric and Imperial Triumphant--Kenny Grohowski & Matt Hollenberg--in an epic 40 minutes long-form composition.

Led by Bent Sæther, Hans Magnus Ryan and Kjell Runar Jenssen, this Norwegian prog-oriented improvising rock band is perhaps one of the finest active currently, here in a double album featuring music from 2 sessions, the 1st at Black Box Studio in France with Reine Fiske (Dungen), and the 2nd at Ocean Sound Studio in Norway with Lars Horntveth (Jaga Jazzist) and Ola Kvernberg (Steamdome).

An unissued album from Bavarian experimenter & songwriter Konrad Strumpfel and "The Set", the Czech duo of Herbert Lukundra & Josif Afkak, who added their contributions to Strumpfel's work which had been sent to them by post, the strengthening of the "Iron Curtain" between the USSR & Europe in the late 80s then prohibiting the release of their collaboration.

Acid Mothers Temple's Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo was first released on CD in 2007 by Ace Fu Records, here re-mastered for vinyl, "Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo" being a phrase expounded by a 13th century Japanese Buddhist monk called Nichiren translating loosely to "I devote myself to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra" or "... the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Teaching".

Colored vinyl double LP Record Store Day release of the soundtrack to the eyeballed band's 2001 "Icky Flix" DVD, 20 re-worked classic Residents tracks, originally released as a 14-track soundtrack CD, here in an extended edition that includes 6 additional tracks, "reimaginings" not included on the original version of the album.

Improvised and heavy forms of experimental rock from the French duo of piccolo bassist Eric Brochard and drummer Fabrice Favriou, their music dramatic, ritualistic and urgent as they reference Maya Deren and mythological experience, their music hypnotically mesmerizing and sonically rich, slowly whirling dervishes in five varying sequences that growl and transfix.

The 2nd release from the UK instrumental rock band Das Rad of Nick Robinson on guitars, keyboards & electronics, Martin Archer on woodwind, keyboards, synth bass & electronics, and Steve Dinsdale on drums, keyboards & electronics, expand their sound and referenes as they tug on the heartstrings of prog, krautrock and other advanced rock forms with modern and mellotron-fueled orchestration.

Fall 2020 issue of Canada's finest new music magazine, focusing on guitars--hollow, heavy, bowed, cracked, pedalled, flung, trusty companions & feedback demons; Plus articles on Casey Koyczan, Susan Alcorn, Amy Brandon, Aidan Baker, Eliza Kavtion, C. Diab, Markus Lake, Catherine Debard, Cloud Chamber, &c; and an 11-track CD with music from the aforementioned.

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.

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.

In 2018 guitarist Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen received an invitation from the festival at Vossajazz commissioning a work for the 2019 festival, for which she expanded her instrumental rock trio to a sextet with trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, drummer Torstein Lofthus (Elephant9), percussionist Ole Mofjell, and keyboardists Marte Eberson & Erlend Slettevoll.

In 2018 guitarist Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen received an invitation from the festival at Vossajazz commissioning a work for the 2019 festival, for which she expanded her instrumental rock trio to a sextet with trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, drummer Torstein Lofthus (Elephant9), percussionist Ole Mofjell, and keyboardists Marte Eberson & Erlend Slettevoll.

Recorded in 2005 with an ensemble of like-minded instrumentalists and then edited and collaged for the next year and a half, this was a project of Charles Hayward during his time at The Albany in Deptford, London, using their digital recording suite to create a large work using a variety of strategies and developed in a dramatic story form, issued here for the 1st time.

Blues with a strong sonic sense in Atlanta, GA guitarist Tyler Higgin's 2nd release on Shhpuma, his trio again featuring drummer Paul Stevens, and here adding bassist Gabriel Monticello, known for symphonic, jazz and rock forms, bringing masterful skill to this album that richly blends blues, gospel, folk, jazz and rock forms with passion and style.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The 1981 debut studio album of Von LMO, released independently in 1981 through his label StraZar, dedicated to the advancement of the United States space program, described by music journalist Chuck Eddy as being one of the 500 best albums of heavy metal in his Stairway to Hell book, here in the Flemish Masters edition with the track "Shake, Rattle and Roll".

An album of ecstatic noise improv with an experimental edge from the trio of Ulrich Krieger on tenor saxophone & contrabass clarinet, Nandor Nevai on "throats" & drums, and Wolcott on oscillator & electronics, viciously assertive music in seven track of mostly succinct statements composed or conceived by each of the band members; cathartic.

Ater a concert in Los Angeles with Martin Escalante on the same bill, the twin brothers, guitarist Derek Gaines and drummer Brent Gaines, asked the extreme saxophonist to join them in the creation of a new, cathartic form of improvisation, filled with angst and dramatic release, ending with an extended journey in sound and squawk; a gripping album of gritty improv.

This puzzling display of punk/jazz surrealism is masterminded by Nondor Nevai on drums and vocals, featuring Weasel Walter on bass and legendary journeyman Kenny Millions (aka Keshavan Maslak) on guitar and reeds, a sort of unholy fusion between extreme metal, bludgeoning noise rock, free jazz, black humor and true stream-of-consciousness improvisation.

Trumpeter Dennis Gonzalez merges his Yells at Eel project with bassist Aaron Gonzalez and drummer/percussionist Stefan Gonzalez, with Texas-based experimental rock band Pinkish Black--Daron Beck on keyboards and Jon Teague on drums & synthesizers--for a gripping and masterful hybrid of improvisation, dark synthetic rock and heavy moods; a riveting journey.

Reissuing on LP their 2016 limited cassette on the Land and Sea label of a performance by guitarists Michael Morley (Dead C) and Bill Orcutt (Harry Pussy, solo) at the L/S gallery in Oakland, Orcutt on a Fender Telecaster without effects and Morley on a modified 2006 Squire Telecaster made in Indonesia, in a conversation merging clear and crenulated playing.

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.

Joining the Acid Mothers Temple lineup of guitarist Kawabata Makoto, long time AMT member Higashi Hiroshi on synth, Jyonson Tsu on voice guitar and bouzouki, Satoshima Nani on drums, and Wolf on bass, is Henry Cow legend Geoff Leigh on flute, as they take a more laid back, acid folk approach to extended psych/kraut/prog track like "Dark Star Blues" or "La Novia".

Joining the Acid Mothers Temple lineup of guitarist Kawabata Makoto, long time AMT member Higashi Hiroshi on synth, Jyonson Tsu on voice guitar and bouzouki, Satoshima Nani on drums, and Wolf on bass, is Henry Cow legend Geoff Leigh on flute, as they take a more laid back, acid folk approach to extended psych/kraut/prog track like "Dark Star Blues" or "La Novia".

Berlin-based songwriter Dean Roberts' first album in 12 years is a collection of dark and melancholic songs, set in unusual formats based around guitar, electronics, strings, with subtle rhythmic elements, performed by Dean's Dark Moth Ensemble, with additional musicians that include Boris Hauf on piano and The Neck's keyboardist Chris Abrahams on harp.

Inspired by the music of 70's Miles Davis electric work, composer and saxophonist Martin Archer presents 15 compositions performed in two parallel sessions over two CDs, the first in a septet that includes Corey Mwamba, Pat Thomas and Dave Sturt, and the second an extended ensemble with brass and wind sections, each bringing distinctive life to these inspired compositions.

ZNR, the French trio of Hector Zazou, Joseph Racaille, and Patrick Portella, in a deluxe box set combining both of the official ZNR releases, "Barricades III" and "Traite de Mechanique Populaire" along with 2 CDs of additional released and unreleased material and a book of memories, histories, reflections, photographs, documents, interviews and other memorabilia.

Reissuing the first of two albums from the NY collaboration of guitarist Fred Frith and cellist Tom Cora, both providing vocals, percussion, violin, & bass, in a classic example of Downtown NY genre-merging of improvisation and rock with a vicious edge, in smart songs and even smarter instrumental sections, an insanely inventive and intelligent album as vital now as it was then.

First-ever vinyl release of this 2004 album, with a then-new quartet lineup of the band including the core trio of Makoto Kawabata (Guitar), Atsushi Tsuyama (monster bass), Hiroshi Higashi (guitar and effects), replacing Cotton Casino with drummer Hajime Koie from the band Mainliner, AMT creating an evolving psychedelic journey of touchstones & prog force.

LP-only, no 7" single. The second full-length album from Karkhana, a septet featuring members of Dwarfs Of East Agouza, A "Trio", Konstrukt, Chicago Tentet, Land of Kush, among others in four compositions of "crystal clear and deep, dark, distorted unrock compositions" in both electric and acoustic instrumentation, an international genre-crossing album.

Eugene Chadbourne brings his guitars and voice to join the Sunwatchers band of Peter Kerlin, Jim McHugh, Jason Robira, and Jeff Tobias, as they perform the music of great American rock band Minutemen, with Minuteman Mike Watt joining on "spiel & labor leader", alongside original pieces by Sunwatchers, and experimental rock band Henry Flynt & The Insurrections.

Bassist Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten (The Thing) and Stale Storlokken (Elephant9, Supersilent, Terje Rypdal) join the Nordic Krokofant trio of Axel Skalstad on drums, vibraphone, Tom Hasslan on guitar, and Jorgen Mathisen on saxophone, presenting the band's 3rd album, performing the 4-part work "Q", an intense and sophisticated album of complex and passionate instrumental rock.

A new chapter for Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. as original members Kawabata Makoto (guitar, speed guru) and Higashi Hiroshi (synthesizer, noodle god) welcome Jyonson Tsu (vocal, midnight whistler), Satoshima Nani (drums, another dimension), and Wolf (bass, space and time) in a sophisticated spacer that references Gong, Grateful Dead, and even Bobby Vinton.

Originally released in Japan on the Arcangelo label, this 2014 album from Daniel Denis' Univers Zero finds the chamber rock band in a tightly dynamic configuration of reeds, keys, guitar, bass, drums and percussion, as they present intricately dark, complex musical schemes that reference avante classical forms through powerfully expressive rock forms.

Originally released in Japan on the Arcangelo label, this 2014 album from Daniel Denis' Univers Zero finds the chamber rock band in a tightly dynamic configuration of reeds, keys, guitar, bass, drums and percussion, as they present intricately dark, complex musical schemes that reference avante classical forms through powerfully expressive rock forms.

Late NY poet and writer Steve Dalachinsky met with the French electro-rock duo The Snobs of Mad Rabbit and Duck Feeling in Paris in the winter of 2011, recording vocals that Rabbit & Feeling then edited and set to experimental music using guitar, bass, sitar, electronic organ, percussion, effects &c. creating effective settings for Dalachinsky's profound and fascinating words.

Bassist Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten (The Thing) and Stale Storlokken (Elephant9, Supersilent, Terje Rypdal) join the Nordic Krokofant trio of Axel Skalstad on drums, vibraphone, Tom Hasslan on guitar, and Jorgen Mathisen on saxophone for the band's 3rd album, performing the 4-part work "Q", an intense and sophisticated album of complex and passionate instrumental rock.

Originally released in 1988 in limited cassette and LP editions and comprising live recordings from performances in 1987, the Japanese avant rock band After Dinner with vocalist Haco merged Japanese traditional music and electronics in sublime ways, their live performances a great reflection of their recorded albums, here impeccably remastered by Bob Drake.

A very odd album of experimental rock and mutilated folk forms that they refer to as "A sort of traditional music from a later country in a less faraway time", from French percussionist Bertrand Fraysse with vocalist Miha, using repetition and simple forms that build to strangely dense electronic environments, with a clear DIY and peculiar attitude; great fun!

Using toys and handmade instruments alongside guitar, bass, synths, plundered recordings and electronics, the French Toys'R'Noise trio are a live performing group that borrows from electro-beat rock forms with overtones of IDM/ambient forms, building extended sections and then amusing with quick-witted sections that bridge a clear love of the music.

A split vinyl release between Urge (Caen) and Tokyo's Sete Star Sept, with one track from the French free jazz trio Urge of Antoine Ulmann on sax, Bubu Pagier on gutiar, and Yann Fontbonne on drums, playing in a Borbetomagus mode; and the Japanese gridcore duo of drummer Ryosuke Kiyasu and bassist/vocalist Kae Takahashi providing a thick extended rock grindcore piece; a blistering combo.

A new edition of Koenjihyakkei's landmark fourth album, blending progressive rock, jazz fusion, symphonic rock and neoclassicism with the energy of hardcore punk, the volume of metal and the attitude of Rock In Opposition, from Tatsuya Yoshida on drums, Sakamoto Kengo on bass, Kanazawa Miyako on keyboards Yamamoto Kyoko on voice, and Komori Keiko on reeds.

A new edition of Koenjihyakkei's landmark fourth album, blending progressive rock, jazz fusion, symphonic rock and neoclassicism with the energy of hardcore punk, the volume of metal and the attitude of Rock In Opposition, from Tatsuya Yoshida on drums, Sakamoto Kengo on bass, Kanazawa Miyako on keyboards Yamamoto Kyoko on voice, and Komori Keiko on reeds.

After a 13-year hiatus KoenjiHyakkei is back with a thrillingly joyful album of unexpected song and extended, masterful instrumental sections that turn on a pin point, referring and redefining prog and RIO forms with honest enthusiasm, in a quintet with Tatsuya Yoshida on drumming, Sakamoto Kengo on bass, Koganemaru Kei on guitar, Yabuki Taku on keys and Komori Keiko on sax.

Merging the US band Low of Alan Sparhawk (guitar, voice), Mimi Parker (voice, drums), Zak Sally (bass) and Ed Coxon (violin, viola) with Ashley Wales of the UK band Spring Heel Jack, in an EP of lush slow moving and beautiful songs, structurally interesting pieces of beautiful abstraction; unavailable for two decades and lovingly reissued now on the Treader imprint.

The second collaboration between the American avant-metal rock trio Sumac of guitarist Aaron Turner, drummer Nick Yacyshyn and bassist Brian Cook with Japanese legendary guitarist and vocalist Keiji Haino finds the quartet settling down from their first blast of an album, here slowly building their heavy feedback-drenched, ponderous and epic music.

After his recent work interpreting the American Songbook, guitarist Bill Orcutt returns to his own compositions in an album cleanly recorded through a Fender Twin in Orcutt's living room, with three pieces multi-tracked, the rest simply pure Orcutt, reflecting beautiful blues-tinged lyricism, jarring interwining of notes, and impressive passages of superb virtuosity.

The second collaboration between the American avant-metal rock trio Sumac of guitarist Aaron Turner, drummer Nick Yacyshyn and bassist Brian Cook and Japanese legendary guitarist and vocalist Keiji Haino finds the quartet settling down from their first blast of an album, here slowly building their heavy feedback-drenched, ponderous and epic music.