A mercurial album of electronic and acoustic collective free improv from the masterful quintet of Tim Berne on alto sax, David Torn and Marc Ducret on electric guitars, Devin Hoff on electric bass and Ches Smith on drums & electronics, the band intertwining and bending sound to the evolution of their improvisations, which twist and turn in alien jazz soundscape.

The first collaborative work by Seoul-based electronic, sound and noise artist Choi Joonyong and NY-based experimental artist Devin DiSanto in five recordings from Third Hand in Seoul, South Korea, where the two literally are heard "Taking Apart a Piano", "Wrapping a Piano in Foil and Vibrating the Case", or recording according to the title: "Spray, White Noise and a Bowling Ball".

Originally formed in 1948 under the name Radio Belgrade Entertainment Orchestra and transformed into a jazz big band in 1954, this enduring orchestra has invited some of the most legendary jazz performers as soloists and collaborators, here with Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser for an album of Blaser original compositions & arrangements performed under the direction of Ivan Ilic.

Trumpeter Toshinori Kondo and drummer Sabu Toyozumi, who originally worked together in the band EEU, first played with saxophonist Peter Brotzmann as a trio in 2014, this live recording at Roppongi Super Deluxe in Tokyo captured two years later in a wild collective free jazz outing, Kondo augmenting his horn with electronics, as they explode three super-charged improvisations!

Derek Bailey's 1987 trip to Japan yielded a number of important recordings, including a duo with Mototeru Takagi, a trio with Sabu Toyozumi & Peter Brötzmann, and this concert at IMAI-Tei with Toyozumi, one of the first generation Japanese free improvisers and the only non-American to become a member of the AACM; here in three duos and Bailey's solo "Diaphragm".

Two studio sessions of ebullient improv from the quartet of Israeli tenor saxophonist Albert Beger, bass clarinetist Ziv Taubenfeld, double bassist & guimbri player Shay Hazan, and Chicago drummer Hamid Drake, from hard-blowing collective interplay to introspective discourse, ending with Beger's reflective composition "Astral Visit"; a perfectly balanced album of modern jazz.

A vital member of groups led by Jimmy Lyons, Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor, Joe Morris and William Parker, bassoonist Karen Borca is heard in two Vision Festival performances under her own name performing her own compositions in trio, quartet and quintet formations with luminaries Rob Brown, William Parker, Reggie Nicholson, Susie Ibarra, Todd Nicholson, Paul Murphy and Newman Taylor-Baker.

The first in NoBusiness' Ribea Live! series from Sam & Bea Rivers' famous and influential 1970's NYC loft series is this dynamic July 12, 1975 concert led by saxophonist Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, in a quartet with Malachi Thompson on trumpet, Milton Suggs on electric bass and Alvin Fielder on drums, part of Studio Rivbea's Summer Music Festival 1975.

The lesser known hard bop trumpeter Booker Little died at just 23, but left a legacy in these two sextet albums that balance lyricism with freedom — Out Front and Booker Little and Friend — the former recorded with Eric Dophy and Max Roach, and the latter with George Coleman & Julian Priester, both albums with legendary players including Ron Carter, Reggie Workman, Art Davis, Don Friedman &c..

Bringing together two contrasting Impulse! albums from Aylers late 60's output: the exemplary free jazz release Live Greenwich Village in two sessions with core Ayler associates, brother Donald, Michael Sampson, Henry Grimes, Beaver Harris, &c.; then Ayler's challenging attempt to reach a more popular following in Love Cry, with Milford Graves taking the drummers chair.

After participating together in many groups over more than a decade, this is the first time these three improvisers and core performers on the 577 label--Daniel Carter on saxophone, trumpet & clarinet, Matthew Putman on piano and Federico Ughi on drums--have come together as a trio, captured live at the 2024 Forward Festival in Brooklyn for three extended, dexterous conversations.

A new take on the classic guitar, bass & drums trio line-up, bringing together three generations of improvising musicians--John Edwards on double bass, Emil Karlsen on drums and Dominic Lash, more typically a double bassist, here on a Telecaster electric guitar--in five studio recordings of great intensity and varying direction fueled by a minute attention to detail.

A truly lovely and intimate duo album between French guitarist, composer and improviser Guillaume Gargaud and Finnish trumpet player Eero Savela, their second album after their 2020 release Helsinki, expanding their conversation in relaxed and filtered jazz that balances abstraction and lyricism with a natural pace and sophistication.

Transforming a sense of isolation and separation into exuberant and pointed expression, drummer Mike Reed brings together this hybrid sextet of Chicago players, including cornetist Ben LaMar Gay, poet and spoken word artist Marvin Tate (D-Settlement), and members of Bitchin Bajas (Rob Frye, Cooper Crain, and Dan Quinlivan), for 9 heartfelt, intensely passionate pieces.

Transforming a sense of isolation and separation into exuberant and pointed expression, drummer Mike Reed brings together this hybrid sextet of Chicago players, including cornetist Ben LaMar Gay, poet and spoken word artist Marvin Tate (D-Settlement), and members of Bitchin Bajas (Rob Frye, Cooper Crain, and Dan Quinlivan), for 9 heartfelt, intensely passionate pieces.

Bassist Kyle Motl organized this 2018 studio session with pianist Anthony Davis and drummer Kjell Nordeson in San Diego, Nordeson and Motl having worked together for several years, their session with Davis focused on the pianist's literary-influenced compositions, the synergy in their trio playing of energetic and introspective interaction absolutely exemplary.

Four fascinating works of string intersection from New York composer and violist Jessica Pavone, recording in the studio with the trio of violinists Aimre Niemann (Du.0 (do-point-oh)) and Abby Swidler (Xanthoria Quartet), Pavone's compositions creating wonderful psychoacoustic intertwining of texture and tone that slowly and beautifully blossom.

Based on a growing friendship and friendly improvisations developed between 2022 & '23, New York guitarist Wendy Eisenberg and saxophonist and activist Caroline Davis developed this set of ten songs--poignant, expressive, deeply personal, unconventional, illusory--performed with drummer Greg Saunier, reminding of the early Downtown NY scene in their confident fragility; beautiful.

A rollicking album of hard blues from the أحمد [Ahmed] quartet of Pat Thomas on piano, Joel Grip on double bass, Antonin Gerbal on drums and Seymour Wright on alto saxophone, performing live in 2022 as part of the Counterflows Festival at The Glue Factory in Glasgow, for a hard driving, upbeat performance in front of an enthusiastic audience.

Beginning their tours as a duo in 2017 and expanded into the trio Kuzu, Bhutanese improvising guitarist Tashi Dorji and Chicago saxophone improviser Dave Rempis recorded these four exotically powerful dialogs after their 2023 tour, performing at The Sugar Maple, in Milwaukee, Rempis on multiple saxophones including the soprano sax that the late Mars Williams gifted to him.

One of the largest ensembles in the Boston collective roster, this exotic Turbulence Orchestra set is orchestrated with 4 brass horns--Bob Moores, Eric Dahlman & John Fugarino on trumpets, Duane Reed on double bell euphonium; two winds--David Peck on clarinets, saxophones & flute and Dennis Livingston on flute & recorders-- plus the rhythm section of Scott Samenfeld on bass & Michael Knoblach on drums.

The transatlantic trio of UK pianist Alexander Hawkins, NY drummer Kate Gentile and Canadian reedist Francois Houle are heard in four masterful spontaneous improvisations in their live performance at the 39th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, Houle performing on clarinets (sometimes two at a time) including the early, deep-note basset clarinet.

The first live recordings from 2021 in Switzerland of NY saxophonist James Brandon Lewis' Molecular concept of composition, inspired by molecular biology and yielding lyrical and sophisticated structures for his players, heard in nine compositions performed with the exemplary quartet of Brad Jones on bass, Chad Taylor on drums, Aruán Ortiz on piano and Lewis on tenor sax.

Translating to freedom, Te Ti'ama is the duo of French trombonist Jérôme Descamps and guitarist Christelle Séry, heard in eleven succinct improvisations that create a unique vocabulary of both active and spacious dialog, from pointillistic energy to introspective rumination, both improvisers favoring peculiar sonic events and techniques for moments of humor and awe.

"Lovely" but also free to take some wild asides, Russian-American pianist Simon Nabatov's quintet with trumpeter Ralph Allessi, saxophonist Sebastian Gille, bassist David Helm and drummer Leif Berger pivots around melodic cores from Nabatov's alluring compositions as he explores themes of love, refraining from cloying approaches through sophisticated and often edgy direction for his players.

The 3rd box set from Slovenian pianist & composer residing in Amsterdam, Miha Gantar, in five CDs collaborating with NYC improvisors and contemporary players performing Gantar compositions and collective improv, in configurations from a quintet, two trios including one with bassist John Hebert & drummer Eric McPherson, a duo with tenor saxophonist Zoh Amba, ending with Gantar solo.

The second album from Swiss improviser Jason Kahn and Taiwanese experimental vocalist Alice Hui-Sheng Chang, in eight pieces of free vocal improvisation recorded during Jason Kahn's one-month artist residency in September 2023 at Ting Shuo Hear Say in Tainan, Taiwan, an unusual collaboration of idiosyncratic interactions using a wide spectrum of vocal techniques.

Eccentric and engrossing electroacoustic improvisation between Jason Kahn on electronics and Ulrich Krieger using his "acoustic electronic" reed setup, performing on tenor saxophone, contrabass clarinet, and the 15th century double reed crumhorn, processed through his amplification system to create exotic textures and expressions; a truly unique set of dialogs.

Recording in the Merkin Concert Hall on a Steinway Grand Piano, New York pianist Matthew Shipp's seventeen numbered tracks of "The Data" takes listeners through a virtual history of jazz and contemporary improvisation, from beautifully lyrical moments to rapidly complex matrices of expression, balancing his approaches into an absorbing and rewarding album.

A stunningly powerful quartet of electric jazz captured live at the 2022 Freejazz Festival in Saarbrucken, Germany between German alto saxophonist Frank Gratkowski (Skein), Japanese guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi (Ground Zero, Altered States), electric bassist Dan Peter Sundland and drummer Steve Heather, performing four assertive, charged and cathartic collective improvisations.

The first meeting between New York alto saxophonist Tim Berner and Australian string player Chloë Sobek, performing on the violone, a precursor to the modern double bass, in five improvisations recorded outside of the studio to create an intimate space for their spontaneous, articulate and well-balanced dialogs, from rapt introspection to blazing intensity.

Berlin-based, Buenos Aires-born saxophonist Sofia Savlo takes listeners on a tour of eight improvisations performed on the low pitched baritone saxophone, using great control & tone augmented by multiphonics and extended techniques, "rotating" through unusual approaches while engaging listeners through expressive narratives, including emulating a drunken revery.

The first album from the trio of Denmark-based pianist Kamil Piotrowicz, a classically trained improviser of exceptional technical and creative power, with Copenhagen trumpeter Erik Kimestad and Norwegian drummer based in Copenhagen Simon Albertsen (Espen Berg Trio), for thirteen wonderfully intricate and exuberant pieces developed in the studio.

A standout in the many collaborations between New York pianist Matthew Shipp and Brazil-born, NY-based tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman, recording in the studio for eight elegantly lyrical improvisations that invoke both devotional and decisive dialogs, from an introspective "Prayer" to a dissipated "Lustihood", a spellbinding set of fraternal invocations.

The project of Korean-American guitarist, improviser and composer Han-earl Park, Gonggong 225088 is his trio with Argentinian saxophonist, composer and visual artist Camila Nebbia, and Greek drummer, improviser and sound artist Yorgos Dimitriadis, in an album of collective improvisation that expands its percolating jazz roots with spacious moments of electronics and extended expression.

Composer and pianist Simon Nabatov sets to music two major works of modern Russian literature — Mikhail Bulgakov's The Fatal Eggs and Heart of a Dog — each interpretation spanning an album's worth of material and performed with an extraordinary septet of chamber jazz performers through piano, sax, trombone, viola, cellos, bass and drums.

Exploring tuning systems and the extremes of harmonicity and dissonance through compositions that employ prime numbers of players in solo, trio, quintet, septet, and undectet (11) configurations, violinist Modney takes listeners into transcendent and turbulent spaces spanning improvisation and composition, detailed in a 24-page booklet with collages from Ellsworth Kelly.

The 2nd release from Magda Mayas' Filamental octet of Mayas, Zeena Parkins, Michel Thieke, Christine Abdelnour, Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, Aimée Theriot and Anthea Caddy, is a fascinating studio composition developed from individual recordings provided by each musician, assembled into two detailed and cohesive works of impressive contours and almost ceremonial beauty.

Following their recordings of improvisations for the abstract film "Triangulated Waves", the long-running collaboration of guitarist Marcia Bassette (Yew Recordings, Heavy Conversation, Heavy Blossom) and violinist Samara Lubelski (Fiery Furnaces, White Magic, Thurston Moore, God Is My Co-Pilot) join for two extended sonic adventures of intertwining, effected strings.

Five years after their extraordinary debut album Illuminated Silence, the trio of pianist Izumi Kimura, bassist Barry Guy and drummer Gerry Hemingway present four compositions for free improv, two pieces reflecting on the current state of warfare, with two from pieces Kimura and one each from Guy and Hemingway, the liner notes from each artist explaining the impetus for their work.

Canadian clarinetist Liam Hockley, a dedicated advocate for new and experimental music, performs compositions on a relatively obscure member of the clarinet family, the basset horn, alone and in layers of up to seven horns, in pieces from Romanian spectral composers Ana Maria Avram, Iancu Dumitrescu, and Horatiu Radulescu, along with a contemporary work by Thanos Chrysakis.

Unabashedly lyrical and focused on jazz tradition, the Swiss trio of Alex Hendriksen on tenor saxophone, Fabian Gisler on double bass and Paul Amereller on drums present an album of standards, including pieces by Tadd Dameron, Billy Strayhorn, Jerome Kern, Thelonious Monk and Benny Golson, warmly interpreted with extraordinary band interplay and individual soloing.

During a sabbatical in London, Swiss saxophonist Christoph Gallio (Day & Taxi) renewed his friendship with percussionist Roger Turner, with whom he had performed in a trio with Urs Leimgruber; meeting at Turner's London flat, they developed the spontaneous language heard on this freely improvised album, Gallio on soprano, alto & C-melody saxophones and Turner on drums & distinctive percussive devices.

Thirteen years after his breakthrough solo saxophone album For Alto, Anthony Braxton is heard in an inventive solo concert on the same instrument, performing at the Altes Schlachthaus Theatre in Bern, Switzerland for a set of original numbered compositions, the standards "Alone Together" and "I Remember You", and two Coltrane pieces: "Giant Steps" and "Naima".

Taking the trombone into unusual territory, Danish composer and trombonist Maria Bertel, a member of Fire! Orchestra and Jooklo Danish Group, uses amplification to emphasize unusual and sometimes aberrant aspects of the bone, each of ten solo pieces focusing on various aspects of sound, noise, alien utterance and drone that she coaxes out of the instrument.

A wild "Afro-Surrealist Anti-Opera" from composer & bassist Nick Dunston, performed with an ensemble of string players (including JACK Quartet) and vocalists, in a gripping hybrid of acoustic and electronic music, using the studio for post-processing to create Dunston's self-described "warped narrative", an understatement for this incredibly passionate, surreal and absolutely impressive work.

An exotic album of improvised music with a wide focus, founded in saxophonist David Leon's interest in Afrocuban folkloric music, expanded through DoYeon Kim's gayagum, a traditional 12-string Korean zither, and punctuated with the exploratory drumming, percussion and glockenspiel of Lesley Mok; assertively unpredictable and continuously intriguing improv.

The collaboration between guitarist Barry Chabala and Clara Byom on clarinets and accordion is expanded through Chabala's audio samples and Byom's use of objects, as they join in a trio with Albuquerque violinist Muni Kulasinghe, also performing on objects, for seven distinctive, spaciously paced improvisations recorded live at The Sitting Room in Albuquerque, NM.

The second studio session for the freely improvising electroacoustic trio of Clara Byom, a contemporary classical and improvising clarinetist and accordionist, improvising guitarist Barry Chabala on acoustic, and multi-disciplinary artist David Forlano on electronics, in 11 succinct works to accompany a beautifully unconventional morning of open-ended conversations.

The first meeting between two improvisers also versed in contemporary and avant music - guitarist Barry Chabala and clarinetist and accordionist Claray Byom - recording live at The Jean Cocteau Cinema, in Santa Fe, New Mexico as part of the Sandbox Music Series, for five freely improvised works that include radio, objects, iPhone and toys as part of their expansive dialogs.

Known for his band Blacksheep, along with Gatos Meeting, OKHP, Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo, The Silence, and Missing Link, &c., Japanese baritone saxophonist steps out solo for twelve works — eight improvisations and four compositions — blurring the line between approaches, executed with Yoshida's rich tone, multiphonic accents, and powerful sonic pressure on the big reed.

Published on the occasion of Birgit Ulher's exhibition Split Friction at Errant Sound in Berlin from November 24-26, 2023, an interdisciplinary project spanning the intersection between exhibition, video, performance, concert and sound installation, documented in this 96 page full-color book with images from the installation, graphic scores, and essays in English & German.

Right out of the gate one feels the energy and excitement between Japanese trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and NY drummer Jim Black, each pushing the other through strong instrumental character and outrageous technique over nine Tamura compositions recorded in the studio in Switzerland, their first recording in 25 years since their 1999 Buzz Records album White and Blue.

The Swedish free jazz septet STHLM svaga work at the liminal edges of delicate improvisation and song, for this album commissioning works from Archie Shepp, Ron Carter and Roscoe Mitchell, Carter traveling to Stockholm to provide guidance on his composition "Desert Lament"; the band also performs Coltrane's "Jupiter" and Per Henrik Wallin's piece "Winter Rhapsody".

The evolution of NY pianist Matthew Shipp's trio with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker reaches new heights in this implicitly lyrical album of spontaneous collective playing, eight improvisations warmly captured in the Park West Studios, showing the deep connection that years of collaboration brings to their thoughtfully astute and imaginative playing.

A live recording of freely improvised improv captured at All Hallows Church in High Laver, Essex in 2023 from the trio of AMM drummer and Matchless label-leader Eddie Prévost, Zürich and Maastricht trumpeter Silvan Shmid, and London double bassist Tom Wheatley of the group Widdershins, heard in three investigative conversations of great creative drive.

Breaking from the AMM collective, British percussionist Eddie Prévost's 1996 solo debut showcases six studio-recorded works highlighting expressive momentum and textural nuance through innovative drumming and cymbal techniques, crafting layered and intense sonic landscapes with extraordinary skill and the inventive application of external objects.

A burning album of improvised rock and noise with members from Incapacitants, Keiji Haino + Masataka Fujikake Duo, Zeni Geva, &c., part of a free improv series organized by Doubtmusic and recorded at Tokyo's Knuttle House in 2023, from the quartet of Toshiji Mikawa on electronics, Jun Numata on guitar& electronics, Yusuke Nishimura on bass and Masataka Fujikake on drums.

27 concise poems written and read by saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, punctuated by 9 musical interludes between McPhee on soprano sax and Chicago reedist Ken Vandermark on clarinet and bass, fortifying McPhee's captivating words that mix life observations among jazz references to Dolphy, Monk, Brötzmann, Coleman, &c.; a truly embraceable "book" of poetry.

The 2nd part of Chicago trumpeter Rob Mazurek's Astral Spirits series that started with "Vortice of the Faun", Mazurek performing on piccolo trumpet, electronics, voice, and percussion in a detailed journey, released alongside Mazurek's art opening "Constellation Scores" at URDLA, the cover showing two 3-D prints and the package comes with glasses to view them.

Wearing the cloak of 60's pyschedelic organ trios modernized in approach and maturity, this is the 8th album from the Swedish improvising, prog-oriented rock band Elephant9, presenting six new compositions from keyboardist Stale Storlokken (Supersilent, Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns) performed with Nikolai Haengsle on electric bass and Torstein Lofthus on drums.

A great set of 11 succinct songs and instrumentals from multi-instrumentalist, prog icon Bob Drake of Thinking Plague, The Science Group, VRIL, and Peter Blegvad fame, vignettes that play with pop formats in insidious ways around recurring Drake themes including a Planet of Dogs, three rustic tales, and a perturbing room in the tower, all noted in a colored foldout poster with lyrics.

A complement to the New Braxton House Lorraine box, these live performances of Anthony Braxton's Lorraine system are performed in four European cities by Braxton himself on alto, soprano & sopranino saxophones, James Fei on sopranino & alto saxophones, Chris Jonas on alto & tenor saxophonse, Ingrid Laubrock on soprano & tenor saxophones, and Andre Vida on baritone, tenor and soprano saxophones.

Driven by compelling rhythms and subtle interactions that wind around them, the trio of guitarist Oren Ambarchi, bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin expand their Ghosted concept in this second album, four diverse pieces fusing "funk-jazz heads, polyrhythmic skeletons, ambient pastorals, post-kraut drones and shimmering soundtrack reveries".

The first album from the Japanese improvising quartet of electric guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi (Altered States), cross-media violinist Keisuke Ohta, bassist Shinobu Kawai (Yoshihide Otomo Special Big Band, Akira Sakata) and drummer Akira Sotoyama (Tipographica, Koichi Matsukaze Quartet), in three avant jazz improvisations captured live at Knuttel House in Tokyo.

The long-running quartet of percussionist Heinz Geisser, bassist Fridolin Blumer, pianist Reto Staub and trombonist Robert Morgenthaler have for years extended their 4-tet with a 5th guest, here asking vibraphonist Christopher Dell to join them in the studio after a successful live performance in the spring of 2022, capturing this spectacular, wide-ranging example of collective improvisation.

Revisiting and remastering two essential albums from New York hard bop trumpeter Kenny Dorham, a tremendous musican who died much too young but left a legacy of 20 albums as a leader, here in his 1956 Blue Note album in a sextet that included Bobby Timmons and Kenny Burrell, and his 1963 United Artists Jazz album in a quintet with Jackie McLean, Bobby Timmons, Teddy Smith and JC. Moses.

A startlingly exciting album of piano trio jazz from three creative innovators, in the followup to the 2022 debut of the Swedish Space Trio of Lisa Ullen on piano, Elsa Bergman on double bass and Anna Lund on drums, recording in the studio for eight collective improvisations of extremely well matched, highly interactive and exhilarating modern improv.

Known best for the guitar work on clipping's Rick and Morty song "Stab Him in the Throat", Chicago guitarist Kirsten Carey joins with drummer Aaron Edgcomb (Trigger) for this set of mischievous improvised experiments that explore the relationships between rock, jazz and experimental sound through eleven assertive dialogs of quirky, skronky, and inspired playing.

One of the more electronic/ea ensembles from the Boston area collective led by David Peck, Simulacrum is an offshoot of Metal Chaos Ensemble, the core being Peck on reeds, percussion & electronics, Eric Wood on analog synth and Bob Moores on space trumpet & guitar, joined by Michael Caglianone (sax), Faruq Hassan (sampler), and Michael Knoblach (percussion).

The core duet of the Boston collective Leap of Faith Orchestra comprised of David Peck on clarinets, saxophones, double reeds & flutes and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, are joined by bassist Albey onBass, drummer Eric Rosenthal, guitarist Tor Snyder and brass player John Fugarino, making a strong sextet with a powerful string section in this extended improvisation.

A larger ensemble for the Boston-area collective Leap of Faith of David Peck on clarinets, saxophones & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, here extended with two horns, three strings, and drums including Cecil Taylor bassist Albey OnBass, plus John Fugarino on trumpets & brass, Tor Snyder on guitar and Eric Rosenthal on drums & percussion.

Reflecting on the slow decay of Roman and Egyptian murals, New York City-based, Puerto Rican-born composer, guitarist, visual artist and No Base Trio member, Gabriel Vicéns, presents a collection of chamber works including two piano trios, a wind quintet performed by Nu Quintet, cello & violin and violin & piano duos, a solo piano work, and a sextet conducted by David Bloom.

Capturing an exciting and cohesive live performance at Krakow's Alchemia club, documenting the first duo encounter between Chicago reedist Ken Vandermark and UK bassist Barry Guy, in nine spontaneous duets and soliloquies; Guy's dynamic bass explorations and Vandermark's versatility converge in an inspired interplay of rhythmic energy, textural innovation, and lyrical intensity.

An album of dense electronics, drums and gongs from Vermont drummer and experimenter Jabe Ledoux, aka Jo Bled, and Pittsburgh noise artist RJ Myato, co-founder of NNN Coalition and curator of Enforced Existence label, in three works from assertive jumbles of sound, to buzzy drones with muted percussion and ending with an ocean of blurred and swooping harmonics.

Eight distinctive works for electronics and sound from the alter ego of Roger H. Smith, using noise, percussive elements and unusual synthetics, layered around static and arpeggiated rhythms and punctuated with strange asides, the works run from 3:14 to 18:37 and were developed over a year and half; an excellent introduction to the sonic diversity Chefkirk revels in.

A beautifully contemplative collection of vignettes performed on solo Hardanger d'amore, a sympathetic-stringed relative of the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, from Brooklyn improviser and composer Zosha Warpeha, in 13 works of thoughtfully spacious playing utilizing the resonance and rich texture of the Hardanger fiddle, seemingly suspending time despite beguiling momentum.

Nine investigations on the violin and two on the viola from Berlin composer and improviser Maria I.J. Reich, developed during research into solo improvisation, yielding a unique set of timbres, textures and impetus between the musician and the body & bow of the instrument, influenced by the different locations recorded at and presented as captured; a truly fascinating exploration.

Born in São Paulo, Brazil and working in Amsterdam and Lisbon, and also part of the London Improvisers Orchestra, Yedo Gibson unleashes an album of solo improvisation on the soprano and tenor saxophones, his "conic tubes" which he uses to express the potential to change environment and energy through technically impressive, expressive playing.

The Swedish title translating to "Species", the contemplatively elegant interactions between pianist Karin Johansson and tenor saxophonist Lisen Rylander are named for extinct species of animals and plants, as the two improvise over the loss of species that disappear from the earth every year, their wistful music augmented through preparations, kalimbas, live electronics and percussion.

"100% improvised, one take, no edits" from New York pianist Matt Mitchell's solo album in four extended improvisations of impressive detail and creative direction, eschewing any particular style while crossing many, Mitchell's technical skills making complex passages clear even when he names them as abstruse, an impressive accomplishment and an absorbing album of solo piano improv.

Lisbon contemporary flutist and improviser Carlos Bechegas, an associate of Carlos Zingaro and his electroacoustic trio, joins violist Ernesto Rodrigues and long-time collaborator Carlos Santos in a uniquely electronic, chamber-oriented, mysteriously crepuscular improvisation captured live at Casa do Comum, Lisbon, Portugal during the 2024 "SpectraLx" event.

A contemplative and building collection of electroacoustic improvisations from French alto & soprano saxophonist Violaine Gestalder, augmenting her horn with effect pedals, and pianist Loris Binot, using preparations, magnetic bows and electronics to create sustained and percussive elements, recording in the CIM auditorium in Bal-Le-Duc, France for five rich and fascinating dialogs.

Three configurations of delicately detailed, reductionist electroacoustic improv from the Greek Eventless Plot trio of Vasilis Liolios (inside piano, e-bow piano, objects & psaltiri), Yiannis Tsirikoglou (objects, guitar, MAX/MSP) and Aris Giatas (piano), in one piece as a trio, then with guest Chris Cundy on bass clarinet, and a third with Louis Portal on percussion.

A septet of German improvisers recording in Ulrichsberg, embracing both ea- and acoustic instrumentation that borders on free jazz but takes things a bit farther, with free vocals from Mara Kolibri adding unusual asides and narrative around highly intertwining sax, trombone, cello, electric guitar, percussion, glitch and electronics; unique and engaging.