Multi-instrumentalist improviser Novak, who has worked with Tim Daisy and Tatsuya Nakatani, in an eclectic and complex solo release of colliding genres.

Vocalist Savoldelli in an exquisitely-crafted album of overdubbed vocal work, with help from trumpeter Paolo Fresu and bassist Jimmy Haslip; elaborite harmonies, interlocking rhythms, exultant influences.

Five unique pieces from improvisers Birgit Ulher (trumpet, radio, speaker, objects) and Christoph Schiller (spinet, preperations) recorded in Hamburg with no post-production work.

Composer John Shiurba with an impressive West Coast octet including vocalists Lara Bruckmann & Morgan Guberman, trumpeter Tom Djll, drummer Gino Robair, and bassist Matthew Sperry, &c. conducting them through five twisted compositions.

Collecting multi-instrumentalist & vocalist Bob Drake's albums Little Black Train, The Skull Mailbox and Other Horrors, XIII Songs and a Thing, The Shunned Country, and Bob's Drive-In in a solid box set, with a bonus CD, a specially curated collection of outtakes and oddities from this amazing avant-rocker, a member of Thinking Plague, 5uu's, Hail and The Science Group.

The free improvising trio of Makoto Sato on drums, Jean-Francois Pauvros on guitar and Jean-Marc Foussat on synthesizer & voice in a studio album of unique electro-acoustic dialog recorded in Paris in 2013.

Deep Blues and Creative Jazz from the Italian septet Roots Magic, following up their "Hoodoo Magic" CD with another compelling album of instrumentals where the track list consists of personal renditions of Delta Blues classics (mostly Charlie Patton) played with an overtly exploratory attitude derived from the Free Jazz tradition.

Steve MacLean's 5-piece ensemble perform complex, composed polyrhythmic pieces interspersed with atmospheric improvisations for guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion and various objects.

Tiptons saxophonist Sue Orfield's Band performs original music that spans many genres from blues rock and funk to jazz and bluegrass with a little ethnic vibe thrown in.

Claude St-Jean's band, Les Projectionnistes (Tommy Babin, Bernard Falaise, Pierre Labbe, Remi Leclerc), plays an ecletic mix of songs ranging from alternative jazz, rock, and improv.

NY's Talibam! team up with artist graphic artist Sam Kulik to tell the absurd and fantastic story of a young teen named Franklin who gets abducted by a revolutionary jazz fish into the undersea world of Atlantis.

The TSIGOTI quarter brings together Italians Jacopo Andreini on guitar, Andrea Caprara on drums, and Piero Spitilli on bass with California pianist Thollem McDonas for critical avant punk with a technically brilliant flair.

After a six year break, the Humcrush duo of Stale Storlokken on keys and Thomas Stronen on drums & electronics return with this studio album of rhythmic angularities and experimental sound worlds, drawing on their experiences with bands including Supersilent, Food, Elephant9, Time is a blind guide, Meadow and Motorpsycho.

Fred Frith's West Coast Cosa Brava with Carla Kihlstedt, Zeena Parkins, and Matthias Bossi playing all Frith compositions driven by his love of the (improvised) rock format.

Japanese steelpan player Yoshio Machida leads this pan-national pop band in their second album, blending electronics and popular forms of music referencing and using electronic and acoustic rock, funk, synthpop, and spoken word, with the majority of the band Serbian artists, and guest musicians including Tatsuhisa Yamamoto (Jim O'Rourke), Paranel, and Misha.

A pioneer of the modern singer/songwriter genre from the 50s, little is known of Connie Converse except her exceptional songbook, given life here in a tribute to her work through 16 songs interpreted by an amazing set of singers and instrumentalists, including Laurie Anderson, Petra Haden, Mary Halvorson, Mike Patton, Eyvind Kang, Oren Bloedow, Jessica Pavone, &c. &c.

A 2-CD release from Japanese percussionist Seijiro Murayama, performing solo on "objects" which combines clearly percussive objects and other electroacoustic items of obscure origin, creating active, rich and curious sonic environments that envelop the listener.

The UK's Delta Saxophone Quartet of Chris Caldwell, Peter Whyman, Graeme Blevins and Tim Holmes, known for their interpretations of compositional and popular music, take on the music of David Bowie, particularly focused on his Berlin years, and also connected pieces from Brian Eno's ambient output, and Brecht's "Alabama Song" in reference to Bowie's "Baal" album.

Guitarist Bill Frisell joins forces with producer/arranger Kramer for an exploration of the legendary song writing teams that were developed in the legendary Brill Building at 1619 Broadway in New York City, where songwriters like Paul Simon, Burt Bacharach, Neil Diamond, Doc Pomus, Al Kooper, & Carole King created some of American culture's most endearing work.

Bridging folk traditions with modern aesthetics, the duo of Evan Baker on guitar and Austin Glover on violin, both contributing songs, sing about everyday events, music, and life, the songs having a bluesy and even early Kinks feel at times, made unique through a cappella moments and languid instrumental sections.

Perhaps the most exceptional of the "road' albums from the Henry Cow Box Set, this 1976 Trondheim concert found the band missing bassist John Greaves and singer Dagmar Krauss, so instead of their set list they shut off the lights and gave the audience pure improvisation using EA and concrete approaches, heard in spectacular detail in Bob Drake' remaster.

Leaning more towards rock than jazz, but blending compelling blues-based improv, NY guitarist Nick Millevoi leads his Desertion project through a look at Wildwood, NY, the core of the trio as bassist Johnny DeBlase (Many Arms, Sabbath Assembly) and drummer Kevin Shea (Mostly Other People Do The Killing, Talibam!), with Jamie Saft on organ throughout.

The 2nd album for NY-based saxophonist Yoni Kretzmer's Chamber-Improv ensemble New Dilemma with Frantz Loriot (viola), Christopher Hoffman (cello), Josh Sinton (bass clarinet), Pascal Niggenkemper (double bass) and Flin Van Hemmen (drums), investigating "the intricacies differentiating and combining the written and the improvised continue with further depth and chance".

Anthony Pateras & Valerio Tricoli worked 7 years transforming pianos, organs, harpsichords, tape machines and synthesizers into an expansive sonic otherworld that celebrates the "End of Times" in three parts; a meticulous and fascinating work.

Hailing from Atlanta, GA, guitarist Tyler Higgins is also a multi-instrumentalist and composer who merges genres of moody, cinematic music based around folk, blues, jazz and twisted with unusual approaches, aided in his endeavors by drummer Paul Steven and wordless vocalist Ellen Higgins, producing a alluring set of musical narratives.

This laptop trio create a dense and scurrying sound world of a surprising freeform nature that avoids cliches by combining sound-generation tools for ever-shifting results.

The duo of Paul Abbot on drum kits, percussion & computer, and Seymour Wright on alto saxophone and feedback, in a massive edge-of-your seat live recording from London's Cafe Oto in 2015, a mix of brutal and beautiful playing with unexpected and surprising twists.

Saxophonist Martin Archer composed the five works on this, the 3rd release for Engine Room Favorites, his AACM-influenced big band with a tremendous orchestration of horns with drums, vibes, piano and bass, here with their most complex yet melodic and rich release yet, including melodic elements of folk music, powerful rhythms from prog-oriented rock, and free improv and jazz.

Univers Zero bassist Guy Seger brought this eclectic group of improvisers into the studio to develop the music on this genre-defying album, informed by a sextet of musicians who have performed and recorded with projects and artists including Vanishing Pictures, X-Legged Sally, Wrong Object, Tony Levin, Tony Bianco, Paul Schutze, Trevor Watts, Zeena Parkins, Jim O'Rourke, &c.

Chester Hawkins' curiosity for Denmark resulted in his renting an apartment in central Kobenhavn, bringing along his electronically modified lapsteel guitar, wind and reed instruments, tabletop noise-boxes, mobile synthesizer apps and a shortwave radio, which he joined with field recordings from the capital region, creating this magnificent loveletter to Denmark.

In the Downtown NY tradition of blurring rock and improvisation, the trio of Marc Ribot on guitar and voice, Shahzad Ismaily on bass, Moog, percussion and voice, and Ches Smith on drums, percussion and electronics, answer their own question 'why are you still here' through 11 genre-crossing songs of turmoil and inquisitiveness, perfect for the polarities of the time.

Issuing on CD the duo album of violinist Samara Lubelski and guitarist Bill Nace, originally released on Nace's Open Mouth label early in 2018, presenting a series of psychedelic textural works, Lubelski creating vibrant and reiterating structures that Nace uses as a foundation for swells and expressive emanations; hypnotic and mesmerizing.

Trumpeter Don Cherry recorded this funk album in France in 1985 with a set of multi-ethnic Paris players including Elli Medeiros and produced by Ramuntcho Matta, the songs crossing funk with jazzy vamps, rock roots and modern approaches, reissued with new liner notes and 5 bonus tracks including the cult 1983 single "Kick" featuring legendary author Brion Gysin.

French composer and producer Hector Zazou's 2nd and last release with a "most exquisite and eccentric of groups, who hardly touched the world of working bands, and whose existence was tenuous, flickering, mythological - and yet who managed, stealthily, to find its way in time to legendary status by leaving an indelible trace in recorded form of their verifiable existence."

Rotterdam based band comprising two Portuguese players--Gonccalo Almeida on bass and Hugo Costa on sax--and German drummer Philipp Ernsting, the trio adding electronics, keys and effects, in their third album slamming hard free jazz and rock angst into a controlled chaos, a maelstrom of powerful riffs, rugged soloing, and mesmerizing grooves.

Fitting squarely in the Rock In Opposition mold, Stop Motion Orchestra is an Austin, Texas-based instrumental chamber rock band orchestrated with sax, violin, guitar, synth-bass, drums, here in their second album bringing a bright and melodic force that reminds of Hamster Theatre, Debile Menthol or L'Ensemble Raye; sophisticated, charming and knowledgeable music.

Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and song-writer Bob Drake's 10th album, an unusual and quirky journey through rock, RIO, and prog references, exploring the "The island of the Lupi" through a strange set of songs, a showcase for Drake's immense skills and enigmatic curiosity in 16 miniatures of descriptive passages, brilliant playing and exceptional production.

A strong start to the Australian trio The Neck's 24th album, as Chris Abrahams on piano & keyboards, Tony Buck on drums, percussion & guitar, and Lloyd Swanton on acoustic bass present a powerhouse of free improvisation in a single hour-long work, the first half evoking jazz leaning, with a free and spacious bridge that builds suddenly to a rocking groove.

Slyly crossing modern improv and EAI approaches in a surreal take on early bottleneck, banjo and slide blues styles from the Quebec quintet of Arthur Bull on harmonica, voice, guitar & electronics, Eric Normand on banjo, voice & bass, Ben Grossman on "old wheel", Anne-Francoise Jacques on engines, and Gabriel Rochette on trombone; sincere and eccentric.

Doc Chad took his Contemporary Rock Band, here as a quintet with Schroeder on drums, Fisten Titus Waldenfels on fiddle, Jan Fitsen on bass, and Marcello Del Bosco on drums, on a tour of Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, here presenting the best of the tour with recordings of Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, plus a solo piece recorded on a vintage acoustic guitar.

Drummer Weasel Walter turns to his love of furious metallic music in this intimidating album of chaotic, noisy skronk rock in a solo album played on guitars, drums and electronics accompanied by distorted grunts that add a disturbing layer to the madness; aggressively skillful and demanding, intended to be played LOUD, with a take-no-prisoners, no-apology attitude.

Influenced by progressive rock, kosmiche, and fusion forms, the UK trio Das Rad of Nick Robinson on guitars & electronics, Martin Archer on sax, reeds, winds, keys and electronics, Steve Dinsdale on drums and percussion, and Julie Archer on voice, bringing 70s sounds to modern sensibilities and superb creative playing, a great achievement.

Declaring Terry Riley, Magma, Krautrock, and Sun Ra as influences, this is the fourth album from wind and keyboard player Martin Archer's Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere, an augmented six-piece UK ensemble whose rock affinities also embrace improvisation and minimalism, a heady mix of virtuosic playing with melodic intention and extremely detailed tapestries of sound; dreamy and elegiac.

A collaborative French instrumental rock band led by and with compositions from the core quartet of Anthony Belguise (drums), Jean-Loup Faurat (guitar), Regis Laugier (bass) and Nico Morcillo (guitar), with a list of 22 international guests across 8 songs and instrumentals, including Rafael Toral, Maria Radich, Paulo Furtado, Carlos Zingaro, Rui Carvalho, &c.

Recorded in the late 1970's in Canada while improvising rock, jazz, pysch, folk, country & blues guitar madman Doctor Eugene Chadbourne was living there, this is the second of four LPs documenting his work at the time, this album presenting 6 solo pieces of profound playing amidst an unusual experimental nature and a uniquely Chad sense of humor.

An essential reissue of the only album from this Rock in Opposition supergroup, with two members of Henry Cow & The Work--bassist Mick Hobbs and Tim Hodgkinson playing "Hawaiian laptop noisy guitar" and keyboards--and Andy Wake from Unrest Work & Play, in a great set of songs with a literate and post-punk viciousness and unusual approaches to rhythm and sound.

The sixth album from guitarist Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen's scorching Norwegian instrumental rock trio, having built a strong following through their impressive approach to rock, schooled from both early hard/progressive band but also driving fusion bands, with a penetrating edge in authoritative soloing and intense rhythmic interplay.

A strange and bizarrely beautiful "fanzine" of three CDs, one each from hurdy gurdy drone artist Yann Gourdon, bass guitarist Maxime Petite, and Jean Luc Guionnet on organ, with illustration by artists Fredox, Celine Guichard, and 38Fillette; an odd and absorbing package.

John Zorn's Masada Book Three, "The Book Beri'ah", continues in its second volume with this powerful and demanding album from the Philadelphia avant-metal band of Ludovic Beier on accordion & accordina, Timba Harris on violins, Matt Hollenberg on guitars & Oud, Dan Kennedy on bass, Larry Kwartowitz on drums, and Nick Shellenberger on keyboards & vocals.

In 2010 Scandinavian guitarists Raoul Bjorkenheim and Anders Nilsson performed this incredible concert at DMG in NYC, accompanied by NY drummer Gerald Cleaver, a breathtaking album of intricate improvised interplay.

A heavy album merging free improvisation, blues and rock forms from the French Killing Spree trio of Matthieu Metzger on alto saxophone & electronics, Sylvain Daniel on electric bass & effects, and Gregoire Galichet on drums, living up to the band name in dark malice captured live at Club Soto in Kyoto, Japan during their 2018 Japanese tour; vengeful.

A split 7": on one side Sleepytime Gorilla Museum percussionist/drummer/composer Moe! Staiano's West Coast rotating ensemble Surplus 1980 in a teaser for an upcoming release with G.W. Sok, Kyle Bruckmann, members of Fred Frith Trio and Total Shutdown; on the other side King Champion Sounds featuring G.W. Sok, formerly of the Dutch band the Ex.

Surplus 1980 Collectiv Ensembl takes the current members of drummer Moe! Staiano's Surplus 1980 along with associated musicians, including Kyle Bruckmann, John Shiurba, Vicky Grossi, Paul Costuros, &c, with vocals from Dutch vocalist G.W. Sok (The Ex), in an album of avant post-punk rock, sophisticated but determined and pointed music, an unusual hybrid of impressive styles.

Including musicians involved with the Canterbury scene (Sophia Domancich), Magma (Simon Goubert) and Henry Cow's own John Greaves narrating, French flutist Michel Edelin's Quintet takes on the music of Rock in Opposition legendary band Henry Cow, ten inventive "echoes" of their music as it has transformed performers and listeners over time; exceptional.

Guitarist Electric Bird Noise, aka Brian Lea McKenzie, continues his string of slightly off-center rock albums, primarily instrumental work, this album including a muscular quartet with Jason Hearn on drums, Bradley Wayne Roberts on bass, Steve Strong on drums, plus an Alan Watts narration; 8 dramatic tracks using loops, effects, backward tracking and other aural trickery.

Washington, DC based electronic experimenter Chester Hawkins (Blue Sausage Infant) was commissioned by director Tim Ashby to compose this work for the soundtrack to his feature-length film "Pale Trees", Hawkin's music illustrating the film's gradient of psychological colors from darkness, rage, and vengeance through a mix of kosmische drone in a Tangerine Dream vein.

Mattin takes 5 spontaneous 5-minute songs from 5 musicians, and a 25 minute concert structured by 5 instructions based on those song titles, then records vocals for the 5 songs as a singing lecture, then superimposes all 3 to create the five 5-minutes songs on this album.

A split LP with each side featuring a 20 minute solo track from both brotherly halves of the acclaimed space guitar improvising band My Cat Is An Alien.

This Heat and Camberwell Now drummer, songwriter, vocalist, experimenter and sociological observer Charles Hayward steps away from his drums for an intimate album of song, performing on piano with minimal accompaniment as he presents new songs and new versions of songs including pieces from Camberwell Now; powerfully fragile, insightful, fascinating.

Blending a punk rock sensibility with Sephardic tribalism via a taste of North African Gnawa magic, Abraxas is one of the most primal and rocking ensembles in the Masada family, here taking on the 5th edition of Masada Book Three, "The Book Beri'ah", recording in Bill Laswell's studio for 9 joyfully exuberant and intensely executed interpretations of Zorn's compositions.

John Zorn invited the trio of guitarist Will Greene, bassist Simon Hanes, and drummer Aaron Edgcomb, to found a new band and play his score books "Bagatelles" and "Apparitions" for his Tzadik label; the trio found common ground merging jazz, experimental and rock forms, forming Trigger and releaseing this album of wonderfully strange creative intent.

With 3 members of the sextet Slow is Possible--alto saxophonist Bruno Figueira, guitarist Joao Clemente and drummer Duarte Fonseca--plus bassist Joao Lucas (who has his own trio on Creative Sources), this cat is a genre-mashing band, blurring jazz and rock forms in a very Downtown NY way: open-minded, surprising, articulate, sophisticated, and passionate improv.

Varying the instrument and proportions of acoustic or electric presentation straddling the foreground/background dynamic for each track, Appalachian Trance Metal guitarist Killick presents his first vinyl LP to extend his vast CD discography; a worthy and curious album of solo guitar, acoustic and electroacoustic work that belongs in any guitar enthusiast's collection.

Chester Hawkins' long-running BSI project now based in DC, layering groove based (kraut)rock with unearthly sound sources, plundered samples, and all form of unmentionable sound.

Mujician pianist Keith Tippetts embarked on his first solo tour in 1979, capturing these concert recordings that were originally released in 1980 on vinyl on the Universe Label; long out of print, Discus has revived these extraordinary recordings, showing the incredible technical abilities, endurance, and quick-witted creative powers of this legendary improviser.

The second album of this Guy Segers (Univers Zero) project in an eclectic ensemble of improvisers, rock musicians and experimenters, a genre-defying project of primarily instrumental work with interventions of song, merging acoustic & electric instruments with electronics, live improvisation with studio manipulation, to find new forms of mesmerizing music.

The collaboration between Magaibutsu label leader, Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins, Korekyojinn, Koenji, The World Heritage, &c) on drums, keyboards & voice, and Heldon mastermind Richard Pinhas on guitar & effects, continues with this CD of live material from their 2014 Japanese tour, extending the 2015 "Live in Japan" album, including the 8-part "Ascension".

Created out of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and drummer/percussionist Moe Staiano's Mute Socialite, this 7-piece improvising rock band turns rock on it's side in mostly instrumental, energetically complex and twisted rock pieces with acerbic social narrative, the band employing three drummers, bass & two guitars, piano and trumpet from Darren Johnston.

The Barcelona trio of Gorka Benitez on tenor saxophone & flute, Guillermo Celano on electric guitar, and Marcos Baggiani on drums, play a lyrical and bluesy brand of instrumental rock music which they describe as an eclectic approach to rock emphasizing pure energy and fun, in nine upbeat and groove-oriented tunes of tight and enthusiastic playing.

Burning Ghost is the West Coast rock influenced improvising quartet of Daniel Rosenboom on trumpet, guitarist Jake Vossler, Richard Giddens on double bass, and Aaron McLendon on drums, in a fiery album of heavy playing that borrows from jazz and metal rock forms, with ominious political overtones in their titles while showing articulate and impressive playing skill.

In the Downtown NY tradition of blurring rock and improvisation, the trio of Marc Ribot on guitar and voice, Shahzad Ismaily on bass, Moog, percussion and voice, and Ches Smith on drums, percussion and electronics, answer their own question 'why are you still here' through 11 genre-crossing songs of turmoil and inquisitiveness, perfect for the polarities of the time.

The first duo in 14 years between guitarist Loren Connors and vocalist Suzanne Langille inspired by and using slides of MP Landis' WD series of paintings, which he created live during music performances.

Fred Frith's solo career started on the West Coast Ralph Records label, home of The Residents; Frith met Residents front man Hardy Fox in passing in 1991, making recordings on a Pacific beach using Fox's Walkman, which they brought to a multi-track studio to record the basis for an ultimately unreleased album, now revived decades later as Fox rediscovered this fascinating material.

Peter Hammill continues his immense solo career, intricately linked to his work with Van Der Graaf Generator, but more focused in intelligent lyrics, profound vocal layering, and fluid song structures, a unique voice who for more than 35 studio albums has developed an approach to songwriting and intellectual observation of subtle sophistication and detail.

More typically a solo performer, Japanese bluesman Kan Mikami has created a distinctive path for his voice, guitar and poetic lyrics; here he is propelled in an improvisational setting with two powerful UK players--John Edwards on bass and Alex Neilson on drums--captured live at London's Cafe Oto for a growling concert of finesse and brusque attitude.

Born from rock bands like Cleric and Simulacrum, this NY instrumental, improvising rock trio blends avant-garde classical, free jazz, dissonant math metal, ambient and world music into a powerful new mix, with Nick Shellenberger on bass and synth, Matt Buckley on drums & percussion, and Matt Hollenberg on guitar; intricate, edgy, demanding and driven music.

The overdue 2003 release of Rune Grammofon's 10 year anniversary book and 2 CD set, revised and superior to the 1st edition with new art, more tracks, more pages, &c.

John Zorn brings together Downtown New Yorkers, Marc Ribot on guitar, Trevor Dunn on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums, for 12 instrumental miniatures combining atonal lyricism with rock intensity; scronky, demanding and exciting hybrids of improv and rock.

Tenor saxophonist Sam Hillmer (The Diamond Terrifier) takes NYC's Zs into a new direction as a trio with guitarist Patrick Higgins and percussionist Greg Fox, presenting the two part "Grain", a massive work of reorganized sound.

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.

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.