Pedal Steel guitar innovator Susan Alcorn in a mostly solo release, beautifully performing 4 lush compositions by Astor Piazzolla, with bassist Michael Formanek joining for the Alcorn-penned "Suite for AHL".

Piano prodigy Ariel, performing complex jazz compositions at the age of 9 (!) with infuences from Matthew Shipp, John Hicks, Kirk Lightsey, Uri Caine, Aaron Goldberg, &c.

Making extensive use of sampling and computer electronics, composer and guitarist Tim Brady combines a major work for 20 guitars on his debut record for Ambiances Magnetiques.

Aural Terrains label leader and electronic composer Thanos Chrysakis in a work in three movements based on a blending of electronics and acoustic instruments.

Twenty-four engrossing improvisations by Nicola Cipani that were made on broken and untuned pianos, keyboards, and even a clavichord that the artist found, from recordings over a two-year period across New York City.

From an exploration of volcanoes in Japan to the ambience of a nap in France, composer Eric Cordier organizes field recordings made in his travels to create exotic and engaging audio environments that transport the listener.

Portuguese composer and pianist Simao Costa in an album of solo prepared piano in the style of John Cage, using transducers, speaker & objects, paced like a Morton Feldman composition, balancing tones and percussive sound in exquisite compositions.

Drummer and percussionist Chris Dadge plays a personal set that was recorded live and includes a variety of percussive stylings varying from minimal ideas to junk-oriented textural play.

A solo poetic album by Andre Duchesne on acoustic guitar playing 14 beautiful songs.

Marc Ducret's Tower series continues, skipping a beat as we jump from Vol 2. to Vol. 4, in this live solo acoustic guitar release from his 2012 Baltic tour, where he reassembles and builds bridges to offer a new vision of the Tower's cycle.

UK Composer Michael Edwards wrote these quiet compositions using his "slippery chicken" software, originally written as a challenge to pianist Rei Nakamura, in contrast to his technical skills, instead requiring pensive accuracy over a steady line of quiet chords.

Bernard Falaise's debut solo album in 15 peieces for guitar ensembles played by one guitarist with the help of overdubbing and digital processing.

A hauntingly beautiful set of solo piano works from Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii, subtle work that belies her incredible techincal skill through beautifully paced and meditative music.

Saxophonist Alexandra Grimal recorded this double CD with pianist Giovanni Di Domenico a the Theatre Du Chatelet, in Paris, France, for adventurous dialog in a dynamic set of original Di Domenico compositions plus freely improvised work, both duo and solo.

Stepping away from the saxophone, composer/improviser Jean-Luc Guionnet presents two large compositions for the organ, each taking a single CD to explore the organ's border effects, resonances, natural saturations, all artefacts that sign the acoustic, analogic, digital, process.

Joane Hetu in her first solo album for alto saxophone and voice that is poetic and intimate.

A compendium of compositions and improvisations from 2009-13 by undersea acoustician and audio engineer A.F. Jones, who uses stringed instruments and analog devices, hand-crafted and found, in works that emphasize structural components such as timbre, tone, or attack over form.

Vancouver-based Jay Crocker, half of Bent Spoon with Chris Dadge, in an album of electronics using homebuilt instruments and treatments, rhythmically based music with effective melodies and a quirky, sometimes lo-fi, but always engaging approach.

During his residency in Vienna as part of Johannes Heuer's "Vor Anker", Kuchen recorded these curious solo works using saxophone and preparations, 6 pieces of understated intent using unconventional approaches rewarding the active listener.

Pianist Marilyn Lerner in a compilation of improvisations created by setting up different microphones in various configurations to highlight different sound qualities of the piano.

The first solo electronics and percussion album by radical and legendary British improvisor Paul Lytton since 1979, recorded in the studio in Germany, and using a wealth of homemade instruments, laptop, percussive devices, objects, and electro-mechanical devices.

Machinefabriek (Rutger Zuydervelt) in an EP of a long sine save compositions that creates a minimally moving piece of consonance and dissonance using beautifully recorded tones.

Composer & pianist Marcin Masecki wrote this work, inspired by Frederic Rzewski and presenting variations on the Chilean song "El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido" (The town united will never be defeated) and invited pianist Piotr Nowicki to perform it for this recording.

An emotional solo concert performed at Chicago's Corbett vs. Dempsey gallery, an ode to Mazurek's mother a few months after her passing, on cornet, flutes, bells, books, maracas, apples, and little electronics, in a touching and beautiful celebration of her life.

A much-needed reissue of McPhee's 1979 Hat Hut LP documenting his 1977 concert at Salle Ste Croix des Pelletiers, performing 3 original compositions and Monk's "Round Midnight" with incredible skill and inventiveness.

A member of the French ONJ (Orchestre National de Jazz), saxophonist Metzger also works with a variety of real-time transformation music software; this is an excellent review of his compositions and his unique voice in modern improvisation.

A solo electric guitar soundtrack to James Nares' film "Street" performed by Thurston Moore, freely improvising in a dynamic and impressive performance recorded live at the Rubloff Auditorium at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.

Live recordings from guitarist Joe Morris, performing solo at Bimhuis in Amsterdam in two Octobers from 2013 to 2014, showing remarkable technical and creative skills while captivating his audience with accessible progressions and story-telling; masterful!

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.

Percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani presents thirteen pieces that take the listener on an expedition in the modern use of percussion, beautifully paced with rich sound, unexpected harmonic properties, fascinating punctuation, a mesmerizing journey.

Jamie Newton works with sound using guitar, keyboards, field recordings, processing, and Kyoto croquet, here in a contemplative set of works merging drone and thick noise with indistinct rhythms and layers of concrete sounds.

Tonewheel organ meditations along with feedback and sound forms using processed guitar, keyboards and field recordings from sound artist Jamie Newton, 2 slowly evolving tonal works sandwiching three more turbulent pieces in a journey of drone, noise and reflection.

Ever-active bassist Pascal Niggenkemper in his first solo album of riveting and intriguing double bass work, from aggressive to contemplative and immersive improvisations using work using bass preparations to transform the instrument and make us rethink its potential.

Guitarist Joacim Nyberg, also performing on double bass, bell and recorder, in a live performance in Stockholm, Sweden at Fylkingen in 2014, using "Wood, steel, air. Hands, fingers, heart" in an open-ended and ardent exposition of his interpretation of jazz.

Composer Frank Perry presents some new and some old unreleased recordings of solos, duos and trios featuring world famous musicians such as Evan Parker, David Toop, Paul Lytton, Paul Lovens, Jin Hi Kim and Trevor Taylor.

Portugese harpist Eduardo Raon uses harp, daxophone, electronics, voice & percussion to create dramatic music that applies his classical training to improvisational methods, using real-time electronic processing to create encompassing yet intricate and unusual sonic environments.

Compositions by Lasse-Marc Riek of the Gruenrekorder label, created from field recordings of sounds in harbors, recorded between 1999 & 2007 in Finland's Bjorkoby and Ostero harbors, and in Germany in Wismar and Hamburg harbors, rich evocations of the sea.

Percussionist Robair placed an Ebow over a street-sweeper blade or a short length of guitar string, and then placed those on the head of a snare drum or floor tom, recording without effects to allow natural rhythms and harmonic modulation to come forth.

Two passionate studio improvisations from saxophonist Matana Roberts, who lovingly dedicates the album to "those bard(s) of summer...the ideas herein of which I gleaned/interrogated/investigated/celebrated with you..."; subtle, rich, and inspiring.

Italian drummer Mirko Sabatini on a solo album that explores different aspects of his instrument's sound and mechanics through interesting improvisation.

Jean-Luc Guionnet creates a portrayal of Lake Annecy near his home as described through its geographical location, and heard in a series of snapshot field recording compositions that describe the environment, fauna, people and civilization that abound around it.

A solo work from Pierre-Yves Martel performing two works for the viola da gamba, bringing this fretted renaissance-era ancestor to the violin into the 21st century through two slowly evolving and sonically fascinating pieces.

Electroacoustic composer Jocelyn Robert creates a field recording audio map of locations he's traveled to, to which he applys audio techniques equivalent to a geographer's scaling, removing, enhancing, and adding to a map, in the process creating a journey and a story.

Baltimore brass player and composer Dave Ballou, know for Either/Orchestra, Meridian Art Ensemble, John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble, Satoko Fujii ensembles, &c, in an intimate, diverse, and informed solo album performed on Bb trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet, and mutes.

Live electronic compositions from 1993-2005 by composer Agostino Di Scipio, using acoustic instruments and digital sound processing to create unusual and previously unheard sound worlds.

Unreleased for more than 39 years, these remarkably creative live solo performances on trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, steelophone, percussion and gongs from improvisor and composer Wadada Leo Smith were recorded in Los Angeles in 1977, during his visionary Kabell Records years.

NY guitarist Mary Halvorson's solo album, worked out after a tour opening for King Buzzo, has her performing creative interpretations of works from modern composers like Roscoe Mitchell, Ornette Coleman, Oliver Nelson, & Tomas Fujiwara, back to Duke Ellington's "Solitude".

In 1979 Joe McPhee, working with CJR produced Craig Johnson, recorded this set of overdubbed recordings of himself performing on saxes, trumpet and flugelhorn over original compositions showcasing solo, duo, trio and quartet contexts, an album of virtual McPhee ensembles!

Dutch vocalist and electronic artist Jaap Blonk takes on insomnia in 13 short works celebrating sleeplessness, including one piece for Dada sound poet Raoul Hausmann, and other "songs" using effective electronics and bizarre vocal utterances to accompany your own sleepless nights.

Pianist Samuel Vriezen performs Tom Johnson's work presenting what Johnson describes as a natural phenomenon within a musical scale: progressions in 1 to 5 voices of all possible combinations of notes with each voice being limited to 3 steps, a perfect 4th or a perfect 5th.

John McAlpine performs composer Tom Johnson's beautiful piano cycle "Counting Keys", using mathematical progressions to create the structure of its 5 movements; plus 8 parts from his "Organ and Silence for Piano"; and two other compositions using mathematical processes.

A solid solo outing from Zurich-based double bassist Friodlin, presenting his 4-part "Camping; Cafe Bar" work, blending the jazz idiom with discursive asides and unusual techniques, plus a lovely and appropriately titled work "But Beautiful".

A beautifully ambient album of analogue synthesiser, microtonal saxophone and electronics by Argentinian saxophonist Sergio Merce, a single long track that pauses and resumes its rich tones and harmonies at a deliberate and measured pace, allowing each environment to ring.

Four works interpreted for accordion performed by Edwin Alexander Buchhol, including John Cage's "Cheap Imitation"; Michael Pisaro-Liu's "Here (2)"; Jurg Frey's "Sam Lazaro Bros." and Antoine Beuger's "die geschichte des sandkorns".

Pushing the envelope on minimalism, Manfred Werder's 3 scores for "2003" present just 6 tones, the instructions telling 3, 2 or 1 performers to play a pitch or sound for 3-7 seconds twice during the performance; realized by Erik Carlson, Stephanie Richards, and D. Edward Davis.

Inspired by the glitch audio work of Korean-American improviser Bonnie Jones, Rutger Zydervelt (Machinefabriek) unscrews the base of pedal effects to circuit-bend and probe them for unexpected sounds, organized into this album of pure and deformed electronics.

Recording on Calgary, CA guitarist Cody Oliver's old resonator guitar, this set of untitled solo recordings finds Oliver playing every inch of the guitar, using the body, pickups, strings and natural resonance as equal partners in exploring unusual territory.

Co-founder of the Association of Improvising Musicians in Toronto (AIMToronto) and a member of The Rent, Scott Thomson presents a solo trombone release of explorative approaches to the instrument, masterful work from one of Canada's leading improvisers.

Pianist Roger Admiral performs Canadian composer Mark Hannesson's "The Angel's Game", and "Memory Sustained", both minimal works for solo piano, the second using a set of instructions giving the performer advice and discretion over pacing and approach.

Brooklyn-based Ben Owen recorded this work in 2010 at the Experimental Television Center in Owego, NY, presenting the original work "Birds And Water" and two edits, which are mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.

A captivating compilation from electronic composer Michel Banabila recorded between 2005-2016, a combination of studio, live and theatre recordings remixed into two continuous tracks of sound, with collaborations including Oene Van Geel and Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek).

Pianist Matt Mitchell, a member of saxophonist Tim Berne's Snakeoil, releases a solo album of Berne compositions, taking the reedist's typically frenetic material into unexpected territory, revealing dark beauty and intensely introspective aspects to Berne's music.

After bringing her band Kaze to the Cortez club in Mito, Japan, the owner asked pianist Satoko Fujii back to perform a solo show, captured here across two CDs showing her extensive technical skills and passionate approach to playing, in a mix of new work and new takes on previously recorded compositions.

The French Le Bruit de la Musique festival is run by Le Quan Ninh and Martine Altenburger, who invited Simon H. Fell to perform a solo set on the doublebass, the result being this fantastic album that takes the largest of bass instruments through an astonishing array of approaches enhanced by the acoustics of the church of Toulx-Sainte-Croix.

Eric La Casa documents his home environment in Paris through audio investigation and field recordings, creating 3 large works that reveal the properties, singularities, banalities and features of his audio environment in perspective to his status as a citizen of the city, presented in a gatefold CD package with a color 60-page booklet of photos and text.

An amazing solo CD of free improvisation from guitarit David Stackenaus, showing incredible technique and melodic intent, equally at ease when exploring tonality and melody or abstract noisy textures; compelling and impressive playing!

Roman philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus named "Clinamen" the unpredictable (in time and space) swerve of atoms falling in the void, which aptly describes the unexpected directions taken in subtle free improvisation from this French trio, led by bassist Louis-Michel Marion, with Jacques Di Donato on clarinet, and Philippe Berger on viola.

American organist and composer Carson Cooman performs three sontatinas, each in three movements, and the 2014 work "drones", by German contemporary composer Eva Maria Houben, a member of the Wandelweiser group, all slowly evolving works of tone and subtle harmonics.

A central figure in the Portuguese creative music scene, from the pop group GNR to free improv in Telectu to contemporary composition, guitarist Vitor Rua presents a 2-CD album, one multi-tracking solo in complex and astonishing ways, and the 2nd playing the same scores with his group The Metaphysical Angels of top figures in the Portuguese avant jazz scene.

Drummer Gerry Hemingway in a CD & DVD release, 15 audio tracks and accompanying video and interview, dividing the program into "mist, dust, light, and sex", highlighting aspects of this prominent percussionist that expand our understanding of his prodigious abilities.

Solo improvisation from Stefen Keune performing on sopranino and alto saxophones, intense playing that focuses on hard-blowing and extreme performance, wringing a singularly desperate yet astute language from the horn.

Solo improvisations on the Turkish Clarinet from Claudio Parodi, an Italian classically trained pianist who also works with self-built/self-modified electronics, non-western reeds, and selected percussions.

Performing on solo electric & acoustic guitars, oud, charango and synthesizer, NYC guitarist Ken Silverman dedicates this album to musicians such as T-Bone Walker, Hamza El Din, Jimmy Page, Robert Fripp, &c.

Pianist Claudia Binder presents 3 concepts for solo piano - the introspective "Room for a Sound" and it's dramatic inverse, "Sound for a Room"; "Polyphony" in 3 parts using piano preparation, one part playful, one part serious, one part peculiar; and an inexplicable "It Takes Two to Tango"--in performances revealing a curious mind and tremendous skill.

"Exosphere is the follow up to Mekhaanu-La Foret des Mecanismes Sauvages(Insubordinations Netlabel, 2013) and like that album, Exosphere features Moimeme on his two home-made electric guitars, enhancers and assorted sound devices. The s...

"Farhadian is an American composer and performer with a base in San Francisco and one in Berlin. Her work often is about connecting solo violin and interactive electronics. Combining her classical background as violist (Berkeley Symphon...

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The fourth dance piece by Dutch/Spanish choreographer Ivan Perez to feature an original soundtrack by Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek), performed live on stage in Korzo in The Hague, and at Vondelpark in Amsterdam, the composer and coreographer developing a movement and sound 'vocabulary' to create a performance that mixes structured and improvised music.

On the 30th anniversary of the Victo Festival Anthony Braxton took to the stage for a magnificent solo performance on the alto sax, performing 8 spontaneous compositions and an 8+ minute version of "Body and Soul", seamlessly crossing lyrical and complex approaches to the horn using his unique intervallic, trimbral and diagrammatic language, a stunning and embraceable accomplishment.

Swiss accordionist Hans Hassler stands above the (small) crowd of improvising accordionist in the breadth of his career, his ability to balance both lyrical, abstract, serious, and humorous aspects in his approach to the instrument, a true original in intent and ability to engage his listeners, in 15 original and diverse compositions recorded in 2017.

A student of Christian Dierstein and Fred Frith, French percussionist Camille Emaille, working in both modern compositional and improvised music and influenced by Middle Eastern and Persian approaches, presents an album of solo percussion work selected from eight improvisations recorded in Bromont, Canada, using a diverse and unusual set of percussive instruments.