Without bowing to genre restrictions, Gabriel Zucker's indie jazz orchestra The Delegation combines free jazz, chamber forms, avant song structures and experimental layering & transitions, as his large work in four sections of three movements each, explores time and the competing impulses of a backwards-looking nostalgia and a forwards-looking futurist belief in progress; innovative & stunning!

The core quartet of Gulfh of Berlin — Gebhard Ullmann on tenor saxophone & bass clarinet, Gerhard Gschlossl on trombone & sousaphone, Johannes Fink on double bass & cello and Jan Leipnitz on drums & objects — are heard in the studio with guest Michael Haves providing live sound processing, expanding the sound of Gulfh's innovative sound-sculpting avant jazz

Calling his music jazz and not jazz, bassist Brandon Lopez demands of his listeners to dance, as the quartet of Lopez, Steve Baczkowski on saxophones, Gerald Cleaver on percussion and Cecilia Lopez on synthesizer are heard in this energetic live concert at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, blurring free jazz with experimental sound that never loses its strong grooves.

Argentinian sound artist based in NYC Cecilia Lopez engages fellow Brandon Lopez Trio double bassist Lopez and drummer Gerald Cleaver for a performance of improvisation, installation and architecture, using woven wire nets filled with instruments and hung from Roulette Intermedia's ceiling to act as a complex feedback organism with which the trio interacts.

A live album at the Cafe de Paris in 2019, and the recording debut of the international quartet Diaphane of Frantz Loriot on viola, Raphael Loher on piano, Carl Ludwig Hübsch on tuba and Carlo Costa on percussion, heard here in an extended and fully free improvisation using unusual techniques and objects to extend the pallet of their acoustic instruments.

Based in NY but born the Netherlands, sound artist Flin Van Hemmen's title refers to observations from his hometown of Nijmegen, the concept focusing his work, with many samples originating from his previous Casting Spells & The Coves album, along with new field recordings and studio work, resulting in richly detailed worlds of sound and momentum.

During a two-day encounter in Houston in 2012, visiting improviser & guitarist Keith Rowe and double bassist Damon Smith combined with guitarist Sandy Ewen, on day 1 joining with her all-female experimental music ensemble Lady Band (of Various Fruit Names) to perform works from the 70s London ensemble Scratch Orchestra; on day 2 recording two uniquely creative improvsations as a trio.

Touring the South and Midwest US just before the pandemic lockdown, the assertive Chicago trio Kuzu of Dave Rempis on alto, tenor & baritone saxophones, Tashi Dorji on guitar and Tyler Damon on drums, processed and echoed the sense of uncertainty they encountered, capturing it in depth during two concerts and reflecting it in this powerful, almost ritualistic free jazz album.

Using a vast array of instruments categorized by clarinets, double reeds, flutes, free reed aerophones, strings, electronics, electroacoustic sound-makers, percussion, duck calls, sirens and voice, David Peck layers his improvisation into four renditions of himself, which he refers to as a Quartet of PEKs, this work focusing on new instruments developed by Tim Kaiser.

Recording as An Orchestra of PEKs--overdubbed tracks performing with his arsenal of metallic, percussive and electronics devices--intermediate mixes here of electric cello and electric upright bass through Moogerfooger stomp box and syntrix analog synthesizer and a metallic percussion mix, the various timbres interacting as a larger environment for PEK's reed improvisations.

Before initiating the live improvisation that makes up Complex & Real Dimensions, reedist and multi-instrumentalist David Peck built a foundation track including electro-acoustic instruments created by Tim Kaiser, particularly the loop-capable "Large Spring Box", creating tone, timbre and interludes over which PEK passionately performs.

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An album of electronic rhythmical work, glitch, soundscape experimentation and hallucinatory sound from Robert Newell, a member of Amalgamated, with fellow Amalgamated member Phillip Klampe assisting in contribution and production; 14 concise and diverse examples of twisted conceptual sound following a concept of life forming from the brine.

An exploration of texture and mood through electronics, performed by Romanian poet and plastic artist Gili Mocanu between 2015 & 2016, divided in four suites of striking and specific interpretive sound inspired by the eclipse of August 21, 2017, detailed in a beautiful 16 page booklet of eclipse imagery from the artist, packaged in a DVD snap case.

Using prepared re-recorded cassettes, iPad apps, sound effects, laptop, shortwave radio, small synthesizers, ancient 2bit sampling device, all recorded on the spot without multi-tracking or extensive post-editing, Frans de Waard's 2017 Modelbau release presents 22 concise recordings of joyfully quirky electronic expression, from Kraftwerkian sound to curious peculiarity; wonderful.

Crossing experimental sound and rhythmic approaches that blend elements of electronic music, krautrock, noise, electronica and indescribable sonic environments, the quartet of Cory Bengtsen, Bob Newell, Phillip Klampe and Mike Richards are heard in their 6th full-length release, an embraceable and well-paced album of compelling beats and sonic surprises.

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In the spirit of Downtown NY by merging forms of jazz, rock and experimental music, Chris Pitsiokos bookends his album with two solo pieces, joining forces with NY electric guitarist Rick Eye for 4 tracks and drummer Jason Nazary joining for 3 tracks, as Pitsiokis performs on alto & baritone sax, harmonica, electric bass, guitar & drums, electronic instruments & voice.

Based around gongs, chimes, glockenspiel, Tibetan bowls and many other metallic sounds, plus reeds and horns, signal processing & synths, the Boston improvising core duo of Metal Chaos Ensemble is formed by percussionist Yuri Zbitnoff and multi-reedist David Peck, here joined by guest electric bass player Mike Gruen to create a power trio edition of the band.

In 1969 alto saxophonist Anthony Braxton released an unprecedented solo saxophone album, For Alto, dedicating each piece to a composer or player, including Leroy Jenkins and John Cage; Boston improviser David Peck took this album as inspiration to create his own extended solo improvisation as a tribute to Braxton, performing on a classic Selmer Balanced Action saxophone.

Boston improviser and multi-instrumentalist David Peck (PEK) in a solo album using his Quartet of PEKs formats, improvising in the studio through four layers, presenting the final installment of a triptych of albums constrained to one or two woodwind instrument families - this one for flutes and double reeds, along with nadaswaram, shenai, goat horn, dizi, bass tromboon, &c &c.

For Boston improviser David Peck, a surprisingly small set of instruments for this extended solo work focused on Bb, bass & contrabass clarinets, recorded in a continuous improvisation augmented with goat horn, ocarinas, wood flutes, penny whistle, triple slide whistle, chromatic harmonica, hulusi, wind siren, concertina, gongs, tank bell and Tibetan bells.

A mammoth undertaking by Boston multi-instrumentalist David Peck, 3 CDs of studio improvisations about language, one part per CD, performed on a vast array of reeds, percussive instruments and unusual sound sources, with drummer Yuri Zbitnoff joining for intermediate mixes, resulting in a multi-layered and unique sonic universe of depth and dexterity.

Woodwind player Michael Marcus' duo with drummer Jay Rosen performed with fellow reedsman Joe McPhee and a 2nd drummer at the Jazzgalerie Nickelsdorf in 2018, the concept so appealing that he took it to the studio in New York, with Warren Smith handling the 2nd drum part and cementing this unusually orchestrated and elegantly passionate band as "The Blue Reality Quartet".

Beautiful long-form drones and harmonic interactions develop and are then shaken up with sonic deformations and collisions, returning to beautiful environments and then reversed once again, from the duo of sonic explorers Bob Bellerue and Christian Ronn, recording in Copenhagen using organs, electronics, winds, and feedback to create these wonderfully alien domains.

A building and extended set of fully free improvisation using unusual techniques, from the trio of Birgit Ulher on trumpet, radio, speaker & objects, Damon Smith on double bass and Chris Cogburn on percussion & electronics, Ulher using the trumpet as a sound source as much as a conventional instrument, as the trio builds from near silence to intensely controlled interaction.

The Berlin-based trio of guitarist Beat Keller performing on feedbacker electric guitar & acoustic guitar, innovative tuba improviser Jack Adler-McKean and Spanish vocalist & performance artist Lorena Izquierdo Aparicio take on their monsters in five unique and disturbing improvisations recorded in the studio, as they "dance on the fine line between terror and joy".

Initiating like a jet shaking the sky, the trio of Kevin Corcoran on percussion & objects, Giacomo Salis on percussion, objects & field recordings and Paolo Sanna on percussion & objects create otherworldly sonic environments that project collapsing and ringing events above often turbulent foundations, creating side-long journeys that engage through mysterious and surmisable sound.

The first volume in an ongoing collaboration between composers Kenneth Kirschner and Joseph Branciforte, this work explores the application of software-based compositional techniques — including algorithmic processes, generative systems, and indeterminacy — performed in a superb ensemble including members of Flux Quartet and International Contemporary Ensemble.

Like a blanket of twilight sound and insidiously fragile detail, the results of two days of uninterrupted sonic exploration between New York multi-instrumentalist, composer, sound artist & recording engineer Joseph Branciforte and German vocal innovator & electronic artist Theo Bleckmann are heard in four compositions from their collaboration: gorgeous, lulling and edgy.

Elliott Sharp's 1998 Knitting Factory album finds the saxophonist, guitarist & electronic artist in a solo setting of rhythmic works using MAX/MSP and DSP applications to create rhythmic and sonic environments over which he improvises, with assistanceÊon one track each from Zeena Parkin on "little green drone guitar" and Frank Rothkamm providing drums sequences.

A modern spoken opera by NY composer Elliott Sharp and librettist/narrator Jack Womack (Terraplane) with several narrators, reflecting the events surrounding a 1981 killing in New York's East Village, set in a darkly instrumental soundtrack developed by Sharp using guitars, saxophones, clarinets, synthesizers, bass, percussion, drums programming and samples.

Using his own percussion array, particularly bells and ringing objects, and a variety of woodwinds focused around the saxophone family, AACM legend Roscoe Mitchell recorded these 19 compositions at his home studio during the pandemic lockdowns, creating fascinatingly introspective, atmospheric and resonant environments over which he distinctively overdubs his saxophone.

A beautiful 228 page limited edition hardcover book chronicling the last decade of artwork by saxophonist Peter Brotzmann, created spontaneously while on the road or between tours using materials at hand; featuring essays by Brotzmann, Thomas Milroth, John Corbett, Markus Muller, Sotiris Kontos, Stephen O'Malley, Heather Leigh and Karl Lippegaus.

Two Chicago compatriots--established drummer/percussionist Adam Shead and newcomer to the Chicago improvised scene, saxophonist and multi-reedist Chris Moore, in an expressive album of sax & drum interaction, thoughtful interactions in twelve succinct dialogs that focuses on the depth of their conversation through clear expression and response.

Music with "no restrictions, no guidelines, no imposed intention, no expectation" from keyboardist John Medeski, in an album that evolves static noise into rich and fascinating soundscapes, a blend of improvisation and composition using electric and acoustic keyboards, synthesizers, mellotron and early electronic gear, masterfully unfurled in riveting ways.

The Simulacrum trio of John Medeski on organ, Kenny Grohowski on drums and Matt Hollenberg on guitar, with prior releases Inferno, Unspeakable Depravity..., Beyond Good And Evil and Baphomet, continue composer John Zorn's investigation on the dark side of swinging jazz merged with rock & compositional attitudes, as he explores the written works of Antonin Artaud.

Five compositions from Yoon-Ji Lee, whose work employs unconventional and nonlinear structures that focus on quick transformations of language, noise, texture, and tonal color, here with five works, one performed by JACK Quartet & Mivos Quaret, a work for solo Saenghwang, a solo piano work, a string quartet, and a mixed chamber ensemble.

An unflinching look at life in post-Reconstruction America, commemorating the anniversary of Nancy Cunard's 1934 collection of African-American writings, poems, and song lyrics titled Negro: An Anthology, from Elliott Sharp's Terraplane, with vocalists Tracie Morris, Eric Mingus, Mikel Banks, and instrumentalist including Sharp, Dave Hofstra, recordings from Hubert Sumlin, &c.

Merging Tiger Hatchery's tenor saxophonist Michael Forbes and bassist Andrew Scott Young and newly arrived to NYC Flying Luttenbacher leader & drummer Weasel Walter, for classic hardcore free jazz of articulate and demanding improvisation; this a recently unearthed studio recording from 2010, captured two years after their first encounter in a quartet with Jeb Bishop.

Adhering to the tenets of "Dissonance, Speed, Aggression, Weirdness, and Singularity", Weasel Walter leads his Flying Luttenbachers in their 15th album of no wave, punk jazz & brutal prog, Weasel switching to guitar and yielding the drum chair to Sam Ospovat, as the band rips through ridiculously complex twists and turns, even taking on Albert Ayler's strange '66/'67 musical suites.

Adhering to the tenets of "Dissonance, Speed, Aggression, Weirdness, and Singularity", Weasel Walter leads his Flying Luttenbachers in their 15th album of no wave, punk jazz & brutal prog, Weasel switching to guitar and yielding the drum chair to Sam Ospovat, as the band rips through ridiculously complex twists and turns, even taking on Albert Ayler's strange '66/'67 musical suites.

A lyrical piano trio album from three seasoned Argentinian-born improvising musicians -- Leo Genovese on piano, Mariano Otero on bass and Sergio Verdinelli on drums -- each contributing compositions to the album, along with one piece by Luis Alberto Spinetta, with whom Verdinelli has performed extensively; a lovely and sophisticated album of modern jazz.

NY drummer Devin Gray provides the compositions for this EP with his Cloudsounds trio of Ingrid Laubrock performing on tenor and soprano saxophones and Corey Smythe on piano, the sophisticated structures leading the improvisers into almost chamber jazz territory, with a light playfulness and warm interaction, Gray's intriguing rhythms shifting and propelling their music.