New Arrivals
Signs
2024 stock. Gerald Cleaver is best known for his career as a top jazz drummer, however, his memories of growing up in Detroit inspired him to create his latest project Signs. This debut as an electronic musician and composer came about in his Brooklyn studio through a long process of looking to translate what he heard, into a new language. Cleaver was born and spent most of his life in Detroit, where he experienced, and was influenced by, the legendary development and blossoming of the Motor Cit…
Astroturf Noise
Astroturf Noise exists at the intersection of free improvisation, effects-heavy noise music, and American roots music.
A Lifeboat Part I
2024 stock. In the first lockdown, Matthew Putman (on keyboard) and Michael Sarian (on trumpet and flugelhorn) began to meet up (with precautions) for semi-regular sessions in Sarian’s makeshift home studio. The conditions were less-than-ideal—a borrowed 20-year-old keyboard, an inadequate microphone, and cramped NYC apartment acoustics—but they continued their “weekly pilgrimages, searching for [their] cadences, rhythms and melodies through the Fall.” The sessions gave them much-needed sanity, …
Switched On – The Dawn of Electronic Sound by Latin American Women (Book)
** Hardcover. English edition. ** The first book dedicated exclusively to the female protagonists of Latin American electronic music. The book has been edited by independent curator, researcher and label head of Buh Records, Luis Alvarado, and experimental musician, multimedia artist and researcher Alejandra Cárdenas (also known as Ale Hop). Composers and sound artists featured in this historical account include: Alicia Urreta, Beatriz Ferreyra, Elsa Justel, Eulalia Bernard, Graciela Castillo, H…
7 Stücke / 1998
*300 copies limited edition* The open spaces in East Berlin that emerged for a handful of years in the 1990s, after the fall of the Berlin wall, have shown to be a fertile ground for musical and artistic experimentators to develop their play and showcase their findings, and to work together in ways that would have been impossible anywhere else. In retrospect, the reductionist brand of improvisation that has become known as Echtzeitmusik (real-time music) seems to overshadow other achievements, t…
Contact High With The Curators
*200 copies limited edition* Unbeknownst to the general public at the time and underappreciated until today, arguably the world's first punk record was recorded on September 28, 1966, in New York. On that day, The Godz got together to record their first album "Contact High with The Godz" in about 30 minutes, to be released on the avant-garde label ESP. It comprises eight rudimentary songs (plus one bizarre Hank Williams cover), played without prior rehearsals or repeats, sounding deliberately in…
Registro De Piedra
*165 (hand-numbered) copies limited edition* "Registro de Piedra plays with the idea of place memory. I have heard a few stories of people spending the night in or near ancient ruins and witnessing strange sights and sounds. What some might call ghosts. Modern science has no way of explaining these apparitions, casting doubt on the authenticity of the experience. Other researchers have propounded the idea that these places may hold memories of past occurrences, and that under certain circumstanc…
The Scaffold
*165 copies limited edition* "The first person to contact me for collaboration back in the Spring of 2020 was Patrick. I was living with a sensitive child and a big dog in a small rented apartment in Belgrade when ridiculously harsh and oppressive curfews were forced upon us by the Serbian government. It is really hard to explain to anyone the situation I found myself in without acknowledging that it sounds like a dystopian SF. Only a few details to picture the reality – I had to risk getting ar…
Asphalt/Concrete
*200 copies limited edition* "This work was recorded in several locations. All recording locations are in Osaka, Japan. I enjoy a lot making field recordings of ordinary everyday life. If you listen carefully, you can come across sounds that you wouldn't normally notice. Wherever I go, these are present in filigree. All sounds were captured within my immediate vicinity. Locations : Osaka Station, Ogimachi, Tama river, Matsuyamachi and my room. Recorded using various equipment (cassette tape reco…
50 Years
In 2012, the Wergo label celebrates its 50th anniversary. For half a century, Wergo has been synonymous with contemporary music. The label's catalog reads like a virtual who's-who of modern music, both in terms of composers and performers. From the beginning, the intent of founder Werner Goldschmidt (from whom the label derives its name) was to provide listeners with a snapshot of current musical activity and innovation. Goldschmidt's label and mission, now managed by the publisher Schott, is ma…
Hit Parade of Tears
"Hit Parade of Tears" is an album inspired by the short stories of Japanese author Izumi Suzuki, married to musician Kaoru Abe, who tragically ended her life at the age of 36. Suzuki's wholly original short stories paved the way for the science fiction genre and in many ways predicted the cyberpunk movement. Ikue Mori and Zeena Parkins have created a beautiful and mysterious collection of musical miniatures that reference Suzuki's sensibility with remarkable feeling and compassion. A touching tr…
Asterisms
Tzadik is proud to present Asterisms, a beautiful and exploratory instrumental project by Sean Ono Lennon, one of the most creative and versatile musician/composer/producer/songwriters working today. Sean has written countless songs, composed film scores, produced, and performed on dozens of albums-and here he steps out as the leader of an all-star band of Downtown luminaries. Years in the making, the music is powerful, trippy, and intensely imaginative, blending rock, electronics, jazz, and mor…
A Worm's Eye View From a Bird's Beak (Book)
A career-spanning catalogue featuring excerpts from Raven Chacon's scores, musical prompts, and drawings interspersed with full-color documentation and descriptive texts of installations, sculptures, and performances. The publication features newly commissioned texts including three long-form essays by Aruna D'Souza, Anthony Huberman, and Dylan Robinson/Patrick Nickleson; experimental short-form writing by Raven Chacon, Lou Cornum, Ingir Bål Nango, Marja Bål Nango, Eric-Paul Riege, Ánde Somby, a…
Unleashed Volume Ten
Big Tip! Though Toronto's Lorde Awesome formed in 2008, and have many full length recordings, 'Unleashed Volume 10' is their first ever LP release. It's an unplugged / battery powered ambient document of the highest order ~ recorded outdoors in an off-leash dog park, in the city's east side. The environmental sounds heard, each play a significant role as unique frequencies ~ randomly deployed instruments in themselves, that are essential components to the band's free electroacoustic improvisatio…
Strands (Live At The Danish Radio Concert Hall)
"When we walked out on stage it felt like a homecoming,” says Jakob Bro of this texturally spacious and emotionally charged live recording from Copenhagen, on which three of the defining protagonists of improvisation in Denmark, leading musicians from three generations of Danish jazz, come together. The concert, in February 2023, was particularly poignant since it marked a return to performance for trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, who delivers some of his most thoughtful playing here. Repertoire, dra…
Garden Of Gifts
*2024 stock*
Kirk Knuffke: trumpetFederico Ughi: drums, percussion, fluteChris Welcome: guitar
Recorded in Brooklyn, New York
Luminessence
Mysterious, dramatic and alluring, Luminessence comes from a peak period in the creative association between Keith Jarrett and Jan Garbarek, recorded in 1974, immediately after their vibrant Belonging album. Here, Jarrett creates shimmering orchestral frameworks to spur Garbarek to some of his most concentrated, impassioned and expressive playing. “The melodies that Jarrett writes sound like Garbarek improvisations, so great is the rapport between the two men,” wrote Ian Carr in his Keith Jarre…
Prophecies Come To Pass
*2024 stock* "Prophecies Come to Pass is the debut recording of Sabir Mateen's compositions by his group The Shapes, Textures, and Sound Ensemble. Recorded live in Brooklyn in September 2005, the CD was edited by Mateen and Swell and mastered under Mateen's direction. It's dedicated to the late great Raphe Malik, who at one time played with the group. The ensemble is composed of an impressive roster of creative musicians: Mateen on saxophones, flute, and clarinets; Matt Lavelle on trumpet, fluge…
Coordinate Orientali
*2024 stock* Piano-drums duo, recorded in Shanghai.
Songs For Four Cities
"Drummer/composer Federico Ughi presents a collection of songs dedicated to four cities in which he has lived and that have made an impact on his music. His gentle and beautiful approach bridges European and American jazz, but mostly it filters the current New York scene through a silky translucent gauze. This album of music (explain to your kids that, at one time, artists recorded collections of music and not just singles) maintains a consistent dialogue between the players, the melodies, and t…