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Homo Sacer
Makoto Kawashima was born in Saitama, a prefecture of the Greater Tokyo Area, in 1981. He picked up the alto sax in 2008, and started playing solo in 2010. He is the founder of the Homosacer (Sacredhuman) label. Homo Sacer was originally released in 2015. It was Kawashima's second solo release and his first full-length album. It was also the final release by P.S.F. Records. The album was recorded live during a heavy rainstorm at the gallery and café Yamanekoken in Iruma, Saitama. Facing up towar…
Newocean
Since their first album in 1995, Japan's Nagisa Ni Te has created an enchanting and deeply personal sound world woven from elements of folk, psychedelia and rock along with wistful melodies and gentle arrangements. Centered on Shinji Shibayama (Hallelujahs) and Masako Takeda's partnership, the group has created intimate, emotionally resonant music that floats and breathes with an ease that can only come from a sort of telepathic chemistry. Released in Japan on the group's 25th anniversary, Newoc…
A Journey
Black Editions present the first ever vinyl release of Ché-SHIZU's signature album A Journey, originally issued in 1994 by Tokyo's legendary P.S.F. Records. Ché-SHIZU is one of the most original and mystifying groups to ever emerge from the Tokyo underground. Founded by master improviser Chie Mukai in 1981 the group has been guided by her singular vision for nearly 40 years. Throughout its history Ché-SHIZU has challenged traditional notions of song structure and improvisation. Mukai's signature…
High Rise II
2023 repress! Pitchfork Best New Reissue: 8.4: Black Editions present a reissue of High Rise's II, originally released in 1986. High Rise exploded onto Tokyo's underground music scene with the roar and reckless abandon of a motorcycle accelerating headlong into a dead man's curve. Born from the explosive chemistry of bassist/vocalist Asahito Nanjo and frenetic guitarist Munehiro Narita, the band blazed a wild new stream of psychedelic guitar music. Their second album is a defining document of th…
Nine In One - "You Really Can Listen To Beethoven"
2018 release ** "All the themes from all of Beethoven’s symphonies, played live by an orchestra, concentrated into one hour and supplemented with electronics – that’s “Nine in One”. Or: a wild rollercoaster ride through the twists and turns of Ludwig van Beethoven’s brain. In the front carriage: Wolfgang Mitterer. He has a reputation, as a musician many’s the time he’s tormented the big concert organs of the continent, as well as composing for important orchestras, ensembles and opera houses, ro…
Historic Music Past Tense Future
Black Editions presents “Historic Music Past Tense Future”, the first ever album to feature the meeting of Peter Brötzmann, Milford Graves and William Parker. Three of the towering figures in the history of Free Jazz forge an incredibly vital free music born from lifetimes of uncompromising, ceaseless artistry. “Historic Music Past Tense Future” is the inaugural release by Black Editions Archive and the first in a series of records that will present previously unreleased works featuring Milford …
Snake Island
2025 stock ** "Snake Island, the new album from Mona Mur, sees the Berlin-based artist building upon her dark electronic sound with a newfound interest in playing guitar. Collaborating with Ralf Goldkind, Mur balances abrasive elements with moodier atmospherics. Creative production and sound design throughout gives Snake Island an absolutely unique sound. Since emerging in the early 80s, Mur has released albums under her own name and been part of collaborations with such artists as En Esch and …
Symphony No. 1 (Tonal Plexus)
Recorded across two nights in 1981 at New York's legendary Performing Garage and originally released in 1983 on cassette, Symphony No. 1 has been remastered for vinyl and reissued for the first time as a heavyweight 180 gram 2LP set in a deluxe gatefold jacket. The limited edition pressing features additional liner notes written by Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) alongside the original notes by Jon Pareles (The New York Times) and now includes photos by Paula Court (New York Noise). The ensemble …
Aunt Sally
This seminal, eponymous post-punk album by Japanese group Aunt Sally, fronted by experimental singer Phew, was first released by the iconic Vanity Records label in 1979. Over the past forty-plus years, Phew has forged a singular path through a wide range of styles - from free improvisation to pop - and has collaborated with the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto, members of Can, DAF, Einstürzende Neubauten, The Raincoats and more. But Aunt Sally is where she got her start and, despite the members’ young…
Grammar
2004 release ** "The cast of players includes cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, the newest member of Vandermark 5 (plus Wilco, Terminal 4, The Boxhead Ensemble, Pillow, and the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, to name just a few); Lou Mallozzi, a sound artist from Chicago who lists Mats Gustafsson, Jaap Blonk, Sebi Tramontana, Michael Zerang, and Guillermo Gregorio as collaborators; and Portuguese violinist Carlos Zingaro, who has partnered with the likes of Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, George Lewi…
Duo Exchange: Complete Sessions
** 2023 much-needed repress ** A Free Jazz masterpiece is again on the block—bigger and better than ever. Rashied Ali & Frank Lowe Duo Exchange is legitimately re-released on LP for the first time, mastered from original tapes for the first time, and expanded with nearly an hour's music from the session never before heard. You know Duo Exchange as the flagship release of Rashied Ali's Survival Records. When the record was made, Survival still belonged jointly to Ali and Frank Lowe, and the reco…
Here Appear
Eve Essex’s solo debut is a multi-instrumental fea(s)t combining synthesizer, drum machine, alto saxophone, piccolo, electric organ/harpsichord, harmonica, slide whistle, bells, guitar pedals, and voice— composed, arranged, and performed by Essex herself.
Karma
*2025 stock * An obscure bit of Brazilian folk rock from the early 70s - recorded with an easygoing, laidback style that's really wonderful! The group's working mostly here in a blend of acoustic guitar and percussion and some of the guitar work is done by Jorge Amiden of O Terco, using a strange three-necked guitar that looks mighty weird in the picture! This instrument seems to be played using a bow at times - creating a "guitar strings" sort of feel that gives the record a bit more class th…
Mouth Eating Trees And Related Activities
*2023 stock* "Swedish multi-reed artist Mats Gustafsson was just beginning to come into his own at the time of this recording. The oddly titled Mouth Eating Trees and Related Activities catches him at the cusp when his prodigious technical abilities were starting to be subsumed into an impressive musical presence. It doesn't hurt that his companions for this freely improvised session are stalwarts like Barry Guy and Paul Lovens, who provide accompaniment that's creatively telepathic. While Gusta…
Cablcar
Tip! Montréal based artist and maker of concrète electronic tape music, Jeremy Young will release Cablcar, an experimental suite of electronic sketches for magnetic tape and analog oscillators, on Toronto’s boundary pushing label, Halocline Trance. A member of poetry_sound duo Cloud Circuit, electroacoustic modern classical trio Sontag Shogun, and library music waveriders Associated Sine Tone Services, Young’s long-evolving solo practice makes use of a sine and square wave oscillator system, 1/4…
At The Golden Circle Stockholm (Revisited)
Temporary Super Offer! "For the followers of Ornette Coleman’s music, 1963 and 1964 were the lost years. His final session for Atlantic Records, Ornette on Tenor, was in March 1961, and though he played sporadic club dates in ’62, his self-produced Town Hall concert in December was to be his last significant appearance until he accepted a Village Vanguard gig in January 1965. The reasons for this hiatus, apparently, were personal, economic, philosophical, pragmatic, and artistic, all at the same…
My Story...
2007 release ** "Vinc Project is primarily the work of Vincent Zermatten (Vinc for short) of Switzerland. His regular job is guitarist in the band Ever Since, who apparently are one of the three million metal bands in Europe. But My Story has very little to do with metal. Vinc plays just about everything here: keys, acoustic & electric guitars, bass, drums and vocals, and is assisted by a violinist, a cellist, and two singers. The music is melancholy, full-sounding symphonic rock that sounds ver…
Live From Minnegiggle Falls
2007 release ** "Founded by Village Voice icon Greg Tate and co-led with Dayton Ohio monster bassist Jared Michael Nickerson since 1999, Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber is a sprawling band of musicians whose prodigious personnel allows them to freely juggle a wide swath of the experimental soul-jazz-hip hop spectrum. Burnt Sugar was originally conceived as a forum for the New York area improvisational musician to compose, record and perform material which reflects the breadth and depth of Ameri…
Noughwhere
Organum Electronics ‘Noughwhere’ is the third OE album for Die Stadt, and could almost be seen as a culmination of all previous OE albums in terms of denseness and intensity. Like with all these works it’s a return to the electronic sounds David Jackman already created at the very beginning of his Organum project about 40 years ago. Similar sets of particular sound sources, arranged in a variety of permutations and combinations, and a variety of structures, to create a range of variations. They …
Quietude
Organum Electronics ‘Quietude’ is another intense aural experience. A dense work, consisting of buzzing washes of electronic sounds, reminiscent of the very first Organum recordings. In common with other recent works, the piece uses a carefully chosen set of sound sources, overlaid and structured to form a tapestry of shifting textures. Recorded in 2021 and edited by Alan Jones at RMS Studios South London, the CD comes in a 4-panel Digisleeve with graphic artwork by Jonathan Coleclough. UK-based…