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In August 1969, Masayuki Takayanagi formed his first New Direction group and embarked on an unparalleled musical journey that over the final 22 years of his life would define him as an uncompromising artist who would forge a visionary new musical language. Comprised of himself on acoustic and electric guitar and joined by Motoharu Yoshizawa on bass and Yoshisaburo "Sabu" Toyozumi on drums, Takayanagi's group created a new unconstrained form of music; It expanded on the most radical, fiery elemen…
Onilu is an all-percussionist trio utilizing the extensive family of drummed and tuned percussion instruments to deliver beautifully composed, arranged and executed small ensemble music. Nothing about this all-percussion band feels rarified, or missing anything musical. To the contrary, Onilu create a soundworld where nothing is missing, and everything is musical -- defying the stereotype of modern percussion ensembles as esoteric or academic pursuits, reaffirming the powerful social and sacred …
Reissue on 180-gram opaque white vinyl. Originally released in 1965. The transitional "Bells" was just under 20 minutes, released originally as one side of a clear vinyl LP with the other side empty of music. It was recorded at a May 1, 1965, Town Hall concert of ESP artists, displaying Albert Ayler's new group, which added Albert's brother Donald and Charles Tyler. The denser sound of "Bells" shows Ayler moving towards the bigger sonic statement made on Spirits Rejoice (ESPDISK 1020CD/LP), h…
One of the most uncompromising free jazz records ever made, this one-off improvisation by a group of Dutch players, led by percussionist Pierre Courbois, is an archetype of the style
"Once in a while, a piece of music jumps out of the loudspeakers and grabs me by the throat. The opening track Couleurs is one of these pieces of music. The twenty-two minutes of music is a blend of symphonic prog, Canterbury prog and jazz. The opening salvos of moog is just heaven and utter heaven. The rest is a mix of superb vocals and the above mentioned styles of music, pretty much dominated by Claude-Marius David's superb flute and sopransaxophon pieces. Couleurs is a creative triumph for t…
Part of Rashied Ali’s artistic strength involved turning improbable sound combinations into unchallenged masterpieces. After the pattern established by John Coltrane’s Interstellar Space, and Duo Exchange with Frank Lowe, the drummer stepped into a rather unlikely duet with violinist Leroy Jenkins for Swift are the Winds of Life. Five years with the Revolutionary Ensemble had established Jenkins as a composer; he designed all the pieces played on these 1975 duets with Ali. That record is issued …
Kind Regards is the second duo release from guitarist Oren Ambarchi and drummer Eric Thielemans, out via AD 93 on the 21st February 2025. The record captures an expansive performance in Poitiers, France in November 2023. First working together in an unpredictable trio with minimalist legend and eccentric extraordinaire Charlemagne Palestine, Ambarchi and Thielemans quickly established a remarkable musical chemistry that led to an ongoing series of duo concerts, including the performance document…
** 2020 restock, nice price** Albert Ayler's trio with Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray is best known for the July 10, 1964, recording of Spiritual Unity (ESPDISK 1002CD), the album that made both Ayler and ESP-Disk' famous when it was released in 1965. A decade after that, in 1975, ESP-Disk' also released, as Prophecy(ESP-3030), the first documentation of the group, recorded a month before Spiritual Unity by Canadian poet Paul Haines at a concert at a 91st Street club. These Cellar Café recordings…
Recorded on December 22, 1973 in New York City at the famous Town Hall, this eclectic ESPDisk-sponsored celebration of the Comet Kohoutek featured a fire eater, talking drums, and dancers in platform shoes, in addition to Sun Ra's Arkestra. After taking the stage ninety minutes late, the band expertly navigates its way through cosmic free playing, big-band romps, and didactic vocal numbers. Compared to the original pressing, this re-issue is digitally remastered by Joe Phillips and includes brie…
Live recording of Albert Ayler's large septet configuration, featuring brother Donald, Charles Tyler, Sunny Murray and both Henry Grimesand Gary Peacock on bass. Compared to the bare trio of Spiritual Unity, this nearly big band of two bass players and a strong horn section allows Ayler's expressive vision depth from the joyous to the aggressive in Ayler's five original compositions. The digitally remastered recording was originally made at 30 ips instead of the usual 15 giving it excellent fide…
2013 reissue, originally released in 1966. Patty Waters is internationally recognized as one of the first major avant-garde vocalists, cited as an influence by Yoko Ono, Diamanda Galás, and Patti Smith. Waters's first two LPs, both on ESP-Disk', had the most impact. In 1966, the year after her groundbreaking debut, Sings, appeared, the New York State Council on the Arts gave ESP-Disk' a grant to tour the five state colleges with music departments. Artists on this tour included the Sun Ra Arkestr…
1995 release. Originally released in 1971. Key contains Meredith Monk's earliest compositions for voice. The songs that make up Key
were composed and performed in a three year period between 1967 and
1970, when Monk collected them into this 45-minute "invisible theater"
experience. Meredith Monk on the release: "In Key I wanted to
create a constantly shifting ambience. Each song dealt with a different
vocal character, landscape, technical concern or emotional quality. I
was trying for a vi…
2023 restock. Subtitled: Live at the Kulturforum, Bonn, Germany, November 24, 1980. Another in the Wooden Weavil series, this time an unreleased live Robbie Basho recording from Germany in 1980. Robbie Basho was one of the great pioneers of the acoustic steel string guitar in the U.S., along with Leo Kottke and John Fahey in the 1960s. This program appears to have been recorded in one go. Robbie scatters his Americana numbers throughout, beginning with "Redwood Ramble," and ending with "Californ…
Robbie Basho (1940-86), who died young after a stroke, never got his due in the culture at large, but steel-string guitar enthusiasts have known for decades that he was one of the greats of "American Primitivism". Technically adept and compositionally imaginative, fusing the music of many cultures into a mesmerizing solo style, he has been an inspiration for many; his music has generated a surge of interest in recent years. This 1982 concert was part of a four-show Italian tour. It took place at…
Collection of Joan La Barbara early works and her first vocal compositions, originally released on LPs in the 1970s and early 1980s on her own Wizard Records. "One of my earliest pieces, "Hear What I Feel", was a self-exploratory, sensory-deprivation experimental work, designed to help me discover new sounds, delve into psychological aspects, as well as communicate with the audience on a pre-verbal level of awareness. After spending an hour in isolation with my eyes taped shut and not touching a…
Killer! 300 copies packaged in a double gatefold ruby recycled cardboard sleeve with silver embossed text on front, including a 32-page booklet. Archival and live recordings from Australia’s premiere prepared acoustic improvising trio. Formed in 2002, Melbourne’s Pateras/Baxter/Brown toured heavily between 2004 and 2008, playing a regular residency at the Empress in North Fitzroy in between extensive European tours. They performed multiple concerts in classical, electronic, jazz, grindcore and a…
In the early-to-mid aughts, in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, Zebulon Café Concert was the epicenter of creative music of all stripes and flavors. Proprietors Guillaume Blestel and brothers Jef and Joce Soubiran passionately created and curated a space where musicians and the music could fully blossom unfettered by norms and conventions. Zebulon was also the preferred haunt of legendary artist, poet and filmmaker Jonas Mekas who had recently moved back into the neighborhood after lea…
2010 release ** "Jazkamer’s “Failed State of Mind” CD offers up nine tracks each clocking in at exactly 3:20 a piece, recorded between 2008-2011, across three different countries (Norway, Agrentina, and Vietnam – all couldn’t be more different), and collaged together to a cohesive yet disjointed album of mellow, weird ambient noise.The album reaches from field recordings of birdsong to beautifully amorphous feedback compositions, to up-tempo live drums meandering around quietly in the background…
2008 release ** Limited to 76 copies. "Nice reissue of the long out-of-print and completely essential split cassette on Stop-Eject. Roughly fifteen minutes from each, a sinewy, ghoulish, plague-ridden mortification of industrial thud and graveyard horror. Recommended."