Music from United States

rare original book from the early 80s with the amazing descriptive book designed by Melissa Gould. Maritime Rites is a series of ten environmental concerts for radio composed by Alvin Curran. This series features the Eastern Seaboard of the United States as a musical source in collaboration with improvised musical performances by ten distinguished artists in the American new-music scene: John Cage, Joseph Celli, Clark Coolidge, Jon Gibson, Malcolm Goldstein, Steve Lacy, George Lewis, Pauline Oli…

Recorded at The Teatro Cilak, 1/23//1978, Milan Italy - Sun Ra: piano, organ, Moog, Crumar Mainman, vocals - John Gilmore: tenor sax, drums, vocals - Luqman Ali: drums, vocals - Michael Ray: trumpet, vocals. In the winter months of 1977-1978, philosopher, pianist and bandleader Sun Ra was in Italy. The Italian tour resulted in releases on Sun Ra's own Saturn label, all of which have long been out of print and all but impossible to find. With the re-release of Disco 3000, one of the most celebrat…

These quartet recordings feature the improvisational skills of trumpeter Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, guitarist John Coxon, keyboard player Pat Thomas and drummer Mark Sanders - an ensemble that convened at Abbey Road Studios last year to commit these five pieces to tape. Wadada takes the lead, perhaps most staunchly reminding you that this is, at heart, a jazz album thanks to his florid, lyrical phrasing. The relationships formed between the instruments are an immediate source of intrigue, forming…

Although it's better than prison, it still isn't easy to live with two guys wearing an ankle bracelet, in the smallest possible wooden cabin somewhere in between new york and detroit. There's no food anymore, tab water is not drinkable, and eating each other's intestines seems to be the last enjoyable possibilty. The thick dense sound of synth throbbing bubbles up from these hungry bowels. 2 synths fighting their ways to better times, though right now everything looks pretty dark, gnarly and ind…

Recorded live at No Fun Fest 2008. White Out (Tom Surgal and Lin Culbertson) are true pursuers of the mythical everlasting improvisational fire. With a style thats both oblique and right to the point Tom's dynamic poly-rhythmic percussion and Lin's dynamic electronics and voice are augmented in this scorching live recording by C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core) on violin and Carlos Giffoni on analog synth. This was their first collaboration and is full of amazing interplay that covers a wide spe…

Two very active modern electronic musicians who enjoy 20th century analog equipment deliver a document of mind expanding electronics with very different approaches. Giffoni's track 'Techno' is full of layered and perfectly synched synthetic rhythms matched with some very adhesive evolving sounds; Creating something that somehow ends up being a homage to both early Techno and harsh Japanese electronics. Whitman's track is a beautiful exploration of synthetic tonality and space, like a sudden mass…

One of the pioneers of laptop electronics, Ikue Mori has been breaking new ground on the musical frontier for three decades. From her early days in the landmark no wave band DNA, to her years as a regular in the downtown improvisation community and more recently as one of the epicenters of the international laptop electronic scene, Ikue has become an underground hero -- yet her work is still sorely underappreciated. This newest solo CD features Ikue's idiosyncratic take on contemporary dance rhy…

The Touch label presents the Observations & Momentum split LP as a great opportunity to hear noise minimalist Eleh and Swedish visual/sound artist Christofer Lämgren aka Nana April Jun at their finest. Nana April Jun's track "Sun Wind Darkness Eye" is taken from the album The Ontology Of Noise, particularly because it stands out as being perfect for a vinyl edition. In the same time-frame, the series of releases by Eleh on Important Records attracted the Touch label's attention. These homages to…

Breathing in, breathing out. Tide comes in, tide goes out. The sun rises and it also sets: beginnings and endings. These are the first impressions given by The Visitor: a build-up and break-down. One seamless, 38-minute piece of music that completely engages its listeners. An extremely thoughtful piece that even a year later, still retains all of the qualities it had upon first listen. This record made me realize the full potential music can have when someone who actually gives a damn does somet…

2nd LP, originally released in 1956. Continues the NYC street performer's exploration of minimalist composition & field recording, mixing percussion & sparse melodies w/ piano solos, street sounds, & monologues. Surprisingly accessible despite it's avant-garde nature, bridging the gap between the familiar & the bizarre. Another all out masterwork from one of 20th century America's most unique minds.

3rd LP from NYC street performer & avant-garde/minimalist composer, originally released in 1957. Perhaps the least accessible of his early releases, this album is made up of percussive jams, usually on instruments of his own creation, street sounds, poetry, & Far East melodies, despite opening w/ a swinging number that is, oddly, the most bizarre thing on the album.

Debut album, originally released in 1956. The blind Kansas native showcases his talent for the minimal & avant-garde here, w/ compositions driven by percussion & Japanese-inspired melodies, complimented by street sounds, recitations, & animal noises. Bizarre even for today's standards, it's a wonder this was released over a half-century ago.

The exotic follow up to "Dreamers." Featuring the same dynamic band of masters from Zorn's inner circle, this presents 12 more lyrical & adventurous instrumentals combining world music, surf, exotica, soundtracks, easy listening, minimalism & more into a fabulous & exciting new music.

The Dream House is the first album of new material from Windy & Carl in five years. Recorded at their home studio in Dearborn, MI it consists of two tracks. The Dream House is in many ways the duo's simplest and most straight-forward release, concentrated as it is on two evolving pieces. It is also Windy & Carl's most ambitious recording, with the duo deliberating on longer forms. Windy & Carl are capable of sustaining melodic ideas and patiently apply attention to singular musical gestures. Win…

This rare collection of recordings from the 1970s features Anthony Braxton at the height of his power and makes an indispensable contribution to his discography. Personally selected by esteemed Italian musicologist Francesco Martinelli from long forgotten cassettes stored in the saxophonist's home, these six tracks were not released commercially until 1999. While the sound quality is mixed, the music is some of Braxton's best. There are two solo performances ("Composition 8G" and "Composition 8C…

** Limited to 380 copies, with embossed total-black cover, insert and full-color inner sleeve with wonderful space images of the Nazca Lines. ** On Christmas Eve, 2004, John Duncan received a mysterious email from an archaeologist working at the site of the Nazca Lines in Peru. He claimed to have discovered, and over time recorded, a variety of sounds actually generated by the enigmatic lines themselves. Familiar with Duncan’s “Infrasound-Tidal”, composed from source recordings taken from tides,…

After the monumental 'California Ax', the solid 'French Record' and the live capture 'Glass', Sissy Spacek return with a new offer. These 17 new tracks cover territory from grindcore, noise, noisecore, and electronics. This is an extreme noise assault based on grinding drums, harsh electronics and screamy vocals no space for acoustic improvisation or melodic sounds. Recorded in November 2008 by Charlie Mumma–Drums, Corydon Ronnau–Vocals and John Wiese–Electronics. Artwork and layout by John Wies…

Senso is a live recording from two shows at the heralded and, sadly shut, Tonic club in NYC December 18, 2004. It was a lovely evening when O'Rourke and Moore, both of whom had played with White Out, but never together, would set the controls for the heart of the universe. Each set was its own distinct drama and captured the four players in a unified mind meld bringing the audience with them on a spirit-high journey.

White Out is a sound terrorist collective of two, arising from the freedom-charged excitement of the NYC improv community. Drunken Little Mass marks the summit meeting between the combustible duo of multi-instrumentalist Lin Culbertson (analog synthesizers, autoharp, flute, and treated voice) and Tom Surgal (drums, gongs and infinite percussion), and free agent/renaissance maestro Jim O'Rourke (Powerbook and guitar). The contents of this album are totally improvised, recorded in one take, with n…

orton Feldman's music continues to exert its fascination on listeners and record companies alike. After releasing its highly successful recording of the more than three-hour-long For Philip Guston, Bridge once again returns to the California EAR Unit for Crippled Symmetry, at only 87 minutes a mere bagatelle in terms of Feldman's late output. Well, maybe not. Scored for flutes, mallet percussion, and piano/celeste, Crippled Symmetry does exactly what the title says: it toys with not quite exact …