Music from United States

*2025 much needed repress!* Reissue of Don Cherry's 'Relativity Suite', recorded with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra in 1973. At this time, Cherry was becoming increasingly interested in Middle Eastern and traditional African and Indian music, having traveled extensively and studied with Indian musician Vasant Rai. This suite of songs was particularly influenced by the Indian karnatic singing tradition, as can be heard from the very opening moments of the album. Featuring Carla Bley on piano, Cha…

The Sun City Girls were unlike any band before them or that has come in their wake. Their catalog, their ethos, their *being* - you name it, with the Girls that “it” was singular and became legend. This singularity started early and extended to their release schedule and the means behind the same. While the band would prove to be wildly prolific throughout their existence, during their nascent days they quickly realized that they could not be contained by any sort of traditional label schedule. …

The Sun City Girls were unlike any band before them or that has come in their wake. Their catalog, their ethos, their *being* - you name it, with the Girls that “it” was singular and became legend. This singularity started early and extended to their release schedule and the means behind the same. While the band would prove to be wildly prolific throughout their existence, during their nascent days they quickly realized that they could not be contained by any sort of traditional label schedule. …

"One of Shorter's best-selling albums from the '70s was Native Dancer, a Brazilian-oriented jazz-fusion masterpiece that boasts Herbie Hancock on acoustic piano and electric keyboards, and employs such Brazilian talent as singer Milton Nascimento (a superstar in Brazil) and percussionist Airto Moreira. Everything on this melodic, consistently lyrical effort is a jewel, and that includes Hancock's "Joanna's Theme," as well as pieces by Nascimento ("From the Lonely Afternoons" and "Ponta de Areia"…

1991 release ** How well early, full notated, Cage is standing the test of time, especially the works for prepared piano and for percussion. The Perilous Night is a 12-minute prepared piano piece completed two years before Cage started his classic Sonatas and Interludes. The Perilous Night, which uses fairly elaborate preparations, is nothing like so well known, although included on Jeanne Kirstein's important 1970 CBS double LP. The connection between Cage and Jasper Johns was re-emphasized whe…

1990 release ** "Beautifully performed pieces from 1942 to 1985 by vocalist Joan LaBarbara with piano and percussion. Contains: A Flower (1950), Mirakus (1984), Eight Whiskus (1984), The Wonderful Widow of 18 Springs (1942) for voice and closed piano, Nowth upon Nacht (1984), Sonnekus (1985), Forever and Sunsmell (1942), Solos for Voice (from the Songbooks) #'s 49, 52, 67 (1970), Music for Two (by One) (1984)."

1990 release ** "Naked City was formed a year and a half ago to give Zorn a focused vehicle for his omnivorous compositions and rearrangements. Taking its name from the gritty pulp TV show ("There are eight million stories in the ..."), this collection of downtown all-stars – John Zorn, Bill Frisell on guitar, Wayne Horvitz on keyboards, Fred Frith on bass, Joey Baron on percussion – did a four-night, eight-set stint at the Knitting Factory, in New York City, last summer, never repeating a tune.…

A deluxe 4-CD box set bringing together the seminal Columbia recordings of Terry Riley. A landmark reissue from one of the most pivotal figures in 20th-century music. The Columbia Recordings brings together the four seminal albums that Terry Riley created for Columbia Masterworks between 1968 and 1980—a body of work that redefined the possibilities of minimalism, electronic music, and compositional freedom. The deluxe 4CD box set includes In C (1968), A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969), Church of An…

The Lost Genesis of Ambient Minimalism: Harold Budd's Seminal The Oak Of The Golden Dreams Returns to Vinyl

1996 release **

2016 release ** "After the highly praised trio CDs, Odyssey and ITHAKA, the composer and bassist Barry Guy presents a new CD – Deep Memory – with the same trio members, pianist Marilyn Crispell and percussionist Paul Lytton. For his new compositions, Barry Guy was inspired by Irish painter Hughie O’ Donoghue - all titles on Deep Memory courtesy of the Irish painter Hughie O’ Donoghue’s Berlin exhibition (2007) entitled “Last Poems”. A music has emerged of a tense and lacerating beauty. Tonal pai…

1993 release ** "The leading New York avant jazz harpist has appeared on hundreds of free improvisation recordings in collaboration with artists such as Fred Frith, John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Lee Ranaldo, and Ikue Mori, among many others. During the '80s and '90s, she pioneered the electric harp of her own design, an instrument which thrives on the rich tonalities of the traditional harp matched with the flexibility of an electric guitar. The instrument was so unique that it shaped and influenced…

For its inaugural release of 2025, Past Inside The Present proudly offers a powerful set of new pieces from experimental ambient veteran bvdub (aka Brock Van Wey), simply titled 13. Across its duration, spacious arrangements nest in clouds of reverb, underscored by granular details and entrancing synth arpeggiations. According to Van Wey – a long time scholar of Eastern ideas and literature – every section represents one edict or idea from chapter 13 of the Tao Te Ching, the foundational text of…

"We’re listening to Blue Train, which to me is one of the most beautiful pieces on one of the most beautiful records that Coltrane recorded in the fifties. It’s his first real mature statement and he wrote all but one of the tunes on this album which was very rare in the fifties and each one is a gem, particularly the title tune Blue Train. And while it’s kind of easy to play the blues, this has a suspended and haunting kind of quality to it." - Michael Cuscuna

Dolphy’s complete April 4, 1964 Town Hall concert, a wonderful set in splendid Stereo sound quality. This concert was the last they played before traveling to Europe, where Dolphy would die shortly after. This is the first time the whole performance appears on a single set. Two extended songs from the group’s concert in Amsterdam six days later have been added as a bonus.

When driving a band with his upright bass, Charles Mingus looked -and was- gigantic, in more ways than one. He had huge creative appetites (as well as being hot tempered), creating his own combination of hard bop, blues, and avant-garde jazz. There was no one more multi-faceted than Mingus between the 1950s and 1970s and of his many albums, Mingus Ah Um (1959) is considered to be a jazz classic.

2001 release ** "The birth of Face the Wound was a difficult one and listening to it can be uneasy, too. The follow-up to (or more precisely the second part of) Z'EV's Heads & Tales CD, it was begun in 1995, completed in 1998, and finally released in 2001. The artist's mother was diagnosed with cancer and died during the writing process. The concept underpinning each of the 19 tracks is pain, both individual and collective. The title Face the Wound refers to Z'EV's belief that many of our modern…

*2025 stock* John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio is the third studio album by the jazz musician John Coltrane. It was released in early 1958 through Prestige Records. The recording took place at Rudy Van Gelder's studio on August 23, 1957. It was reissued in 1961 as Traneing In with a new catalogue number and cover design.

2010 release ** "In the planning (and many faxes, emails and discussions in person) for 20 years, finally this stunning collaborative release for Cold Spring from Japanese Noise king Merzbow and legendary elemental sound artist Z'EV is here. The tracks were created in London and Tokyo, with each artist remixing the other's original sounds. Two tracks weighing in at 22 minutes and 28 minutes respectively! Dark Ambient Noise."

Under the right conditions, half-remembered dreams can meld seamlessly into hazy present moments. Time spent alone can be an emotional blank canvas, and an opportunity to deconstruct sense and feeling; a patchwork of snippets both rooted in memory and abstracted from reality. The title of ‘quilted lament’ perfectly captures the way Gretchen Korsmo and claire rousay’s overlapping missions come together to do just this. Worn polaroid melodies and snatched everyday noises seem overheard through win…