Somewhere between Musique Concrete and a kind of abstract improvisational work, using extended techniques and electrification that disconnects sound from any recognisable source. A fascinating first record that sits between studio improvisation and e…
Two Toronto musicians and a visitor from London formed this trio that has worked on both sides of the Atlantic. Group improvisations on acoustic guitar, alto saxophone and percussion that cover the whole gamut from dense high-energy to sparse interac…
Leopardo is a solo recording by the Portuguese guitarist Manuel Mota, who might best be described as a somewhat more fluidly lyrical Derek Bailey. Lovingly recorded on solid body electric guitar, his improvisations have the spiky quality associated w…
About I n : : t e n s i o n : 'Since a very young age, I have always been attracted to journeys and traveling to places not known to me. Last year, I watched a film from Mongolia about a dog. Once the dog dies, its soul is free to travel and wonder t…
Late-night improvisation captured on a stormy November evening in an old church during the 2006 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. John Butcher's soprano and tenor saxophones intertwine with Xavier Charles' clarinet and Axel Dörner's trumpet a…
The Jimmy Giuffre 3 (Giuffre, clarinet; Paul Bley, piano; Steve Swallow, double bass): the 1961 Verve albums Fusion and Thesis, recorded in New York in March and August 1961, plus unissued pieces, remixed by ECM in 1990.
The press release is disingenuous in describing "Forlorn Green" as "lo-fi": even if Jason Lescalleet's work involves tapeloops using cheap recording gear and "trashed" speakers, his digital reworking and mastering is painstakingly perfectionist and…
2003 release ** "Justin Bennet, Anne Wellmer and Stephie Buttrich fuse minimal electronica and free improvisation in a set of 16 warped and lovely songs."
Highlights from small group recordings from the 2001 Freedom of the City festival featuring artists such as Steve Beresford (electronics), John Butcher (saxes), Lol Coxhill (sax), Paul Rutherford (trombone), Phil Minton, and more in various arrangeme…
The short story: Prints is Fred Frith's first album of songs in 20 years. The long story: it is actually a collection of compilation tracks and unreleased studio sessions recorded between 1987 and 2001. No matter if you already own a few of these,…
Together Chris Corsano and Paul Flaherty have re-written the concept of modern free-jazz with their post-hardcore punk style approach of euphoric togetherness. Ferocious, spontaneous, explosive and aggressively lyrical, they've established their grou…
Ferran Fages, electric guitar.Self-tought musician, started playing guitar in the rock scene, but in 1998 stoped for re-thinking the instrument and the music made with it. In 2002 starts from zero, a process where music allows harmony to circulate w…
Paul Bley's 1971 ECM album of three Annette Peacock compositions, recorded by two piano trios in New York in March and July 1967, with Barry Altschul on drums and Gary Peacock or Mark Levinson on bass.
Awesome trio, Ernesto Rodrigues, violin, viola; José Oliveira, percussion, acoustic guitar; Marco Franco, soprano saxophone. Recorded on 6 November 2001 at Exit Studio, Lisbon.
eRikm and dieb13 are two of the most prominent and well-respected experimental turntablists in the world, both working in a wide range of contexts, from the classical world to club DJing. Over the last two years, they have begun frequently working as…
As wonderful is his duo with compatriot Cor Fuhler, who, like Prins, has gradually progressed from Bimhuis improv into electronic experimentation. This is a quite befuddling duo (as on Live, Prins utilises electronics, FM modulations and radio; Fuhle…
"It's a generalisation, but Sylvia Hallett scrapes and Clive Bell blows. Bell specialises in reed or pipe instruments from exotic locations, principally South East Asia. Hallett bought a saw for £2.49, mounted a bicycle wheel on a spindle and also pl…
Eight-part suite composed and conducted by Evan Parker for the 14-piece Transatlantic Art Ensemble, co-founded with Roscoe Mitchell, with Craig Taborn, Barry Guy, Paul Lytton and others. Recorded live September 2004 at the Muffathalle, Munich.
ErstLive 003 is from the duo of Burkhard Stangl and Christof Kurzmann, titled 'schnee_live', the final show on the last night of AMPLIFY 2004: addition. Stangl and Kurzmann began working as a duo in late 1999, releasing Schnee in 2000, and playing nu…
One of the central aesthetics of the Erstwhile label is the counterpositioning of electronic and acoustic improvisers. Rarely has that been more starkly, and beautifully, achieved than on the opening and closing tracks of eh by guitarist Stangl and t…
Early alto & soprano saxophone solo Recorded in 2004 inside two french chapels. "There are no tricks here, first and foremost ; Bertrand Gauguet has simply developed a weird array of techniques for his alto and soprano, which he exploits via close-mi…
Alphea was formed in Hamburg 1991. The duo has performed in jazz clubs, art galleries and on jazz and contemporary music festivals, playing music structured exclusively by their own concepts.Hannes Wienert (alto and soprano saxophones, trumpet) studi…
Ami Yoshida and Christof Kurzmann are both well-respected artists within the international community, each performing in a wide range of contexts from abstract to pure pop. Both are best known for their long-running duos, Yoshida for Cosmos (with Sac…