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Silenced II - Views From The Auction Block
*2024 stock. 300 copies limited edition* Silenced is a project by Donald Sturge Anthony McKenzie II playing improvised/one take duos with legendary musicians. This second volume features duets with Elliott Sharp, Vernon Reid, and Bill Laswell. “Ramarley Graham is the first tune of Silenced II, and it features Elliott Sharp. It is one of those performances that, when I listen back, I think someone else is playing drums. That’s how great it sounds, to me. It sounds so good; it just has to be someo…
Silenced
*2024 stock* "Look: one take is all it took - nothing fake or by the book. "Silenced" giving voice to choice. A cookbook for the now, shaking and shook.’ -Nels Cline
"In Silenced Don McKenzie has reconnected contemporary improvisational music to one of the most crucial & controversial issues facing us today- the misuse of lethal force by those sworn to Serve & Protect all of us. I am proud to be amongst the artists participating in this remarkable project" - Vernon Reid
A Lifeboat, Part II
*2024 stock* Matthew Putman and Michael Sarian found a home in a makeshift studio, using a borrowed 20-year-old keyboard, a good microphone, and in cramped apartment acoustics, to improvise throughout the pandemic. What they called their “weekly pilgrimages” gave them a sense of much-needed sanity, grounding their friendship and keeping them afloat, as Sarian describes, “much like a lifeboat.” The resultant project was an exploration of cadences, rhythms, and full of searching and synchronicity.…
A Lifeboat Part I
*2024 stock* In the first lockdown, Matthew Putman (on keyboard) and Michael Sarian (on trumpet and flugelhorn) began to meet up (with precautions) for semi-regular sessions in Sarian’s makeshift home studio. The conditions were less-than-ideal—a borrowed 20-year-old keyboard, an inadequate microphone, and cramped NYC apartment acoustics—but they continued their “weekly pilgrimages, searching for [their] cadences, rhythms and melodies through the Fall.” The sessions gave them much-needed sanity,…
Godtet
7 years since its release; the iconic debut from Godtet gets a repress. The self-titled LP marked the inception of La Sape Records along with the genesis of Godtet. Stitched together more like a beat tape. 12 movements recorded live with no overdubs; "This record came about with no preconceived ideas of what we were making or what it would sound like". A crystallisation of Godtet which aided to form the sound of La Sape.
Traversing across spiritual jazz, dub and experimental gestures. It caught …
Harlesden Sessions
‘Harlesden Sessions’ is a collection of duo recordings between versatile saxophonist David Bitelli and gifted drummer Ollie Usiskin, whose imaginative improvisations take us on a journey through post-bop, jazz-funk and free jazz landscapes. The two North West London natives would meet up on occasional Thursdays to play improvised sax and drums duo sessions. As their understanding grew, they decided to start recording them and ‘Harlesden Sessions’ presents the best of these concise improvised exc…
Band Width
Living on different continents, the possibilities of linking up were few and far between but we did keep in touch and perform when the occasion presented itself. The software SonoBus solved the problem of distance and we recorded, Mark on the edge of a desert in San Diego and me in the middle of three Australian deserts at Alice Springs. A selection from these sessions you hear on this CD.The duos were recorded direct to stereo live.On the last track you will hear our most recent guest Vladimir …
Fair Enough
Edition of 50 copies. Recorded on shitty 70s consumer tape decks, Fair Enough is a lo-fi experience you can play at your stoner parties. In an age where the dance floor is no longer the place to hook up, Fair Enough will calm your emotions, it will lower your libido, it will keep you out of trouble. This is a mixtape that features different music improvised and played by a trio already known as "The Blue Men". Nicolò Masetto on keys, Simone Coppiello on drums and A.M. Davì on bass. Working with …
Prose Métallique
Using 'everyday' objects to prepare the instrument in a simple way structures this "Prose Métallique", in which each piece offers a poetic approach to language and textual references. Recorded in one day, these close-miked solo pieces for alto saxophone explore the area where voice and instrument converge.
Infinite Cosmos Calling You You You (Vol. 1)
Federico Ughi Together with Leo Genovese and Brandon Lopez Explores the Spaceways in the New Multidimensional CD ‘Infinite Cosmos Calling You You You, Vol. 1’
Red Hot Ice
Dunmall continues his run of very special releases on Discus Music. Working with a nine piece group centered around his Birmingham based colleagues, and which includes double keys and electronics, Dunmall delivers a swirling mix of spacey big band music which breaks down into atmospheric and exciting open ended improvisations from time to time. Paul considers this to be a milestone release, and one which is unlike anything else in his extensive discography. Edited and produced with respect, love…
Recording Rites
“For me this music felt like coming home. Or perhaps I should say this feels where I should really be; proud to be associated with it.” - Sam Richards
What Happens Has Become Now
What Happens Has Become Now is Jessica Pavone's fifth solo viola album and her fourth for Relative Pitch Records. Over the past twenty years, Pavone has been developing solo music based on the pitches of the open strings intended to accentuate the natural sympathetic resonances of her particularly loud viola. Over the years, she has incorporated and experimented with electronic effects to give herself a "partner" to play with and more texture to her compositions. This album features a track perf…
Wild Peacock In Transit
SORBD brings together 5 musicians from the European improvised music and free jazz scene who have distinguished themselves as strong artistic personalities. The five instrumentalists and composers are characterized by their own sound language and the development of contemporary concepts of ensemble playing. The improvisation in various constellations, as well as conceptual composition sketches, lead to a high degree of interactive playfulness, surprising moments of noise and sensual sound images…
It Was Always Time
It Was Always Time, the debut duo release from Berke Can Özcan & Jonah Parzen-Johnson out November 1 on We Jazz Records, is a refreshing and full-throated expression of joy and curiosity. In a year when 76 countries hold national elections and we find ourselves in an existential battle against apathy and cynicism, this effortlessly authentic album offers an innocent reminder that the antidote to stagnation is curiosity and the fuel for change is the joy of building something transformative toget…
Butterfly Mushroom
2nd Volume of the perfect pairing Brötzmann & Nilssen-Love! Recorded at Zuiderpershuis in Antwerp, August 2015. Liner notes-transcription of an interview with Peter Brötzmann.
Floating Similarities
*100 copies limited edition* Freshly on Creative Sources is this debut duo collaboration by French 11 string guitarist Christian Vasseur and Belgium's Dirk Serries on his archtop guitar. Performed and recorded at the stunning Oude Klooster chapel in Brecht (Belgium). Both musicians met each other for the first at the Alternative Guitar Festival, organised by Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg in 2023 at Haekem Theatre (Brussels, Belgium) and immediately felt a kindred spirit for the abstract and immense…
Unlockings
John Butcher is interested in particular people and their personalities. He prefers not to work in a generic situation, where there's an agreement in advance to play a certain kind of thing, and the music cannot swerve in a sudden fresh direction.
As he told me a few years back: "What got me so interested in the type of improvising I ended up really spending time on was, at least at a personal level, there was a feeling you could start from scratch. Now you might well be mistaken, and rediscover…
Lower Marsh
The record can be considered a sort of farewell note to one of London’s most crucial venues for improvised music and sound art after its unexpected closure in late 2023 due to gentrification. John Butcher had previously collaborated with these three musicians in different contexts, but Unlockings documents a first-of-its-kind quartet line-up.
"I wanted a new combination, but made of players I’d worked with over the years" says Butcher. "Choosing is probably 75 % about the player and 25 % about t…
Black Disco
With a Yamaha organ and a dream, Pops Mohamed started his musical journey in mid-1970s South Africa as the founder of Black Disco, creating a hip and innovative blend of chill-out jazz with spiritual overtones. Playing original compositions as well as reimagined soul and pop hits, the group appeared on producer Rashid Vally's As-Shams/The Sun label alongside Abdullah Ibrahim and Harari. On the band's self-titled debut from 1975, Mohamed's cosmic organ is supported by two of the most sought-after…