★Important Records

Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messaien's Catalogue D'Oiseaux. Beginning in January 2009 one volume of 13 Japanese Birds will be released each month. The 13th and final volume will be released January 2010. Each volume will be a one time pressing of 1000 copies.

'The Harmonic Series' is a compilation of musical works in Just Intonation created by three generations of contemporary composers who utilize this tuning system. This compilation was curated over the span of two years by Duane Pitre and released on Important Records in November 2009. The goal of this compilation and its accompanying liner notes is to educate listeners about the origins and use of Just Intonation, as well as to portray the unique beauty of this tonal “color palette,” which is hea…

2010 release ** "Mugstar's third album (and second on Important Records) maintains the power and heaviness of the sonic assaults laid out in their previous releases while extending musical maneuvers and textures into new territories. Sunburnt Impedance Machine moves through driving riff passages with soaring guitars and a voice recalling touches of early Pink Floyd before locking into a repetitive keyboard and drum driven outro. Serra is an extended voyage through a shimmering Krautrock landscap…

'The Seven Storey Mountain is a trans-generation group of highly recognized figures in modern music. Paul Lytton, for instance, has been playing drums with Evan Parker since 1969. David Grubbs is recognized for his work with Jim O'Rourke in Gastr Del Sol, Bastro, Squirrel Bait & extensive solo work. Nate Wooley is one of the most exciting young trumpet players currently working and he's collaborated with Taylor Ho Bynum, Peter Evans, Mary Halvorson & many others. WOOLEY is a member of Blue Colla…

'MERZBOW's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messaien's Catalogue D'Oiseaux. Beginning in January 2009 one volume of 13 Japanese Birds will be released each month. The 13th and final volume will be released January 2010. Cover art by Jenny Akita.'

The title Ex Patris (from the fathers) plays on the idiomatic baroque lute compositions presented here which emulate the classical repertoire. It also refers to this almost forgotten instrument, which was passed on by the fathers. The Jozef Van Wissem's aim is to bring back and liberate the lute. The four compositions on Ex Patris form a circular narrative of interlocking repetitive melodic series. The follow up to Important release “ It is all that is made” kicks off with the pro apocalyptic tr…

Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messaien's Catalogue D'Oiseaux. Beginning in January 2009 one volume of 13 Japanese Birds will be released each month. The 13th and final volume will be released January 2010. Cover art by Jenny Akita.

The 10th installent in Merzbow's ambitious 13 Japanese Birds series is devoted to the Japanese word for "chicken." One composition, "Niwatori Obsession," divided up into three parts. Inspired by Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue D'Oiseaux.

Risil is a collective of musicians that are all somehow connected to each other in some form or fashion. Risil's membership includes Guillermo Herren (Prefuse 73/Savath & Savallas), Zach Hill (Hella), Tyondai Braxton (Battles), John McEntire (Tortoise), Alejandra Deheza (School of Seven Bells), Eva Puyuelo Muns (Savath & Savalas).The project started as a chance for a large number of people to freely collaborate without a set goal for the end result or achieving a certain sound. This turned into …

Limited edition of 400. Handmade letterpressed covers. Deceh is a fine drone quartet utilizing traditional ethnic drone instruments as well as vintage analog synthesizers. This record was recorded on a centered room microphone as the group sat in a perfect square around it. This method of recording perfectly captured the focused intimacy of the moment, complete with the crackling bellows of an ancient harmonium. Bringing strict discipline, control and patience, theyre able to achieve densely tra…

Deluxe limited edition vinyl-only release packaged in heavy-duty tip-on style die cut jackets. A definitive statement of the new Om energy, recorded on 24-track multi-track remote audio at their 2008 performance in New York. Mastered by Carl Saff, the audio quality is strikingly clear and full. On this night Om performed the seminal album Conference of the Birds live in its entirety. Newly invoked energy resonates in the sound of the band: the dynamics between Emil Amos and Al Cisneros have rend…

2021 restock. "Includes liner notes & archival photographs. 1970 was an important year in Eliane Radigue's musical life since it was the year just before she acquired her ARP 2500 synthesizer. Since 1967, she had been using the feedback as a material; feedback from two tape recorders reworked through intensive studio techniques: slowing down, alteration, superimposition, montage. In 1970, the last year she dedicated to feedback, several milestone pieces saw the light of day: Omnht, a wonderful s…

Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messaien's Catalogue D'Oiseaux. Beginning in January 2009 one volume of 13 Japanese Birds will be released each month. The 13th and final volume will be released January 2010. Cover art by Jenny Akita.

Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messaien's Catalogue D'Oiseaux. Beginning in January 2009 one volume of 13 Japanese Birds will be released each month. The 13th and final volume will be released January 2010. Each volume will be a one time pressing of 1000 copies. Available from Important Records is a deluxe hand made numbered bamboo box to hold the 13 cd collection.Cover art by Jenny Akita.

Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messaien's Catalogue D'Oiseaux. Beginning in January 2009 one volume of 13 Japanese Birds will be released each month. The 13th and final volume will be released January 2010. Each volume will be a one time pressing of 1000 copies. Available from Important Records is a deluxe hand made numbered bamboo box to hold the 13 cd collection.Cover art by Jenny Akita. Author, activist, painter and sound artist Masami Akita …

Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messaien's Catalogue D'Oiseaux. Beginning in January 2009 one volume of 13 Japanese Birds will be released each month. The 13th and final volume will be released January 2010. Each volume will be a one time pressing of 1000 copies. Available from Important Records is a deluxe hand made numbered bamboo box to hold the 13 cd collection.Cover art by Jenny Akita.

Limited edition of 500 copies pressed on virgin vinyl. Guitar out-crunch hailing from the Bardo Axis. Alasehir is grounded stoner heavy-zen and the second in our four part Bardo Pond related vinyl set. Alasehir's 4th release, following a CD apiece for the Important, aRCHIVE and Siltbreeze labels, Torment of The Metals "continues their sonic exploration of dense, languorous, free expansion. Billowing and exploding like a cluster of hashish stars, they produce a cosmic energy akin to a quasar in t…

"Hello, I’m Trip Maker and I want to tell you about CAVE. CAVE formed in Columbia, Missouri sometime around 2004. Early outings were decidedly free form and jammy. Many people passed in and out of the bands ranks from show to show. It wasn’t the same band twice for a little while. Eventually, songs were written and a shared vision became clearer, resulting in the HUNT LIKE DEVIL EP. I played my first show with CAVE at Apop Records (when they were still in Columbia) on a bill with Rotten Milk vs…

Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue D'Oiseaux. Beginning in January 2009 one volume of 13 Japanese Birds will be released each month. The 13th and final volume will be released January 2010.

Brand new full length from Grails/Om member Emil Amos. While burying himself in old books on Cold War espionage and '70s Italian horror soundtracks, Emil Amos logged many hours into the night layering endless tracks of improv and then editing them into a cohesive sonic blanket over 2 years time. He emerged with his sixth full length record under the name Holy Sons called Drifter's Sympathy. Listeners will recognize Amos' signature hallucinatory/LSD-inspired mixing-style, heard on records like Bl…

Pick-up is a new duo of Frans de Waard (Beequeen) on laptop and Martin Luiten (Girlfriends, Uw Hypotheek Advies) on guitar. Limited edition of 300. Hand made cover artwork. This is the 9th release in our Arts & Crafts series which pairs music with handmade artwork by the artists responsible for the recordings.

Brand new full full length from renowned Swedish noise rock outfit the Skull Defekts. The Skull Defekts is a band from Sweden in the very north of Europe. Their intense, monotonous, rhythmic and sexual out-rock has, since their start in early 2005, been spreading energies of various kinds to welcoming audiences and listeners. The DFX is also exploring worlds of noise, the drone and psychedelic electronics on waves. The Temple is the follow up to last years Blood Spirits & Drums Are Singing but i…

Volume three of Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds series. Limited edition of 1000. Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue D'Oiseaux. Beginning in January 2009 one volume of 13 Japanese Birds will be released each month. The 13th and final volume will be released January 2010.

The new LSD March album Under Milk Wood is their first full length since 2007's Constellation Of Tragedy for Important Records. With grace (in the rock sense), style, humor & the perfect touch of heavy riffage this tremendously unique and original recording is a classic of the new Japanese underground. Recorded at Black Snowflake Studios in Japan, Under Milk Wood is a fascinating ghostly rock album full of clean untreated restraint and a grounded calm compliments of Takahashi Ikuro's drumming. I…

Violinist/vocalist C Spencer Yeh & unrivaled saxophone elder-titan Paul Flaherty team up without the assistance of acclaimed drummer Chris Corsano for the first time.Along for the jamz is bonkers Boston trumpeteer Greg Kelley. After performing numerous times and honing a distinct group dynamic as a trio over many years with celebrated percussionist Chris Corsano, Yeh and Flaherty decided to try it out one-on-one. The record comprises of the best from two live sets from a short duo tour in the No…

Though each member of the 13th Assembly is acclaimed in their own right this group is very much a singular musical experience. A planned NPR piece should help raise exposure for this sublime recording. The Thirteenth Assembly began as a touring collective made up of four musicians and four musically distinct small ensembles: Tomas and Taylor's duo; Mary and Jessica's duo; Taylor's trio with Mary and Tomas; and the collaborative quartet featured on this recording. The group is a microcosm of an e…

This is a collaboration between Angel (containing members of Mum and Pan Sonic) and Strings Of Consciousness. This dense and droney construction echoes platinum reflections with warm fluidity and delicate detail. The more attention you'll bestow on that record, the more unsuspected new paths you'll be invited to wander about. This is an intricacte and imaginative soundtrack with several layers of sound, gathering both organic and sonic elements to assemble a post-industrial sound structure. The …

Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month-13 CD set that begins January 2009 and ends February 2010. These are pressed in a limited edition of 1000 and once they are sold out they will not be repressed. This series was inspired by Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue D'Oiseaux.

Tara Burke (FURSAXA) & cellist Helena Espvall (ESPERS). A beautiful, laboriously created, floating affair of skeletal organ drones, ceremonial singing, & subtly frantic instrumental accompaniment that conjures up a natural woodland romp & stomp.

Opening up Merzbow's new 13-disc series of monthly releases themed around Japanese birds, Suzume gets underway with even more of a bang than the usual Merzbow fare, combining those familiar, expertly wrought noise emissions with wild, flailing drums. The first track, 'Red Bird Of Summer Part 1' lasts some twenty minutes, dishing out aural punishment at every conceivable frequency. After a while it becomes apparent that for better or worse, the drumming somehow detracts from the intensity of the …

Formed for the purpose of playing 2008's Instal Fest, this trio comprises C Spencer Yeh (of Burning Star Core), Ben Hall (of Graveyards) and Don Dietrich (of Borbetomagus), coming together for the common cause of relentless, ear-blasting improv. Sax-toting noise legend Dietrich is no stranger to the more abrasive school of free improv, having been operating in the field since the early 1980s, but the comparatively fresh-faced Yeh and Hall hold their own here (manning violin and traps, respective…

Aidan Baker's I Wish Too, To Be Absorbed is a 2-disc compilation of tracks from various out-of-print, limited edition releases spanning the last 10 years of Baker's output, ranging from his very first release to material that was featured on the soundtrack to a book of his poetry. Toronto based composer Aidan Baker works under his own name, under the name Nadja along with bassist Leah Buckareff and also with the trio ARC. Hailing from the Great White North, Baker incorporates guitar, drums, bass…

Author, activist, painter and sound artist Masami Akita had been at the foreground of experimental music for over 25 years. Inspired by psycedelic rock, free jazz, early electronic composition as well the physical arts, especial Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau, Masami Akita has created a musical language all his own. Dolphin Sonar is Merzbow's full length protest album against the annual brutal slaughtering of some 2,500 dolphins in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture Japan. This is an angry album full of beats…

The first 200 copies of this limited vinyl-only, packaged in handmade copper colored letterpress jackets.  Important Records is quite pleased to be presenting this split release consisting of two new drone works from Pauline Oliveros and Eleh. Oliveros, an early American minimalist who has pioneered the technique of Deep Listening, has created a new work exlcusively for this release. Drifting Depths is a new improvised piece made on a harmonica being processed through Pauline's Expanded Instrum…

This is the companion release to the Tom Carter LP titled Shots At Infinity 2 being released on Important simultaneously. Shots At Infinity 1 (the CD) is comprised of recordings from various basements in the northeastern USA from late 2007. Steering away from the more delicate string environments and modal folk improvisations of previous CDs, the disk features maximum loop delay drone overload stretched over long, densely harmonic tracks, retaining the melodic content and flow of earlier release…

Limited edition of 700 copies. Double LP pressing housed in a gatefold jacket. Being a Nabokovian and visceral garden of delights, a musical evocation of memory and desire spread over four sides of vinyl. The sound is conjured forth from dark wells to be birthed, twisting and screaming in silver winds. Recorded at Black Dirt Studios, over an intensive three-day period of hermetic isolation, while snow blanketed the surrounding fields, this work is both more detailed and conjures a heavier, more …

2023 Stock. Zak Riles is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in the Important band Grails (as well as M.Ward's band). His creative contributions to the group are immeasurable and can be heard clearly on this self titled debut solo outing. In fact, some of the pieces on this solo record have been reinterpreted into Grails favorites. Like his band Grails, Zak Riles solo work is an elaborate mansion built of inspiration but with so much strength and originality that it stands firmly on its own. …

Limited edition of 300 copies in a heavy stock screen printed jacket. Numbered. A Zamuro is a dark South American vulture of great size. Zamuro is also a solo composition piece for portable synth and analog filter. Side A on this LP is a live realization of this piece recorded at the Compound in San Francisco in 2006 (Mastered by Lasse Marhaug). Carlos composed and performed this piece live on several tours in the US/Europe/Japan all trough out 2006 and 2007, if you saw him live in those two yea…

Previously unreleased recordings from 1971. Admira is sourced from original master recordings discovered by Kluster member and Tangerine Dream engineer Klaus Freudigmann. Along with Vulcano, also being released at the same time on Important, Admira is presented here for the first time in this deluxe package. These intense sessions were made with Schnitzler at the helm, as always, after the departure of Mobius and Roedelius from the group. Conrad Schnitzler founded Kluster in 1969 along with Roed…

Quartet (GTM) 2006 is Anthony Braxton's first release for Important Records. GTM stands for Ghost Trance Music and this four CD box set contains four Ghost Trance compositions recorded in quartet with Anthony Braxton playing reeds, Carl Testa on bass, Aaron Siegal on percussion and Max Heath on piano. This 4CD box also contains a definitive essay by Braxton on his Ghost Trance compositions.