★Relative Pitch Records
BeingFive
"A project called ‘BeingFive’ might be motivated by a search to know the nature of being and, by extension, what it means to be together. In this way Montreal clarinettist Lori Freedman set up at once an atelier and a laboratory where both a group music could be made of practically nothing and a social organism could uncover both its organising principles and, perhaps, their limits. Here are exceptionally gifted improvising musicians –– hand-picked by Freedman for a Berlin residency project, a "…
Am Frankfurter Tor
*In process of stocking* Anna and Jan first met in 2004 when they started playing together in different combinations as the Kaluza Quartet (with trombonist Christof Thewes and drummer Kay Lübke), trios with pianst Niko Meinhold or with drummer Michael Griener and various others. In 2020 they played their first duo concert on a boat in Berlin (Hosek Contemporary) and decided to continue with their work as duo. The same year they went to Christian Betz’ studio in Friedrichshain to record their mus…
Khimaira
Khimaira is a three headed monster. It has a lion head in front, a wild goat head on it’s back and a snake head at the end of it’s tail. It is the offspring of Echidna, the mother of all monsters. The group collaborates to produce eerie organic sounds, howling cries, whispered hums, disturbing wailing, shrieks that die off and reimerge with an intense fluidity. Yet there is an architecture under-girding the improvisations that's only discernible in its outline.
When No One Around You is There but Nowhere to be Found
*In process of stocking* As both an instrumentalist and composer, Jessica Pavone explores the tactile and sensorial experience of music as a vibration-based medium. Since 2012, she has established an individual body of material for solo viola, concentrating on these elements of performance. The structured yet indeterminate pieces stem from intensive long tone practice and an interest in repetition, song form, and sympathetic vibration. "When No One Around You is There but Nowhere to be Found," i…
Correspondence
Aaron Burnett is “a standout new voice on the saxophone. In a very short time, the young musician has already lent his personal and unhindered approach to a breadth of bandleaders including Esperanza Spalding, Wynton Marsalis, Anti-Pop Consortium‘s HPRIZM, and Weasel Walter. He also toured with three time Grammy winner, Esperanza Spalding in her 2012 world tour with Radio Music Society. Aaron has the also retained the true nature of jazz in his music and his playing, constantly searching for new…
The Embalmer
Matthew Bourne is a renowned pianist with a reputation as a fearlessly unpredictable improviser. Emil Karlsen is an independently minded drummer who plays with power and delicacy. The Embalmer documents one of Karlsen and Bourne’s first meetings. Recorded in a single session in 2020, The Embalmer sees a wide-ranging musical discourse between the two musicians unfold in its most lean form across the six improvised tracks.
Conduits
*In process of stocking* Freely improvised music for baritone saxophone and double bass. Cath Roberts and Olie Brice found an escape from the musical isolation of lockdown with the amazing discovery that it was possible to play (and record) online in almost real time - these are the results.
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*In process of stocking* Vocals, bass, drums, Masked Pickle is three singular "voices" who express their ideas in a unique way, follow their flow but also like to break it, deconstruct the easy path of the sound by yelling, whispering, blowing, bawling, roaring, scraping, declaiming, knocking.
Space
*In process of stocking* Ullén/Bergman/Lund is a piano trio based in Stockholm that plays free jazz that channels the American free jazz tradition as well as contemporary classical music. Combining raw power with an exquisite attention to detail, the three musicians make every moment sparkle with possibilities. In this aural space, every movement matters.
Ullén and fellow Swedes Bergman and Lund are all significant players in the Scandanavian freejazz scene and the trio first met in the sextet A…
Geometry Of Trees
This foursome is resolute in its acceptance of communal responsibility and creation. Vocalist Kyoko Kitamura sings and speaks in wordless flurries matching Taylor Ho Bynum’s brassy exhortations on cornet. Cellist Tomeka Reid and guitarist Joe Morris worry and pluck their respective strings, applying speed and torque in the loosing of spidery cascades of crinkled and crenelated tones. Pitch and timbre differentials are a big part of the interplay with instruments juxtaposed in bursts of activity.
Fukiya
*In process of stocking* The sublime first solo saxophone release of Masayo Koketsu is deeply steeped in the free jazz tradition of Japan. From Coltrane's visit to Japan in 1966 to the free jazz exploits of Kaoru Abe, Masayo Koketsu's astonishing solo session marks her as a force to be reckoned with. A single 46 minute piece of achingly beautiful wails and declarations punctuate the bedrock of silence then retreat back. A singular effort.
Love Songs
"The most striking sound in improvised music in years..." Love Songs by gabby fluke-mogul is a record of seventeen violin compositions for improvisation devoted to the multitudinous hues of intimacy.
Refuge
Alexandra Grimal’s new record is an exploration of her inner improvised language in resonance with the very special acoustic of the castle of Chambord. Refuge was recorded in the double revolution staircase in the castle of Chambord in September 2020.
A Grain Of Earth
*In process of stocking* ‘A grain of Earth’ is the first solo venture and expression of several years of working with instant compositions and the timbral possibilities of an acoustic piano. This has been wrapped in an idea of realities beyond our perception, and a thought that we are a part of a big organism where everything goes endlessly bigger and smaller in scale of size, time and speed. Everything moves in constantly interfering waves of energy; echoing and reflecting, in ceaseless dance o…
Another Day, Another Vector
Forbes Graham (trumpet, drum machine, laptop computer) is joined by Cecilia Lopez (analog synth) and Brandon Lopez (bass) on a session recorded at Firehouse 12 in August of 2021. Each musician is wholly distinct and themselves on this recording, but their sounds unite to create a dark and quizzical sci-fi journey.
Trasluz
Amidea Clotet's Trasluz is the result of research into the sound and textural possibilities of the electric guitar treated as a source of sound amplification. Clotet creates spontaneous, raw and vivid soundscapes, which call for the importance of the present moment, of knowing how to listen to what surrounds us and to ourselves.
The Industrious Tongue
The Industrious Tongue of Michael Foster is a 2-part work probing the most intimate and sensitive glands of the saxophone's internal architecture. This work is dedicated to several filmmakers whose work explores the erotic extremities and complexities of contemporary intimacy which has served as a focal point of inspiration for this album: Hisayasu Sato, Takashi Ishii, Naomi Tani and Jacques Rivette.
New Spells
*100 copies limited edition* Ava Mendoza plays these songs. She makes them sing. Her technique is impeccable, but her playing is astonishingly expressive. She doesn't just bend blue notes; she wads them up into a ball and throws them up against a wall. She manipulates raw lightning, giving us a sound that is fluorescent and powerful enough to leave a trace of ozone in the air. Mendoza knows what she does better than almost anyone else on the planet, which is tell stories with her guitar.
New Spe…
The Gospel According To Matthew & Michael
requent collaborators, Matthew Shipp (piano) and Michael Bisio (bass) are joined by fellow Downtown New Yorker Mat Maneri on viola create what they refer to as a chamber ensemble, performing the 15 improvised and inspired chapters of Shipp & Bisio's "Gospel"
Pulverize The Sound
The trio of trumpeter Peter Evans, electric bassist Tim Dahl, and drummer/percussionist Mike Pride have played together since 2010, crossing the boundaries of improvisation, composition and rock in dynamic genre-defying music intended to be played loud.