New Arrivals
Switch Off That Machine
A warning for the present and the future, from the past… The time is apartheid South Africa. The resonance is now.
You will hear, in order of appearance:
Soweto's Imilonji KaNtu Choral Society singing at the enthronement of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, St George's Cathedral, Cape Town;
Archbishop Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner;
An announcer on state-controlled radio;
Beyers Naudé, once a leading pro-apartheid Afrikaner cleric whose radical epiphany after the Sharpeville massacre of March 1960, when …
Rebirth/Omen
"It was my first time performing at Chitei. The venue has a dark, almost secret-hideout-like atmosphere, with a sense of decay that resonated deeply with my emotional state at the time. The speakers were quite large relative to the space, so the sound would circulate and create feedback that doesn’t happen in other venues. By moving the microphone through the space and changing its position, the pitch and harmonics of the feedback would shift. Very few venues offer this kind of experience.
To me…
Fields Become Sky
Monasunne is the duo of composers Lara Agar and Louis d'Heudières. The album Fields Become Sky is the band’s debut. Starting from their shared experience of growing up in East Anglia in the UK, the duo dug into the history of the region, finding myths and poems written at a time when it was an independent kingdom. The Anglo-Saxon poetry - dealing with questions of death, mortality and spirituality - forms the textual backdrop of the record and is sung in its original Old English. The duo treat t…
Only Birds Know How to Call the Sun and They Do It Every Morning
Kaj Duncan David’s new album ‘Only Birds Know How to Call the Sun and They Do It Every Morning', made with the Danish contemporary ensemble Scenatet, is an extraordinary work of sui generis avant-garde electronic music, exploring the relationship between language and three interrelated themes; human development, altered states of consciousness and AI / machine learning. Employing voice (vocoder, talkbox), synth, EWI (electric wind instrument), MIDI guitar and MIDI percussion, ‘Only Birds Know Ho…
Rarefied Airs
*200 copies limited edition* “Rarefied Airs” is the debut album by Glasspack, duo of Henry Birdsey and Ian McColm. Both Birdsey and McColm are part of an extended New Haven (CT) musician family (think of Stefan Christensen, Shirese, David Shapiro, Center, Figured, Tongue Depressor etc.). In Glasspack they fuse Birdsey’s bagpipes with McColm’s computerized sounds to hammer out rock solid modern fourth world music masterpiece.
“Rarefied Airs” offers two long pieces (both ticking at almost 19 minut…
The Grass Harp
*200 hand-numbered copies limited edition* Aiko Takahashi is a Nova Gorica-based musician, a spirit that has released albums on various labels. Just like the line that separates the two cities where Aiko lives, Gorizia and Nova Gorica, divided between two countries yet united as one, Aiko’s music exists on a boundary. A line that separates silence from peculiar, almost imperceptible sounds. Too quiet to be Ambient, too Ambient to be Sound Art. Two years ago, after a first complete release on IIK…
Stray Voltage
These tracks capture Ra's electronic peregrinations during the 1970s and '80s. The Arkestra occasionally makes a cameo appearance but Ra commands the spotlight, not so much composing music as painting soundscapes with electronic keyboards. In the collection we've titled Stray Voltage, Ra is not so much composing music as painting soundscapes with electronic keyboards. Ra doesn't simply play these consoles — he attacks, cajoles, and pounds them. He upends and transports them where they weren't bu…
Let Night Come On Bells End The Day
A quietly stunning meditation on sound and space, Let Night Come On Bells End The Day sees Sarah Davachi sculpting slow, luminous improvisations for Mellotron and organ. Each piece unfolds with patient restraint, revealing rich overtone complexity and a dreamlike sense of presence-minimalism at its most intimate and immersive
Music Written For Monterey 1965, Not Heard, Played In Its Entirety At UCLA
** Rare original copies. Second pressing on Jazz Workshop from the mid '70s (estimated) of this impossible to obtain album, the original issue being available only as a mail-order release. Unplayed copies from a dead-stock, possible wear due to ageing on covers ** On September 25, 1965, at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Charles Mingus took the stage with an octet of some of the most forward-thinking jazz musicians of the era. The occasion was not just any concert, but a determined response to an earlier set…
Ostranenie
Ostranenie is a collection of digitally manipulated, impressionistic piano miniatures — each named after blockbuster films and TV series. Improvised late at night as a reaction against passive media consumption, these pieces function as both homage and critique, navigating the space between classical impressionism and contemporary digital manipulation. They don’t just deconstruct traditional piano expression; they interrogate the emotional stakes of sound in an era where immersion culture flatte…
The Might Of Stars Sublime
*300 copies limited edition* The Might of Stars Sublime is Dirk Serries' debut on German label Audiophob. Drawing from his oeuvre and experience in ambient and experimental music, projects like his Microphonics project, "The Might Of Stars Sublime" feels familiar, close to home, but simultaneously creates another dimension in his realm of ambient music. This album leads the listener through a trip of minimalism, a sense of grandeur, a specific harmonic quality and beautiful ambient music which b…
Extensions
"Languishing off-catalogue for many years, McCoy Tyner's Extensions may be the pianist's most unjustly neglected album. Strange days, for not only is the music ineffably vibrant, but Extensions is the only recording ever to feature Tyner alongside pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane, who replaced him in saxophonist John Coltrane's group in 1966. The album has one foot in the echoes of John Coltrane's "classic quartet," of which Tyner was a member from 1960-65, and the other in the astral jazz sty…
Night Dreamer
“Night Dreamer is an album that finds Wayne Shorter in a state of transition as he was still rooted in the hard bop style that started his career, but also starting to lean toward the more abstract style that will serve for the greater part of his remaining career. It’s a talented, and somewhat unusual ensemble that Shorter has assembled here. McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones, at that time, were mostly known for their famous work with Coltrane, but in 1964, when this album was recorded, Tyner and Jon…
Fuchsia Swing Song
"One of the greatest modern moments on Blue Note – ever! From the cover, to the compositions, to the playing on the set – the whole album crackles with an unbelievable fire that was hardly ever matched again. A young Sam Rivers leads a quartet that includes Jaki Byard on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Anthony Williams on drums – coming together in a sound that's got lots of sharp edges, yet which also beats with an undeniably swinging heart. Rivers blows incredibly on the session – held in check…
Schizophrenia
"Wayne Shorter’s Schizophrenia found the legendary saxophonist at the pinnacle of post-bop with a sextet of like-minded musical explorers including James Spaulding, Curtis Fuller, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter & Joe Chambers performing Shorter originals like ‘Tom Thumb’, ‘Go’, and ‘Miyako’. Recorded on March 10, 1967, at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey." - HHV
Poly-Currents (Blue Note Tone Poet Series)
After his six years with the seminal John Coltrane Quartet, the master drummer Elvin Jones signed with Blue Note in 1968 and began building his own career as a bandleader. His first two albums for the label were spare trio outings—Puttin’ It Together and The Ultimate—both featuring saxophonist Joe Farrell and bassist Jimmy Garrison. For his next album—1969’s unfettered post-bop exploration Poly-Currents—Jones expanded his ensemble with additional woodwinds and percussion while still maintaining …
Rivbea Live! Series, Volume 3
Track 1 recorded May 21, 1976 at the Wildflowers festival
Track 2 recorded June 20, 1974
Jimmy Lyons - alto saxophone
Karen Borca - bassoon
Hayes Burnett - bass
Henry Letcher - drums
Syd Smart - drums
The Lost Session, Paris 1979
Recorded August 22, 1979 at Campagne Premiere, Paris, France
All compositions by Dave Burrell and Monica Larsson, unless otherwise noted
Dave Burrell - piano
Sam Woodyard - drums
Way of the Breeze
Recorded on 8th September, 1993 at Café Amores in Hofu City, Yamaguchi, Japan
Motoharu Yoshizawa - homemade electric vertical five strings bass
Kim Dae Hwan - percussion
The Analects Of Confucius
Recorded on 21st October, 2000 at Aoshima Hall, Shizuoka City, Japan
Misha Mengelberg - pianoSabu Toyozumi - drums