Best of 2026
Thresholds
On Thresholds, Andrew Anderson assembles a disquieting tapestry of foley‑like detail, field recordings and dream logic, a vinyl debut where precise sound art slips into phantasmagoria, hovering at the edge of memory, image and pure atmosphere.
Particularly Dangerous Situation
*150 copies lmiited edition* Ian Wellman's “Particularly Dangerous Situation”, his first release for Elevator Bath and first vinyl LP, is a meditative, at times harrowing, interpretive document of the catastrophic California wildfires of 2025. Wellman's stunningly descriptive field recordings plus his signature tape loop textures and sampled drones combine for a dramatic ten-part narrative that is both frightening and sorrowful in its depiction of calamitous events. "On January 7, 2025 Southern …
Let the Spirit Out/Live at 'Mu' London
Big tip! This is it! Chicago spiritual jazz master Kahil El'Zabar delivers one of the most powerful live recordings in recent memory! Captured over two unforgettable nights at "mu" in London - July 15th & 16th, 2024 - this is music as ancient ritual, as communion, as healing force. El'Zabar created new material specifically for these performances, alongside reimagined arrangements of classics like Wayne Shorter's "Footprints", Gershwin's "Summertime", and Duke Ellington & Juan Tizol's "Caravan".…
Oeuvres Sonores
Edition of 120 copies. The missing chapter, at last. Two of the most elusive records in the Alga Marghen catalog - one-sided LPs pressed in editions of 80 and 29 copies, available only inside long since vanished boxsets - are finally united on a single LP. Oeuvres sonores completes the series of records issued in relation to alga marghen's presentation of the work of Charlotte Moorman at the Centre Pompidou between 2008 and 2013, and appears in a final edition of 120 copies only. Moorman remains…
Pillars
On Pillars, Francesca Flora & nobile build a haunted architecture out of nothing but voice and machinery. Flora’s sighs, screams and murmurs are dissected and reassembled into slow-motion laments and grotesque lullabies, as if Ballard’s singing statues had learned to confess, choke and glow from within.
Katcharpari
** Audiophile reissue from the original masters, 180gm vinyl pressed by Pallas, laminated hand-glued gatefold cover. Limited Edition. ** Katcharpari is the second solo album by Italian jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava, recorded and released in January 1973 and considered a cornerstone of the jazz-rock/fusion genre. Recorded in Milan and released on the German label BASF, Rava himself described it as his "breakthrough album." Thanks to the critical acclaim this work received, Rava caught the attention …
Dalbergia Retusa
Extraordinary double LP of solo guitar music by Hans Reichel (1949-2011), curated by Oren Ambarchi. Twenty-three pieces from 1973-1988 documenting Reichel's radical instrumental rethinking: custom-built guitars with additional strings, moveable pickups, special capos. Sounds simultaneously strange and beautiful, from romantic lyricism to alien sonorities. Essential.
Beautiful United Harmony Happening, The Education of an Amphibian
* 150 copies Small repress* “Beautiful United Harmony Happening” / “The Education of an Amphibian” - the second release by Alga Marghen’s brand new free jazz imprint, Formalibera - is also dedicated to the output of John Tchicai following his return to Copenhagen during the mid 1960s. Comprising two pieces, remarkably, this single LP effectively bookends a rich period of activity for the saxophonist, capturing one of his earliest group formations as a leader from 1966, as well as one of his last…
Music From the Other Side of the Fence
A collection of previously unreleased material (between '75 & '90) by Enno Velthuys.Compiled by Hessel Veldman.
Die Dritte Ebene
On Die Dritte Ebene, Emilio Gordoa and Sven‑Åke Johansson let vibraphone, drums and accordion run in seemingly parallel lines until a mysterious “third layer” appears - a ghost‑music of overtones, pulse and texture that neither player could summon alone.
The Black Ark
Huuuge Tip! In the pantheon of classic free jazz, Noah Howard's The Black Ark looms large. Recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City in 1969 - just prior to the alto saxophonist's relocation to Europe - the album was eventually released in 1972 on Alan Bates's Freedom label, and has since acquired near-mythical status among collectors and devotees of the music. Now, Superior Viaduct presents the definitive remastered edition on vinyl, restoring this landmark to the visibility it has always…
Colori
Quartet Records, in collaboration with GDM and EMI General Music, presents a reissue of Ennio Morricone’s iconic album Colori, celebrating its 55th anniversary. In the summer of 1971, Morricone entered the legendary Orthophonic Studios in Rome alongside his longtime collaborators Bruno Nicolai, Alessandro Alessandroni and Edda Dell’Orso, and recorded a selection of ten tracks drawn from some of his recent film scores, many of which had not yet been released. He remixed some cues and re-recorded …
Appearance/Music for Solo Performer
Big tip! Beyond Rare! These historical recordings of a 1967 concert at Hope College in Michigan involving John Cage, Toshi Ichiyanagi and David Tudor, performing compositions by Ichiyanagi and Alvin Lucier, were recently discovered in an archive in Japan. The Lucier piece, "Music for Solo Performer", was the first musical composition to utilize human brainwaves; this 1967 performance, released here for the first time, is an early realization of the piece, featuring Tudor, Ichiyanagi and Lowell C…
Bauke Meersman
On his self‑titled debut, Bauke Meersman steps into focus with an intimate, detail‑oriented statement: a set of pieces shaped as much by touch, space and recording perspective as by melody, quietly framed by DHM Records’ tactile artwork and production care.
Intégrale Acousmatique
200 copies. 3LP special edition in screen printed linen box + 8 page booklet + download code. Metaphon is pleased to present this première edition, which brings together a near-complete collection of the acousmatic works of Liliane Donskoy, recorded in the 1970s and 1980s. Liliane Donskoy (*1933) is a French, classically trained pianist, music teacher, and composer of both instrumental and acousmatic music. She began her musical training at an early age, undertaking private piano studies with Yv…
Albumin
Tip! Jim O'Rourke and Jos Smolders teamed up again after their first collaboration, Additive Inverse from 2021. Over a period of three years, both artists worked in sessions of a day, each in their own studio.The result is sometimes like a warm cloud of sounds, suddenly breaking up into a rhythmic, irregular pattern, after which it dives into introverted mindsets. The music is in constant flux. The project followed the same workflow, but this time Jim took the lead and kicked off with a salvo of…
L'Uccello del Paradiso
Big Tip! These three previously unreleased tracks reflect the cultural influences of a very young Riccardo Sinigaglia. In particular, the Anti-psychiatry movement founded by Ronald David Laing, author of the influential books The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise. As well as Jung's theory of archetypes, a subject explored in depth in the writings of Elémire Zolla. The compositional processes of concrete music are fundamental, while the extensive use of fragments from other cultures…
Variations for Light Waves
On Variation for Light Waves, Linnea Talp deepens her dialogue with the pipe organ, stretching it toward breathy extremes where foggy harmonies, brittle overtones and glints of electronics hover like weather systems suspended between memory and illumination.
The Mild Temper
On The Mild Temper, Kevin Drumm stretches his language of drones, electronics and micro‑acoustics across six hours, fashioning vast, slow‑shifting fields of frequency where restraint becomes a kind of pressure and detail blooms only if you stay. Mastered by Jim O'Rourke.
Dogon A.D.
Complete sessions / expanded edition. One of the most important jazz albums of the 1970s – finally in its definitive edition. Julius Hemphill's Dogon A.D. is the missing link between the avant-garde and the blues, between the cotton fields and outer space. Recorded on a freezing February day in 1972 at Oliver Sain's Archway Studios in St. Louis – no heat, malfunctioning equipment, some musicians didn't even show up – and yet what emerged was nothing short of a masterpiece. An "almost accidental …