Experimental / Avant-Garde

The first release from Arkeen – a 7 track, 30 minute full length from Los Angeles based Ted Byrnes. Percussive abuse and aural assault. Fragmented time creating spaces between what you are about to hear, and have heard. The present does not exist. Previous output has been released by Claimed Responsibility, Foul Prey & Absurd Exposition. Ted Byrnes is a drummer/percussionist living in Los Angeles. An alumnus of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, he comes from a jazz background and has s…

Seven inch split between Fugu & The Cosmic Mumu and Death Sentence: Panda!

2010 release. Wheezing skyward-born machine groans and gasped tremolo root to a kinetic pulse, while distant melody zones ascend to circulate around the bass flex on this face-chewer by Neil Campbell. On the flip is the first vinyl cut by Glockenspiel; flocculent tones weave with tom rub and bowed metal harmonics, drifting on the back of a drum dub to the heart of a snow-blind haze of feedback, amplified string scrape, and analog electronics. Art by Noah Campbell.

*CD Version* Since exploding on the improvised music scene a couple of years ago Tennessee native Zoh Amba has found herself engaging with an ever-widening group of collaborators as she tours across the US and Europe. She's forged some enduring partnerships, working regularly with drummer Chris Corsano, bassist Thomas Morgan, and pianist Micah Thomas, among others, but one of the deep pleasures of improvised music is when a first-time meeting produces sparks. Indeed, that's certainly the case wi…

Five years on from “Nue”, his collaboration with his father, Yoshi Wada, and friends, Tashi Wada returns to RVNG with “What Is Not Strange?”, a startling new adventure in sound. Riding a razor's edge between experimental music and left-field song-craft, the album's eleven compositions enlist an all-star cast of collaborators - Julia Holter, Corey Fogel, Ezra Buchla, and Devin Hoff - to forge new water and create one of the most startling and mysterious records of the year.

Michel Banabila returns with a second LP release on Knekelhuis. The renowned Dutch producer is up there among the stars when it comes to ambient music and the so-called ‘fourth world’ legacy. On this eleven-track album, we witness soul-wrenching, kraut-tinted, and early-yet-modernist electronics. Coming from his heart, these imaginative recordings center around otherworldly voices – fictional characters chanting in a made-up language, imbued with a captivating spirit, transcending linguistic bar…

Highly regarded as a former resident at Salon Des Amateurs at his native Düsseldorf, Tolouse Low Trax/Detlef Weinrich has carved one of the most distinctive sounds in contemporary leftfield club music thanks to his deeply unusual grooves and hypnotic arrangements over the past 15 years as a solo artist. Fung Day is his first album with entirely new material since Leave me alone which was released through Bureau B in 2022. Fung Day was written and recorded over the course of two years, slowly mut…

Ka Baird’s Bearings: Soundtracks for the Bardos intertwines elements of the New York based vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer’s ecstatic live performances within minimalistic, visceral compositions that expand in scope and sound through collaboration. The album’s eleven movements manifest as shapeshifting invocations defined by their own multiplicity; the emotional outcome of circumstance and grief, played against rigorous conceptualism and musical craft. Featuring a cast of contribut…

Arriving in 1978, Annette Peacock's X-Dreams is an infatuating and resolutely feminine free-form exploration of the politics and dynamics of sex. In the pursuit to reconcile the duality of attraction & repulsion and love & cru- elty, the album oscillates between an assertive opening side and a sweeter side B. Assembling a crew of 22 musicians (including Mick Ronson on guitar and Bill Bruford on drums), Peacock delivers impassioned vocal performances along- side an improvisational jazz-rock fusio…

Released in 1979, this prophetic stew of spoken word, jazz and funk by Annette Peacock was wildly ahead of its time and is still salient today. Her no-nonsense examinations of capitalism, sex, religion, etc. are underscored by long, gorgeous grooves. Where most musicians make a riff, she creates a sonic space. Perhaps too esoteric to garner commercial praise at the time, with this reissue we are proud to encourage the discovery and praise that The Perfect Release deserves. Annette Peacock is one…

Unlike the distant "18/8/81" or the more recent "Wrong Ninna Nanna", this new solo work contains no piano or other instrumental parts. In this release, which occurred like all truly welcome things in an unexpected and unsought way, I have collected some of my own compositions created only from sound material recorded around or taken from other recorded music. Such material has been mutated with various sound processings, and assembled by multiplying layers in both digital and analog environments…

'Making a journey to a Bright Nowhere' series - marking Eddie Prévost's 80th birthday. Volume 2, Cafe OTO 16th July 2022

2CD Edition. The first ever collection of Jill Kroesen's wildly inventive and often dystopian compositions from '72 through '84. Includes her art rock masterpiece Stop Vicious Cycles, her coveted '80 single, an equal amount of unissued treasures, and copious liner notes. Jill Kroesen is probably best known for her 'no wave' compositions throughout the 1970s and early '80s. It's a fascinating and theatrical sound that sort of defies categorization. This compilation should help this music of real …

*50 copies limited edition* Originally released in France in 1998, Vibractance is one of the most unique and haunting titles in Merzbow’s vast catalog. It’s unique drone, noise, almost ambient like qualities makes this a great starting point for adventurer ears but also an essential album for the initiated. A true journey into the unknown where pulsating sonar waves swim between a sea of eerie beauty and tangible dreams. Celebrating it’s 25th anniversary, Aurora Central Records proudly presents …

**CD version** Tlamess (Sortilège) is Oiseaux-Tempête's first original soundtrack composed for the second feature film by critically-acclaimed Tunisian director Ala Eddine Slim (Festival de Cannes' 51st Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, BFI London, ADF Argentina, Geneva GIFF, Rome Medfilm Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival). Combining hypnotic feedbacks and synthesizer orchestral work, drifting ambient with shamanic beats, the Tlamess (Sortilège) original soundtrack was entirely improvise…

Tip! *Comes with a 24 page booklet with texts and pictures* All in all, there are more than 50 pieces, new and old, live and studio, finished pieces and scores to be performed, acoustic and classical, solos and pieces for ensemble, using classical and special instruments. Archivio Conz in Berlin provided access to their extensive Fluxus archives and Edizioni Conz provided coproduction. Ursula and René Block made possible the realisation of John Cage's historical composition Rozart Mix from the E…

*300 copies limited edition* This is the first ever stand-alone vinyl release of the Bel Canto Orquestra's legendary concert in Montpellier in 1983. Founded by Pascal Comelade, Pierre Bastien, Cathy Claret and Laurent Churet, the Bel Canto Orquestra was constituted of toy instruments only. During its lifetime from 1983 to 2015, other members included Victor Nubla, Pip Pyle, Jac Berrocal and many more. Includes bonus track "Résumé Du Concert Du Bel Canto Orquestra Du 7 Mai 1992" which is a never …

Following on quickly from Fear, and capitalizing on that album's energy Slow Dazzle is another fiery release by Velvet Underground founder John Cale. This reissue faithfully replicates the original 1975 Island Records UK release and is pressed onto high quality 180 gram vinyl. Released in March 1975, initially, the album offers a false sense of mellow security: "Mr Wilson", a tribute to Brian, the leader of Cale's beloved Beach Boys starts the album on a much sweeter note than "Fear Is A Man's B…

Recorded quickly between John Cale producing Patti Smith's Horses and his going out on an Italian tour, Helen Of Troy became Cale's third and final studio album for Island Records. This reissue faithfully replicates the original 1975 Island Records UK release and is pressed onto high quality 180 gram vinyl. Helen Of Troy is a raw, fascinating listen. The title track with its horns and spoken word is one of Cale's best: after the sweet bubblegum of "China Sea", the album gets increasingly strippe…

This reissue faithfully replicates the original 1974 Island Records UK release and is pressed onto high quality 180 gram vinyl. Fear marked Cale's return to recording in London after the best part of a decade in America. Signing to Island Records, he made fast friends with two key admirers, Phil Manzanera and Brian Eno, who assisted him in returning his music to the rawer sound of his earlier work, as opposed to the lush textures of his previous studio album, Paris 1919. The tense, clipped "Fear…

Full Spectrum Records dips our toes into the new year with a split release featuring two newcomers to the label, Merche Blasco and Derek Baron.

Huge Tip! Lasse Marhaug has for 35 years been one of Norway’s most prolific and active sound and visual artists. As a producer, studio engineer, curator, photographer, designer, filmmaker, composer, improviser, self-publisher and writer Marhaug has worked across a wide range of formats. Collaborators include artists like Joe McPhee, Merzbow, Jenny Hval, Okkyung Lee, Jim O’Rourke, Paal Nilssen-Love, Kevin Drumm and many more. Despite being involved in hundreds of releases, Marhaug’s solo albums a…

Tip! *LP ltd to 415, black vinyl, 2 color (blue and black) silkscreened jacket with obi (black or light grey), 2 inserts and a postcard. Printed by Alan Sherry* Chita, the third album proper by Japanese guitar pop trio Usurabi, is their most elegant, stylish confection yet. Over the past four years, Toshimitsu Akiko (vocals, guitar), Kawaguchi Masami (bass) and Morohashi Shigeki (drums) have been recording, playing live, and releasing songs of rare melodic warmth, centring Toshimitsu’s unique mu…

*300 copies limited edition* Recorded, corroded, degraded, butchered, mixed and edited in Paris between February - June 2023. Hand-made covers, all different, with photos by Antoine Rigaux, Clara Muel, Jean-Charles Delarue, Jim Stickel, Leandro Barzabal, Lucia Bartl and Natasha Nedelkova, degraded with a cocktail of fluids and heat sources.

*200 copies limited edition* Red Brut’s third album, "On Bare Ground", is a sonic tapestry woven from the final threads of her Rotterdam existence. Entirely composed of soundscapes captured during her last two years in the city, the album evolves into a poignant farewell as its creation mirrors the passage of time, culminating in a profound departure from her life there. “On Bare Ground” is a sculptural work blending its lo-fi with haunting melodies, field recordings, and ethereal soundscapes. U…

**Numbered edition of 25 copies only** Bart de Paepe has released several solo albums of psychedelic soggy murkiness on Vohu Manah, Beyond Beyond Is Beyond, Kerm whistling through the leaves and branches adjusting in/out of focus at random as we drift between reality and perception. Some of his resonance wood can be enjoyed in Ilta Hämärä (with Timo van Luijk), Wendingen 1918 (with Raymond Dijkstra), Bombay Lunatic Asylum (with Koen Vandenhoudt and Louise Landes Levi), Fort Bedmar (with Dave Col…

Almufaraka brings together the breath and voices of Gaëlle Debra, Patrick Guionnet, and Maryline Pruvost, alongside the sound textures of skins, wood, and metal played by Peter Orins. This quartet explores all technical means to create a music that is both archaic and avant-garde, drawing inspiration from a mythical primitive tradition. By recreating a form of serenity, the music immerses us in an original sonic imagination. The recording offers a journey through the full sound spectrum, from th…

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…

IMPREC300 is a vinyl only collection of exclusive live tracks from a handful of Important bands including Master Musicians of Bukkake, Grails, Mugstar, Cave, NHK yx, Bardo Pond, Chord & Bass Communion. Important was started in 2001 in a small house on the beach along the New Hampshire seacoast. The first two releases, from Daniel Johnston and Merzbow, stated the breadth of intentions and we set out to run a label that would function much like a good record shop with a wide range of interesting r…

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…

* Picture disc edition of 300 copies * Maja S. K. Ratkje is at the forefront of the musical avant-garde. Her music is bold, original and it is meant for sharing. At its heart lies Ratkje’s own voice, an open door to her individual musicianship and a constant tool for realigning her work with natural expressions and human truths. On Mara, layers of vocals overlap and layer their way through the reverberant woodwork of an early baroque parish in Austria. At times slow and beautiful, other times fr…

*150 copies limited edition* "[...]Ansgar Wilken uses an arsenal of sounds that is as simple as it is far-reaching, including objects and utensils whose inherent sounds sometimes sound almost computer-generated. Whether (or where and how what kind of) electronics are used is often difficult to determine, if only because the musician himself is somewhat electrified and can unexpectedly fall into machine rhythms while playing. Wilken's clapping opens up musical worlds in which, instead of virtuosi…

Vulcano is limited to 1000 copies and is packaged in a deluxe embossed gatefold jacket made to emulate the embossed packaging for Kluster's album Klopfzeichen. Very deluxe. Vulcano is sourced from original master recordings recently discovered by Kluster member, and Tangerine Dream engineer, Klaus Freudigmann. Along with Admira, also being released at the same time on Important, Vulcano is presented here for the first time in this deluxe package. These intense sessions were made with Schnitzler …

Conrad Schnitzler is a genuine legend in the krautrock and electronic music worlds. Schnitzler studied under Joseph Beuys before joining an early Tangerine Dream. Their first album Electronic Meditation shows a band highly influenced by Schnitzler's unique, singular approach. Schnitzler left Tangerine Dream to form Kluster with friends Dieter Moebius and Hans Joachim Roedelius. When Schnitzler left Kluster they changed their name to Cluster, eventually merging with Michael Rother (of Neu!) to fo…

*2024 stock* Arne Nordheim is among Norway’s most important post-war composers, particularly among those working within the field of avant-garde electronic music. Nordheim studied studied Musique concrète in Paris during the mid 1950’s, expanding his practice in Holland toward electronics and synthesis during the end of that decade. Upon returning home, he embarked on a stunning body of work, stretching over the coming decades. The composer’s works in these fields are a marvel - standing with th…

*20th anniversary reissue!* Merzbow's Merzbeat is one the most unique and legendary titles in the artist's vast archive. This 20th anniversary reissue is being issued at the same time as CD reissue of his 1983 album Material Action 2 and a brand new collaboration with Arcane Device, all on Important Records. Originally released in 2002, Merzbeat contains over 50 minutes of aggressive, psychedelic, organic, analog beat oriented Merzbow compositions. Drummed rhythms, massive looping samples, a pun…

One of the most exhilarating shows he’d ever done, guitarist Chris Sharkey came away from his performance at the Fusebox in Leeds feeling alive. Just a few days before the world would slow, and two weeks before life in London would stop, keyboardist and 577 mainstay Pat Thomas, drummer Luke Reddin-Williams and Sharkey would go on stage to play for the first time together, having discussed and planned nothing. The improvisation, a gamble, worked. Recorded in one 50-minute track, one album, the pr…

"A couple of years back, during a period of frequent relocation, and with no permanent studio set up, I came across the original DAT parts of a project I completed in 1992 just before I moved from Australia to The UK. The sessions for New Maps Of Hell evolved out of a rhythm track I’d built in my studio. I was (and still am) fascinated the twin, revolutionary, 70’s phenomena of electric jazz (Miles, Hancock, Williams, Priester) and Krautrock (Can, Faust, Tangerine Dream). I was trying as a solo …

*110 copies limited edition* (lamentations) for éliane is a long form work for prepared euphonium that Barbier has created over the last four years utilizing under explored avenues of instrumental modification and acoustic irregularities inspired by the work of Éliane Radigue and John McCowen. In Paper blown between the spaces in my ribs, they explore intersections of vanishing sonic ecologies, sonifications of the interior world of untouched instruments, and a search for the safety and stabilit…

*110 copies limited edition* "I recorded these sound fragments between 1998 and 2003 in and around the Lower East Side (LES), an area in New York City that extends roughly from Canal Street up to 14th Street and from the Bowery (3rd Avenue) to the East River. In the formative years of my cassette practice, I had a habit of walking around with my recorder and capturing very short snippets of sound – at times less than a second, as if taking a photo – as well as some longer segments of deep listen…