Experimental / Avant-Garde

CD digipack, 12-page booklet, Includes two bonus tracks. Desertshore was co-produced by John Cale and Joe Boyd. Unlike its predecessor The Marble Index it incorporates elements from Western traditional pop."Janitor of Lunacy" was composed as a tribute to her friend Brian Jones who died the previous year. The back and front covers feature stills from the film The Inner Scar by Philippe Garrel which starred Nico, Garrel and her son Ari Boulogne. A few of the songs from the album were included on t…

With a career spanning nearly four decades, Kim Gordon is one of the most prolific and visionary artists working today. A co-founder of the legendary Sonic Youth, Gordon has performed all over the world, collaborating with many of music’s most exciting figures including Tony Conrad, Ikue Mori, Julie Cafritz and Stephen Malkmus.Most recently, Gordon has been hitting the road with Body/Head, her spellbinding partnership with artist and musician Bill Nace. Despite the exhaustive nature of her résum…

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 historical si…

Soon after their 1978 debut on the Brian Eno-produced No New York, a compilation that defined the No Wave scene, James Chance’s group Contortions had already evolved— getting sharper, tighter and just plain faster. Despite the loss of keyboardist Adele Bertei and bassist Geoge Scott (who refused to sign a new contract demanded by Chance and his then partner, band manager Anya Phillips) Contortions were firing on all cylinders, and their first full-length album, 1979’s Buy, is a marvel of hot-wir…

On Embrace 1: Jupiter Storm/Partial Intersect, Polwechsel with Magda Mayas and John Butcher fold fixed media, stopwatch scores and free low‑string improvisation into a dense, shifting topology of resonance and friction, pushing their chamber‑reductionist language into newly electronic and spatialised terrain.

On Embrace 2: Chains and Grain, Polwechsel distil their chamber‑improv logic into a score grown from their own playing: a tense, breathing matrix of repeated figures, frayed textures and in‑the‑moment reactions that is rebuilt afresh every time it’s performed.

On Embrace 3: Magnetron/Quarz/Obsidian, Polwechsel with Andrea Neumann turn acousmatic tape, simulated multitracks and graphic notation into an intricate laboratory of cause and effect, where elevator doors, room ghosts and painstakingly negotiated scores yield two of their most conceptually precise and sonically uncanny works.

On Embrace 4: Orakelstücke/Aquin, Polwechsel open their rigorously quiet universe to two singular composers, Peter Ablinger and Klaus Lang, yielding a diptych where struck objects, voices and long, glowing tones summon an almost liturgical sense of mystery from everyday sound.

Another Thought was the first collection of Arthur Russell’s music to be released after his death in 1992. Released on CD by Point Music in 1993 it marked the beginning of nearly 30 years of work to let the world hear the enormous archive of unreleased recordings Arthur left behind. Be With revisits this first compilation for a new gatefold double vinyl version and a triple-fold digipak CD re-issue. This is the only place where you can hear some of Arthur’s most recognisable music, like the titl…

Elations Recordings presents "Depois do Silêncio", an intimate, forward-looking acoustic bass, digital keyboard and synthesiser recording by Brazilian avant-garde jazz luminaries Zeca Assumpção and Lelo Nazario. This release celebrates almost fifty years of the duo's friendship and musical affinity, continuing a musical dialogue between long-time collaborators. The duo began working together with Hermeto Pascoal's "Grupo Vice Versa" in the mid 1970s before forging one of Brazil's most adventurou…

Tip! *200 copies limited edition* The Stratégies Obliques series continues with two previously unreleased tracks. Still based on the principle of randomly drawn cards invented by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt.

Tip! LP debut of the Dutch vocalist Janneke van der Putten. Her voice emerges from deeper grounds shaping the acoustic aura of architectural and natural spaces in endless mirrors, exploring the limits of vocal techniques through site-specific performances. Becoming siren, becoming storm, a rose of resonance for a new world. Music and performance by Janneke van der Putten, except where indicated. All tracks are one-take recordings without electronic effects or overdubs. Artwork design by Margarit…

XI Records is very pleased to announce the release of a 2 CD set of Michael Winter’s music organized by guitarist Elliot Simpson. Each CD features a single composition, demonstrating different sides of Winter’s work. The first, Counterfeiting in Colonial Connecticut, is a socially-engaged piece written for Simpson and in honor of George Floyd. The second, a lot of tiles (trivial scan), derives music from a set of mathematical tilings (often referred to as tessellations). The album art features r…

XI Records is very pleased to announce the release of Tom Chiu’s new double-CD The Live One, a diverse and thoroughly engrossing album that showcases the multiple facets of Chiu’s visions. Chiu is a polymath who is as comfortable with lyricism and the beauty of tonality as he is with process-based works and challenging conventions of composition. Chiu specializes in creating spatial experiences and altered states of mind with his music, with a singular, questing path. He is a gifted improviser a…

Like on the early solo Haino album that shares the group’s name (released on P.S.F. in 1993), the instrumentation swims in reverb (the use of which Akiyama recalls as ‘a kind of point of the band’), often obscuring the instrumental sources. On the short opening piece, a distant reed instrument arcs long buzzing melodies over a bed of cymbals and gongs, like a psychedelic take on Tibetan music. The epic second part, occupying almost 50 minutes, begins as a splayed, near-formless cloud of electric…

A new year, some fresh Kashual Plastik. Absolute organic. The campfire is burning, FM radio in the air, with not so frequent frequencies. Gently waiting for the flood that brings no water. An accordion weeps, an organ cries, sweet acoustic guitar chords, a dancing piano, a shy voice, singing intimate stories. Sacred white noise in the off. Bits of found sounds in the accounts. Reverbs reversing. All in happiness, so full of melancholy. Dream music for open-eyed musers. Right from the Scandinavia…

Originally self-released during 1990, a tapestry of noise, girls talking into tape recorders, pre- and post-song material.

2025 stock Kippenberger unplugged! Martin Kippenberger skipped out on this world after just 44 years -- in 1997, the art world's flamboyant enfant terrible, one of Germany's most famous painters best known for his biting provocations and prolific output, died of the consequences of his equally prolific alcohol consumption. In 1978, Kippenberger moved to Berlin, launched Kippenberger's Büro (together with his future gallerist Gisela Capitain) and became the managing director of Kreuzberg's semin…

*Edition of 100* K/S/R (Ben Kujawski, Abigail Smith & Justin Rhody) have been performing and recording together since 2022. Recorded by the band themselves during a full week of day-long sessions - violin, percussion, lap steel, accordion, flute, guitar, harmonica, and rhodes piano were each stretched, damaged & made to sing through various extended techniques. The trio's non-concentric approach to collective improvisation mirrors the dark harmonic density and symbiotic formal structures of the …

Restock due on February "Charlie Parker's first album with a string section landed in 1950, ten years after his debut recordings. Although the overtly lush arrangements of Charlie Parker with Strings were Parker's idea, the record must've been something of a relief to producer Norman Granz, especially when the sides went on to become Bird's best-seller, by a long shot. The record (and its follow-up) sparked something of a jazz-strings virus, infecting Nina Simone, Paul Desmond, Clifford Brown, a…

"The Shipwreck Bag Show are Roberto Bertacchini (Starfuckers, Sinistri) and Xabier Iriondo. Survivors in the ocean of pop, refugees in a land without time with their suitcases full of metal, wood and electronic circuits. Avant-garage-rock with no time nor borders."

*Limited edition of 100 copies.* BIN represses a 7” by Kain originally released in Denmark in 1985. It's doing Raw House with a punk-ish sound texture. (Or maybe it was Raw in the first place back then...). Limited to 100 copies.

In 1973, the Sound Sculpture Show took place at the Vancouver Art Gallery. An LP audio catalogue (with a booklet) of the exhibition, entitled “The Sounds of Sound Sculpture”, was released in 1975 under the supervision of the Canadian sound sculptor John Grayson and US composer David Rosenboom. Grayson had edited an important early book on the field, “Sound Sculpture”. The LP included rare takes of Rosenboom and Grayson, amongst others, playing famous pieces by pioneering sound sculptors includin…

*300 copies limited edition* On Tsilla, Jean-Noël Rebilly and Andrew Chalk pay homage to the late French writer and engraver Cécile Reims. While she may be best known as interpretative engraver for surrealist artist Hans Bellmer, and she also worked with Leonor Fini and briefly for Salvador Dali, Reims’ most powerful and enduring works were made either in collaboration with her husband, the writer and artist Fred Deux (who signed their collaborative work “cf deux”), or by herself. Later works by…

This highly experimental work represents some early sound collages from this quirky British composer. Affiliated with the avant rock group Henry Cow, Anthony Moore's works are highly regarded in the experimental music scene thanks to his Flying Doesn't Help album from 1978, a cult masterpiece of avant rock which enjoyed a much higher profile in the underground than his debut. This could be attested to the abstract nature of this recording, which explored tape-loop repetitions that build slow-pha…

*300 copies limited edition* Over the last decade, Rome-born, Brussels-based eclectic composer Giovanni Di Domenico has been ranging through a diverse number of fields within experimental music. Now, in the midst of a close series of astounding releases, Di Domenico adds another superb piece to his prolific discography as proof of an ever more enduring state of grace. The first of his works ever to feature voice and language as foregrounding elements, the five truly visionary pieces making up Po…

** 12” LP edition of 300 copies with cover artwork and booklet featuring illustrations by Ettore Tripodi ** In September 2019 Alessandro Bosetti was invited by fellow composer and curator Riccardo La Foresta to create a new work for a newly created ensemble as part of a residency program hosted by Centro Musica in Modena, Italy. The very first encounter took place on Skype – kind of a prediction of the forthcoming physically distanced pandemic times. The first, straight-to-the-point question Bos…

Nachleben is a limited-edition cassette release by Italian pianist and composer Giovanni Di Domenico, issued by Dasa Tapes, a Greek label specializing in experimental music. The album features two long-form tracks: "Parts I & II" (19:34) and "Part III" (18:06), showcasing Di Domenico's signature minimalist piano style marked by repetition, subtle nuance, and contemplative atmospheres.​ Di Domenico's work on Nachleben embodies his personal approach to contemporary minimalism, emphasizing concentr…

This album emerged from a chance encounter at Casa del Popolo in Montreal during the Suoni per il Popolo festival. Over the years Tim Daisy and Stefan Christoff kept in touch and in 2023 started exchanging more seriously about working on some music together. The conversations and exchanges over the years had revolved around trying to find pathways for collective action in the arts to support movements against war. Particularly the two discussed and collaborated on a global radio broadcast to cri…

"Live at Klankhaven" captures a dynamic live performance by Atsuko Hatano and Pak Yan Lau. Recorded on October 24th, 2024, at Klankhaven in Antwerp by Diego Faes and mastered by Yves De Mey, this cassette features two extended improvisational pieces: Part 1 (16:32) and Part 2 (15:44). Released by Dasa Tapes, a Greek limited-edition label focused on experimental music, it showcases the duo's innovative string explorations in a raw, site-specific setting. Atsuko Hatano, a Japanese violist known fo…

2025 repress on yellow vinyl. What exactly happened in the Italian underground/post punk scene of the '80s, is not entirely clear. Therefore, this collection of 13 incredible tunes helps track down the feeling and focuses on the blurry images of a period that was mixing influences from the UK/USA scenes with a more "national" approach to new music developments. The damage began in 1977 when a series of urban/suburban musical agitators, whether skilled or complete amateurs, decided to embrace ins…

First time on vinyl. Originally released on cassette in the spring of 1985, together with the eigth issue of Komakino fanzine -- included here in its original format. Relatively well-known names coexist with bands that lasted only a season. Still Life was and remains a half hour of pure abstraction. An intense and precious post-punk overdose! Features Karnak, Limbo, Janitor Of Lunacy, Panoramics, and De Stijl.

Special discounted pricing . Originally released on cassette in the winter of 1984, together with the 7th issue of Komakino fanzine—included here in its original format—Afterglow is more than a compilation: it’s a cultural time capsule, a tangible distillation of the hopes, noise, and fragile alliances of Italy’s burgeoning post-punk and new wave underground. Across 14 tracks from 8 groups, the album reveals the very spirit of the Afterglow operation. Some bands had already found their way into …

First time on vinyl. Originally released on cassette in the spring of 1984 together with the fifth issue of Tribal Cabaret fanzine -- included here in its original format. This is an invaluable document focusing on the obscure side of the '80s Italian post-punk scene. A composite picture drawn by a bunch of different and often under recorded groups from various Italian regions and cities. All together they contribute to defining a prominently dark yet vivid soundscape based on different approach…

Renowned composer and guitarist Oren Ambarchi releases Long Story Short, a captivating solo guitar album that distills his signature sonic explorations into intimate, hypnotic compositions. Recorded on December 9, 2024, by Daniel Bengston at Studio Rymden in Stockholm, and mixed in February 2025 by Joe Talia and Ambarchi at Good Mixture in Melbourne, the album features two evocative tracks: "Apricot/Paper Cut" (4:02) and "And So Say All Of Us" (4:12).  Ambarchi's mastery shines through in these …

Luxe, spaced-out drone music from Phillip Sollman (Efdemin), including a charming drone-pop take on Jane’s ‘Fine Day’. In his post-techno phase Phillip Sollman continues to spread his wings and double down on his interest in minimalism following collaborations with Oren Ambarchi and John Gürtler in the past few years, and more recently on his percussive study ‘Monophonie.’ The title for his new suite with Dial kinda gives the game away; it’s very minimal, in the school of thought developed by li…

After the success of Tutto Bene, enjoy Tutto Bene, Volume II! I've culled my favorite new accordion-driven hits into one fabulous sonic adventure to feed your hungry ears! Some of the songs were produced solo, one is a live recording from my performance with the Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto at the Triple Door, others are from the sessions that Ama Trio (AD/Madeleine Sosin/Abel Rocha) recorded at Gravel Voice sessions with Scott Colburn, as well as a rich collaboration with fellow-Seattle Composer…

Limited to 200 hand-numbered copies. Packaged in a squashed can with 2 sets of nuts and bolts holding the package together. Inside the package is a paper strip insert. The essence of Aube's artistic philosophy has never been more distilled, more physically incarnate, than in Squash, the 1995 cassette that transmutes the humble sound of compressed metal into a meditation on materiality, reduction, and sonic design. Originally released in a limited run of 100 copies on Chocolate Monk UK via Aube'…

"As a concoction of whirring, electronics-strewn field recordings, this over fifty minute piece is intoxicating in its intimacy, like drifting half asleep through various conversations, rituals, prayers. As a piece which considers the “complex entanglements of migrant stories, memory, identity, otherness”, it feels urgently, cacophonously important, a sonic insight into our shared humanity" — Spenser Tomson In this project, Paul and Masimba capture almost five years of conversation as they stood…

On January 11, 2010, I received a message from a woman who introduced herself as a friend of my good buddy Aki Onda. She was going to be part of a music night at a space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, called Death by Audio. She asked if I’d be willing to do a solo set there as well.  That’s how I came to be leaning against a doorframe, after having played my own set, listening to Margarida Garcia on her electric double bass. Her music was original, soulful, thoughtful, and laden with mystery.  Upon …