Charivari
One of the architects of No Wave with his band DNA, a pioneer of noise guitar, sublimely inventive producer, and slinkily seductive songwriter, Arto Lindsay has worn countless musical hats. Invited to make a solo record for the Black Cross Solo Sessions, Lindsay boiled it down to essential ingredients, waxing a collection of bristling new songs and works for solo guitar; on six of a baker's dozen tracks, his angelic voice offsets the bracing dissonance of his acidic electric. Recorded at studios…
Then Through Now
Henry Dagg and Evan Parker improvised together for the first time as part of the Free Range series in Canterbury, Kent, on December 2, 2021. For the performance, Evan played soprano saxophone, and Henry developed a new electronic instrument called the Stage Cage, to both process Evan’s live sound as well as generate its own sounds. The Stage Cage includes four valve test-oscillators, a pair of ring modulators, frequency shifter, chromatic zither, and a variable tape delay system (consisting of t…
Subterminal
*In process of stocking* Since 1995, Cindytalk has continued in both group and solo form, across live performance and recordings. During this period, Cindytalk increasingly embraced improvisation in live settings and electronic work through recordings. A series of solo and predominantly electronic albums on the Editions Mego label, from The Crackle of My Soul (2009) to The Labyrinth of the Straight Line (2016), saw another formidable body of work developed. Most recently, Of Ghosts and Buildings…
The Sounds of VÖ
From the opening seconds it’s clear that the debut recording of the improvising sextet VÖ is not just another free improv session. The deeply meditative sounds may conjure disparate folk traditions from around the globe, whether Scandinavian fiddle tunes or the way Alex Zethson’s meandering pump organ evokes the exploratory harmonium lines in Pakistani qawwali music, but these associations are mostly coincidental. The ensemble members are devoted to improvised and experimental music mostly as an…
Eternal Triangle
*In process of stocking* “Eternal Triangle was a dream come true: bringing together two of my favourite musicians in the whole world with me on the stage of AngelicA. Two musicians capable of encompassing both the most earthly and natural and the most rarefied and cosmic dimensions of sound, spontaneously and often seamlessly. Drawing from inspiration and life experience. We certainly didn’t know this performance was going to be Toshinori Kondo’s last one outside of Japan, and his last concert w…
untitled #400
*In process of stocking* Spaniard Francisco López is one of the most recognised sound artists on the international scene: in the span of four decades of activity, he has developed an extremely personal sound universe, based on a deep listening of the world. He created hundreds of sound installations and performances in major museums, galleries and international festivals. Reinier Van Houdt, Dutch pianist and composer, has built himself an unusual repertoire that is always the result from persona…
Dandelion
Tip! *200 copies limited edition* “If the measure of freedom is measured by the resilience of an elastic band, they get close to the point where the rubber is about to snap, but it is exactly at that spot, where they recognise something and react to that with a refreshing lack of explicitness, that you can feel the result, and unfolded potential, of a shared intimacy.” - Guy Peters
Other Galaxies
"The great pianist Agusti Fernandez and I have had a strong musical connection and friendship for many years. We first worked together on a recording project led by the drummer Ramon Lopez in Valencia, Spain. After that we corresponded and eventually began our performances together during a residency of mine at The Stone in New York—the first of what is now, many other performances here and in Spain. We share many interests in music" - Joe Morris
Le Macerie Di Babilonia
* Limited edition of 300 copies * sferic mark 5 years of influential operations with a special deep dive into ancient/modern Mediteranean culture by Giovanni Napolano, who’s usually known for crankier industro-dancehall output as NPLGNN (Reel Torque, Youth) and programming the wonderful MBE label - a proper RIYL Jay Glass Dubs, Christos Chondropoulos, Alan Lomax, DJ Screw, Coda Lunga.Taking his native Naples, Italy as a locus of Med culture, Napolano plunges the port city’s palimpsest of energie…
Parasite
Tip! *2022 stock. 300 copies limited edition* Splitrec presents Parasite solo prepared guitar works by Rhys Mottley.
Submental
Tip! *2022 stock* 180º is a new group formed in August 2018 - Nick Ashwood acoustic guitar, Jim Denley bass flute, and Amanda Stewart voice and text. Amanda and Jim first met in the late 1980s, founding Machine for Making Sense in 1989, as well as performing numerous duos over the years — a long and fruitful association. They’ve always been interested in what their music instinct can learn from language and vice versa.
Nick is from the southern tip of Tasmania. Jim and Nick have been developing …
back, before
Tip! This fourth release by Great Waitress titled back, before was recorded before the pandemic and lockdowns in 2018, and has taken four years to get to production. A live set was beautifully recorded by Peter Farrar at the Annandale Creative Arts Centre in Sydney and mixed and mastered by Joe Talia.
In the elegant liner notes, Chris Abrahams writes of Great Waitress transcending “ ...the individual contributions of Mayas, Altman and Brooks. It's an identity made from a multi-dimensional count…
Musica Liquida
*In process of stocking* Ingar Zach’s new album Musica Liquida is the first audio document of his ongoing artistic research project at the Academy of Music in Oslo. The project is called The Vibrating Drum and focus on vibration of the membrane, activated by vibrating speakers in contact with the drumskin. Musica Liquida is Ingar Zach’s 7th solo album, and we find him diving into an ocean of sound and orchestrating the complexity of interfolded layers in the impressive acoustics of Emanuel Vigel…
Kraftbalanse
*In process of stocking* Sofa Music continues to release the work of the extraordinary Norwegian composer Jan Martin Smørdal. Recently he was awarded the prestigious Arne Nordheim Composers Prize for his creative work. Kraftbalanse is a a composition for piano, alternating current and strings, written by Smørdal in collaboration with artist Øystein Wyller Odden. The piece is based on Wyller Oddens prior investigations on the sound of the electrical grid and was part of Oslobiennalen First Editio…
Threads
The new solo album, threads by the California-based trombone player Mattie Barbier is a multilayered personal investigation. It was recorded in The Tank Center for Sonic Arts in Rangley, Colorado in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.
a feeling of place. a calm space to be present in during a space of chaos. of quarantining in a very conservative place as a non-binary person where your welcomeness is tenuous. of uncertainty of where non-binaryness fits as a parent- of still being a dad? or treat…
Clap. An Anatomy of Applause
Clap. An Anatomy of Applause is a compilation of original works by a group of musicians and composers brought together by Andrea Stillacci and Unsounds. The project goal is to highlight the radically different forms and meanings that the sound of applause can take according to its context. The principle was to work from original recordings of each artist’s choice, with sources ranging from the thunderous applause celebrating Maria Callas’ last public appearance to the crowds cheering at the fall…
Top Natural Drum
Following releases on West Mineral and Lillerne Tapes, Iggy Romeu’s inimitable Mister Water Wet project makes its Soda Gong debut. “Top Natural Drum” feels like a double entendre ode to digging culture, drawing equally from the plantlife in the dirt and the grooves in the stacks. Tracks like opener “Soak” concoct a haze of resonant ceramic/wooden percs, skittering drum programming, and addictive yet diffuse melodic and harmonic textures. Dusty-fingered nodders like “Caged at Last”, “Classicfit,”…
Folklore
*2022 stock.* The celebrated improvising vocal group Trondheim Voices and two of Norway’s most important composer/producers, Helge Sten and Stale Storlokken, explore the boundaries of sound in a series of thirteen other-worldly pieces that act on the ears of the listener like magical invocations to a secret ceremony.
Led by Sissel Vera Pettersen, the nine female singers combine in rich and varied ensemble effects, from choral polyphony to extended-vocal techniques that recall Cathy Berberian int…
Out of the Cage
*2022 stock* "Madam Press is a quintet from Denmark created by five talented women whose main goal is to experiment within coherent musical structures. In fact, the first thing that struck me when comparing Madam Press´ music with other improvisational outfits was the emphasis that some of the musical pieces here have in achieving melodies and twisting them beyond recognition. That is, while other improvisational musicians try to extract sounds from their instruments this woment try to shape thi…
The Outlier
*In process of stocking.* Paul G. Smyth is an Irish pianist who has worked with such innovative free improvisers as Evan Parker, John Russel, Peter Brötzmann, Derek Bailey and Keiji Haino, and runs the Weekertoft label. John Wiese is an American electronics musician, known for the Sissy Spacek project as well as his work with Sunn O))), Wolf Eyes, Merzbow and Evan Parker. The duo of Smyth and Wiese was recorded at the National Concert Hall in Dublin in February 2015.
"The Outlier" is a 54-minute…