Fuzzy Logic
German guitarist Olaf Rupp combines elements of traditional flamenco (rasgueados, arpeggios, picados) with the fractured cadences of Derek Bailey, fusing them together with a blast-furnace tone recalling John Lee Hooker's most blown-out extremes. And yet, despite decades of concerts and releases on FMP and Emanem, often with marquee-grabbing collaborators like John Zorn, Peter Brötzmann, Butch Morris, Paul Lovens and Lol Coxhill, Rupp's music is largely unknown outside of European free improvisa…
Oresme
*300 copies limited edition* Percussionists Mika Kallio and Janne Tuomi have each spent decades at the edges of Finnish improvised music. Oresme, their debut duo on Mustik Motel, takes its name from the 14th-century philosopher who argued that all perceived motion depends entirely on where you stand. Nine tracks navigate that same double territory: outward into astronomical scale and inward toward something quieter and untranslated. Two percussion setups, one vibraphone, and a great deal of room…
Felix
The great master, improvisational pianist, and musical polymath Steve Beresford; John Edwards, one of the most important double bassists on the global free improv scene; and Mandhira de Saram, an exquisite violinist and former member of the renowned Ligetti Quartet, come together. “Felix” is the recording debut of this trio, which, since its formation a few years ago, has become a regularly performing ensemble. Recorded at London’s Vortex club in January of last year, the album demonstrates how …
Oblic
"Among all the paradoxes of communication, which improvisational musicians explore continuously as connoisseurs to create magic, there is the fact that they speak at the same time (something we are generally discouraged from doing). Not only that, but they have the quartering ability to listen and hear each other while speaking at the same time. Reversal of the situation for better sharing: to hear each other better, to hear everything better, it would really be better if we all got into the hab…
Bee Space
There aren’t many all-female vocal groups in the world of improvised music, even fewer of them are working bands, and there are very few projects that are anything more than that. VoiceACT, conceived by Anna Gadt, is exactly that. VoiceACT is, above all, a platform for artistic exploration, generally without specific stylistic characteristics, but operating according to the sacred principle of free creation, to which each invited artist contributes whatever resonates in their improvisational sou…
Almost This
"There is a familiar species of experience. I believe it is nearly universal. Here’s the brief: we have not seen a person in a long time, someone with whom we were once close. For no good reason – no falling out, no unpleasantries at all – our paths have not crossed. Then, in an instant, we are together, thrown or brought or drawn. Circumstance has landed us proximate and here we are, face to face. Within seconds, we recognize the person. I mean really recognize them. Not just their external app…
Synàntisi
"Autumn has always brought me bright thoughts and fruitful encounters. Barry and I, although we had known each other for many years — and although I had grown “into adulthood” musically through the influence of masters like him — had never had the chance to play and record together. Finally, October 2025 gave me this wonderful gift: an extraordinary meeting. Coming face to face with a champion of free improvisation placed me in a position where I had to draw upon all the creativity available — a…
foam & mesh
Recorded by Karl Winand and Markus Massinger at artacts – Festival for Jazz and Improvised Music, Alte Gerberei, St. Johann in Tirol, Austria. Mixed and mastered by John Butcher
Sophie Agnel - pianoJohn Butcher - saxophonesPascal Niggenkemper - double bassStåle Liavik Solberg - drums
Vi la pampa arder
The trio of Luciana Bass, Ezequiel Jaime, and Federico Isasti brings together three distinctive voices from Argentina's adventurous improvised music scene. Centered on Bass’s expressive sonic palette, their music is both volatile yet deeply attentive, fueled by Jaime’s exploratory playing and Isasti’s highly responsive drumming. They move freely between sparse textures and intricate collective energy. This release documents a trio deeply attuned to one another, forging form and intensity in the …
Distractions for Trumpet & Ajaeng
On Distractions for Trumpet & Ajaeng two radically distinct instrumental traditions converge in a study of texture, fragility, and focus. Kelley’s whisper-quiet trumpet tones and microscopic bursts of air intertwine with Kim’s bowed ajaeng, its coarse, resonant grain stretching and splintering in real time. The result is a taut, immersive dialogue that transforms subtle gestures into seismic events and invites listeners into a heightened space of deep listening and unpredictable detail.
Elsewhen
Futuro Ancestrale, the ensemble around saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Giuseppe Doronzo, was born from the idea to combine contemporary improvisation and non-western music traditions. In Elsewhen, electronics play a central role along with ancestral instruments borrowed from Chinese, Albanian or Chadian traditions. Doronzo's concept of convoking those sounds and cultures in the same musical space is a way to celebrate, and to create a vibrant dialogue between histories.
Pneuma
Double bassist and composer Henry Fraser announces the release of Pneuma, a new solo album out June 12 on Kou Records and recorded, mixed, and co-produced by Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Jóhann Jóhannsson) and Ben Greenberg (Uniform, Marc Ribot). Across eight concise movements, Fraser explores breath, resonance, and the evolving relationship between composition and improvisation, shaping an intimate sonic landscape in which the double bass seems to inhale, bloom into overtones, and dissolve back int…
Reliques de Roses
*300 copies limited edition* Reliques de Roses, musical tandem formed by two household names of the European underground: Laure Boer (Edition d’Art, Arbore...) and Tom Val (Orion Music Workshop, HWYUIOD...). Bridging the Berlin-Paris experimental connection, the duo brings us a collection of nostalgia-tainted songs, noisy improvisations and synth-led talk-over songs. A fragile Art-Folk with industrial touches strongly reminiscent of Vox Populi!, Throbbing Gristle, and in more recent times, DIY h…
s/t
This tape is the culmination of a series of collaborative performances between Kevin Coleman and J.W. Bird that took place in the latter half of 2024. It is meant to encapsulate the spirit and energy of those performances; spontaneous and communicative. Musical conversations between banjo and fiddle that left no language off the table. A great combination of elements from avant-garde classical, to American Traditional/Primitive, and free improv, exploring improvisational spaces of widely varied …
Setpieces
Setpieces captures Cath Roberts & Olie Brice at a new peak of focus and invention, distilling their long-running musical rapport into a set of raw, finely tuned improvisations. Roberts’ baritone lines carve out bold shapes and sudden whispers while Brice’s bass grounds and disrupts in equal measure, creating a vivid, unpredictable dialogue. A striking next chapter for two of the UK’s most distinctive improvisers.
Selections from the Gutter
“Selections from the Gutter” brings NYC saxophonist Michael Foster with the longstanding rhythm section of Swiss bassist Christian Weber (of Sudden Infant), and German drummer Michael Griener, a longtime fixture of the Berlin scene. The trio brings shocking, visceral energy to a distinct structural awareness; drawing suspense from form in each of the David Goodis-inspired titles. This is improvised music digging deep into a shared sense of history, form, and drama.
Penumbra
Recorded in a neighbourhood church in the city of Ghent, Belgium. Penumbra is a fully improvised album. It was born from a personal urgency of searching for ways to keep creating sound in moments of uncertainty. It grew from a desire to move beyond the limit of a single instrument, to experiment with different materials, objects, and instruments. Merging, melting, creating, sounds, poems, and acoustics that inspire me. Penumbra is a state of uncertainty and urgency, moving with freedom and doubt…
Rörane
Rörane showcases an adventurous blend of free improvisation and jazz-rooted exploration from Swedish experimental ensemble stalwarts. Recorded with bassist Nina de Heney, pianist Karin Johansson, and drummer Henrik Wartel, the project melds deep spontaneous interplay with Bothén’s decades-spanning creative voice in avant-improvised music. A boundary-pushing sonic journey that reflects both the collective’s empathic interplay and their shared drive toward expansive musical expression.
The Infinite Garden
In The Infinite Garden, composer Dario Calderone joins Aurélie Nyirabikali, Naomi Sato and Gareth Davis in live exchange with Amstelpark’s weather, wildlife and human traffic, turning a cloudy January day into a shared, porous instrument for expanded listening.
Geometric Reason
On Geometric Reason, Sissy Spacek reroute their long‑running extremism into a jagged strain of musique concrète, splicing voice, electronics and acoustic shards into a volatile collage charged by fire‑displacement, Japanese connections and their enduring taste for rupture.