Experimental / Free Improvisation

Although Berlin-based musical seekers Jules Reidy and Sam Dunscombe are friends who’ve worked together in numerous contexts over the last decade or so, Edge Games is their first, long overdue collaborative album. Over two expansive, mind-bending excursions the former’s microtonal guitar lines are woven into a gorgeously unstable mass of synthesis, field recordings, and clarinet produced by the latter, but it’s important to note that the recording process was deeply collaborative, with a rigorous…

2012 release ** "Laura Cannell and Rhodri Davies create a rich and minimalist sound, combining chords and drones on recorders and harps oscillating with different tones and harmonics. It is inspired by fragments of English renaissance music and Laura's native Norfolk landscape. The two performers only met twice before they felt that there could be a common ground to explore and the result has produced an exciting new collaborative duo. Feathered Swing Of The Raven is a collection of improvisatio…

2009 release ** "SLW is a multinational group that can claim to include in its ranks some of the most respected voices in today’s improvisation community. The four musicians have worked together on occasions since their first meeting in October 2006 and presented their debut eponymous recording through formed records in early 2008. Fifteen point nine grams picks up from where that album left off, introducing even greater dynamic tension to their ever-tranquil field of sound. Recorded live at the…

"Chicago-based composer, improviser, multi-media artist and underground legend, Rob Mazurek, joins forces with modular-synth maestro and light magician, Alberto Novello for a blacklight invocation that hurls us out into new and uncharted sound-dimensions. Born of a chance encounter, Alberto Novello and Rob Mazurek's improvised collaboration, Sun Eaters, was recorded in a single afternoon at Dobialab, an experimental artist run space in Northern Italy. Alberto provided a loose rythmic and timbral…

Leaping from a twig, a spider lays a strand of silk in the open air. Intuitively, it traces a design, reactive to its environment but guided by something deeper. As it works towards the center, something resembling a home emerges, intricate in its design and inevitably imperfect. The web comes to represent the creature’s creative response to the world and its needs within it. Artmaking and music- making emerge from a similar nerve: through the impulsive drive to create a space for one’s self, cr…

Tip! *2025 stock* Body of Sound, Body of Music is Norwegian bass player Christian Meaas Svendsen’s second solo bass album. The entirety of the recording is based around a framework which Christian calls bass, body, bows: An ongoing introspection in how he can use all of his instrument and all of his body without any external preparations other than the traditional bow, albeit usually several of them at the same time. This is the basis. Furthermore, the recording is an investigation in bringing t…

*2025 stock* We’re beyond thrilled to present ükya, the first band ever on our label which does not feature any member from Nakama! Ah, how we delight in the smell, taste and – not least – sounds of fresh blood! Jokes aside – we still consider them family, as two of them have attended The Nacademy in the past. ükya (always written with a small ü) is an up and coming Norwegian trio playing music in the field of improvised and open form music. Dangerous as individuals, lethal as a band! We Come fo…

*2025 stock. 200 copies limited edition* "Strings and Stamps. When two become one. A cliché from romantic texts, perhaps, but also an apt saying for the duo that has created the music on this album. They come from different backgrounds and traditions but have both found ways to break free from those conventions without making an ostentatious break—instead, it feels entirely natural and deeply organic. A new realm has opened up for us and for them, where their strings intertwine like a shared cli…

*2025 stock. 300 copies limited edition* The fiddle player Hans P. Kjorstad from Oppland and the cellist Ernst Reijseger from the Netherlands met each other in the winter of 2022 after the concert series Blow Out! in Oslo invited Kjorstad to come and play with whoever he wanted. The choice was simple, Reijseger's background as a pioneering improviser since the 70s (ICP, Amsterdam String Trio, Clusone 3+++) plus the later years' explorations of the interplay between sound and image in collaborati…

*100 copies limited edition* "Composer and percussionist Sarah Hennies and composer and bassist Tristan Kasten-Krause make music rooted in observation. Timbres across percussion and string instruments gradually meld into one; pitches gently float into consonance after bristling in dissonance. With The Quiet Sun, their debut duo album, the two musicians present two pieces that survey their nuanced approach to sound as it grows over time. The album, recorded at Issue Project Room, presents two wor…

*2025 stock* "Hanging by a Fan Over Wet Cement is the music of listening after listening, when water runs relative to the sound of your own footsteps, and you lean over the resonating chamber of a trashcan like it’s a campfire, then fill it with wheezy laughter. Only, the steel mesh of Hair Clinic/Max Nordile’s field microphone is all mangled and bludgeoned, and the field extends into his home garage. The same contact-foraging quality of attention goes into the beginner’s brain improvisations, w…

The music on this record is the result of a process of re-imagining Acre's concert at Area Sismica on June 11, 2022. No editing is present other than the extraction of some movements from the concert, which have been recombined in temporal order, according to a narrative logic given by the need to coexist with the space offered by the medium.

2009 release ** Broken Guitars is the first recording by Italian visual artist Michele Lombardelli: acoustic guitar improvisations between Loren Connors, Derek Bailey and Robbie Basho, with a tinge of sadness that permeates every moment and creates a sense of longing and nostalgia that seems destined for a nameless past."

2012 release ** "Touch is the new sound work by Tiziano Milani. Published in CDR digipak by Setola di Maiale, Touch confirms Tiziano’s status as one of the best and most appreciated Italian experimental and research composers, especially since, for this new work, he was able to avail himself of the collaboration of musicians of the caliber of Koji Nishio on piano, Hiromi Makaino on objects/electronic percussion/rhythms, Lars Musiikki on double bass/acoustic guitar, Cristian Corsi on tenor sax an…

*350 copies limited edition* An’archives are proud to announce the release of the debut album by Tête de Chou, the trio of Mark Anderson, Kurumi Kido, and Arlo Wynks. Some may know Anderson for his membership of Greymouth, 番長Taste, Mysteries Of Love, and Suishou No Fune; Kido and Wynks have more personal, sporadic musical histories, which informs the intimacy and gently exploratory nature of the eight pieces contained here. The trio’s movements seem spontaneous and open-ended, which makes sense …

For over half a century, Sven Åke Johansson and Rüdiger Carl have explored the boundaries of music together. Villa Hügel captures a rare moment: a concert with no audience, recorded in 2020 in the library of Villa Hügel during the 2 x Kippenberger exhibition. The few present could only experience it  in-house via TV transmission. Carl on accordion, Johansson on percussion, cardboard, and crackle box—an interplay of structure and openness, sound and silence. This release follows Johansson’s exhib…

2007 release ** "In April 2007, Ramuntcho Matta went to Tokyo to play with Mama Milk, a Japanese duo, and came back with hours of live recording done by Romain de Gueltzl. From this meeting of three different instruments, accordion, double-bass and guitar, above which Ramuntcho sometimes sings, a unique music was born, mixing jazz, tango and the new music in a movement which is both Zen and sincerely contemporary. SometimeStudio decided to publish these recordings in order to share these moments…

David Moss, John King and Otomo Yoshihide on the Victoriaville stage on 20 May 1994: voice, drums and electronics against electric guitars, turntables and sampler, in a fast, cut-up set between song fragments, noise and improvisation.

2008 release ** "

*100 copies limited edition* ⎤⎤⎤, the duo of Chantal Michelle and Grace Villamil, are interested in what they term "sound obliteration"—a paradoxical process that, in their hands, reveals teeming masses of sonic detail. The pair works in a variety of modes, including composition, installation, and performance. Live at Opus 40 begins with machinic drones that expand and dissolve into the warm, open-air environment where it was recorded, initially anchored by the site's rock formations. The piece …

*300 copies limited edition* Bertrand Gauguet, alto and baritone saxophones.Jean-Luc Petit, contrabass clarinet and sopranino saxophone.Recorded and mastered by Pierre-Henry Thiebaut22 and 23 June 2024 - Chapelle Saint Martin, Bignac (Fr)Photography - cover: B.G.Photography - inside page: Claude MesnardWarm thanks to Philippe Levreaud and Anne MaillouJean-Luc Petit and Bertrand Gauguet are members of the UN.

*300 copies limited edition* "The Other World was recorded in the spring of 2023 by Greg Norman at his home studio in Chicago. Each track was done in a single take without editing or manipulation. The recordings were made using a Stratocaster running into a minimal effects chain, which was then fed into a small solid state amplifier and captured by a pair of stereo microphones. I was interested in a sound palette that was very blanketed and gray, which led me to cut the high end tone of the guit…

2008 release ** "Although this collaboration between Italian psych-pop band Jennifer Gentle and mercurial, collabo-prone Acid Mothers Temple guitarist Kawabata Makoto sounds pretty much like you’d expect, the The Wrong Cage can’t quite be reduced to the sum of its parts. It can be a rich, rewarding document for listeners on either side of the pop/free psych divide represented by the two groups. Separating Makoto’s and Marco Fasolo’s guitar (the latter being the sole JG member to carry over into …

1999 release - cardboard box ** "Hard to explain the birth of a band like A Short Apnea, ahead in the conception and in the sound, if you don’t browse the curriculum of the musicians, devoted to experimentation with other genres of music since the 80′s. Always in search of a music in which barriers between progressive, post-rock, free jazz, avantgarde, A Short Apnea became soon a cult and a reference for who attends from years to find in a band ahead as well as deeply italian."

1999 release ** "An outstanding record that demands a place in any comprehensive collection... some of the most vivid and creative improvisation/composition fusions in recent times... wholly individual mixtures of realtime improvisation and writing that cheerfully filches from all post-bop and compositional areas, yet which depends as much on the colour and intensity of the individual improvisations"

"Then I heard the clear voice of the flute" is the 10th solo album by Ido Bukelman. In the last ten years, all of Bukelman's albums have been recorded live, during his solo tours in Europe, and this album is his first studio album since 2014. The new album consists of improvised pieces for bowed banjo and acoustic guitar, but includes one vocal piece with lyrics, as well as one old folk song "The Flute" - a debut expression of Bukelman's many years of exploring into folk music from the Middle Ea…

1993 release ** "A selection of live recordings from the These Records shop, London."

1991 release ** "Based in Munich. Originally formed as an experimental music group in 1968 by Michael Kopfermann, its activities became morefold later on, most notably through the formation of the "PHREN-Theatergruppe" (PHREN theatre group). The name PHREN appeared in the mid-1970s, the earlier name was "Gruppe für Experimentelle Musik Michael Kopfermann" (Group for Experimental Music Michael Kopfermann)."

2009 release ** "Hacking away on a homemade system and twisted electronic tools, eRikm and Noetinger gleefully activate levers, tactile screens and joysticks with the utmost concentration. Doneda makes the air shake with acoustic vibrations. Together, they give free rein to their audio tricks, buzzing, interference, constructive feedback, electro-shocks, concrete slipping, hazed quotes, white noise, saturations and incisive scratches."

2008 release ** Superb free music with an early Nurse With Wound-ish feel by the always excellent and obscure Vitamin B12.

Petr Vrba and Joke Lanz met each other many years ago while standing in the cue for the Hermitage museum in Saint Petersburg Russia. They never made it into the museum, instead they went to eat Solyanka soup and drunk red wine from Georgia. That’s when they decided to join forces and create a power duo w/ electrified trumpet, turntables, electronics and voice. They have toured Czech Republic twice and performed several times in Vienna and Berlin. Mutants In Siberia is their debut album recorded …

Launching into the new year with some serious heat, Shame File Music returns to their longstanding explorations of experimental music from Australia and beyond, with “Vestigial Gamelan”, the third in Ian Andrews’ Astasie-abasie project’s “Gamelan” series, and “Blue Plum Bloom”, the debut full-length from the all-star trio David Brown, Tony Buck, and Magda Mayas. Each plumbing the radical possibilities of small and discreet sounds in remarkably singular ways, each of these startling creative stat…

*2025 stock* "Bong Watt is the sound for Oscar Reutersvärd’s drawings. Impossible shapes bent within the conscious as sonic earwigs burrow holes in the frontal lobe. Trying to think about “If It Works, It’s Obsolete” is beyond true abilities. There is no beginning, no destination to get to, only a micro-dose of sound chaos that becomes more familiar with each listen. With many listens in the tank, Walter Wright and Al Margolis (Elka Bong) with Mike Watt create the most subtly gentle entropy. The…

*2025 stock* "Ricardo Arias & Violeta Garcia Anagazas, Estatagemas, Jugarreta Y Tretas eh? MC Amazing duo set, recorded in Bogota, Colombia, in March 2020. Garcia plays cello and Arias plays bass balloon. Garcia’s cello playing has plenty of freak register exploration going on, and it’s almost shocking how much sound Arias is able to get from his inflated bladder. You’d think it could be a sort of gimmicky thing to do, but there’s some real majesty going on here. Sounds totally great and it’s a …

"Pressure relief..... these are the sounds to listen with caution. dustsceawung is a well used pot on the stove with a locking lid. The broken gauge configured with a crack that looks suspiciously like a smile. A worn rubber gasket creating a seal far past it's expected life by the manufacturer. Still this is not enough. There is no measure to how much force lies within. A hiss escapes, a rattle or knocking comes and goes. The process continues with thoughts of the contents within. In this case …

"Water ripples in outward patterns with the slightest disturbance. Peaceful space is found within the live performance of Stephen Flinn & Bryan Eubanks, and like glassy surfaced bodies of water, their sonic energy sends waves through the conscious. The balance rests on patience and understanding. Their instruments easily have the ability to crash the tranquil spirit, but their wisdom of how these sounds are unleashed is true testament to their alluring symphony. Stephen Flinn is the force behind…

"Public Eyesore has been releasing improvised and experimental music for over two decades and it never ceases to amaze me how interesting line ups Bryan who leads the label is coming up with. White Wuff is by any means no exception. When I read the liner notes I knew it is going to be a great musical adventure. Beautifully designed and released as a cd with 12 tracks that comprise different moods, travelling through genres. It's a pretty eclectic hybrid of various bits put into one mammoth of an…

"[...]Since each of the 19 pieces is a duo, Tungu gives his guests a chance to stretch out, often quietly, the combination often restrained yet mysterious. Starting out with experimental vocalist Sainko Namchylak, we hear her whispered voice surrounded by eerie electronics, subtle yet effective. It sounds like Tungu had each musician send him a short solo piece which he added to with acoustic bass, samples, field recordings or voice. Tungu obviously listened closely to add sounds which enhance w…

*2025 stock*  Lunchroom PetDavid Samas with Peter WhiteheadGamelan Encinal: Stephen Parris, Daniel Schmidt, Derek Drudge, Kim Nucci, Sophia Shen, Patrick Liddell, Joel Nelson, Maria Siino, Lucas DeLeon Elegy and BardoDavid Samas: invented instruments, voiceTom Nunn: invented instrumentsBart Hopkin: invented instrumentsPeter Whitehead: invented instruments, voice PahoehoeDavid Samas: invented instruments, voiceTom Nunn: invented instrumentsBryan Day: invented instrumentsSusan Rawcliffe: original …

*Hand-numbered edition of 300. Digipak in resealable poly-bag* Jacob Felix Heule - DrumsTeté Leguía - BassDanishta Rivero - Voice And ElectronicsMartín Escalante - Saxophone Recorded, Mixed, And Mastered By Jacob Felix HeuleSeptember 18, 2021 In Oakland, CaliforniaArtwork By Teté LeguíaLayout By Gerrit Hatcher