Experimental / Free Improvisation

Zurich bass guitarist and composer Martina Berther is known for her delicious basslines in experimental rock outfits Ester Poly and AUL. On this solo debut, she conjures something utterly unique from her instrument. 'Bass Works' showcases Berther's talent and ingenuity across 12 startlingly varied one-take compositions. Taking root in improvisation, the collection unfolds like a playbook of strange and beautiful techniques. Voided melodies, harmonics and surfaces that prickle and collapse in sol…

Deadly double-header of concrète jazz and shearing computer music from Wanda Group, spurted on his private label U G ORGANIC THROAT BLOWER - RIYL Sun Ra, Tod Dockstader, Graham Lambkin, Joseph Hammer.​

*2024 stock* This is not a split album. Shadows is the curious offspring of MoE and The Observatory, a radiant chase after light and darkness, casting amorphous, illusory paths of Indian carnatic loops and heavy narcotic gamelan dreams. Containing just three songs, the album explores a hauntology of sounds, a melange of evocative synths, disembodying voices, percussion, and a ton of guitars from the most rancorous to the more profound. Wandering along the length of spaces and in between, Shadows…

*2024 stock* "A lone voice rises over the booming rumble of the octobass, a large acoustic instrument resembling a double-bass, yet twice the height. The octobass’ unusually large stature lends itself to these haunting sounds, looming over this cacophonous reverberation like a specter of monstrosity. Another voice lightly ascends, and the two vocalizations coalesce as this musical foundation crumbles along, carried by the tapping of harmonium keys, swimming and dissonant.  This patient singing b…

*2024 stock* "Recorded back in 2019, in Newcastle upon Tyne, “Skinwalker” is a collaboration between noisy British punk band Bruxa Maria and Norwegian trio MoE. Between these two acts, fireworks might be expected to fly constantly but “Skinwalker” turns out more restrained and controlled than you’d expect. Four tracks, of which three exceed ten minutes, are on offer here, all of them brimming with caged fury and aggression which, if unleashed, could turn this recording into a tapestry of burning…

*2024 stock* "On the same day that MoE released “Skinwalker”, their collaboration with UK band Bruxa Marie, the Norwegian trio also released “Saint Vitus Dance”, itself also a collaboration with Escalantes (Martin and Oscar). As with “Skinwalker”, we can expect a lot of noisy experimental jazz improv / sludge doom rock fusion, though with Martin Escalante on saxophone the recording leans a bit more to the free jazz side. Even so, sludge doom metal fans shouldn’t dismiss this album as there’s ple…

*2024 stock* "I picked this album up because I was (and still am) enthralled by MoE’s 2018 release with Lasse Marhaug. The sardonically titled Tolerancia Picante, however, is a different beast altogether and this beast is punk rock. The adjective, the attitude, and the aesthetics. Not pop-punk or post-punk or one of those derivations, but straight-up cacophonous, cantankerous in-your-face aggression…minus the power chords and fueled by free jazz curiosity and musicality. “Tolerancia Picante” ope…

In an exhilarating convergence of sonic exploration, experimental noise guitarist Nina Garcia and danish trombone virtuoso Maria Bertel have teamed up to create a heavy-hitting, collaborative record that pushes the boundaries between extreme improvisation and harsh noise. Both renowned in their respective fields, Garcia and Bertel bring their unique styles and influences to create a masterpiece of collaborative improvisation. Knækket Smil (meaning „broken smile“) is a living, breathing, moving e…

*50 copies limited edition* Extremely limited edition purple transparent cassette made for 2023 California tour. Hand numbered edition in printed 0-card hand painted with glitter spray.    Recorded on April 1st, 2022 in Gowanus Brooklyn, Gowanus is the first release from Andrew Lafkas, Todd Capp, and Bryan Eubanks since 2019's eponymous LP on Sacred Realism. They are here augmented by the modular synthesis of Xavier Lopez, who often plays with the trio in Berlin. The music on these recordings sp…

*50 copies limited edition* An extremely limited numbered and stamped edition of 50 glass-mastered CDs with individual covers painted by artist and philosopher Tim Bradley. Packaged in a beautiful painting on paper and polyvinyl sleeve.    Three live recordings of an electro-acoustic work developed and performed in 2013. A mesmerizing fusion of sine tones, open-circuit electronics/feedback, samples, and tuned noise, these structuralist compositions navigate the intersection of compositional rigo…

50 copies limited edition. Mirror Mountain is the first release by Many Chants a Trapped Secret, the new solo project by Jef Mertens, evoking textural sounds for imaginary films. The concept/story/idea for Mirror Mountain was inspired by old drawings I made in the late nineties. Each track was recorded chronological, imposing a new direction in the story. Sounds leading to titles and titles leading to sounds.

50 copies limited edition. Jef Mertens: Guitar & Objects. Jean D.L.: Guitar. Recorded at Taping Policies, Geel / 2022Artwork: Hannelore Van Dijck

50 copies limited edition. Guitar recorded and mixed by Jef Mertens - June 2022. A take on the guitar noise by Bill Nace, recorded with a similar guitar, a squier Jagmaster.Mastered by Jürgen de Blonde.Artwork by Wouter Vanhaelemeesch.

*100 copies limited edition* Belgian musician Mertens came onto the scene as a documentary filmmaker (Sonic Youth, Borbetomagus, Loren Connors, etc) but he has been developing his own unique guitar style over the past few years. This 10” has three wads of it. The first is a wonderful sidelong chunk of motoric chiming string music not all that far from a pop version of Remko Scha. The two shorter tunes on the flip fiddle around with some of the same ideas in different ways, all pretty hep.

*2024 stock. 300 copies limited edition* "It started in 2005 by colliding electrons against ferromagnetic material on a ribbon of rust to eventually excite phosphors behind cathode ray tube unless the thermal velocity of the yoke over modulates and restricts the flow of 60/40 rosin core anodized black under a waveform monitor. Plaid vectors, white fur, hex schmitt triggers, oxygen free copper and temperatures above 50° are equally as important mediums as 70% cocao in this cross disciplinary mult…

Solo Throat is the first solo LP from vocalist, composer and movement artist Elaine Mitchener. Drawing on the work of African-American and African-Caribbean poets Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Aimé Césaire, Una Marson and N. H. Pritchard, these twelve new vocal compositions disrupt semantic sense, play with the margins of lyrical translation, and give rise to new voicings. Elaine Mitchener is a veteran of vocal expression in the global Black Avant Garde, traversing free improvisation, cross-disciplin…

*2024 stock* Jaap Blonk - voice, electronics Damon Smith - double bass Ra Kalam Bob Moses drums, percussion Recorded by Ryan Wasoba at Birdcloud Studios, Collinsvile, Il November 1st. 2022 Mixed & Mastered by Weasel Walter Design by Alan Anzalone Cover art by Damon Smith Untitled micro-collages 2003-2004 Oil, graphite, bass rosin, collage & objects on graph paper 3" x 3.5" Concrete Poem / liner notes Ra Kalam Bob Moses / Jaap Blonk All Titles from text messages from Ra Kalam

"The only time I met and spoke with Cecil Taylor was in 2003 in the basement of Tonic, the much-beloved and long-gone Lower East Side venue, where he, Sunny Murray, Andrey Henkin and myself were sitting in one of those old wooden wine-cask cabanas they had. Murray’s group was playing there that evening and Cecil had come out to see the band. I remember Cecil whispering a query in my ear: “Mr. Allen, who is your favorite architect?” At that point I was not a follower of architecture but having re…

Ashwin & Above is a collection of pieces composed and recorded between 2018 – 2022. For the most part it is a celebration of making music alone. Some of the pieces ended up celebrating friendship and took on new life in the context of group performances. I wouldn’t point to any unifying quality except to say I very much hope you enjoy the space, it is a lung full of turbulence and joy.’ - Adam Coney ‘I’ve been excited to get my hands on this LP and it hasn’t disappointed. I’ve played several tra…

Slow fade into the New Year with the Full Spectrum Records debut of Denton, Texas’ Kory Reeder: ‘If the Thought Evaporates.’

The year 2022 was the 10th anniversary of the opening of Ftarri’s physical store in Suidobashi, Tokyo. To mark this milestone, several solo concerts by musicians with whom Ftarri has had close ties since the time of its predecessor, Improvised Music From Japan, were held in the Ftarri store performance space in autumn 2022. The musician who performed on October 3 was Otomo Yoshihide. That day Otomo planned to play turntable only, but when he spotted the store’s harmonium, he had the idea of usin…

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.

Full Spectrum Records returns with a new exploratory edition from players Al Jones, Lori Goldston, Greg Kelley, and Austin Larkin: ‘Miasms.’

Full Spectrum Records hails the coming end of winter with a mighty new work from Darcy Spidle’s long-running chik white moniker: ‘Wind Wound.’

Tip! *2024 stock* Full Spectrum rides again with a very special long player from our “house band,” Tender Crust, with the release of their latest set of recordings – ’Convexity.’ Now a quartet – with the inclusion of bass clarinetist Rebecca Hubsher, alongside returning band members Gretchen Korsmo, Carl Ritger, and Andrew Weathers – the group traveled to the far reaches of northern Colorado to record in the otherworldly acoustics of Rangely’s Tank Center for Sonic Arts. Located on the outskirts…

Flute, harp, drums: a rare combination that this trio turns upside down. In the wake of John Zorn's experiences on the borders of jazz and noise, the collaboration between Delphine Joussein, Rafaëlle Rinaudo and Blanche Lafuente aims at pushing their instruments beyond their limits, with the enthusiasm of a mad scientist... It is no coincidence that the three musicians, considered the missing link between Nirvana and Sun Ra, have already aroused a big curiosity and are constantly touring accross…

Temporary Super Offer! * Limited edition LP Translucent green vinyl* Musica Elettronica Viva, or MEV for short, was formed in 1966 in Rome by Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Jon Phetteplace, Carol Plantamura, Frederic Rzweski, Richard Teitelbaum and Ivan Vandor. From the very beginning the group was based on musical freedom and the shunning of convention. Using contact microphones to record and manipulate sound wherever it could be found – from box springs to vibrators – and improvisationally combin…

Two new solo works by Kieran Daly and Luciano Maggiore ‘Complex envelope functions from nonlinear I/O and feature extraction etc’ and ‘Automatic Love’, sharing one disc. The first instance of these two presenting work in company; they play well together, forming a cohesive ‘split’ disc from beginning to end. Composed in 2023, both pieces deal with electronic and acoustic recorded sound, whilst presenting the distinctive, recognisable and acute styles of both artists.

Debut release on reissue label Otic curated by mastering engineer and musician Joshua Stevenson (Otic Sound, Staked Plain, Von Bingen, Cast Exotic Archives, JOMF).

Sofa is proud to announce the debut album of Montreal-based band House of Gold, a very special group playing American composer Isaiah Ceccarelli’s songs and compositions. House of Gold is a quartet that blends quiet melodies and songwriting, chamber music, minimalist folk song, improvisation, jazz harmony, and early music influences into an immersive and embracing sonic experience. Composer, drummer, and singer Isaiah Ceccarelli has built a repertoire of songs around his original texts and intim…

In the spring of 2020, Muddersten did not go to Japan. Nor did the trio collaborate with alive painting artist Akiko Nakayama as planned before the global lockdown. Instead, a video triptych was made by Akiko and sent to the trio serving as a score for a musical performance. The piece was commissioned by Muddersten and had its first performance at the Periferien Festival in Oslo, in August 2020 in the midst of the Covid pandemic.  On this release the trio uses sonic ready-mades as a method for i…

Limited edition of 116. One-sided LP. In these times of double lives it happens fairly frequently that acquaintances from outside "the world of experimental music" send short video’s of all kinds of circus acts, people making music in a river, singing in a helicopter, their pets sounding like the intro of an 80’s hit, etcetera. Often these outings are sent in an ironic way, as often liked by us in a painful, deadly serious way. There must be thousands of video’s of Japanese percussionist Ryosuke…

The Kriego is the joint project of musicians and sound artists Fernando Feria & Emiliano Cruz. Born from cultivating similar creative interests in sound art, improvisation, and composition, the duo weaves a sound born of noise, ambient, and free improvisation; exploring various formats and using the electric guitar as their main mean of expression. The project emerged in October 2021 in Mexico City with the presentation of their album I at Casa Patricio, later performing at the first edition of …

*350 copies limited edition.* 2024 stock.Nick Parkin and Z’ev were introduced to each other by Charles Powne of Soleilmoon Recordings at a social get together in London in 2005. The following year they ran into each other again at the ICA’s Sonic Arts Festival, and after a series of meetings and conversations realised they had a number of common sonic and philosophical threads, and decided to try recording together. The two musicians shared an interest in site-specific recordings and the atmosph…

Originally released by Confront in 2013 on compact disc as The Complete August 15th 2001. Now freshly remixed and remastered in 2023 for release on a delux double 180g white vinyl LP set and digital. Recorded at Sound 323, London by Tim Fletcher on 15 August 2001

LP pressed at RTI. Tip-on jacket printed at Stoughton Printing Co. Atrás del Cosmos have been called Mexico’s first free jazz ensemble. Founded in 1975 by pianist Ana Ruiz, saxophonist Henry West, and percussionist Evry Mann, the trio soon became a central force in Mexico City’s creative arts community, mentoring a generation of improvisers, incorporating a revolving cast of artists into their immersive happenings, and sustaining a scene through their legendary weekly performances at El Galeón t…

Tip!  Sam Newsome – Soprano Saxophone, Horn Preparations, ToysMax Johnson – Double Bass Recorded at Conveyor by Jason Borisoff on March 18, 2023Mixed and Mastered by Max JohnsonPhoto by Peter GannushkinDesign by David Mirarchi All music by Max Johnson (Max Johnson Music ASCAP and Sam Newsome (Some New Music BMI), except “Blue Monk” by Thelonious Monk

La Scie Doree returns with an absolute stunner, the LP “Atlantic Crossing”, a reissue of a rare privately released cassette recorded by the Bayerischer Rundfunk, from 1988

*200 copies limited edition* And if we thought we couldn't top a line-up, here's this unique quartet who brings a totally different experience. While Garuda Trio with special guest Rodrigo Pinheiro musters a fine balance between classic free jazz and improvisation, this quartet dives deep into the fantastic realm of pure improvisation and textural dialogue : the electronics of Carla Santana, the subtle horn contribution of José Lencastre, Maria do Mar drawing linear lines on the viola and the ev…

*200 copies limited edition* Our 2nd release in the Axis series, graced with the beautiful b&w photography of Martina Verhoeven, is a special one.  When José Lencastre came over last year for a recording with Dirk Serries (a pending release somewhere), we did this last-minute trio concert for the Jazzblazzt series in The Netherlands.  With Martina Verhoeven on the electric crumar piano, this trio became something else.  Tryptophan Suite represents the very first notes this new trio played togeth…