Experimental / Free Improvisation

*2022 stock.* Sofa Music is proud to welcome a new project on board. It’s Propan, a duo comprising the two Norwegian vocalists; Natali Garner and Ina Sagstuen. On their second album Propan continues its research within the frameworks of the song form and presents a psychedelic, and more delirious landscape than on its first, somewhat more electroacoustic album, Baby. The duo explores the meeting point between improvised music and studio production, and builds the album around Propan's well-estab…

Jean-Noël Cognard is a big initiator of projects and collaborations both in the studio and on the stage. With his label, Bloc Thyristors, he documents these musical sparks. One recalls the great epoch of Soixante Étages, which, at the instigation of Dominique Répécaud, attempted crossing genres in studio recordings for the benefit of the music. Tribraque, is Jean-François Pauvros (guitars and voice), Patrick Müller (electrosonic), Jean-Noël Cognard (drums & percussion). A surprising trio which e…

After studying composition at the Marseille Conservatory, Emmanuel Cremer, while writing for the theatre and the cinema, began improvising, notably alongside Barre Phillips, then Raymond Boni, with whom he recorded in 2003 ("Terronès, Suite andalouse", Blue Marge 1007 - with Foussat!), Joe McPhee, Jean-Marc Montera and other musicians from the region. In Athens in 2019, in the middle of the ancient ruins, but in fact in the studio, he recorded five solo pieces, five improvisations undoubtedly we…

Ramble is honoured to be releasing veteran avant-garde guitarist and improvisor Eugene Chadbourne’s ‘What’s Been Baking’ on limited edition vinyl. Drawing on blues, folk, free jazz, and Appalachian traditions, the good Doc returns to the stripped down format of solo guitar and banjo for an album of genuine outsider free folk - filled with his Inimitable and frenetic playing and irreverent humour.

It was a long wait, but, 12 years after the fact, Fred Frith put together a live album of his group Keep the Dog, which had previously gone undocumented. Comprised of sax/flute player Jean Derome, guitarist René Lussier, keyboardist/harpist Zeena Parkins, sampling artist Bob Ostertag, and drummer Charles Hayward, Keep the Dog was formed by Frith in 1989 to perform a best-of repertoire of his career and remained his last rock group. By the time of this 1991 European tour, the unit had grown beyon…

Lindsay Cooper was a rare and extraordinary woman; at home in rock bands (Henry Cow, National Health), Jazz ensembles (Mike Westbrook Orchestra, Maarten Altena Octet) Concert Halls (Concerto for Sopranino Saxophone and Orchestra, Songs for bassoon and Orchestra); she also founded the Feminist Improvising Group, scored feature films and wrote for television, dance, radio, theatre, contemporary ensembles and orchestras - as well as being highly respected as a virtuoso performer on several instrume…

Cockroach sound. Tender hammering. Whistling, chirping. Much silence in between. Small modulated electric guitar sound. Aha: a rock band?

*2023 stock. Limited edition.* Seijiro Murayama is a Japanese man who lives in France. He performs with snare, cymbal, gong and also voice. In the 80s, he was involved in some legendary rock projects, though you wouldn’t know it seeing him perform today. Cristián Alvear is Chilean. He has released a number of guitar recordings, some of which are of other people’s compositions, as well as his own. You can hear a background in classical guitar in his playing, however the form is always very simple…

Luxinpei is a two-piece band from Beijing, formed by Ma Meng and Ma Yuan in 2007. Back to 1990s they were classmates, sharing a same desk. In 2008, Ma Meng became friends with Zhu Wenbo and they formed another another duo project Fat City. After some performance, Zhu started organized a weekly Tuesday performance series in 2009, which was the beginning of Zoomin’ Night. Both Luxinpei and Fat City were core names in early Zoomin’ Night days. Luxinpei’s work could be found in a Maybe Mar’s live co…

Before the concert, we hadn’t discussed much of what we will be playing. Kirill proposed to place the "June ’21" score on the table, to follow the impression, the feeling, the direction of what it suggests to play. Sometimes we noticed how one part of the score or another would lead us to new ideas whilst we were playing. It was a special concert because of its circumstances. We decided to have one big table for both our setups, and to be standing up during the performance. Kirill used some obje…

"In 2017 after I finished a tour of Taiwan and returned to Beijing, I left my hard drive on one of those share bikes and it was lost forever. I had close to ten years’ worth of live recordings on that hard drive (I never made any backups). Since then, I’ve made sure to keep recordings of my live performances well organised. To a certain extent, it’s through live performance that I create new ideas. What I regret, then, is that every performance from different phases of my music making life will …

The score for June '21 was made in early summer of 2021, in a dialogical process of close live collaboration. Everything we talked about — music, time, politics, and place — was treated as a kind of material with the possibility of being brought into the piece. We didn’t aim to use sound to express such concepts directly, but rather created music with attention to the circumstances: when it was written, where, to whom and by whom it would be played. There was a mutual understanding that we were …

"After two and a half years of refining, calibrating, and reconceptualising their approach, pianist Darius Heid, cellist Emily Wittbrodt, and double bassist Jonas Gerigk are now releasing their debut CD. With great enthusiasm, the trio met frequently for playful and dedicated rehearsals, improvising freely then observing and discussing the resulting phenomena, delving further into the depths of their music. A long and involved process - creating trialogues that weave through constant re-examinat…

"Kuden is a method of communicating information verbally in Japan. The word also refers to the knowledge of secret techniques traditionally passed on orally, be it from martial arts or from music and the performing arts. An apt title for this exceptional, non-arranged meeting of three musical experts who tell each other about the rich vault of their sound treasures in order to enrich it with something new through this musical dialogue, which is immediately passed on to the spellbound, amazed aud…

Distorted through a shattered lens, Diminished Men refocus hard-boiled cinema and classic instrumental music into something entirely unique.Vision in Crime, their third LP on Sun City Girls' Abduction label, unfolds like a paranormal detective story full of delinquent exotica, deranged noir, hyperventilating surf, and shortwave radio nightmares. Opening number "Chamber," an apparition of a forensics crime scene investigation, sets the tone but quickly spirals into the cobra-twilight guitar work …

Zs could quite possibly be the modern jazz equivalent of Lou Reed‘s Metal Machine Music or Borbetomagus for a new generation. Their uncompromising sonic assault commands attention, consistently leaving an impression on the listener that is not likely to be forgotten. After a couple cassette EPs, founding Zs member, Sam Hillmer, finally delivers his solo album, an introspective journey that successfully expresses Hillmer’s starkly unique vision. Rather than repeat the organic noise attack…

** 180 gram vinyl housed in a black silkscreened bottom-folded heavy jacket. Limited edition of 525 copies **  Enkidu is the mythical Japanese psychedelic noise project of legendary performers Chie Mukai (Taj Mahal Travelers, Che-Shizu, East Bionic Symphonia, Dadnur), Eric Cordier & Seichi Yamamoto (the Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba, Rashinban, Ontoko). Over four bruised side-long cuts, Live in Kyoto faithfully captures the intensity of one particularly eviscerating evening of ritualized self expressi…

*300 copies limited edition* Well this is a dream, Ukrainian experimental composer Natalia Beylis put together "Love-In-A-Mist, Edible" over the course of three years, recording pianos she would find at other people's houses or on holiday, in Ireland, Amsterdam and Morocco. Ghostly and emotional musical polaroids - it draws immediate parallels with Dominique Lawalrée’s 'First Meeting’ which - you prob know by now - is all the comparison it needs to have our ears fully pricked. Presented “like ho…

* Edition of 300. In process of stocking * Pekka Airaksinen (1945–2019) was a pioneering composer of electronic and experimental music. Despite his undisputed position as one of the most significant factors in Finnish experimental music, he rarely performed live since the early days of Finnish underground in the 60’s and 70’s. He composed and developed his unique, gentle and enthusiastic approach to music at his private meditation center, far from the pulse and demands of life in the city. Lucki…

Restock 2023. CD version. Chris Abrahams returns with Fluid To The Influence. Building upon the foundation of his previous three editions for Room40, Abrahams charts out a divergent course through lilting piano flows, distended organ passages, thunderous electronic eruptions, and focused concrète explorations. Fluid To The Influence spans a huge spectrum of sound, each movement calling forward to the next in a flowing motion that demonstrates Abrahams's commitment to and interest in the album as…

Tip! *200 copies limited release. Vinyl version* ”In its sum, Draw From The Source recounts a multidimensional journey whose sources and paths constantly cross. Marco von Orelli and Sheldon Suter reveal a lot about themselves, about their individual idiosyncrasies and about their common feelings in this performance carried by finest lyricism. But behind this journey from the north to the south, from urban stagnation to Mediterranean lightness, there is also a call for us to reflect on the true n…

"Pangrams" evokes a wide range of emotional moods, sketched in a chamber atmosphere. The four pieces stress the immediate and deep understanding of Di Domenico and Moberg.’ - Eyal Hareuveni

Limited edition of 200 copies.* Aonghus McEvoy is an Irish, Dublin-based experimental guitarist, who has played with musicians such as Annette Krebs, Ricardo Jacinto, Adam Pultz Melbye and Damo Suzuki. Aonghus’ long-term projects include a duo with chaotic synthesist Tristan Clutterbuck and he is a member of pioneering exploitation folk-rock group Woven Skull and the brutalist punk quintet Worst. Likewise, he counts among his many inspirations Eva-Maria Houben, J.S. Bach, Cornelius Cardew, Rhodr…

Tip! *Limited edition of 100 copies. In process of stocking.* Yellow brings together acclaimed LA-based musicians Kozue Matsumoto, Patrick Shiroishi, and Shoshi Watanabe. With total expressive command of their instruments, the trio unfurls a brilliant and impassioned free improvisation of the highest virtuosic caliber that is at once anguished, defiant, and vigorously hopeful. An astonishing musical work, Yellow is also a powerful political statement. The musicians came together on the basis of …

Forbes Graham (trumpet, drum machine, laptop computer) is joined by Cecilia Lopez (analog synth) and Brandon Lopez (bass) on a session recorded at Firehouse 12 in August of 2021. Each musician is wholly distinct and themselves on this recording, but their sounds unite to create a dark and quizzical sci-fi journey.

Crazy Doberman is a curious outfit, a rotating collective of musicians that come and go for recordings and live performances.  The group is centered around Drew Davis, Tim Gick, and John Olsen of Wolf Eyes. Illusory Expansion is far from their first dance – it is more like their 20th release – and features a total of 16 musicians in a free-improvisational jam session.  There is a hint of a Bitches Brew vibe herein, but Crazy Doberman is more experimental and not overtly jazz. Other reference poi…

Crazy Doberman are an Indiana free-improvisation and jazz collective created in 2016 as an offshoot of the group Doberman, started three years before. Core members, including Tim Gick and Doberman cofounder Drew Davis, appear on many recordings, but Crazy Doberman’s lineup is loose—it varies on each of the band’s 40-plus albums and has featured dozens of musicians, among them Wolf Eyes’ John Olson and percussionist Tyler Damon.

Big Tip! The alter ego, Gomberg, created by Austrian trumpeter Franz Hautzinger is a tool for him to "overcome his own limitations". Gomberg serves as a foil on which a second personality comes to life and does what he wants. The recordings on Gomberg III-V were made between 2006 and 2018, recorded in Vienna and Brest. Some of the tracks are occasion-related compositions or commissioned works, e.g. a signature for an art space or short works for films, some are the results of collaborations for …

"We entered the shadowy mouth of a new space, descending into a realm that precedes the underworld, the arcane, far from our time. We met beasts that gave us lessons about their language, which we started learning without grammar."

The sum to infinity of a sequence is the sum of an infinite number of terms in the sequence. It is only possible to compute this sum if the terms of a sequence converge to zero. "sum to infinity" is also the second release from Gamut Inc, the retro-futuristic ensemble around composers and curators Marion Wörle and Maciej Sledziecki.

Other:M:other is a trio from Austria, consisting of Judith Schwarz (extended drums), Jul Dillier (prepared piano) and Arthur Fussy (modular synthesizer). Judith is a drummer and composer and internationally well known with bands like Chuffdrone, Little Rosies Kindergarten or the duo Hofmaninger/Schwarz. Arthur is a sound designer, composer and engineer. He also works for theatre productions in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Jul describes himself as a sound poet. He works as a solo artist, per…

"Radical playing techniques, curiosity and the exploration of sound possibilities create constant tension. Their first trio release Animals brings together 13 tracks full of twists and turns, creative lightness and complex virtuosity."

Núria Andorrà is a percussionist, improviser and composer from a classical and contemporary music background but always drawing from other sources of inspiration. Núria proposes a universe where images, sound and the body come together to create and transmit from an interdisciplinary perspective. She has performed with Agustín Fernández, Fred Frith, Lê Quan Nihn, Joëlle Léandre, Mats Gustafsson, Nate Wooley, and Joe Morris, as well as collaborating with Carles Santos, Hector Parra, Matmos and ot…

Uruguayan guitarist Santiago Bogacz is a genre-bending virtuoso with a strong penchant for improvised music. Over the years he has released many solo and duo recordings, some under the stage name Matador. On the stimulating and poignant Retrato Años Despues he joins forces with his compatriot Emiliano Aires for nine spontaneously created pieces.Aires sticks to the infrequently heard soprano clarinet, the twittering tones of which, with their hints of vibrato, complement Bogacz's resonant strings…

New York City-based Pavone and Kasten Krause met by being placed together in the ensembles of other like-minded music experimentalists. It wasn't long before they realized their unique sonic preferences, aesthetics, and approaches to their instruments were similarly aligned and worth further investigation. Over the course of two seasons, they explored and experimented with sound worlds and structures, resulting in the four pieces that make up this album. Images of One is the first release from t…

** Edition of 300 in handmade cover, includes A3 colour poster. ** Deep and immersive open-air Chilean trance-folk improvisations from members of KYE Records alumni Glorias Navales and Sholto Dobie. "The idea of applying free-music logic to rock structures came of age with the records The Dead C and Harry Pussy put out on Xpressway and Siltbreeze in the '90s. They created a method to follow. Keep the tropes and tools of rock and roll but ditch the formal constraints. All you are left with then i…

Tip! *2023 stock. 30 copies limited edition C90* Zhu Wenbo: clarinet, bass clarinet, percussion, fan, theremin, viola, flute. This album was released in digital files by Zhu on his personal bandcamp on May 6, 2021. After a year, we got contact with him and decide to release it in physical format.

*2023 stock. 100 copies limited edition* Recorded at Vital Sounding festival; Nu Space Chengdu. collaboratioin between Yan Jun: open input feedback and Xiang: ableton live, contact mic.

*2023 stock. 100 copies limited edition* "Few words about Anzi: somehow, for me, she tells the meaning of "new music". She has daily job now and for a while she was a house wife. She is not active as an artist. She is quiet and looks weak. We had some collaborations and from those she influenced me so strongly. The recording on this cassette is from miji concert 57. You can check the video from a link on subjam.org for understand more (of course not for Chinese language but other aspects)." - Ya…

Tip! *2023 stock. 100 copies limited edition* Kaoliang Brothers Live at KLEX (Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video & Music Festival) 2018, RAW Art Space, Kuala Lumpur. Collaboration between Taiwanese pioneer of experimental electronics Dino on no input mixing board and Malaysian tenor saxophonist virtuoso Yong Yandsen.