Experimental / Free Improvisation

*2022 repress* That dynamic of all dynamic duos Tomaga return with the amazing double LP Extended Play Vol 1 & 2. If you haven't checked into Tomaga yet you are in for a real treat. They make the best soundtrack you've never heard. The London based musicians who employ prepared percussion, oscillators, drum machines and more in their attempt to deconstruct standardised sonic palettes. Their improvised music contains elements of minimalism, Free jazz, electronics, noise, exotica and new wave all …

A unique live performance at Issue Project Room gathered the former Sonic Youth member and artist Kim Gordon and the legendary minimal blues master and artist Loren Connors in 2014.  In December 2014, the Issue Project Room venue in New York City offered the first-time duo with the legendary Brooklyn- based guitarist Loren Connors and the rock icon Kim Gordon. From this almost 1 1⁄2 hour set, Kim and Loren decided to archive their favourite movement on a physical record which is a 12” vinyl now …

** 2021 Stock. Edition of 300 ** Mikroton Recording presents the self-titled LP El Infierno Musical. Alto Saxophone – Christof Kurzmann, Bass – Clayton Thomas, Design – Marion Epp, Stefan Haupt, Drums, Vibraphone – Martin Brandlmayr, Engineer – Christoph Amann, Guitar – Christof Kurzmann, Lyrics By – Alejandra Pizarnik, Recorder [Contra Bass] – Eva Reiter, Strings [Dan Bao - Vietnamese Monochord] – Eva Reiter, Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Ken Vandermark, Translated By – Cecilia Roj…

Blue vinyl reissue of the debut album from Mexico's premiere prog rock group, Decibel! This is the first vinyl pressing of the album since its initial release in 1980! The band was influenced by such visionaries as Henry Cow, Faust, Magma and 20th century composer Karlheinz Stockhausen!

* Edition of 200 * Convergence was formed in 1976 (and disbanded around 1980), with written music for the ensemble scarce, improvisational sessions became more frequent. Their first few concerts at The Music Gallery had a somewhat haphazard and random mix of students, some of whom didn’t quite get the notion of free improv.  Recorded live at the Music Gallery in September 1979, their instrumentation includes trumpet, trombone, piano, percussion, home-made instruments and toy instruments, which p…

Canadian private press mega-rarity/obscurity from the artistically schizophrenic Bob Bell. Recorded in 1978, Bell splits the difference between his love of basement psych splatter/pummel and squalling free jazz ramble, the former occupying side A with a stunning four-part suite of wasted guitar scuzz and churning Krautrock-like drama with an akin to German Oak, Roland Kirk, Albert Ayler, DNA, Melt Banana (minus the vocals) and Guru Guru. The latter represents Bell as a saxophonist on side B, and…

Legendary drummer, Ikuro Takahashi played in most of the important bands of the psychedelic underground Japanese scene : Keiji Haino’s Fushitsusha, Seishokki, High b, Ché-Shizu, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Kousokuya, LSD March and Nagisa Ni Te, but also with Junzo Suzuki, Tamio Shiraishi, Akiko Hotaka and many others, making it difficult to write a comprehensive list. Ikuro does not make a distinction between the young musicians with whom he collaborates, and the big names of the underground behind w…

*385 copies limited edition. Silkscreened chipboard jacket with obi (tan & white), inserts and a postcard* On their latest release, An’archives dives into the past, disinterring a revelatory collection of recordings from Japanese free-sound quintet Gu-N. Formed in 1994 by Fumio Kosakai (Incapacitants, Hijokaidan, C.C.C.C.) and Hidenobu Kaneda (Yuragi), alongside Ikuro Takahashi (Fushitsusha, Kousokuya, LSD March), Ryuichi Nagakubo (C.C.C.C., Yuragi), and Morihide Sawada (Yura Yura Teikoku, Marbl…

One of the most mythical experimental groups of all time, Musica Elettronica Viva was formed in 1966 by a group of American composers in Rome, its nucleus comprised of pianist Frederic Rzewski, sound improviser Alvin Curran and the improvisatory keyboardist Richard Teitelbaum. Taking cues from John Cage and David Tudor, MEV employed open, limitless structures, using found instruments, toys, a homemade synthesizer and the first Moog to reach mainland Europe. Improv and critical listening practice…

Amgen presents Rhodri Davies's Trem. Live at All Angels, St Michael and All Angels Church, West London.

Tip! Release on Raw Tonk Records. Colin Webster - Baritone SaxophoneDirk Serries - Acoustic GuitarEmilie Škrijelj - AccordionMartina Verhoeven - Double BassTom Malmendier - Percussion Recorded at Oud Klooster, Brecht, Belgium on 5th May 2022. Mixed and mastered by Dirk Serries

*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…

Soundscapes, drones, disruptive aberrations, textures and perplexingly absorbing interactions between French guitarist, graphic and sound artist Xavier Mussat and saxophonist Quentin Rollet, performing live at Instants Chavires, in Montreuil, France, in 2020, for eight diverse and unusual improvisations.

Is there a music that can be understood in any culture on this planet? Is it possible to co-compose a music from basic elements which are valid in most musical cultures? What are such basic elements? Do fundamental musical particles even exist and what could they be? Driven by such questions, Metaculture created an improvised music that builds upon basic musical elements and on the individual musical histories of the ensemble members. The ensemble spirit is fed by a common interest in all kinds …

"Pulses, subtle interactions within common noise-sound surfaces that glide along in a leisurely, relaxed manner and yet are always in a state of flux. This is how briefly and succinctly the music of the quartet around the pianist and synthesiser player Philip Zoubek, the trumpeter Franz Hautzinger, the electronic musician Ignaz Schick and the drummer and percussionist Tony Buck could be put into words. One could add to this brief description: diverse percussion sounds, bowed sounds, glissandi, s…

‘Grid Ravage’s debut album for Dropa Disc sounds organic, just like their live performances, with the music being born on the spot. The tight drumming of Louis Evrard (Ottla), the razor-sharp cello of Gino Coomans (Sheldon Siegel) and the permeating electronics of Yves De Mey naturally flow into each other. The result is a strikingly versatile and accessible record, on which the tension is built up in every track, until it’s not clear anymore who’s being followed around by whom. In this way, th…

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…

*In process of stocking* Look Like is the first complete solo release from bassist and vocalist Kelsey Mines. A series of improvised solo-duets, Look Like explores how listening to our on-going internal dialogue helps us conjure honest, outward expressions.

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

Tip! *Edition of 100.* Fire Point is multicolored and elusive. The sounds contained therein are agitated, fluid and amorphous, as if listening to the sonic realizations of various characteristics of multiple landscapes. Branches intersect, tree foliage collectively billows, and groundwater seeps into the encompassing substrate. The interactions of these three musicians are effortless, and is the result of both remote and physically-collaborative engagements. Starting with percussion tracks laid …

*In process of stocking. Edition of 100.* Malcolm Goldstein has long been an admired figure for Notice Recordings; such albums Soundings and The Seasons: Vermont were foundational for our early forays into contemporary music. It is with great honor, then, that we present a document of a 2003 live improvised duo set with Fred Lonberg-Holm recorded at 3030 in Chicago. With ample room-tone, sounds of people shuffling into place, atmospheric sounds from the occasional interior/exterior crossover, Lo…

Tip! Surveying late 20th century underground music - sounds that largely emerged before the internet delivered the illusion of interconnectedness - the most noteworthy often sprang from second cities, small towns, and backwaters, rather than cultured metropolitan centres like New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo. Boredom, marginalisation, and relative isolation seem to have been essential, counterintuitive components to the becoming of great art. Nowhere was this more true than in NZ/Aotearoa, the…

** "Mini-LP" style sleeve with spine. Printed outer and inner sleeves with high gloss varnish. Glass-mastered CD. Fold-out 4p insert ** Piętnastka is back. The duo project of Piotr Kurek and Hubert Zemler returns with a fantastical album titled Kambium, released almost precisely a decade after the debut Dalia. Seamlessly fusing eerie organs, haunting reverbs, clanging percussion and a handful of other instruments, the album's seven tracks radiate something oddly mythical yet futuristic. Just lik…

"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

"Sometimes I wonder why it takes years for something to find its way to a release, but in this case, you could think: wow, that's really fast. The concert that we find on these recordings dates from September 4. I must assume the CD went into production the day after the concert. I believe I had not yet the pleasure to hear music as part of a duo (in some bigger groups, yes), and he teams up with recent improvised music convert Dirk Serries. The latter is on guitar. I would think this CD covers …

*LP limited edition of 299 copies* Thurston Moore, electric guitar. Margarida Garcia, electric double bass. 'With Sonic Youth on hold, Thurston Moore has time to venture out into the world of improvised music and plays around a lot. The instruments are the electric guitar for Moore and the electric double bass for Garcia. The electricity brings a certain 'body' to the proceedings, which makes it easy to play a bit more loudly than one would perhaps expect. Moore and Garcia don't play noise, but …

Portugese bassist Margarida Garcia remains one of the most distinctive improvising voices on her instrument even as she moves well beyond contemporary improv praxis with an umbilical that runs deep into the contemporary psychedelic underground. This new LP, released in an edition of only 200 copies on guitarist Manuel Mota’s Headlights imprint, sees her exploring some darkly dramatic arco drone space with enough F/X to sink the Titanic. The territory is murky, sub-aqueous, giving the nod …

Airway began as a solo project of Los Angeles Free Music Society member Joe Potts. The first release was the Airway 7-inch, which featured subliminal messages to coincide with an art exhibition in Tokyo. Since their August 1978 live debut at the LACE Gallery, the group has performed many concerts with different large lineups, always with Joe Potts’ subliminal message experiments as a central feature. Airway’s “Live At LACE” LP, first released in 1978, and introduced to Japan by Takuya Sakaguchi,…

Saadet Türköz was born in 1961 in Istanbul into a family of nomads from Kasachstan. In 1981 she came to Switzerland where she was soon in contact with the free jazz and impro scene. From 1991 to 1992 Saadet attended a course in musical improvisation at Werkstatt für Improvisierte Musik (WIM) with Peter K. Frey in Zurich. Ever since, she has been working with jazz musicians from both Switzerland and all over the globe, for example she recorded with Elliott Sharp, Koch-Schütz-Studer, Okay Temiz, E…

Tip! Limited edition of 50. Mexican visual and sound artist Concepción Huerta and Peruvian composer and flutist Camilo Ángeles, started working together on a collaborative duo in early 2018 in Mexico City. The music of this project is crafted by the coalition of these two artists' personalities and sound aesthetic approaches, resulting on constructions of extensive sound spectrums that mutate very slowly evoking imaginary landscapes to contemplate through their spatial and dreamlike sound narrat…

NYC-based electroacoustic improvisation trio Bloodmist presents Arc, their third full length album.

Tip! *2022 stock. 300 copies limited edition* Splitrec presents Parasite solo prepared guitar works by Rhys Mottley.

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 …

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…

Tip!  *2022 stock* Some of the best recordings from Sydney's vibrant exploratory/spontaneous music scene ever released. Teletopa was “one of the earliest recorded examples of improvisation in Australia“. The trio was formed in Sidney in 1970 by Peter Evans, David Ahern and Roger Frampton, with various guests for each performance. Using conventional instruments like flute, saxophone, piano and percussion, Teletopa explored extended technique, unusual ways of playing, dissonances and silences, in …

*In process of stocking* Klanggalerie are happy to contionue a series of outstanding guitar music that was started by Clean Feed. "In these sick times, there must be a 6th volume of this on-going compilation covering "the parallel realities of contemporary guitarism". Our latest collection runs from A to Z with guitar pieces reflecting the sheer inventiveness and fabulous sonic visions inspired by this instrument of myriad manifestations. The cast of characters ranges from the "legendary" to the…

*Limited edition of 100 copies. In process of stocking*  Pierre Gerard : guitar _ improvisation recorded & performed 2019 mastering : Giuseppe Ielasi

Luis Vicente, one of the most demanding trumpet players from Lisbon with the companion of the excellent pianist Seppe Gebruers and magnificent drummer Onno Govaert. Three young faces in an improvised world in their second trio recording. Unedited improvisations in the order as played, are composed by an interaction between the musicians, instruments, a nameless room, audience, microphones and you.

*70 copies limited edition* Lurker Bias presents Hunterby Seth Andrew Davis and Evan Verploegh. Gold-foil cassettes with j-card.

*33 copies limited edition* Lurker Bias presents Lazarus Species by Wail Watchers.