Experimental / Free Improvisation

*150 copies limited edition* For the last 30 years Margarida Garcia and Manuel Mota have shared a common space of listening, risk, and reinvention. A singular language born from the absolute necessity of the moment. Following Domestic Scene (2024, Feeding Tube Records), The Figure in the Carpet confirms a body of work that continues to expand with rigor, subtlety, and an originality rarely encountered. Here, sound is not merely gesture or melody; it is also fragment, remainder, residue — noise t…

*100 copies limited edition* Confront Recordings announces the release of Tapsalteerie, Depicted in Echo, a mesmerizing duet between Kurdish cellist Khabat Abas and Scottish improviser Ivor Kallin. Captured in the resonant hush of live performance, this album weaves ancient strings into ethereal echoes, where tradition fractures into boundless invention. Abas's cello—rich with microtonal bends and nomadic grit—collides with Kallin's viola. What emerges is a tapestry of taps, scrapes, and shimmer…

*100 copies limited edition* Confront Recordings, the vanguard of adventurous music since 1996, proudly unveils Apophony, the captivating new album from the duo Stuart Wilding and Mike Adcock. This release delves into the mesmerizing interplay of perception and pattern, where fleeting sounds coalesce into profound auditory illusions. Apophony emerges from the fertile ground of improvisation, blending Wilding's intricate percussion with Adcock's masterful use of piano and objects. Across ten imme…

*100 copies limited edition* Confront Recordings proudly unveils Metalurgia, a riveting new duet recording from Irish drummer Francis Comyn and pianist Adam Fairhall. Captured several improvisation, this album forges a sonic metallurgy where acoustic strings clash and meld with the elastic breath of bellows, yielding a dense alloy of texture, tension, and unforeseen resonance. Comyn's percussive work interlocks with Fairhall's piano expanses and interventions. The result is a living forge: metal…

*2025 stock* "In experimental music, artists are often praised for taking risks, yet it's seldom that the conditions that inspire and enable their plunges into yet-unknown realms are discussed. The powerful music found on Hopeful Monster, the partnership between acclaimed Toronto-based pianist Eve Egoyan and Costa Rican-born, British composer-musician Mauricio Pauly (who now lives and works in Vancouver), is a testament to the vitality of these very conditions. Their collaboration began in 2018 …

Tip! *60 copies limited edition* kalimba snare towel homemade drum ceramic paper chain bells shakers skewers stick drums broken cymbal bass drum guitar string thing coolie hat bustelo cans concrete floor psaltery pianolette door chime washer drum metal chair elbows snare pinecones snare manual tape handheld aluminum sample hands pine cone washer drum bowls superball bow brushes kit chopsticks spatula stickerball spent drumhead snare skewers table tines bent cymbal hands pot lids water and stuff,…

A bizarrely entrancing jewel from the depths of the Japanese underground, Doo Dah Nean was originally released in small run of hand assembled cassettes by the La Musica label in the late 90’s. The album is the sole release and evidence of Nean, an entirely under-the-radar trio that crossed the sensual, disassociated female vocals of Japanese iroke kayōkyoku music with off-balance shamanic rhythm and echoing electronic rumble. Nean were the trio of Yui on bass and electronics, Naoko on voice, and…

Drummer/composer Booker Stardrum delivers a new powerful solo album Close-up On The Outside (27th Feb 2026), his first for We Jazz Records. The new record sees Stardrum (also a member of SML) doubling down on the earthy tactility of human sound and communication while also exploring rich, electroacoustic landscapes. The album, released on LP and digitally, involves Stardrum's close collaborators Anna Butterss, Jeremiah Chiu, Chris Williams, Lester St. Louis, Logan Hone and Michael Coleman. While…

*25 copies limited edition* The second release on Many Chants Records is a solo EP, Guitar (For Loren), dedicated to Loren Connors. It was recorded in April 2025 on 2 guitars after playing/recording taishogoto for two years non-stop. It’s my personal take on the idiom of Loren’s music. I first came in touch with his music in the nineties through his connection with Thurston Moore and Sonic Youth. Our first encounter came in 2017 when I visited Loren at his appartment for a documentary I proposed…

*150 copies limited edition* Beautiful edition of glass mastered CDs with hand painted covers by Tim Bradley on full color 400g offset print card stock in thick PVC sleeves that we think really compliments the, at times radical, combination of sounds and textures in the music. The works are "over painted photographs", directly inspired by Gerhard Richter's series of the same title (Übermalte Fotografien). Bradley says: "To paint over a photograph is to admit that truth is always blurred—each ges…

Abacomancy (defined as "a form of divination based on the interpretation of the patterns in dust, dirt, silt, or sand") is the first record by the duo of Derek Monypeny and Kevin Corcoran. Monypeny and Corcoran have a decades-long personal and musical relationship; they played in the free-improv trio DMPH with the late tenor saxophonist Chad Stockdale, who released a 7-inch on Stockdale's Weird Forest label in 2010. Abacomancy is the result of a one-day recording session in Monypeny's adopted to…

Violinist Mike Khoury came together with Sharif Sehnaoui (guitar, percussion, bouzouki) and Raed Yassin (bass) to create some very natural and organic improvised music during the Irtijal Festival in 2018. Khoury said, “the three of us had an instant connection with a common understood language that predated all of us.” The music was not a part of a festival performance but a sparate effort by the three musicians. Khoury is best known for his work as a soloist, in duet with percussionist Ben Hall…

A Few We Remember is the new album by Jonah Parzen-Johnson and Lau Nau. The recording debut for the new duo of Finnish composer Lau Nau, aka Laura Naukkarinen, and American baritone saxophonist Jonah Parzen-Johnson, it cycles between moments of knotty ambience, whispered melody, and innocent tinkering, as the duo improvises over 8 narrative scores composed by Parzen-Johnson. Jonah Parzen-Johnson says: “For me, telling a story is about more than sharing a set of facts. A well told story is the pr…

A leading saxophonist on the Japanese improvised music scene, Junji Hirose also gives performances using self-made analog noise instruments. It was in the 1980s that Hirose started presenting noise performances on his SSI (self-made sound instrument), made of various everyday objects. Over the years he continually modified the instrument, for each version attaching a different number to the name SSI. On the Hitorri label, Hirose has released the CDs "SSI-4" (hitorri-997 / 2013), "SSI-5" (hitorri…

*200 copies limited edition* While her main instrument is baritone sax, Misaki Motofuji is a multi-instrumentalist with an excellent command of other saxophone types including tenor and alto, as well as clarinet and flute. In concerts she additionally makes wide-ranging use of electronics, vocals, field recordings and various effects and objects, spontaneously assembling splendid, amazingly well constructed performances. In May 2022 Motofuji performed a concert of this type at Ftarri, Tokyo, whi…

*200 copies limited edition* While her main instrument is baritone sax, Misaki Motofuji is a multi-instrumentalist with an excellent command of other saxophone types including tenor and alto, as well as clarinet and flute. In concerts she additionally makes wide-ranging use of electronics, vocals, field recordings and various effects and objects, spontaneously assembling splendid, amazingly well constructed performances. In May 2022 Motofuji performed a concert of this type at Ftarri, Tokyo, whi…

Seijiro Murayama is a Paris-based drummer, percussionist, improviser and composer. It was in 2009 that he first released CDs on the Ftarri labels Hitorri, Ftarri and Meena. He has since released over ten CDs of performances in solo, duo, trio and quartet formations. "Uchidome," Murayama’s fifth solo album from the Hitorri label, consists of three tracks recorded in France in January 2025. All his drum solo albums are outstanding, and this CD, with its unique and inimitable performances, is no ex…

Tip! Edition of 300 copies. François Tusques needs no introduction to serious listeners of European free jazz. His 1965 Free Jazz album - recorded with Bernard Vitet, Michel Portal, Beb Guérin, and François Jeanneau - helped establish Paris as a vital center for the transatlantic avant-garde, laying groundwork for the city's role as spiritual home to visiting American firebrands like Don Cherry, Sunny Murray, and Clifford Thornton. His subsequent work with Barney Wilen (Le Nouveau Jazz, 1967), h…

*200 copies limited edition* Born in 1954, Katsura Yamauchi is a saxophone player based in Oita, Japan. Since he began performing in earnest in the early 2000s, he has been touring and expanding his distinctive musical activities in Japan, Europe, North America and Asia. Koto player Kohsetsu Imanishi has an active career inside and outside Japan, performing music of various genres including classical Japanese music, improvisation and contemporary classical music. In addition to performing as a s…

*200 copies limited edition* Gintė Preisaitė is an up-and-coming pianist from Lithuania. Currently based in Copenhagen, she is active on the improvised/experimental music scene, using electronics and vocals in her performances in addition to piano. During a visit to Japan in September 2024, she performed at Ftarri, Tokyo, on the 23rd in a duo with no-input mixing board player Toshimaru Nakamura. An internationally active musician known for improvised performances using mixer feedback, Nakamura h…

*200 copies limited edition* French musician Bruno Duplant, who uses both analog and digital instruments in his performances, has produced a succession of excellent solo and collaborative works and released many recordings on numerous labels including Ftarri. Pierre Gerard is a Belgian improviser and composer. Like Duplant, he makes wide-ranging and skillful use of various instruments, including guitar, piano and electronics, and has presented many works on Ftarri and other improvised/experiment…

*250 copies limited edition* Three Chinese musicians performed at Ftarri, Tokyo, on January 2, 2024. Li Song is a computer programmer and musician who lives in London. Zhao Cong and Zhu Wenbo are experimental/improvisational musicians based in Beijing. This album is made up of two performances (each over 30 minutes): "The Invisible Tangerine," a duo by Zhao Cong and Li Song, and "Three Lines," a trio by Li Song, Zhao Cong and Zhu Wenbo. The compelling feature of "The Invisible Tangerine" is the …

*250 copies lmited edition* Bryan Eubanks (born in 1977) is a Berlin-based American musician who performs using soprano saxophone, electronics and computers. Gert-Jan Prins (born in 1961) is an Amsterdam-based musician whose performances make use of electronic noise and percussion. Both are well known on the international improvised music scene and carry out wide-ranging musical activities, including composition and sound installations in addition to improvisation. No-input mixing board player T…

*250 copies limited edition* Lucio Capece is an Argentinian composer and improviser based in Berlin. His highly creative activities have been a focus of worldwide attention. Takako Suzuki is a Japanese dancer living in Berlin. A founding member of the dance company Sasha Waltz and Guests, she has performed in international festivals since the 1990s and carries out numerous collaborations with musicians. Masahide Tokunaga is a Tokyo-based alto saxophone player with a distinctive performance style…

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the first vinyl reissue of Disappointment–Hateruma, the 1976 ALM Records release by percussionist Toshi Tsuchitori and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The album is notable as Sakamoto's first recording issued under his own name and represents one of the few occasions he explored fully improvised music during the 1970s. It provides a vital document for understanding Sakamoto's early development as a composer and performer, capturing a period when he was experimenting with …

2025 Repress. The second beautiful album by the duo of Jessika Kenney -- a vocalist known for her haunting timbral sense, as well as her profound interpretation of Persian vocal traditions -- and Eyvind Kang -- a violist for whom the act of music and learning is a spiritual discipline. All tracks were composed by Kenney (voice, percussion, electronics) and Kang (viola, setar, electronics). "The Central Javanese Wangsalan is a kind of riddle (two lines, twelve syllables each, divided 4 and 8 ), s…

*328 copies limited edition* Prophecy finds Eye in form familiar to those who've had the good fortune to hear their 2016 album Other Sky, but even more compacted and condensed, a band simmered and reduced to their pure essence. And then the volume increases. Prophecy is a pummeling din of guitar clouds shot through with electronic disruption. Stapleton's relentless motion drives Porteous' icy guitar streams in leaping waves. 'Catch Them' opens the album with Peter's vocals, croaking out from the…

Aspects of Memory is the first meeting between Lawrence Casserley (signal-processing instrument) and Emil Karlsen (percussion). Casserley has devoted his professional career to the creation and performance of real-time electroacoustic music, culminating in the development of his own unique device—The Signal Processing Instrument. This instrument allows him to use physical gestures to control the processing and to direct the morphology of the sounds. Casserley writes: “A key element of the Signal…

For their fourth album, and second release on Bead, light.box augments the duo of Alex Bonney (trumpet, electronics) and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay (bass guitar, electronics) with a special guest, Tom Challenger on tenor saxophone.The album explores a vast range of textures and dynamics from cinematic ambient drones to delicate timbral and microtonal explorations, from fast-paced dialogues to invasive waves of distortion. The rapport between the musicians has developed over years of playing toget…

For Sara(.es), who has resonated with numerous musicians, this is a special solo live recording, her first in about a year. Weaving together the sounds of bells, water-emitting instruments, harmonica, crystal bowls, triangle, and more, an energy-filled piano solo unfolds. From 1 May to 14 June 2025, the solo exhibition ‘Prayer’ by artist Keiichi Ikegami was held at Gallery Nomaru, the home of .es (dot es) and the base for Utsunomiya MIX. Following the sudden passing of Satoshi Hayashi, former di…

January 2025, Osaka contemporary art gallery ‘Gallery Nomart’ hosted Hideo Takashima's solo exhibition ‘Fill with Empty’. This was Takashima's first exhibition at Nomart, and featured the first live collaboration between British heavyweight drummer/percussionist Roger Turner and sara (.es). The exhibition title ‘Fill with Empty’ refers to ‘a state filled with margins that contain diverse possibilities,’ according to Takashima. Takashima explains that the exhibition title, ‘Fill witt Empty’, refe…

Folklore & Concepts, the latest release by Smegma—now five decades into their outsider avant-garde career—extends the band’s legacy of ritualistic collage, spontaneous improvisation, and anti-academic noise. Infused with tape, synths, prepared piano, horns, and voice, the album melds shamanistic energy with surreal group interplay, creating an unpredictable and stubbornly original sonic tapestry.

*2025 stock. 300 copies limited edition* "Two guitarists with wild and bold aesthetics met for no cost – Kost Nix, an explosive, freewheeling set... Often it is impossible to know who is doing what. They build on the opening, 20-minute piece «Quiet Concessions» massive walls of sound, delicate and raw, strange, poetic and totally weird at the same time. Byron Coley... hears in this piece echoes of early Grateful Dead, and Sonic youth, but you can add Fred Frith’s Massacree and Sonny Sharrock’s L…

** Edition of 80 copies. LP + Artist’s Signed Drawing "Aura" and "Bagatelle", "Continuum", "Pieghe" Artworks. ** HeghL’s Nomia e Hool takes the listener beyond traditional boundaries, presenting two extended tracks as part of a larger multidisciplinary exploration. Originating from a project by Lisa Baume and Francesco Trabattoni, the album gathers creators from diverse backgrounds - music, visual arts, writing, philosophy, science, and more - into a single creative studio. The result is a colle…

Blue Abstraction compiles a selection of Jessica Williams’ lost prepared piano recordings. These recordings document the beginning of a vital, solitary phase in her career: a period of intense sonic experimentation that began with physically altering a 6’4” grand piano—creating a new instrument, and from there, creating a new music. The results are breathtaking; from melancholic soundscapes with Satie-esque lyricism to forcefully controlled cacophony, always grounded by the distinct emotional vo…

*125 copies limited edition* An alto saxophone and acoustic piano engage in an intimate musical dialogue, reflecting on the current state of improvised music. Okuda and Dyberg’s album unites two artists at the peak of their musical collaboration, deconstructing jazz history into shimmering fragments, reassembling them in new forms that deliberately move away from traditional references. The music incorporates diverse influences—glimpses of classical composers like Webern and Prokofiev, abstract …

Minor Gestures' ~ 'Mion-phuingean' by Susannah Star & Band an extended folk session in mystical locations around the Govan stones, river Clyde & underground streamlets. “tha mise gad fhaicinn,tha mise gad fhaicinn”arsa an caochan “I see you,I see you”said the blind one

"I have been fascinated by the sound and potential of gongs since I first heard Stockhausen's Mikrophonie 1 in the late 1960s. When I moved to Oakland in 1999 I discovered the work of Karen Stackpole, one of the few percussionists in the world specializing entirely in gongs, and attended several of her performances. I always tried to imagine how I could combine my own sonic vocabulary with her incredibly rich array, and we enthusiastically agreed to a musical meeting which somehow kept being pos…

Weaving a transient web, a dreamatorium with its own agenda thoroughly concerned about space—in—between, From island to island is a subtle sonification of deep musicality, real and surreal journeys, and a giant Maelström hiding the unknown multiverse. Invitation for the descent is open, but whether those journeys are imaginary or not, one thing is certain—both Anja Lauvdal and Manja Ristić must take the ferry home. „Though separated by the sea between Croatia and Norway, the two artists have dev…

*200 copies limited edition* The dynamic duo of Audrey Chen and Tashi Dorji proudly present their new collaborative album "Courage Bones." This release showcases an intense dialogue between Chen's raw, visceral voice and layered analog synthesizer with Dorji's blazing, anti-capitalist ethos-driven guitar work. "Courage Bones" embodies a fearless journey into improvised sonic storytelling that defies conventional boundaries. Chen employs a personal and ecstatic language, blending traditional and …