Experimental / All styles

**2020 stock** Dual piano meetings have a checkered  history in the improvised music world. Although innovators such as Satoko  Fujii and Keith  Tippett have experimented notably with the form, the instruments’ orientation towards harmony and away from abstraction have defeated others efforts. Two piano duos, one Belgian and one French, have found a way out of the conundrum by hewing to contrasts in keyboard preparation and musical direction. Pak Yan Lau and Lionel Malric met in June 2014, witho…

Going is a double duo: 2 drums, 2 keys. They bring fat groovy beats, warm and distorted rhodes, mixed with dirty organ sounds and silly 80’s synths. Odd rhythms and polyrhythms go hand in hand with free improvisations and loose compositions.313 hand-numbered copies, laser-printed covers, hand-folded and hand-packaged

Edition of 200 copies. Swedish noise agitator Dan Johannsson (Sewer Election) brand new album. Hypnotic, dreamlike and introspective tape loops, musique concrete-esque abstractions, bleached electro-acoustic structures. Skärvor Av flows with an elemental sorcery from reverberant electronic space and caustic noise swells to dense bleakness held in elemental balance with moments of astonishing beauty

Becoming Peter Ivers tells the story of the late Peter Ivers, a virtuosic songwriter and musician whose antics bridged not just 60s counterculture and New Wave music but also film, theater, and music television. Written and recorded in Los Angeles in the mid-to-late-1970s, Becoming Peter Ivers raises the curtain on this mischievous master of ceremonies, who, harmonica in hand, rarely missed a chance to light up an audience. Since his untimely death in 1983, Ivers' short but storied life has been…

Outstanding late 70s creative/free album from France, originally published on the private label Promophone by the former leader of Chute Libre, Olivier Hutman on piano, featuring Denis Barbier on flute, Pierre-Jean Gidon on sax, Jean-Marie Laumonnier, JP Lobrot on drums, and graced by the Mino Cinelu's trance-induced drumming percussion. This underrated Lp reveals an amazing blending of influences, combining prog, avant-garde and free-jazz, this incredible 1975 album from the French underground …

Lard Free’s discography in slightly discounted bundle Gilbert Artman’s Lard Free (LP)Recorded in just three days and released in 1973, mixing jazz, kraut and prog rock, Lard Free’s first album is a musical landmark in the French underground scene. To this day, it still matches the perfection of their English and German fellows like Soft Machine and Amon Düül. A true masterpiece. I’m Around About Midnight (LP)Released in 1975 with a slight line-up change, I’m Around About Midnight shifts from roc…

Recital is joyed to bring to you the new Idea Fire Company album, Lost at Sea. Lost At Sea imagines the Idea Fire Company as the bar band on a small cruise ship. There are approximately 40 passengers aboard. Around 2/3 of them are in the lounge for the nightly IFCO performance. Most of them seem more interested in drink than in music. The ship has become lost and seems to be endlessly circling. Well stocked with booze and food, etc., the ship continues on. IFCO, armed with only a piano and…

James Krivchenia (b. Minnesota, 1988) is a many-armed sculptor of music. Known primarily for his roles in Big Thief (as drummer and producer), Mega Bog (as longtime engineer, co-producer and percussionist) and his various other groups and session work (ranging from the experimental improvisation of Causings to the likes of Taylor Swift) Krivchenia has been quietly building strange musical worlds in parallel with his own experimental records. Krivchenia’s solo works are tableaus of his conceptual…

*In process of stocking* Amgen presents Rhodri Davies's Dwa Dni. Titles borrowed from the works of Lisa Jarnot, Ed Luker, Nathaniel Mackey, Redell Olsen, Sun Ra, Nisha Ramayya, Sarah Riggs and Leslie Scalapino. Telyn clun MOGIC / MOGIC lap harp.

Arrival Vibrate is Larsen's 17th album, an alchemical suite tribute to the late Z'EV based on his poem by the same title hereby transcribed by Larsen's members into a score following the "Rhythmajick" kabbalistic musical theories by their friend Z'EV. The album documents the first live performance ever of this piece recorded at the band's March 13th, 2018 benefit concert for Médecins Sans Frontières International at The National Museum Of Cinema in Torino, Italy, and features two different versi…

*In process of stocking* Austrian based collaborators of free jazz, improvisation and sound experiments releasing the long awaited debut album of Dry Thrust - the new project by the trio of German pianist and composer Georg Graewe, Martin Siewert (Radian, Trapist, Also) and Dieter Kern (DEK Trio, Bulbul, Fuckhead). Graewe, has since been leading a variety of ensembles since the early 80s - ranging from trio to chamber orchestra formats - which have involved some of the leading instrumentalists i…

*2023 stock* Un Drame Musical Instantané were founded in 1976, featuring Jean-Jacques Birgé, Bernard Vitet and Francis Gorgé. Their aim was to promote collective musical creation, co-signing their albums, which they consider as artworks in themselves, or their live shows which they tried to renew every time they played. Their sound was created with many influences: They borrowed their sources from rock (synthesizer player Birgé and guitarist Gorgé, both authors of the album, Défense de); jazz (t…

Tip! A body is bounded. It operates within physical limitations and biological constraints. Whilst some see these physiological boundaries as a terminus, others such as Colin Stetson perceive them as a nexus of possibility, and perhaps even of expansion. It is in this zone of unsteady tension and promise that his new album Chimæra dwells. Collecting a series of extended drone works for saxophone, Chimæra charts an entirely new thread of work for Stetson. This thread simultaneously maintains stat…

The Dead Mauriacs is the project of French artist Olivier Prieur, "Paravents et miroirs, une cérémonie" is a live soundtrack.

*2023 stock* Charlemagne Palestine's performance on the organ of the Friedenskirche, Eupen for the reihe-M showcase at the Meakusma Festival 2019 was one of the many highlights of that year's festival edition. This record features the full live performance as Palestine conjures up his dense definition of maximized minimalism, introducing the performance with a minimalist drone and himself singing on top. His voice touches upon melancholy and the absurd and gives the piece context and direction. …

*In process of stocking* An extraordinary project arising from Frank Denyer’s ethno-musicological studies in the 1970’s, which forced him to go back to basics and ask himself ‘what is a melody?’ and ‘what is a note?’   Frank answered these questions by composing a series of 25 pieces starting from single-note melodies, through melodies with 2, 3 or 4 notes, ending with more complex pieces with 14- and 15-note melodies. A wonderful double CD, with a 24-page booklet containing an essay by Frank de…

*321 copies limited edition. In process of stocking. 2023 stock* Origami Arktika is one of Norway’s best kept secrets. They serve a mutated folk music, rooted in the county of Telemark, interspaced with drones, noise, electronica and undefinable elements. They mix the archaic with the modern. Paper folding with frozen fingers.  "People forget that noise music is just as much grounded in subtlety and elusive sophistications as in deafening roars and colliding atonalities. I cite Morphogenesis' fi…

*200 copies limited edition. In process of stocking* Origami Arktika is one of Norway’s best kept secrets. They serve a mutated folk music, rooted in the county of Telemark, interspaced with drones, noise, electronica and undefinable elements. They mix the archaic with the modern. Paper folding with frozen fingers.  OA moves along the axis of time by using Old Norwegian folk songs and folklore, combined with modern inspiration and technology. OA is a knotty time machine, hotwired by haystack-pol…

Released in 1989. A few copies founded in the basement of the label. Michel Doneda (soprano saxophone), Daunik Lazro (alto saxophone), Lê Quan Ninh (percussion). “Here’s an exuberant early Session by three Artists who have become stalwarts of the European Free scene. Michel Doneda is by now almost a household name as a free improvisor considered by some one of the greatest living saxophonists. Lazro and Ninh le Quan , seem almost unjustly neglected by comparison. Le Quan in particular is one of …

*In process of stocking. 2023 stock* 12k continues in its tradition of collaborative releases presenting a first-time pairing between German artist Arovane and 12k’s Taylor Deupree. Having become aquainted through their shared love of music technology, Uwe Zahn (Arovane) and Taylor Deupree only found it natural to work on a project together based around one of their favorite synthesizers. As Zahn recalls: “After a long email conversation, Taylor and I came up with the idea of ​​recording an albu…

*2023 stock* Minamo returns to 12k following 2020’s Superstition where they paried up with singer/songwriter Moskitoo. On Tail of Diffraction the duo joins long-time friend Asuna. A new name to 12k but not to the world of ambient and experimental music where Asuna’s 100 Keyboards has toured stages around the world. Minamo and Asuna have shared the stage many times in concerts and tours over years, however, this is their first recording together. These artists are well known for their mix of elec…

*2023 stock* Giuseppe Ielasi is back following his 2020 release Five Wooden Frames. There he returned to the guitar exploring shifting and modulating loops and the interplay of tuning and drifting to create five stark yet ethereal pieces. On The Prospect, Ielasi sticks to solo guitar but this time in a much more pure form. Each of the two pieces consists of parallel electric guitar lines recorded simply through a tube amplifier free of studio tricks or heavy editing. Like much music written over…

‘Function’ is an aesthetic exploration of digital audio at an elemental level: a sequence of quantized amplitude values. The entire sonic material in this series are generated through a custom-designed program that takes a mathematical function as input, and based on a set of pre-defined criteria, outputs the function as a digital waveform. Accordingly, each track in this series is named after one mathematical function, where the function itself is used as the only sound-generating engine. These…

*In process of stocking. 2023 stock* I Don't Want To Be An Individual All On My Own relates the powerful yet incomplete impressions of a childhood memory. The story takes us to a garden party where Genevieve, turning 8, and her mother, are celebrating their birthdays with friends and family. Various characters will come into focus during the evening as young Genevieve moves between her childlike world and that of the adults. We discover the people around her as she experiences them in a new ligh…

Tip! *In process of stocking* Christine Abdnelnour and Andy Moor have explored the notion of hypnagogia or ‘Unprotected Sleep’ to drive their process for this improvised album, delving in their own experience and memories. Unprotected sleep is commonly defined as an altered state of consciousness that occurs beyond the proper or intended time of waking up, not sleeping in your own safe bed, or even sleeping without a blanket. Being slightly out of phase, one is vulnerable, fragile, but the mind …

Invoking imagery of a narrow, perhaps perilous passage, or its dual meaning, the back of the throat, musicians Amanda Irarrázabal and Miriam Ben Boer Salmón named their collaborative 10-track album, Fauces. In this recording, the duo plays with both concepts in a process of improvisation, creating fiercely lush landscapes, layered with texture, ragged hazy wood against strings. The soundscapes are sometimes imperceptible, shadowy horizons emerging from dim light, and rising, something threatenin…

*200 copies limited edition, CDr format* As an artist and a thinker, Massimo Magee has been consistently drawn towards patterns: traditions, lines of influence, schools and the unexpected intersections of each. This album, Toneflower, presents a solo programme, meditating on many of those concepts. As an entirely improvised set of pieces, it is also inspired by Anthony Braxton’s solo alto tradition and the larger solo saxophone canon. Similarly, it draws from Magee’s prior percussive experimenta…

"In the past two pandemic years we have experienced turmoil that has in a way redefined our relationship towards the human community as such. Our social skills and our ability to share the time and space with others have been seriously crippled, and in some instances made redundant. We have enclosed ourselves in safe spaces, usually in family units, stopped extensive travelling and meetings. The physicality of existence and of being with others changed to encompass different sanitary dispositive…

Tip! *50 copies limited edition. In process of stocking. 2023 stock* "Spectral Evidence (zero193) is a fabulacious piece of untamed, noisy, performance music. Slot this one into your toaster-cassette and you’ll be amazed that only two people are creating this enormous resonating vat of rattlement. Kris Limbach we know from the Emitter Micro label in Berlin. On that label, he’s been involved in some real puzzlers and heavy crunchers of abstract electronic blockery, none more puzzling than the two…

*In process of stocking* “Hermit Music is a collection of spontaneously composed pieces for the double bass and bow. From 2017-2019 I played a series of solo concerts in the US and Europe and wanted to capture the music I was creating at the time, so I planned to record in the Spring of 2020. Just before the Covid-19 pandemic began, my life had undergone some major changes and losses, but when New York shut down in March of 2020, I became deeply depressed and couldn’t bear to play my instrument …

Pioneers of live electronics, found sound and urban environment-as-instrument, Musica Elettronica Viva created suites that were as imaginary as imaginative.

**Edition of 200 copies, in process of stocking** Mutual admirers of each other’s work, these titans of Scottish and French dronefolk team up for a split LP, with two tracks by Pefkin and three by Roxane Métayer. The fact that these like-minded artists explore the boundaries of what connects them, makes it a very exciting release. The Pefkin side is Gayle at her most melodic, whereas Roxane goes down a poetic and rhythmical path. Dream combo. The album is pressed on high-quality german vinyl, in…

QorusQoros is "outernational" free jazz madness from Lisbon trio Alförjs. It could as well be an ethnographic soundtrack from another planet as the trio of Mestre André (saxophone, electronics), Bernardo Álvares (contrabass), and Raphael Soares (drums) delve deep into the outer realms of what jazz/electronic music can sound like. Urban shamanism, magical practices, and ancient/future world views collide in unsuspecting ways on this out-there tape. A unique sound from a unique trio, Alförjs have …

** 2021 Stock ** Late 20th Century outsider music from the outskirts of Buenos Aires featuring Alan Courtis, Pablo Reche, Quum and many more artists from the Argentinian underground. Setting out as an archaeological excavation, literally exhuming material which has been under the surface for decades this special compilation features work by established and under the radar artists that helped setting the now fertile Argentinian underground. From most of the artists featured here only two, UnoxUno…

** 2021 Stock ** Having recently retired from his most prolific moniker Gonzo, Gonçalo F Cardoso keeps busy and plowing ahead into an ominous 2020 with the second tape from his new concept: Prophetas. Inspired by visionary/paranoid cult figures, modern/new idiosyncratic figures as symbols of hope/despair for the uncertain times of the new decade. Where the first tape compilation (Reveal, Accept, Remember, Forget) revived mid 50’s ideas (UFO sightings, suburbia, space race) this new work reshuffl…

** 2021 Stock ** Sucata Tapes presents Reveal, Accept, Remember, Forget by Prophetas. Inspired by visionary/paranoid cult figures, gurus with delusions of grandeur, lonely and indiosyncratic figures as symbols of hope/despair for the uncertain times of the new decade. Starting with ideas develloped in the mid 50’s: UFO paranoia, suburbia, lemuria, space race and going all the way to 80’s excess, mall culture, collective consumerism, future memories finalizing laying the ground work for the new f…

** 3 tapes shrink-wrap together with all three parts of Stories of the Indian Dotted Whale ** Three part journey into an imaginary Indian Sub-Continent from three artists working on the fringes of Field recordings. Stories of the Dotted Indian Whale features italian artist Giovanni Lami, Hannibal Chew III aka Gonçalo F Cardoso and Argentinean noise prankster Bardo Todol. First part from Giovanni Lami is entitled Soap Wolf introducing a collection of ghost recordings from several places in India.…

*2023 stock* "Hello, hope you’re doing well. I just started a little project, and I’d like to invite you to participate. Not to worry, it won’t take up too much of your time. I’m asking drummers/percussionists to record a few short fills or phrases. It can be recorded by simple means; a hand-held recorder or even a phone will do just fine. These gathered recordings will be used as the ‘Lego bricks’ to build a series of short rhythmical collages with. It would be fantastic if you’d like to join t…

*50 copies limited edition* Volume 19 of Econore’s Vocal Studies series by Junko Hiroshige. Recorded in Tokyo November 2022.

Compendium coffin closer from Pat Klassen’s Barn Sour project. A project where the batshit crazy defies the beautiful whilst relishing in unease. Animals appear as phantasms, humans expel intense emotional states. Borderline music and borderline funny this is not for the faint of heart. Soap and Glue collages material from all six Barn Sour releases on a variety of labels, Staighre, Careful Catalog, 72 Fold Mane etc alongside a small sprinkling of exclusive material. The final Barn Sour release …