Experimental / All styles

Brast Burn was a legendarily obscure Japanese ensemble that existed in the first half (I presume) of the 1970s. For many years, they were known only as an entry in the notorious Nurse With Wound list, with no way for anyone to check them out. Thus this CD. First off, I'll say that it sounds really good. One would never guess that it was a transfer from vinyl. Brast Burn has been cited/promoted at various times as the "Japanese Faust". I feel that this is incorrect. A better analogy would be to t…

Stephan Micus's fourteenth album, built on two West African harps, the bolombatto and the sinding, with voices, steel drums, suling, shakuhachi, nay and tin whistle, all played by Micus. Recorded 1995-1996 at MCM Studios, released by ECM in 1997.

Stephan Micus's cycle of three days and three nights inspired by a stay on Mount Athos, with zither, sattar, shakuhachi, suling, ney, flowerpots and his own multi-tracked voice, recorded at MCM Studios between November 1993 and February 1994.

Coelacanth (june 1992) was a collaboration between Borbetomagus and The Shaking Ray Levis (Dennis Palmer and Bob Stagner).

One of the heaviest live documents of the original Borbetomagus big-band - Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich on saxophones, Donald Miller on guitar and Brian Doherty on live electronics - live at In-Roads, New York, 27th November 1982. This one was originally released on cassette in two different versions, copies of which somehow made it to Japan where it took on the role of some kind of free-noise Rosetta Stone, planting seeds in the helmets of a whole bunch of punks. But nothing beats the glorious p…

Bratra shows some well build rhythmical tracks, as the debut release of Boca Raton. Completely constructed of manipulated or synthesized (contact) mic-recordings, bratra moves on the edges of lo-fi sound and noises in an almost hypnotizing way. These tracks bring a certain sedated feeling which usually appears with the use of drones, isn't it that these tracks are hardly to be labeled droney. There's several layers and elements moving in and out of place, and also in and out of sound so to say, …

With John Zorn (alto sax) and Fred Frith (guitar). Ostertag liner notes, 1990: "This recording is the direct precursor to Say No More. Here I also began with solo recordings, one by John Zorn and the other by Fred Frith. But instead of performing improvisations they merely recorded an "inventory" of the sounds they make. The cd is divided into halves. Slam Dunk is a series of 26 extremely short solos which I performed using only the sounds of John's sax. In Sleepless I use Fred's source material…

Heiner Goebbels' setting of a monologue from Heiner Müller's play Der Auftrag, with Arto Lindsay, Don Cherry, Fred Frith, George Lewis and actor Ernst Stötzner, recorded in March 1988 in New York and Berlin and released by ECM in 1988.

Benny Nilsen writes: 'Fade To White contains material from the making of 3 pieces which were created within a different season and then edited, re-arranged and re-mixed in the summer of 2004. 6 pieces contain outdoor field recordings from travels in mainly central Europe in 2003 [Gdansk-Poland, Narva-Estonia, Sarajevo-Serbia Herzegovina, Arad-Romania, Trieste-Italy], and static indoor recordings from 2004 Stockholm-Sweden, Brussels-Belgium, Amsterdam-Netherlands, Vienna-Austria, Geneva-Switzerla…

New York is pretty different from Lower Hutt. In a lot of ways. But that doesn't mean New York is BAD... its just 'different', y'know? I was down the Lower East Side recently with the guy from Sonic Youth. He was as cool as he looked in Rip It Up magazine! We tuned our guitars and bagpipes, the lights sunk in anticipation, and we buried the audience in a cloud of fairy-dust so thick you could eat it with chopsticks and people with shovels tried to dig their way out of it but it just got deeper …

This collection of three pieces is dedicated to artists and musicians whom Bernhard Günter admires. The collection's title translates to "Enlarged Details," an apt description of Günter's approach to composition. Musically all of them involve a limited vocabulary of sounds interacting with silence. "Four Grey Paintings" uses low rumbles hovering at the very edge of audibility, interrupted with high-pitched tones and metallic twangs. Dedicated to Jim O'Rourke (an early champion of Günter's music)…

Both Justin Bennett and Toshiya Tsunoda have gained a reputation when it comes to fieldrecording-based soundworks. Using their sonic surroundings as the startingpoint for their work, both are unique in approach and result. Last copies.

The Object series is Locust Music's shot at documenting worldwide currents in creative improvisation and composition but as you may expect by now, we're doing it with a twist. For each release in this ongoing series, we've worked with the musicians to arrive at audio-visual ties between sounds and objects that may indicate a visual tie to the music. In this case, a bowling ball and a Brill-o pad grace the cover. Object 1 teams together trumpeter Axel Dorner, an internationally celebrated …

Psychedelic space music from Hiroshi Hasegawa of the legendary japanese noise outfit C.C.C.C. Astral orange sunshine was recorded between 2004 and 2007 using the EMS Synthi as it's main sound generator.

Ectoplasmic drool, ruptured voice, multi-temporal cash, concerti for nostrils, hyperactive excursions into comedy and violence. An aural textbook of constant change presenting a multi-dynamic evaluation of what may be possible with what we have at this point. Equal parts postwar beard and modern patchnocrat, Flux compendium sees two of Melbourne's hairiest sons nose dive and writhe in their unique take of sonic totalism, rising out of the muck with their kaleidoscopic best. Far from the lifeless…

Chasms is the debut solo prepared piano album from Australian composer-pianist Anthony Pateras. Although placed within the lineage of the Cage prepared piano, chasms takes things further, re-configuring the instrument into a psychoacoustic percussion orchestra, exploring extended timbral continuums through complex rhythms and physically intense performance strategies. Although the work is influenced by Pateras' written compositions, this album represents a more organic, fluid side to his work, g…

"In the event" recorded September 2003, remixed and remastered August 2004. Disc inserted in 29-page book.

Recorded at Ljushults kyrka on the windy days of 18-19 October and 14 November 1997

Paul and limpe Fuchs music, better known as Anima, represents the most original and obscure event among German Kraut Rock. Here they play a wonderful and very inspired duet on Paul Fuch's self-built instruments with the pot-production collaboration of Will Neubauer's Echolette Ringmodulater. Privately issued on LP record in 1972 for the artists' own label Altepfarhof, these two 17 minute long improvisations titled 'n da da uum da' and 'traktor go go go' can surely be considered as one of the bes…

Thermal is a set of improvisations by Andy Moor, John Butcher and Thomas Lehn. Taking the sonic possibilities of their respective instruments (electric guitar, saxophones and EMS synth) through surprising and playful avenues, this is an exquisite example of the meeting of three experienced improvisers, each bringing to this exchange the perspective of their mixed musical backrounds.Andy Moor is known for his long time association with the EX , Kletka Red, and Dog Faced Hermans, he has a original…

Andrew d'Angelo : alto sax, bass clarinet, baritone sax. Anders Hana : electric guitar, effects. Morten J. Olsen : drum kit. Mike Pride : voice, effects, screaming. Recorded November 2004 Brooklyn. This is their milsetone studio work! Is not only intense but also feathery.

This is Sweden-based Anders Dahl's first release on the Häpna label. From documentary audio recordings of his travels to India, electronic manipulations of toxic ooze, to "wildlife" recordings of digital birds, Dahl goes places where the natural and the digital world meet and obfuscate one another. Using steel bowls, bouzoukis, bottles, pans, drums, guitars, electronics, and anything else on hand or in his surroundings, Anders Dahl, much like his esteemed botanist compatriot of the same name, se…

'(song)' (2004) Katrin Zenz (flûte basse). 'Onissia' (2002) Yannis Samprovalakis (clarinette basse). 'Syrna' (2000) Kostas Tiliakos (hautbois). 'Four piano pieces' (1996-1999) Anastassis Philippakopoulos (piano). 'Piano 3 (1994-revised 1997) Anastassis Philippakopoulos (piano). Enregistré au studio Kyriazis (1998-2005).

'It's an elegant CD and Book set of Amanda Stewart's solo work in sound, visual, concrete, political, and text-based poetry, covering a period of 16 years from 1981 - 1997. Those who know Amanda's virtuosic work in the Machine for Making Sense will be delighted at the intensity, clarity, and focus which pervades her solo work as well. Those who don't know her work will be amazed to discover a major voice in Australian composition. This CD-Book is clearly in the must-have category, both from the …

Four pieces of musique concrète around the four elements going with a painting installation. Powerfull !

Two electro acoustic compositions from Alessandro Bosetti from 2000 and 2002 and a recent text sound composition of Antje Vowinckel. It is very fine composed abstract music that starting from microscopic sound details develops organic and highly dynamic although very reduced structures. All the pieces make an extended use of silence, space and very small, carefully shaped, sound particles creating a feeling of natural “breath” and flow. Although this music shares some techniques with the “musiqu…

Mr. Ubiquitous lends his formidable name and image to a Siltbreeze project. Experimental drones and noises with nods to Phill Niblock and noted pop subversive James iDumpi McNew. A big, clanging, obstreperous, kosher meatloaf of an album.

At 7pm on a cold Tokyo evening in January 2002, Taku Sugimoto met Mark Wastell at the exit to Yoyogi underground station. Taku had with him his acoustic guitar and a cello that Mark was to use for that evenings concert. They walked the short distance to Offsite, more or less just around the corner. Once inside, Mark began to change the cello strings and Taku started to arrange the recording equipment. Tetuzi Akiyama and Toshimaru Nakumara arrived shortly after and busily set about installing the…

Limited edition of 197 copies.

Nine tracks, including covers of a Spiders tune, The Ronettes' "Be My Baby", etc. Most staggering of all is the cover of the Stones' "Satisfaction", which neatly transforms Jagger's baby-in-a-Perspex-box mixture of rage and boredom into truly on-the-edge jumpy paranoia.

Featuring Eric La Casa (processing, contact microphone recording), Eric Cordier (long string recording devices, mixing), and Jean Luc Guionnet (condenser & contact microphone recordings, filtering, processing, mixing). Afflux employs an on-site electroacoustic device in order to work out a set of live interactions with the site. The device connects the three improvisers to the place at the same time. This set of connections creates an infinite interplay of interactions and possibilities. The dev…

Recorded 11th December 2004 (track 2 & 4) and 22nd July 2006 in Roger Smith's kitchen. All instruments used without amplification or other electronics (except for some amplified guitar on track 3).

Å (which is the first and the last letter of some Scandinavian alphabet) is a young trio of musicians on violin, exotic percussions, theremin, guitar, synth and piano, who have created a remarkably original world of sound. Although one can hear occasional influences from kraut rock style and the early minimalism, this sound is uniquely Italian in its sense of sound, space and time. An imaginative, meditative, bizarre, courageous and nostalgic music consisting in spontaneous compositions and impr…

 ** very last copies ** Il Gruppo was a brilliant and prolific composer's collective exploring extended techniques and new sound sources through the medium of improvisation. Although very much a product of its time, their music remains timeless. They were instrumental in founding a radical tradition of western musical improvisation that owed little or nothing to anybody and created some of the strangest music ever made. They were utterly unique. (from John Zorn liner notes, NYC 2006)   This delu…

ASPHODELZEITKRATZER - Reinhold FRIEDL, "Xenakis (A)live!""Equal parts composer, performer and curator, Berlin's Reinhold Friedl is a veritable renaissance man. In conjunction with his highly regarded orchestra Zeitkratzer ("Time scratcher" in German) as well as in collaboration with such artists as Lou Reed, Lee Renaldo and Merzbow, Friedl has helped set new standards for Europe's new music scene, crossing every conceivable line that separates chamber from computer music, and piano from st…

"On Monochrome Otomo presents 18 pieces that illustrate the entire range of his solo work from pieces constructed entirely of feedback, static and randomly generated radio noise, to sine wave experiments that bring to mind the humming of the solar wind as it wafts through intergalactic space. There are also rhythmic bursts of feedback and percussion that are almost danceable and subtle Zen like meditations full of slow sustained notes that fill the air with otherworldly overtones. The Mult…

+ Zbigniew KARKOWSKIReleased : September 2007. Co-release together with a carrier (San Francisco). Antimatter (Xopher Davidson) from San Francisco and Zbigniew Karkowski from Tokyo have joined their forces once again to present a third part in a trilogy that started in 2002 with their release "function generator" on sirr  and "KHz" on auscultare-ground fault 2 years later. Now they show "Divide by Zero" on Antifrost with collaboration of a carrier  The thick - more analogue than digital -…

3/4's new album, A Year Of The Aural Gauge Operation, was recorded in their own studio in Bologna along 2004. It features nine songs composed after live improvisations, all of them quite different in genre, but again 3/4's aim is to create a psychedelic musical flow, one in which new elements and different styles can be superimposed to enrich and develop the peculiar narrative of the album. We generally think of it as a opera. "A collection of off-centre songs verging on…

Bachi da Pietra (The stone worms) is a two-men band whose dark and resonating music wraps around tunes of desolate candour and lyrics (in Italian) as dark and imaginative as broken love can be. A relentless drumming hovers over a huge wash of ride cymbal and a deep, plaintive voice, which is able to capture sadness, anger and yearning. The entire album is a visceral emotional journey: the dissonant blues-based songs develop around the steady drone of the singer's voice, a trance-inducing vocal p…