Volatilités
A solo improvisation and composition by Lionel Garcin (on soprano saxophone) inspired by listening to natural environments and built on exploring the harmonic possibilities of the instrument.
Elyria Sound
On Elyria Sound, Michael A. Muller reduces his language to one guitar, one room, one storm‑lit reel of tape, turning newly invented tunings into a hushed cycle of lullabies and laments that hold both the comfort of home and the certainty of its passing.
Voice
On Voice, Sofia Jernberg compresses a lifetime of radical vocal exploration into a stark solo document, treating the larynx as full‑spectrum instrument - from split tones and pitchless friction to fragile lyric shards that hang in charged silence.
Io Pur Respiro
On Io Pur Respiro, pianist Elias Stemeseder and bassist Thomas Morgan sculpt a live duo language where Gesualdo, 1930s standards and original pieces blur into a quietly radiant continuum, guided by an unerring sense of melody, space and equilibrium.
A Broadcast Of Your Silence
And I sing again. This time I won’t whisper,
because this time it’s for you. I hear about you on the radio,
and I’ve seen the pictures of the boss and his henchmen—
Hatred and determination in their eyes.
Their actions leave no doubt:
to them, you are garbage.
The history that came before echoes faintly.
And here, routine carries on.
On the radio,
a broadcast of your silence.
'A Broadcast of Your Silence' came about almost by accident, after several failed attempts to write for solo do…
Vinti 'e Maju
The protagonists of this album embrace the complexity, diversity, and innovative power of a musical tradition that, in this case, seeks dialogue with other languages, opening itself up to innovative music. On one side, we find the prepared Sardinian guitar, an alien instrument that has fascinated music critics from Europe and overseas; on the other, the guttural singing of the Tenore Murales, an expression of one of the most ancient polyvocalities in the Mediterranean, with similarities to Tuva …
Dans-sons as we are
With Dans-sons as we are, Audrey Lauro, Christian Pruvost and Peter Orins deliver an album shaped by subtle shifts, restrained tensions and slow transformations of sound matter. A music of listening as much as gesture, where each intervention seems to open a new space rather than occupy the previous one. Brought together through a shared practice of free improvisation, the three musicians develop a collective language that is both dense and constantly in motion. The trio never seeks spectacular …
Vrhältnis
*300 copies limited edition* More than twenty years of friendship haunt Vrhältnis, the new album by Antoine Chessex and Dave Phillips, out now on Coherent States and Krim Kram. Its source material reaches back twenty years, originating from live performances during a 2005 joint tour in Lausanne and Basel and a studio session recorded the same year at the Dynamo/Popkredit Studio in Zürich. Both sessions were then filed away, the recordings disappearing into the archive, untouched for nearly two d…
Baladas
*70 copies limited edition* 'Baladas' was recorded in three days of live improvised sessions, in spring 2025. The selected takes materialize the transitory act of playing music, in a cassette. A trace on time, like a snail slime trail.
Arttu Partinen / Nikki Moran & Off Brand
*75 copies limited edition* This release celebrates a wonderful night in Edinburgh in April 2024. However (as per usual) the Arttu Partinen set was not recorded so it has been replaced with another recent live recording. This one is from the Skanu Mezs festival in Riga. The whole thing is tied together with the graphic vision of young Oran Paton, from the original poster.
On side A, Artsy Records head honcho Arttu Partinen attempts to confound both your expectations & his own as he argues his ca…
Remarkable records of a resistless course
Tip! *Dubbed on new ferro tapes* Fen Hollen takes a deep plunge into idiosyncratic samplelooping and poorly done reamping techniques. Small fragments of songs merging with chaotic instrumentals and weird microcassette malfunctions.
Compilation
*Dubbed on new ferro tapes* A compilation of cassette-recordings made at a summer party, a childhood home and a sundrenched apartment. Musical generosities from a couple of good friends.
Moondog In Europe
Originally released in 1977, Moondog In Europe was visionary composer Moondog’s first release after moving from NYC to Germany. Regarded as reflecting the historicity of his new environment, the album is more structured and formal than most of his previous releases; however, his layered song-cycles are just as circular and experimental, and still backed by a fair amount of tribal percussion.
“Viking I” opens the album with Moondog’s solo celesta playing and retains the quirk and charm of his pre…
Akvoturo
*265 copies limited edition* With Akvoturo, Kohoutek is delving into a more experimental form of their brand of US psych/space jams, a loose concept album sonically examining the consequential role that water has played in nascent civilizations, starting from our ancestral habitats. The title is in Esperanto, in theory a language as universal to humanity as water is to its diet, as well as an homage to the label ESP which is a substantial inspiration on the Kohoutek ethos, informed by revolution…
s/t
This tape is the culmination of a series of collaborative performances between Kevin Coleman and J.W. Bird that took place in the latter half of 2024. It is meant to encapsulate the spirit and energy of those performances; spontaneous and communicative. Musical conversations between banjo and fiddle that left no language off the table. A great combination of elements from avant-garde classical, to American Traditional/Primitive, and free improv, exploring improvisational spaces of widely varied …
SH:HS
*300 copies limited edition* Bay Area based experimental metal entities Sutekh Hexen and Seattle’s Hissing unveil SH:HS, a long-awaited collaborative release capturing the raw intensity of their joint improvisational project, SH:HS (Sutekh Hissing Arkestra). Originally conceived as a live convergence of both bands’ full lineups, SH:HS documents two volatile and distinct performances recorded in 2017 and 2019. These recordings, born from spontaneous interaction and unrestrained sonic exploration,…
The Rest Is My Ghost
Nostalgia is not an ideology, though in this moment, we could be mistaken for thinking it might be just that. Over the past years, the idea of nostalgia has been filtered through various political and technological lenses and has become a tool used for forgetting, rather than remembering. Instead of embracing histories’ complexities and inconsistencies, this version of nostalgia seeks only singular recollection. This contemporary phenomenon of nostalgia has become a methodology at best, and a we…
Somewhere in the Wind
Somewhere in the Wind is the third record that Loren Connors and I have made together. Of the three, it’s the first that consists exclusively of electric guitar duos and it’s the first that was recorded live. To me it feels very much like a live record; this music happened in crowded rooms in Brooklyn on two dates in 2025 and there’s an urgency to connect with others and a pleasure in doing so that can be heard on both of these tracks. On the first of our duo records (Arborvitae, 2003) I primari…
Setpieces
Setpieces captures Cath Roberts & Olie Brice at a new peak of focus and invention, distilling their long-running musical rapport into a set of raw, finely tuned improvisations. Roberts’ baritone lines carve out bold shapes and sudden whispers while Brice’s bass grounds and disrupts in equal measure, creating a vivid, unpredictable dialogue. A striking next chapter for two of the UK’s most distinctive improvisers.
Selections from the Gutter
“Selections from the Gutter” brings NYC saxophonist Michael Foster with the longstanding rhythm section of Swiss bassist Christian Weber (of Sudden Infant), and German drummer Michael Griener, a longtime fixture of the Berlin scene. The trio brings shocking, visceral energy to a distinct structural awareness; drawing suspense from form in each of the David Goodis-inspired titles. This is improvised music digging deep into a shared sense of history, form, and drama.