Jazz /
(Fake) The Facts
After the runaway success of the Akita/Gustafsson/O'Rourke LP One Bird Two Bird (DEMEGO 016LP), Swedish sax legend Mats Gustafsson returns to Editions Mego with another storming collaboration. Now a resident of Vienna, he teamed up with experimental artists dieb13 and Martin Siewert for a live and studio session. (Fake) The Facts is the result. A dense fog of sound comes from all directions, but whereas the general impetus is a full-on attack, the trio finds enough restraint to create a deepe…
And That's The Story Of Jazz...
And that's the story of jazz... Get it? Well, maybe you had to be there when legendary saxophonist Akira Sakata, guitarist Jim O'Rourke and bombast rhythm crew of percussionist Chris Corsano and double bassist Darin Gray (aka Chikamorachi) jumped in the van for a Japanese tour. This two CD set documents their 2008 jaunt -- not the first and far from last -- in blistering detail. Shades of Last Exit, Coltrane's Live in Seattle and even Kousokuya appear here but this quartet has nailed its own uni…
Shinjuku Growl
Smalltown Superjazzz is very proud to present two new albums by The Thing. And this time it is The Thing with guitars! And none others than two of the best guitar players in the improv world today; Otomo Yoshihide and Jim O`Rourke. Both albums are recorded live at Pit Inn in Tokyo, Japan. Shinkjuku Growl with Jim O`Rourke was recorded the 4th of February 2008 and Shinkuju Crawl with Otomo Yoshihide was recorded the 2nd of October 2007 (and was also recorded by Jim O`Rourke). These two live docum…
Diskaholics Anonymous Trio
Smalltown Superjazzz is proud to to rerelase the debut album by Diskaholics Anonymous Trio. The album was released 10 years ago on the now defunct Crazy Wisdom/Universal label, and the album has been unavailable since then. The trio creates a pulsing, massive and monumental sound. Free-jazz, noise, electronic ambience, drone music and punk all mixed. The result of these three titans clashing together is an intense blow-out. Raw, grandiose and brutally beautiful. The album features three l…
Goldsmiths
A previously unissued 1972 concert by the original version of Iskra 1903 - Paul Rutherford (trombone), Derek Bailey (guitar) and Barry Guy (double bass) - extraordinary performances, plus 2 short extracts from another concert. "Iskra 1903 was one of my favourite groups. I cannot remember hearing a performance that I did not enjoy, although inevitably some were better than others. The previously unissued concert on this CD was arguably one of their best.I first heard this recording about ten year…
The Seven Storey Mountain
Brilliant second album from Nate Wooley's Seven Storey Mountain project. David Grubbs and Paul Lytton have been replaced by Chris Corsano and C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core, New Monuments).
"This second recording of Seven Storey Mountain is what I hoped the series would be, a chance to try to find different ways of creating something over the same basic ideas (tape manipulation, long forms with simple written musical directions, an attempt to reach some sort of musical ecstaticism) with diffe…
Balls
Cien Fuegos presents live recordings circa 1970 Berlin from the legendary free music duo of German free jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist Han Bennink and pianist Fred Van Hove. Instrumentation: Peter Brötzmann (tenor saxophone), Fred Van Hove (piano), Han Bennink (drums, gachi, shell, voice). Recording: Recorded by Wolfgang Bukatz on August 17th, 1970 in Berlin. Supervision by Hans-Dieter Frankenberg. Produced by Jost Gebers. This album was origi…
Tschus
Cien Fuegos presents live recordings circa 1975 Berlin from the legendary free music duo of German free jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist Han Bennink and pianist/accordionist Fred Van Hove. Instrumentation: Peter Brötzmann (clarinets, alto, tenor & bass saxophone, vocals), Fred Van Hove: (piano, accordion), Han Bennink: (drums, cymbals, Schwirrholz, accordion, clarinets, floor, walls, megaphone, etc.). Recorded by Jost Gebers on Sunday afternoon, September 14…
Ein Halber Hund Kann Nicht Pinkeln
Peter Brötzmann: soprano, alto, tenor saxophone, b-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, piano. Han Bennink: drums, piano, viola, banjo, bass clarinet. Recording: A1 & A2 recorded live by Bernhard Arndt on April 8th & 9th, 1977 during the Workshop Freie Musik at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. A3, A4, A5 & B1 recorded by Jost Gebers on March 26th, 1977 at the Quartier Latin in Berlin. B2 to B5 recorded by Jost Gebers on March 27th, 1977, at the Quartier Latin in Berlin. Produced by Jost Gebers. Th…
Natsu No Sebone
Alto saxophonist Masayoshi Urabe and percussionist Toshi Ishizuka recorded this extended improvisation at Tokyo's Apia Club, quietly ferocious music with a unique physicality. "Thrilling, blood-shaking, soul-scraping and defiantly non-sexless improv set from two Japanese titans. Recorded live at the Apia club in Tokyo in December last year, this set showcases Urabe's uniquely physical approach to improvisation -- ferociously concentrated, contorted, sweating and eruptive with physical power. Hi…
Solo Drumkit Improvisations
RESTOCKED!! Solo Drumkit Improvisations is a richly detailed document of Sean Baxter's explorations in extended percussive technique. Utilising stochastic structures applied to the conventional drumkit, Baxter exploits the sonic potential of a range of percussive implements including, bamboo wok brushes and chopsticks, enamel camping plates, aluminium wind-chimes and wok lids, scrap metal, and even the body. Recorded by acclaimed Australian engineer, Christopher Lawson, with assistance from…
Phonometak Series # 9
A lovely split, with Evan Parker improvising with live electronics by Walter Prati on the first side, and percussionist/composer Lukas Ligeti (son of composer György Ligeti) with João Orecchia (guitar, electronics) on the other side.
Hearing Metal 2
Pisaro’s “Hearing Metal” series is a multipart lecture of the above, now on its third rendition. Each is in dedication to the sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi, with track names and piece subtitles littered with Brâncuşi references (Sleeping Muse, The Endless Column, Prometheus, 1911). Although the orchestration differs across each entry, each piece is primarily composed of electronic (sine tones, field recordings, a guitar, etc.) and percussive (cymbals, tam-tams, ‘surfaces,’ almglocken, etc.) eleme…
Verona
Stellar release!! ""The first disc features "Conduction No. 43: The Cloth". The first thing I noticed about this disc is how well it is recorded and perfectly balanced. We can hear Zeena Parkins's acoustic harp, the strings, guitar, oboe, vibes and other assorted percussion just right. You can tell that Butch Morris has rehearsed with this ensemble as the swirling lines they play together are so tight and instantly connected. Certain solos, like the oboe, rise above the rest of the ensemble like…
Teatro Assente
A minimal theater in sound from Taku Unami and Takahiro Kawaguchi and starring Yoko Chosakabe and Kumio Kurachi, recording at the Ueno Okura Theater Older Building. "Teatro Assente is endearing and provoking, but most of all, endlessly pleasing." Tinymixtapes
Klippe / One
homas Heberer is called “a European master” and “new trumpet genius”. The music in his new double LP brings a fresh approach to blending improvisation and composition, which allows for the highest amount of freedom on the musicians' side while incorporating significant structural tools on the composer's side as well. His solo recording applies a vast variety of conventional and extended techniques, among which the most distinctive component is the exclusive use of circular breathing.
Black Man's Blues
Recorded 29th May 1977 at A Day in Solidarity with Soweto: A Fund Raiser, Harlem Fight-Back, 1 East 125th St., New York Violinist Billy Bang made his recording debut as a leader with the Survival Ensemble, the first working band he ever led, on New York Collage in 1979. Bang, saxophonists Bilal Abdur Rahman and Henry Warner, bassist William Parker, and percussionists Rashid Bakr and Khuwana John Fuller played incendiary free jazz more clearly indebted to the New York avant-garde of the precedin…
Empire
RED trio made a stunning debut in 2010. In this second album they play with British music veteran John Butcher pushing musical boundaries to the new realms of gripping and exciting kingdom of free improvisation. Rodrigo Pinheiro, piano. Hernani Faustino, double bass. Gabriel Ferrandini, drums and percussion. John Butcher, tenor and soprano saxophone. Recorded April 6, 2010 at Namouche Studio Lisbon by Joaquim Monte. Mixed by John Butcher. Mastered by Ar nas Zujus at MAMAstudios. Design by …
Syzygy
The Tarfala Trio (Mats Gustafsson : tenor sax and alto fluteophone. Barry Guy : bass. Raymond Strid : drums) has its roots from 1992, meeting at the Solo-92 festival in Stockholm, Sweden. After that first encounter in 1992, the trio has worked sporadically and played festivals in Europe and releasing 2 CDs on Maya Recordings. This recording captures them playing live in Belgium, 2009. It is explosive, high energy loaded ferocious music focusing on low dynamic melodic material. Tarfala Trio is at…
5 More Dialogues
Here are two men whose musical natures are obviously rich and their backgrounds complex - back to Stinky Winkles in the pianist's case, back to Amalgam and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble in the saxophonist's - but who reduce, in the critic/analyst's shorthand, to tiling or fabric. Tessellations. Moiré. Does that convey all you need to know about Veryan Weston and Trevor Watts, secure in the understanding that these are self-chosen metaphors, not imposed from outside? Needless to say, no, …