★Astral Spirits
Kobra Quartet
**175 copies** "Quietly lurking as it prepares to attack, this Kobra is the free improvising quaret of Aurora Nealand on accordion, alto saxophone, voice and objects, Steve Marquette on acoustic and electric guitars, Anton Hatwich on bass, and Paul Thibodeaux on drums, captured live at Chicago's Hungry Brain during the Instigation Festival for a mysterious 2-part New Omens and some Telly Attire." - SquidCo
Long Day
**75 copies** Long Day documents a live performance by Daniel Wyche (guitars), Patrick Shiroishi (saxophones) and Ted Byrnes (percussion). The performance took place in Los Angeles in August 2019 and was recorded by Jared Rodriguez. The album was mixed by Daniel Wyche and mastered by Brian J. Sulpizio in Chicago, IL.
Voice Games
**75 copies** Primarily voice improvisations from the duo of Muyassar Kurdi and Ka Baird, also performing on piano, bells, gong, flute and spike fiddle. Recorded at Pineapple Reality and Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY, between 2017 and 2018, their work focused on typically delicate interweaving of their voices and instruments, with a sense of suspense, humor and joyful mystery.
Ascua
**200 copies** Layered lowercase electroacoustic improv from the US / Mexico City / German trio of Chris Cogburn on percussion and electronics, Juan Garcia on double bass, and Ignaz Schick on turntables, sampler and electronics, eclectically informed by concrete sources and abstract electronics over Garcia's bass work and Cogburn's threshold-crossing acoustics & electronic percussion.
Recorded by Ignaz Schick at Ausland in Berlin on August 7, 2018.Mixed & Mastered by Werner Dafeldecker in Berlin…
Good Days
On May 13, 2000 the Chicago Underground Quartet played one of the most searing and transcendent sets of music I’ve ever witnessed, as part of the Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music. Cornetist Rob Mazurek, guitarist Jeff Parker, drummer Chad Taylor, and bassist Noel Kupersmith performed with a fiery singularity of purpose, ripping through its set like a bulldozer, albeit a machine marked by nuance and soulfulness. The following year the same line-up—which had previously made two alb…
Balancing Tear
"A glorious re-match for Chicago’s superb free-rock trio, Mako Sica, and the jazz world’s percussionist of choice, Hamid Drake. Their last collaboration, Ronda, was a glorious, open-ended studio conversation spread across two LPs. Balancing Tear is a mix of studio and live recordings, awash with calmly oceanic passages, interspersed with compressed and feverish form-blurts.As with Ronda, the heft of the material is dynamically advanced. The album begins with passages worthy of Morricone’s wester…
Specifically the Water
Astral Spirits presents the debut duo recording from Alex Cunningham (violin) and Claire Rousay (percussion) entitled Specifically the Water.Alex Cunningham is a violinist, improviser, and visual artist based in St. Louis, MO. His work explores free improvisation, drone, noise, and minimalist composition. Cunningham has recently performed with Mark Shippy, Sandy Ewen, Damon Smith, Stefan Gonzalez, and Lisa Cameron and has ongoing collaborations with Chris Trull (under the Apathist! moniker), Kev…
Anáhuac
**CD version** Layered lowercase electroacoustic improv from the US / Mexico City / German trio of Chris Cogburn on percussion and electronics, Juan Garcia on double bass, and Ignaz Schick on turntables, sampler and electronics, eclectically informed by concrete sources and abstract electronics over Garcia's bass work and Cogburn's threshold-crossing acoustics & electronic percussion.Recorded by Ignaz Schick at Anáhuac 33 in Mexico City on May 22, 2016.Mixed & Mastered by Werner Dafeldecker in B…
Laniakea
**150 copies** "Astral Spirits describes prolific Russian, Saint-Petersburg-based sax player Ilia Belorukov and Portuguese-Catalan, Barcelona-based drummer Vasco Trilla as “two under-sung heroes of free improv”. Both Belorukov and Trilla like to experiment with different objects and sounds in order to reinvent and enhance the sonic range and imagination of their respective instruments - the alto sax, fluteophone, Belorukov's electronics and Trilla's assorted percussion instruments. Laniakea was …
The Master Speaks Thrice
**175 copies** Dark and demanding improvisation, each side of this album is an extended foray into dark and dangerous explorations from the Los Angeles trio of Peter Kolovos on guitar, Patrick Shiroishi on saxophone, and Noel Meek on electronics and tapes. Shiroishi's sweeping tones matching the electronics and effected guitar in a glorious nightmare of darkly imaginative sound.
Volume 1
**500 copies** The debut release from the long-running Chicago based collaboration of Quin Kirchner, Daniel Van Duerm and Matthew Lux aka KVL. Also featuring super special guest Jaimie Branch on Peaceable. KVL sits nicely in the same headspace as recent modern improv that eschews a more traditional "jazz" label. Think Matthew Lux's Contra/Fact, Jaimie Branch's Fly or Die, Shabaka Hutching's Sons of Kemet or The Comet Is Coming, Ben Lamar Gaye, Rob Mazurek and others. Of course, many folks will p…
Interpersonal Subjectivities
The trio of guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama, saxophonist Gregor Vidic, and drummer Nicolas Field introduces Akiyama to Vidic and Field’s standing duo. The result is a magnificent set of exploratory improvisation. Vidic and Field’s playing has a rich, textural quality, developed through their use of timbre and dynamics. In this way, Akiyama’s multiphonic approach to guitar, and his innovative use of effects, offset’s Vidic brilliantly. Over the course of 45 minutes, Akiyama, Vidic, and Field generate a …
Living Midnight
**300 copies** Toronto-area saxophonist Colin Fisher, best known for his group I Have Eaten The City, with his collective quartet of NY players Daniel Carter on tenor, alto & soprano saxophones + clarinet & flute, Brandon Lopez on upright bass, and Marc Edwards on drums & percussion, for three extended and exploratory improvisations of exemplary creative insight. This might be the only we've seen with Fisher as a leader – but the set's got a quality that will certainly have us looking out for mo…
Zoning
**300 copies** Recording in Toronto, the core trio of drummer Nick Fraser, saxophonist Tony Malaby and pianist Kris Davis are joined on four tracks by tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and trumpeter Lina Allemano, in an album of composed and collective improvisation, merging Toronto, NY and European influences in an accomplished album of diverse approaches and orchestrations. Fraser has a great sense of cyclical energy here – a way of playing freely, but elliptically – so that there's this sense…
Invitation to a Dream
**CD version** First release from the first time trio of legends Susan Alcorn, Joe McPhee and Ken Vandermark. Invitation to a Dream is not only the first recorded statement, it is also a document of the very first meeting of the trio. Back in 2016 we asked Alcorn and McPhee to play a duo set at our favorite festival Cropped Out in Louisville, KY, and after getting our minds blown we knew we had to get the duo into a studio to record an album. After a few failed attempts due to schedules and bad …
Rockefeller Concert
Since 2016 Sfyria Trio is the Chicago/NY free improvising trio of tenor saxophonist Sam Decker (Shorve, Logan Strosahl Team, Green and Grass), bassist Charlie Kirchen (The Few, Rooms, Charlie Kirchen Quartet), and drummer Matt Carroll (Ohmme, Typical Sisters, Rooms), performing their unique improv idiom incorporating elements from a wide range of musical perspectives.
Aerophobia
Exploring human relationships and self perception through the use of physical objects and their potential sounds, San Antonio drummer Claire Rousay, who has worked with Jacob Wick, Ken Vandermark, Brandon Lopez, etc. recorded these six solo drum performances in the studio, developing each in a way that shows her strong technical skills and narrative voice on the drums.
Solid Bottom
Two basses and a lower-end saxophone from the trio of Damon Smith on double bass, Andrew Durham on electric bass, and Danny Kamins on baritone sax, Durham also adding effects and "Radio Manipulation" to their deep sound, Durham & Kamins the core of Carl with Damon Smith adding extra underpinnings to their slowly developing, sometimes pensive, sometimes cantankerous, profound improvisation.
I Used To Sing So Lyrical
The debut recording of New York double bassist Sean Ali's improvising string trio with violist Joanna Mattrey and cellist Leila Bordreuil, having worked together since 2015, each brings impressive technique and a somewhat twisted approach to their strings in a diverse set of extended improvisation from pensive and spacious to formidable density.
Desert Encrypts Vol. 1
Desert Encrypts Vol. 1, is a two-part suite based on observations from the desert in and around Marfa, TX. It also explores Rob Mazurek's ongoing fascination with social, psychological, and physiological structures, both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial. The composition includes written music and graphic scores for improvisation.For Desert Encrypts Vol. 1 Mazurek has put together an awe-inspiring new ensemble featuring Kris Davis on piano, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten on bass and Chad Taylor on drums…