★Atavistic
Alarm
* 2021 restock * CD reissue of Alarm by the Peter Brötzmann Group, originally released on FMP in 1983. Harry Miller: bass; Louis Moholo: drums; Alexander von Schlippenbach: piano; Peter Brötzmann: saxophone; Frank Wright: saxophone; Willem Breuker: saxophone; Toshinori Kondo: trumpet; Alan Tomlinson: trombone; Hannes Bauer: trombone. Recorded during the 164th NDR Jazzworkshop, November 12, 1981, at the Funkhaus Hamburg. Produced by Peter Brötzmann and Jost Gebers. Cover design by Peter Brötzmann…
Balls
Atavistic presents live recordings circa 1970 Berlin from the legendary free music duo of German free jazz saxophonist Peter Brotzmann and Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist Han Bennink and pianist Fred Van Hove. Instrumentation: Peter Brozmann (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 originally release…
Nation Time
"Joe McPhee's solo album, Tenor literally changed my life. The recording (one of his first for Hat Hut, in September 1976) displayed his unique ability to integrate unconventional sounds and extended techniques with pure melodicism, and it permanently altered my perspective on what the saxophone could do and what music could be. Nation Time was recorded six years earlier, but ideas regarding the integration of means and methods were already at the forefront of McPhee's approach to improvisation.…
Symphony No. 13 (Hallucination City) For 100 Guitars
Recorded 2/28/2008 in Italy. "Glenn Branca's work as a composer spans music for experimental rock bands, large ensemble instrumentals for electric guitars, 16 symphonies, chamber ensemble pieces, an opera, a ballet, choral works and music for film, dance, theater &installation art. Now considered by many to be one of the most influential living composers (both in the fields of alternative and experimental rock, as well as contemporary classical music), Branca's work has inspired and influenced …
Globe Unity 67 & 70
2015 repress, originally reissued in 2001. Better sit down now, Euro-jazz fans. Here's a partial lineup from these two brilliant, previously unreleased German National Radio sessions from the dawn of the era: Gunter Hampel, Gerd Dudek,Willem Breuker, Peter Brötzmann, Manfred Schoof, Albert Mangelsdorff, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Buschi Niebergall, Peter Kowald, Jaki Liebezeit, Mani Neumeier,Sven-Åke Johansson, Evan Parker, Paul Rutherford, Arjen Gorter, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Paul Lovens.…
Symphony No. 2
2015 repress, originally reissued in 1992. Atavistic has quietly erected the near complete recorded works of Glenn Branca, whose vision of guitar-generated power-symphonic sound is, in simple terms, one of the most exhilarating and important musical gestures of the contemporary era. First issue of this '82 performance; 10 guitars (including Thurston Moore & Lee Ranaldo on special Branca-engineered "mallet guitars"), plus the massive force of Zev's bass drum & metal
Trinity
"Trinity represents the second installation in The Unheard Music Series efforts to resurrect Joe McPhee's early '70's work on the CjR label, soon to be completed withUnderground Railroad and Pieces Of Light. This brilliant trio recording of blues inflected out-soul from '73 follows up on hugely successful Nation Time, recorded a year later. Originally issued in '73 in an edition of 1000, Trinity has not available since. John Corbett has remastered Trinity from original tapes; the LP had to be se…
Schwarzwaldfahrt
(excerpted from Peter's liner notes): "There was a time Han Bennink and I, sometimes with Fred Van Hove, would drive through the Black Forest to get to places like the jazz club in Villingen and Loerrach, to play. At the same time during the end of sixties, beginning of seventies Joachim-Ernst Berendt, chief of the SWF Radio was setting up a yearly meeting and driving through the forest Bennink and I had the idea of just going and playing in nature. We talked to Berendt about the idea an…
Music From Tomorrow's World
Music From Tomorrow's World is a fascinating document and a boon to Sun Ra collectors. It gathers previously unheard tapes from two sources: one from the Wonder Inn club and one from Majestic Hall, probably a rehearsal. Both were recorded in 1960, toward the end of the Arkestra's Chicago period. The Wonder Inn tape is especially revealing, as it presents the Arkestra in front of a crowd. And although Saturn album releases from the period feature Ra compositions almost exclusively, this set shows…
Records (1981-89)
Records 1981-1989 is a fascinating collection of Marclay's work during the 1980s, the results of hours of home recordings -- using up to eight turntables and various other instruments of his own making -- plus many live performances (one track comes from a nationally televised appearance on the David Sanborn/Hal Willner program Night Music). Marclay did much more than just scratching and sampling for these tracks -- "One Thousand Cycles" uses an increasing variety of repeated samples and …
For Adolphe Sax
At last, the reissue of German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann's long out-of-print first record, one of the most auspicious debuts of free music, and a trenchant tribute to the inventor of the saxophone. For Adolphe Sax is a roundhouse punch of European free jazz, delivered in1967 by the saxophonist's first classic trio featuring drummer Sven-Ake Johansson and bassist Peter Kowald. Initially issued in a tiny private run on Brötzmann's own BRO label -- silkscreened cover designed by Brötzmann, with h…
Born broke
Stripped-down' probably isn't the right term for a release like this, but Brotzmann's reeds and Uuskyla's drums are the only two constituents of this double disc set, setting themselves up for comparison with fellow free improv pillars Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilsen-Love on their Dual Pleasure recordings. These lengthy improvisations (four pieces stretch across over an hour and a half of recordings) are a feat of endurance - not only for the improvisers themselves, but for even the most i…
Hunting the Snake
2012 repress, originally issued pre-9/11. "Astounding 1975 Radio Bremen session from Germany -- never before released, by one of the greatest working bands in the history of European improvised music is offered for your consideration on Hunting The Snake. How can you lose? This all-star ensemble features Alexander von Schlippenbach on piano, Evan Parker on saxophones, Peter Kowald on bass, and Paul Lovens on drums and singing saw. A brilliant, previously unreleased 77 minute program fr…
Out Trios Vol. 2
"The second installment in Atavistic's Out Trios series features three highly regarded Chicago-based artists: guitarist Jeff Parker (Tortoise / Isotope), electronics savant Kevin Drumm (drag city solo / vandermark territory band) and Chicago free jazz titan Michael Zerang (solistice w/hamid drake). Check." (Boomkat)
Fuck De Boere (1968/70)
"Two concert recordings -- never before released, mastered from original radio master tapes-by larger groups led by the German saxophone legend Peter Brötzmann. Both recorded by the esteemed Hessischer Rundfunk organization at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival, in 1968 and 1970. Two of the most explosive, rivetting pieces of music ever to come out of the European vaults. First: an unheard alternate version of Brötzmann's groundbreaking Machine Gun, this time with a nine piece group (same as the LP, ad…
Lo Pop Diamonds
Reissue of this album of recordings from the 80s, first issued by Marquee in Japan. "Lo Pop is truly a radical departure from the main body of his ultra-galactic guitar works. Steeped in a homemade brew of off-kilter folk pop, Lo Pop is endearingly naive to the end. Featuring performances by underground 'stars' Reira & Asuka, plus strange takes on two traditional Japanese tunes, this will appeal to fans who succumbed to the charms of early Shonen Knife, the pop theatricality of the Red Krayola, …
Silent City
Features Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy) on vocals, and is a fascinating, compelling collaboration that mixes the last three centuries into one beautifully haunting, cryptic flow of idea-sound. Presented in a quietly handsome paper folio package!
Selections From The Symphonies (For Electric Guitars)
Intro sampler collection of Glenn's various guitar orchestra classics for the uninitiated. Glenn has personally selected a track listing representative of his absolute unique-on-this-planet vision, with material ranging from the delicate celestial beauty of Symphony No. 3 to the demonical, otherworldly terror unfurled in No. 10. Selections is the ultimate 'in' to Branca's work if you're yet unacquainted with the most influential composer of the era.
Through The Magnifying Glass Of Tomorrow
Clandestine auteurs the Opalio Brothers (aka My Cat Is An Alien) have deftly sprinkled our solar system with their beautifully fragile, arcane soundscape/tracks via their own Opax label, as well as multimedia collaborations with vanguards such as Sonic Youth, Christian Marclay, Keiji Haino, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Text Of Light, Jim O'Rourke, Mats Gustafsson, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Christina Carter Of Charalambides, Jackie- O Motherfucker & Black Magic Disco --- and even have been commiss…