Best of 2022
Soundmusication
Tip! “Soundmusication” is the third and final album by Jamaican born tenorist Fitz Gore, another rare and beautiful spiritual jazz LP from the late 1970s. “Fitz had a very deeputopian faith in the right music, which could change the world and develop a real condition of peace, because it was supposed to move people`s feelings and actions to spiritual truth. He was convinced that music owned the healing power of the world” (Ulrich Kurth).
Other players include Lukoki Mampasi on electric piano, Ob…
Song Of Soil
Masahiko Togashi was a pivotal figure in the development of the Japanese free jazz scene in late 60s. Percussionist and composer, he lost the use of the legs in an accident which nevertheless didn’t not prevent him from continuing an astonishing career that includes long and established collaborations with figures of the likes of Steve Lacy, Charlie Haden, Mal Waldron and Paul Bley. This session, recorded in Paris at the Ramèse Studio Du Village in 1979, sees an explosive collaboration by the t…
Sow Your Gold In The White Foliated Earth
Staggering, career-defining work from Norwegian vanguard Helge Sten (aka Deathprod), who drives relentlessly forward on this illuminating new tome, using Harry Partch's extremely rare metal and glass instruments to pen a major new work that’s been years in the making and somehow resets modern experimental mores. Truly one of the most exceptional, most unclassifiable albums we've heard in ages - one that does a rare thing of having immediate impact - only to further expand deeper into the psyche …
Tarot
* 180g, double LP on Black Vinyl in gatefold sleeve* Remastered by Dierks/Flüchter. Walter Wegmüller (1937 - 2020) was a Swiss-Jenish artist who grew up in difficult circumstances in Bern. After training in Basel, Bern, Paris and London, he began his artistic career. In addition to painting and sculptural works, Walter Wegmüller occupied himself with the entire spectrum of art. He gained widespread international attention, especially from 1974 onwards, with the publication of his "Zigeuner Tarot…
Makrokosmos
** 2022 remastered repress ** Pianist Margaret Leng-Tan - considered the leading exponent of “extended” piano techniques - is at her best with this music. George Crumb and Ms. Tan worked closely on the preparation of these works for the recording. Crumb’s Makrokosmos I & II were written to expand the world of color and sonic possibilities which a single piano and pianist could create. In addition to playing the keyboard, the pianist is required to strum and pluck the strings; apply glass tumbler…
Independence
**Black Vinyl edition ** The quintessential album by Takayanagi Masayuki. Considered the 'Lochness monster' of Japanese free jazz records due to its incredible rarity, this album was the debut recording of Takayanagi Masayuki as leader with The New Directions, a trio consisting out of bassist Yoshizawa and drummer Toyozumi "Sabu" Yoshisaburo. Recorded at the Teichiku Kaikan studios on 18 September 1969 (released in 1970), "Independence – Tread on Sure Ground," is largely regarded as the first tr…
Concert à Luz 2009
From Jean-Marc Foussat own Fou Records, comes one of the most striking archival releases of the year, “Concert 2009”, capturing a meeting between the French electroacoustic free improv trio, Marteau Rouge, and Japanese noise giant Keiji Haino. Pushing far beyond expectations of free improvisation, the group weaves blistering passages that incorporate touchstones from prog, punk, metal, noise, and drone, into more intricate movements of dystopian avant-gardism, culminating as a strikingly forward…
Trio for Strings
Few copies back in stock. Limited deluxe edition. This vinyl box set is the first-ever official release of La Monte Young’s Trio for Strings (1958), recorded live from the Dream House, a legendary sound-and-light installation by Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi, and performed by The Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble led by Charles Curtis and featuring Curtis, cello; Reynard Rott, cello; Erik Carlson, violin, viola; and Christopher Otto, violin, viola, at Dia:Chelsea in 2015. Featu…
The Quietly Clouds And A Wild Crane
* Edition of 300 copies * This latest instalment from NoBusiness Records collaboration with the Japanese Chap Chap label under the name of Yuji Takahashi with Sabu Toyozumi constitutes a real find. A wonderfully mystic vernal episode of free improv music recorded in Tokyo, 1998. Piano and percussion album of the highest beauty, interactive on a telepathic level and execution. Yuji Takahashi is a Japanese avant-garde composer and pianist. In Japan he was by then already well established as leadin…
La Tempesta Colorata
Percussionist extraordinaire Valentina Magaletti recorded live at Colourful Storm's showcase at Cafe Oto in 2021. Intricate, textural longform percussion pieces comprised of traditional drums, found objects, voice and electroacoustics conjured to hypnotic effect. A rare solo recording, following collaborations with Laila Sakini, Yves Chaudouët, Marlene Ribeiro and outings for Blume and Takuroku.
Extremely curious listening for fans of African Head Charge, The Necks, and followers of Magaletti's …
Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970
11 CD set adapted from 12 CD edition. All tracks included. This dense 11-disc retrospective of Pauline Oliveros' early and unreleased electronic work includes her very first piece made for tape in 1961. Organized chronologically, this set not only documents Pauline's earliest electronic music but it also functions as an early history of electronic music itself. Follow as she participates in the establishment of the legendary San Francisco Tape Music Center and then moves to University Of Toronto…
Solitude Transit
Transversales Disques is very glad to announce the release of Solitude Transit, unpublished archives by electroacoustic music pioneer Luc Ferrari. Music composed for contemporary dance, choregraphed by Anne-Marie Reynaud. Affiliated with French Radio's Groupe de Musique Concrète, co-founder of the GRM with Pierre Schaeffer in 1958, Luc Ferrari (1929-2005), a major figure of musique concrète and electroacoustic music broke away to pave his own path of individualistic expressions of minimalist mus…
Two Sisters
** Black Vinyl 2LP Gatefold with a 20 page booklet. Comes with an exclusive coil bound 52 page A4 landscape score book to full album **The new album from Sarah Davachi on her own Late Music imprint is a collection of nine extended compositions for chamber ensemble and solo pipe organ. "The expanded instrumentation on this album includes carillon (a keyboard instrument comprised of very large cast-iron bells), choir, string quartet, low woodwinds, and trombone quartet, alongside sine tones and e…
Atlantic Crossing
La Scie Doree returns with an absolute stunner, the LP “Atlantic Crossing”, a reissue of a rare privately released cassette recorded by the Bayerischer Rundfunk, from 1988
Vålnad Av Fornskog
Tip! * Gloss laminated sleeve with double-sided insert.* Coming full circle, Vålnad Av Fornskog is the fourth and final part in Arv & Miljö's suite of seasonal ambient albums initiated with Svensk Sommar I Stilla Frid (Omlott, 2018) and continued with Himmelsvind (Discreet Music, 2020) and Ensam Är Nattens Rymd Över Vita Vägar (Discreet Music, 2021). Heavily inspired by the Swedish countryside autumns of the 80's, the album starts just at the tail end of the summer. Fragmentary memories of thing…
In Concert & In Residence
* 2CD in 4 panel gatefold wallet * A supplement to Sarah Davachi's 'Two Sisters', 'In Concert & In Residence' offers a series of live chamber ensemble recordings as well as several instrumentals collected while in residence at the National Music Centre. Featuring commissioned long-form works 'In The Grand Luxe Hall' (2016) and 'Stile Vuoto' (2018), variations and unreleased live recordings of the 'Harmonies' series for organ, and solo performances with electronic instruments such as the Hammond…
Up Your Sleeve (LP)
** Edition of 500 copies with a numbered 4-page insert ** Previously released in 1980 on David Toop’s Quartz label at a time when improvised music in London was settling into a long spell of excellence. The players here are Steve Beresford, Peter Cusack, Terry Day and David Toop. Terry had been a member of The People Band in the 60s, one of the groups forming part of the first wave of British improvisation. The rest of the group could be regarded as pioneers of a second generation of improvisers…
Heresie
Tip! Sub Rosa present a reissue of Univers Zero's second album Heresie, originally released in 1979. A classic of chamber rock music, featuring heavy use of dissonance and dark, brooding, and extremely complex melodies. "This music on this LP might have little to do with rock, and might also be a massive downer, but the quality of the writing and playing is extremely high. Michel Berckmans' solo work on oboe and bassoon work is magnificent, and Patrick Hanappier's string playing (violin and viol…
Leendet Fran Helvetet
It's been a true pleasure but also a rather chaotic experience to follow the progress of Blod from a close distance since the beginning. I have fond memories of receiving the odd cassettes from the early days, like the severely fucked up Unga Röster (later issued as an LP on Förlag För Fri Musik) and the awfully mesmerising Prat Om Depression recording. Returning to Leendet Från Helvetet for the first time for long a while, it's quite evident that the album marked a new phase in the troubled Blo…
4 Cuts Placed In "A First Quarter"
4 Cuts Placed In "A First Quarter", the companion piece to Solos, is the sonic result of a collaboration with artist Lawrence Weiner. As Landry remembers, “I was working for Keith Sonnier at Castelli Gallery and met Lawrence. He asked ‘can you make a video for me?’ So we did "To and Fro..." At some point he was working on "A First Quarter" (1973) and wanted me to do the music. I said ‘I already have the music.’ He said ‘what do you mean?’ I had recorded several pieces with Kurt Munkcasi and walk…