Composition / Avant-Garde

Three discs, three distinct worlds - each one a landmark. Vol. 5 of Earle Brown's Contemporary Sound Series may be the most dramatically varied installment in the entire programme, arcing from the handmade electronic circuitry of four American mavericks to one of the great piano sonatas of the 20th century, and closing with the golden tone of the most celebrated flutist of the post-war avant-garde. The first disc is Electric Sound, the only album the Sonic Arts Union ever released as a group. Or…

"Wergo's reissues of the legendary Earle Brown Contemporary Sound Series have been a big hit with fans of contemporary music around the world. Each set is a treasure-trove of works by a wide range of composers, performed by some of the finest musicians of the time. The three CDs of volume four feature string quartets by Boulez, Scelsi and Earle Brown, works for chamber orchestra by Xenakis, Aldo Clementi, Bo Nilsson, Wlodzimierz Kotonski and Yuji Takahashi and works by Milko Kelemen, Niccolo Cas…

The voice as instrument, the temple bell as orchestra, the piano as detonator. Vol. 3 of Earle Brown's Contemporary Sound Series traces three radical propositions about sound and its sources - each originating from a different continent, each redefining what was possible within its medium. The first disc belongs to Cathy Berberian. Originally issued on Time Records in 1962, it captures the American mezzo-soprano - then based in Milan and married to Luciano Berio - at the height of her extraordin…

This double LP with 16-page booklet is the extensive documentation of the exhibition "Godspeed in 4/4 Time" at the church St. Matthäus in Berlin, where artist William Engelen installed an instrument consisting of 366 metal tubes that was on display from May to September 2025. The tubes were mounted next to each other surrounding the nave of the church. Each tube was unique and differed from the others in length, diameter, thickness and/or material (copper, brass, stainless steel, aluminium), and…

This 7" single is the first release in a fictitious series of avant-garde music packaged in those cheap  generic covers of hit singles from the 1950s and  1960s. The series opens with Nikolaus Gerszewski's  7-minute orchestral piece Beethoven Square, pragmatically split into parts I & II across the two sides of the record. The cover advertises the history of Edition Telemark, but is also an homage to the elegant product design of the period, which had drawn inspiration from Constructivism, the  …

At the time of release in 2005 Avalon Sutra was reported to be California-born American minimalist composer and pianist Harold Budd’s last recorded work. Avalon Sutra (released as a 2 disc set) is a suite of short, heartbreaking ambient pieces, featuring Budd’s delicate piano improvisations, lush string arrangements and warm electronic drones. The second disc (As Long As I Can Hold My Breath) features a startling coda by LA based electronic composer Akira Rabelais, sending Budd’s arrangements in…

Darla Records is honored to offer Another Flower, a new record by two singularly and sonically recognizable masters of lush beauty and minimalism respectively, Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd. Another Flower was recorded at Robin's home studio in France in 2013 and was held unreleased, until now.Another flower follows Robin and Harold's previous work together Bordeaux (2011), matched set After the Night Falls and Before the Day Breaks (2007) and Mysterious Skin (2004) and of course The Moon and th…

Darla is pleased to offer A Song For Lost Blossoms, a record of ambient melody and transcendental mood portals from minimalist/modernist master Harold Budd and friend guitarist/composer/producer Clive Wright. A Song For Lost Blossoms nicely builds on both artists’ previous ambient work. A Song For Lost Blossoms was recorded live and in studio at different locations including the artists’ homes, at REDCAT (Roy E. Disney Concert and Theater), Los Angeles, and Clive Wright's Desert Sky Studio, Josh…

Darla is pleased to offer a new album from Harold Budd and Clive Wright. Little Windows completes the trilogy begun with A Song for Lost Blossoms and carried through their previous album Candylion.  Part of Little Windows was recorded especially for Echoes, the nightly music soundscape from Public Radio International heard on over 120 public radio stations and online at www.echoes.org.  These recordings were first heard on Echoes Radio in Fall 2009.  The other part of Little Windows was recorded…

Jane 12-21 is the companion to Jane 1-11. Minimal, modern classical piano and avant-garde electronics by the master.  "It's simple. I broke out and broke back to my earlier days: A triangle of risk, improvisation and joy -- as I say, very simple. My rules to myself were: No plan, no notes, no ideas, no microphones; except for Jane 1 I stuck to it. My other rule -- the most important one -- was: At least one piece per day, finished, mixed and not to be revisited again. Jane 7, 8, 9 were done in o…

Darla is pleased to offer a new record of string quartets by Harold Budd. Bandits of Stature is a first as it comprises 14 compact Budd composed string quartets played by the Formalist Quartet.

An incredible set of vinyl reissues explores the unfolding sonic fiction of Texan composer Jerry Hunt and others affiliated with his Irida label.

*2022 stock* The Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki used to write chamber music even as a student in Krakow. He was writing the chamber music works for himself, then already an accomplished violinist, and his fellow students (The title "Sonata for Violin and Piano" from 1953 has only recently been published.). A specialty of these early works are Penderecki's inventions with which he altered the sound of the stringed instruments, indeed almost to the point of being completely unrecognizable. W…

Amsterdam-based collective Wanderwelle concludes their trilogy on Important Records with an album that confronts the climate crisis and its devastating impact on coastal ecosystems. From overfishing to warming and acidifying seas, the group documents the decline of fish, seabirds, crustaceans and other marine life. Following 2024's All Hands Bury The Cliffs At Sea and 2022 Black Clouds Above The Bows, Ghosts Beneath The Brine is another mournful take on the woes of the natural world. There's ris…

"The piece given may be characterized as a certain activity, a special kind of practice. We practice as a trio (two players and one producer), hoping that anything might emerge: we gather to share a beautiful time together, exchanging our hopes and longings, our suffering, and our pain. Why should there be music at all? Faced with this question and considering the state of our world, artists could often find themselves drawn toward a sense of meaninglessness. But this is not the end. In the face…

Squarepusher, presents Kammerkonzert, a riot of onyx-hard, hyperfast riffs, fiendish orchestral themes and handbrake turns through varieties of progressive, ambient, electronic and experimental music.

Recuperation and reinventing from Elements 2021/22 took quite a long time. Sustainability in writing long pieces became fully questionable. In the meantime, finding joy in creating small forms; powerful and groovy pieces became an obsession which created two fundamentally different cycle of pieces -"Into The Groove" and "Into The Grind". This release represents dualistic concept: could be seen as double EP over two side of vinyl  and it also has double cover as well as two editions: normal black…

“It’s hard not to figure Jack Sheen’s compositions primordially; they lurch and rock with an abortive conviction, as if heralding culture’s approach—still half-submerged, slouched and red, ages ago. His work is somehow determinedly before almost everything; it feels like a dialectical twin to Beckett’s afterwards. Press moves with grossly impoverished intent—almost as if composed—while trembling and stumbling on the cusp of accident. This projected bodily timidity corresponds with a situation ri…

*2022 stock* "Any resemblance between these pointillistic chamber compositions and Schoenberg is purely coincidental. Delicate as to texture, curiously dispassionate as to mood, these mostly notated woodwind, string, and piano chamber works are motivically atonal, but tend to collapse into tonal cadences just to show you they know where they are. Like Ornette Coleman, Mitchell's playing with the tension between center and periphery, but in a milder, more abstract idiom and from the other directi…

*2022 stock* It's over 70 years since John Cage wrote his pivotal Music of Changes, and it's beginning to show its age. It feels very much of its time, with its uncompromising adherence to the 64 hexagrams of I-Ching, the Chinese book of changes, determining the direction of the piece and its use of sudden, percussive attacks on the strings or the body of the instrument. But for all that there is no denying the extreme stamina and concentration required of the performer, and here Herbert Henck e…

This recording deals with works composed between 1944 and 1958, including several of Cage's lovely and masterful prepared piano pieces, which will come as a major surprise to those familiar only with his chance compositions. Joshua Pierce is the principal pianist (assisted by Dorothy Jonas on the Three Dances, written for two pianos) and attacks the pieces with a nice balance of delicacy and aggression, although compared to the earlier Angel recording of the abovementioned Three Dances, one some…

*2024 stock* Live recording of the piano recital for the eightieth birthday of composer Hans Otte that Philipp Vandré and Elmar Schrammel presented at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart. A selection of John Cage's "Sonatas and Interludes" for prepared piano was interwoven with selections from Hans Otte's piano cycles "Das Buch der Klänge" (The book of sounds) and "Stundenbuch" (Book of hours). This concert experiment, conceived by Ingo Ahmels, paid quiet homage to the "beautiful piano so…

In this sonic journey, the cello gets lost and finds itself again within the folds of electronics—like an ancient soul echoing through the chaos of the present. Inspired by the words of Rutilius Namatianus in De Reditu Suo, this work unfolds as a pilgrimage between past and present, between whispered voices and archaic melodies that dissolve and reassemble in the reverberation of primordial frequencies. Distorted Gregorian chants, deep drones, and fragments of lost voices intertwine to form a so…

“Hypnokaséta (2020-2021) is a continuous set of 16 pieces for string quartet, improviser (playing cassettes and any instrument) and live electronics. The source material is based on dreams that I had during the first few months of lockdown, April-June 2020. Accounts of these dreams are encoded in the music that is played by the quartet and also encrypted in the sound textures that surround this. The pieces alternate between quartet as the foreground and electronic interludes, where solos or duos…

Trifold glossy slipcase includes two CDs, label catalogue and 16-page booklet of liner notes and images. For new initiates and avant-garde fiends alike, this Iannis Xenakis collection renders a breathtaking survey of works by the radical composer, theorist, architect and engineer, spanning the period 1956-1974 and featuring some of the greatest works of the 20th century, including the awe-inspiring sonic architecture of ‘Persepolis’.Inarguably one of the most important composers to blend electro…

A beautiful sound art compilation featuring works by Ellen Fullman, Horatio Vaggione, Fast Forward, Takehisa Kosugi, Mario Verandi, Olga Neuwirth, celebrating the 35 years of the Berliner Künstlerprogramm. Comes with 32-page booklet. Ellen Fullman: Transmission Particle 1 for Long String Instrument and Oboe (2001; 9:00 min)[Ellen Fullman, long string instrument; Eliza Slavet, oboe]Horatio Vaggione: Scir for contrabass flute and tape (1988; 11:37 min)Beate-Gabriela Schmitt, contrabass fluteFast F…

Idiosyncratic, large-scale and in its fundamental disposition one of a kind, Florian Weber’s Imaginary Cycle, conceived for the unique instrumentation of brass ensemble and piano, is a hybrid of multiple musical languages that seamlessly blends the harmonious with the oblique. Here Weber presents a cycle in four parts, plus an opening and an epilogue, in which the German pianist is joined by a group of four euphoniums, a trombone quartet as well as flautist Anna-Lena Schnabel and Michel Godard o…

Nippon Cultural Broadcasting (= Bunka Hōsō) is known for airing Toshiro Mayuzumi’s composition for “Works for musique concrète X.Y.Z.” the very first Japanese work of musique concrète. Now, for the first time, the long-lost broadcast recordings produced by the director of that era are being released! These include a piece by Yori-aki Matsudaira's father, Yoritsune Matsudaira, created by repeatedly dubbing instrumental material, as well as an experimental work unique to Bunka Hōsō, produced throu…

2024 was for me the year to look inwards and address in my work a couple of personal, somewhat uncomfortable subjects, something I wanted to do for a long time. This double-album is the result of this process. My deep gratitude goes to Benedikt Müller, Hans Martin Müller, Thomas Baerens, Csaba Kézér, Hermann-Christoph Müller, Stefan Deistler, Pavel Borodin, Erhard Hirt, Alex Minkin, Maciej Karlowski, Semafor and all the musicians who made it possible. The fate of my grandfather was shared by cou…

"Hyperrealist Music, 2011-2015" is a selection of late masterpieces by Noah Creshevsky, a proponent of "Hyperreal Music," which opened a new door to cyber-human music.

**Edition of 200 with artwork by Lutz Beckmann and liner notes by Ralf Hoyer.** Released on occasion of his 75th birthday, Edition Telemark presents the first LP since 1986 by German composer and sound artist Ralf Hoyer. Hoyer's versatile new music oeuvre includes works for chamber ensembles, choir, orchestra, chamber opera, as well as electronic, electro-acoustic and multi-media pieces. Hoyer grew up in East Berlin where he worked as a sound engineer for the GDR record company VEB Deutsche Scha…

*300 coipes limited edition* PMP releases Trillium X, Anthony Braxton's sixth opera, to mark his 80th birthday. Composer, multi-instrumentalist, experimentalist and visionary Anthony Braxton is considered one of the most important musicians, educators and creative thinkers of the last fifty years Limited edition deluxe box set of 8 CDs includes a live recording of the world premiere in Prague, a studio recording made at the famous Darmstadt summer courses, 6 hours of exclusive audiovisual materi…

For her new and most radical album "Electroacoustic Works for Halldorophone", Martina Bertoni used the electronic instrument at EMS Stockholm to create four pieces that are massive in scale and incredibly intimate, sonically restrained and emotionally overwhelming—almost ambient and always demanding your full attention.

*200 copies limited edition* Sixty-one + minutes of deep and powerful drone compositions recorded live at Epsilon Spires Church performed on organ, accordion, contrabass and cello by Richter, Mike Bullock and Laura Cetilia. Rich and meditative, arcing past, present and future.Sedimental’s first release for 2026 is a monumental document from avant-garde composer Ben Richter. It has been a pleasure to get to know Richter personally over the past five years as we live in close proximity to one anot…

Soprano saxophone player Sascha Armbruster, oboe player Kelsey Maiorano, clarinetist Toshiko Sakakibara, trumpeter Jens Bracher, trombonist Stephen Menotti and tuba player Janne Jakobsen gather together and record the compositions written by Norbert Moslang. “Patterns” is a new record on “Bocian” label – this album is a mix of academic avant-garde, experimental music, free improvisation and avant-garde jazz. The musicians join together different kinds of motions, expressions, styles and passions…

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* Pacifica is a major new composition by the world-famous guitarist, improvisor and composer, Fred Frith. Over an hour in length and composed for a large ensemble of winds, strings and percussion, Pacifica sets the poetry of Pablo Neruda into a seductive and hypnotizing sound world that slowly metamorphoses into something altogether different. Lyrical written passages, inspired improvisations, sensual vocals and provocative sound effects all come together into…

*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* Anyone who thinks of multifaceted composer/performer Fred Frith primarily as a guitar player with Henry Cow and for his 1974 album Guitar Solos is way out of touch with what he's been up to in, say, more than 30 years. The 2008 release of Back to Life on Tzadik represents a good opportunity to reconnect with Frith and summarize what he has been doing since the heady days of his scrambling, intense electric guitar improvisations like "Alienated Industrial Sea…

Bonecrusher creates an immersive sonic landscape that captivates listeners, drawing them into a world where chords crackle, howl, and vibrate eerily. Founded in 2020 by trombonist and composer Matthias Muche in Cologne, the ensemble showcases its latest work through four innovative compositions. Each musician explores the trombone’s capabilities with meticulous detail, crafting evolving sonic states that morph fluidly, resembling a tightly woven net. The ensemble faces a unique challenge; those …

The score Dotolim was originally realized in 2009 and composed for the performance space Dotolim. The musicians, Jin Sangtae, founder of Dotolim, and Joonyong Choi also performed on the 2009 version of the score. While on tour through Asia in 2023, I spent two nights performing and recording in Seoul at Dotolim. My idea was to realize a new version of the score with the current generation of experimental musicians active in Seoul. And unlike for the first version where I worked with electronics,…

Un Ent Los is a composition of a total of 36 electroacoustic miniatures, for which Johannes S. Sistermanns has drawn from his wide-ranging audio archive. The material of his composed, fleeting sound moments are sounds of the numerous musical instruments he plays and their electroacoustic transformation. In addition, field recordings from the Australian outback and the soundscapes of metropolises such as Shanghai, Hong Kong or New York can be heard, as well as the diverse resonance sounds that Si…